Colleen Wheaton, Central Region president of CSEA, said Howie Hawkins had earned CSEA’s endorsement, especially given his longtime history of advocating on behalf of workers and community issues.

[Hawkins] says the solution to the city's fiscal crisis is a return to the state's historical obligation to support cities through revenue sharing.

Another noteworthy socialist contender is Howie Hawkins, long-time activist and leader of the Green Party of New York State. Hawkins, a UPS truck unloader and Teamster, is locked in a tight city-council race in Syracuse, New York’s fifth-largest city and one of its poorest. In 2011, Hawkins, an avowed socialist, received 48 percent of the vote for the same seat against the same Democratic opponent, so he has a good chance to become the first socialist office-holder in Syracuse in more than a century.

People began to realize that the party was more than just “protest voters” but a contender, Hawkins said

This growing polarization between parties in today’s political arena has forced some young people to seek another voting option instead of the traditional two-party standard.

The City of Syracuse is moving ever closer to bankruptcy. By the end of next fiscal year, we face a Detroit-like takeover of our elected city government by a state-appointed Financial Control Board. The once and future solution to the city's fiscal crisis is state revenue sharing, funded by progressive taxation.

What to do about I-81 and high poverty in Syracuse.

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2013/10/syracuse_green_party_candidates_tout_higher_state_aid_city_income_tax.html

Video at: http://centralny.ynn.com/content/search/700895/green-party-candidates-talk-financial-plans/

The Greens' position paper criticizes those, like 4th District Councilor Khalid Bey as well as Governor Cuomo in remarks in Syracuse last June, who call for fiscal self-reliance for Syracuse. "Fiscal self-reliance is fiscal fantasy for Syracuse,” the position paper says.