Stephanie Miner

As a jury continues to deliberate in the bribery trial of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s former top aide, Cuomo has been keeping his focus on other matters, including appearing with former Vice President Al Gore to talk about energy and the environment.

Today is the first official day at the office for Syracuse’s new mayor Ben Walsh. He has much of his staff in place - a mix of newcomers from outside government, and many city hall holdovers from the Miner Administration.

The city of Syracuse was selected as the location for the New York State Association of Fire Chiefs Annual Conference and Expo for three years starting in 2019. But some officials are questioning who gets credit for Syracuse’s win.

The convention features 300 exhibitors, workshops and hands-on training. Visit Syracuse President and CEO Danny Liedka said the last time Syracuse hosted was in 2005.

At an event that’s become increasingly rare in state politics, two politicians from opposing parties sat down together and had a civil discussion about issues facing New York.

Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner, a Democrat, and Republican state Sen. John DeFrancisco spoke in Albany during a forum about state issues and politics. 

“To have a vibrant civic dialogue is important,” said Miner. “The fact that it’s been missing, we’ve all suffered for it.”

DeFrancisco, who also is from Syracuse, agreed.

An independent study of the tunnel options to replace the Interstate-81 viaduct in Syracuse was released Monday. The study said tunnel options are feasible, which contrasts the analysis the New York State Department of Transportation made last year.

Over the next year, the city of Syracuse will be sharing its research department to help find grants for the town of Cicero. The agreement started differently than other shared service deals in Onondaga County.

Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner said she and Cicero Supervisor Mark Venesky bonded over a mutual love of Ford Mustangs over the summer.

“And through the process of getting to know each other, we talked about the opportunity that our grant writing expertise here in the city of Syracuse would have for the town of Cicero,” Miner said.

Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner gave a farewell address at Syracuse University, as she prepares to step down at the end of her term. Miner reflected on her time as mayor and used the opportunity to focus on bigger problems affecting New York State.

On November 7th, voters in Syracuse will choose a new mayor. Stephanie Miner has served in that role for the last 8 years and ends her final term at the end of this year. This week on the Campbell Conversations, Grant Reeher talks with Miner about her time as mayor, her accomplishments, what she would do differently if given the chance, and more.

Earlier this year, the Syracuse Common Council allocated funding for the city to hire more police officers. But Mayor Stephanie Miner’s administration said it has no intention of training a new class of officers.

The role of the traditional political parties is being called into question on the national and local levels. Syracuse’s mayoral race offers a few examples of candidates outside the mainstream trying to break through.

Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner is considering a possible challenge to Gov. Andrew Cuomo in a Democratic primary for the 2018 governor’s race.

Miner said if she does run for governor, it won’t be a conventional campaign.

Miner, who sat down for an interview with public radio and TV, has just over three months remaining in her job as mayor and she said she’s focused on finishing up there. She’s prevented by term limits from running for mayor again.

Updated at 8:00 p.m. Thursday

Onondaga County health officials continue to say that the city of Syracuse's drinking water, along with the drinking water of other municipalities that draw water from Skaneateles Lake, is safe to drink. 

Samples tested Thursday at the state’s Wadsworth Lab in Albany found 0.25 parts per billion inside the City of Syracuse Gatehouse located in the Village of Skaneateles, but prior to the completion of the chlorination.

This level is consistent with prior reported sampling at the Gatehouse and below the health advisory levels for both adults and sensitive populations. All other locations in the water system – including the City of Syracuse, the Town of DeWitt, the Town of Skaneateles, the Village of Elbridge, and the Village of Jordan – showed non-detectable levels of algal toxins in finished water. These levels remain below the EPA’s 10-day health advisory level of 0.3 parts per billion for sensitive populations and well below the EPA advisory level for adults of 1.6 parts per billion.

Residents in the Village of Skaneateles and the other municipalities which use this drinking water source can continue to drink the water.

Original Post

Elevated levels of toxic blue-green algae have been discovered in the water of Skaneateles Lake. The lake is the primary water supply of the city of Syracuse’s water system. While tests show the public water is still safe to drink, residents who live along the lake’s shoreline and drink water directly from the lake could be at risk.

Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner will visit to Israel this weekend as part of the American Jewish Committee Project Interchange. She’ll travel with mayors from nine other U.S. cities, and meet with local and national leaders and non-profits in Israel. But there are some who don’t want Miner to go.

Central New York Republican state Sen. John DeFrancisco has been traveling around upstate meeting with members of his party to discuss the possibility of him running for governor next year. DeFrancisco said there is discontent with Gov. Andrew Cuomo on both sides of the aisle.

New York State had a population loss last year and DeFrancisco said that is one of the main reasons why things need to change and why he is considering a run for governor.

The city of Syracuse could soon be speeding up its process of code enforcement of property owners. Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed legislation allowing Syracuse to create a new municipal violations bureau.

Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner said if the Syracuse Common Council cooperates, the city could have the bureau up and running this year.

"It's been my experience that I tend to be very ambitious with what I think can be accomplished," Miner said. "I think we will get the lion's share of it done."

The bureau would circumvent the courts in handling code violators.

The new online website will allow anyone who’s interested to delve into the massive amounts of data collected by the city of Syracuse. Where are potholes getting patched? What water mains are breaking? Where is lead paint a big issue? These are some of the questions that can be answered on DataCuse, a new online portal that is open to the public.

Tensions between union leadership in the Syracuse Fire Department and Mayor Stephanie Miner’s administration have reached a boiling point.

A Planned Parenthood clinic in Syracuse is taking part in a national campaign to bring awareness to the organization as its federal funding remains uncertain. Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner showed her support and took some jabs at congressional Republicans.

Across the country it is LGBTQ pride month and members of the community are celebrating in Syracuse this week. It comes at a time when some in the gay, lesbian and transgender community remain vigilant and are remembering a tragic anniversary.

Syracuse City Hall is fine tuning an open data policy, after a two-week public comment period.

The policy is expected to launch later this month, and offers residents an easy way to access to public information involving the work of city government. Mayor Stephanie Miner says so far, the city has gotten good feedback about the proposed policy.

Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner says she is planning on vetoing the budget approved by the Syracuse Common Council this week. One of her big beefs with the budget is the elimination of funding for the Greater Syracuse Land Bank.

The city has subsidized the land bank for the last four years, at the rate of $1.5 million a year. The agency, which is not a city department, buys tax delinquent properties seized by the city and either demolishes them or puts them up for sale. It also is funded through state grants.

The Syracuse Common Council has passed a budget that includes some controversial changes to what Mayor Stephanie Miner had proposed. Miner said she will veto the changes.

The council has cut overtime from Syracuse’s fire and police departments by $1 million each. But Councilor Steven Thompson said the money cut for police overtime has been shifted to hire new officers.