Candidates: Mayor Matt Driscoll (D), Joanie Mahoney (R-C-Ind), Howie Hawkins (G)
On requiring the Syracuse Department of Community Development to report on the number and location of easy-access "visitable" homes built yearly
The information already is available, but apparently not in booklet form, which Driscoll said he would require. Four homes have been built under the requirements of a 2003 "visitability" law, he said.
She would require the reports. When she was on the Common Council in 2003, she said, she backed the law, which requires all new homes to have one no-step entrance and wider doorways on the main floor. She said that as mayor she would "see there are teeth behind it."
He would require the reports and said he also would require home rehabilitation projects to follow the law.
On creating accessible housing units under a 1973 federal law
He said he would work with "our federal and state partners" to address a limit in the law that restricts its provisions to projects of 15 or more units. Anyone who gets housing money through the Community Development Block Grant program can request design help.
It's the right thing to do and makes economic sense, given the demand, she said. She called for convening the mayor, members of the disability community and developers receiving Community Development Block Grant money to educate developers and hold them accountable.
The city should go beyond the federal law, he said. He called for a requirement that at least one-sixth of units in new projects be affordable housing.
On fixing damaged or badly installed curb cuts
A program begun by former Mayor Roy Bernardi, which put curb cuts along main roads, was extended under Driscoll's administration into the neighborhoods, he said. Code enforcement officers are making homeowners accountable for fixing their sidewalks.
"This is something where close doesn't count," she said. She said she would do a better job of getting needed repairs done, and would do a better job of attracting the development needed to generate revenue to pay for improvements.
His proposed "neighborhood assemblies" would elect officials familiar with neighborhood problems such as curb damage and empowered to enforce rules, he said.
On removing snow from streets, curb cuts and sidewalks, and fining those who leave it
The Department of Public Works "does an outstanding job" clearing snow, he said, working on emergency routes first, then main roads, then side streets. The city has partnered with the Downtown Committee, which bought small plows so the DPW can remove snow from sidewalks and corners, he said.
She urged the audience to be vigilant and, if she is elected, tell her cabinet about areas where it can do better. She said the ability of people with disabilities to get around Syracuse would be one of her priorities as mayor and she would make that clear to employees and department heads. She said she doesn't think it's a big enough priority now.
Enforcing snow removal laws would work best if brought down to the neighborhood level through community policing, he said. New residents who may not know the law could be informed, and absentee landlords who do know the law could be cited, he said.
© 2005 The Post-Standard. Used with permission.
Posted by syracusegreens at October 7, 2005 04:50 AM