By: Bill Carey, News 10 Now Web Staff
He has brought some new ideas to the race for mayor. Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins has talked about city owned power, a city totally powered by renewable energy resources. A community bank to fund local projects. And all of those proposals are just part of a much wider plan. We've been talking about this. It's called 'Sustainable Syracuse'.
It is a sweeping proposal. Among Hawkins plans, the removal of the elevated sections of Route 81 that many community groups claim have split the city in two. And, another part of the proposal would keep you from driving along Erie Boulevard in the future.
Hawkins wants to remove the street and recreate the old Erie Canal. He says it would be an engine for development and community change. He said it would have retail, entertainment and pedestrians on one bank. On the other, commuter rail lines and small industrial operations. It's a plan that he says eliminates the need for heavy tax subsidies to create Destiny USA.
"Why would they want to put a phony Erie Canal inside a dome when we got the real Erie Canal running through the city," said Hawkins.
In fact, Hawkins says, his plan would make Destiny USA counterproductive.
"Entertainment downtown. The arts and culture that we want to bring downtown. The things we want to do to make this city exciting and interesting, we've got a competitor that we're subsidizing with tax breaks out there. There's a conflict in concept," said Hawkins.
As a third party candidate, Hawkins is given little chance of winning the race for mayor, and even if he pulled off an upset on November 8th, he would still be working primarily with officials from the two established parties. Still, he says, his ideas and his campaign are not about winning or losing, but setting a new agenda for a city. It's an agenda that will eventually bring about a new face for the city of Syracuse.
"When you want to get somewhere sometimes it's not a straight line and it's not just rolling downhill to get there. You got to go over hills. But, you know, we'll do that. We'll climb the hills," said Hawkins.
Both democrat incumbent Matt Driscoll and republican candidate Joanie Mahoney have, in the past, voiced support for the Destiny USA proposal.
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