Howie was on WCNY's Insight program on Aug. 30 discussing city issues and the recent debate among Democratic mayoral primary candidates: http://video.pbs.org/video/2365071230/

"As we approach the 50^th Anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, we should remember that the $2 minimum wage demanded by 1963 march would be $15.26 an hour today,” said Howie Hawkins, a Teamsters union member in Syracuse who helped collect signatures on the petition.

"The nuclear weapons are still on a hair trigger. I lived through the Cuban Missile Crisis and it's scarier now than it was when I lived through it. And we were really scared," said Howie Hawkins of the Green Party.

It has been a week and a half since Governor Cuomo announced his Moreland Commission to investigate public corruption. And while he has said the group can help restore trust in the government, not everyone agrees. Among the critics are the leaders of the Green Party, which has been pushing for a full public financing system. The party’s 2010 candidate for governor, Howie Hawkins, explains why he thinks this commission does not go far enough.

http://www.nystateofpolitics.com/2013/07/green-partys-hawkins-on-moreland-commission/

Green Party activist Howie Hawkins submitted petitions Thursday to the Onondaga County Board of Elections with his own name as a placeholder, hoping that Bott would say yes. Hawkins has until July 19 to replace his name with another candidate.

The Greens said that Cuomo's own fundraising needed to be a principal target of the newly appointed MorelandCommission, starting with his enormous contributions from the gambling industry, the nearly $30 million he has secured for his re-election, and the $15 to $17 million in unreported funding he raised to support his agenda...

The Greens faulted Cuomo for focusing on getting casinos and tax-free corporate welfare zones through, instead of public campaign finance, at the end of the legislative session. A provision was also snuck into the casino legislation to permit campaign contributions from the gambling industry. This deal should be probed. Other suspicious deals from the recent legislation session that should be investigated include providing tens of millions of dollars tax breaks to five luxury condo buildings in NYC and the creation of the so-called teenage minimum wage tax credit which will give companies such as WalMart tens of millions of dollars.

“It’s going to be harder this time,” Hawkins maintains. “He has a lot more name recognition. He’s basically developing PILOTs {payment in lieu of taxes} for the developers. Look at his last financial filing: Bob Congel, Bruce Kenan, Bob Doucette. That seems to be what he sees as his role, as well as basically siding with Mayor Miner on just about every issue. But I can beat him by hustling. I’ll work harder. I’ll talk to more people. I’ll be on the street.”

Howie Hawkins, a Green Party candidate running for the 4th District council seat, said he would like mass transportation to be considered. Hawkins suggested that through traffic could be sent around Syracuse on I-481 while much of the traffic into the city could be provided by buses, light rail, or other public transportation.

Hawkins announces for city councilor, not mayor.

Hawkins answers question from syracuse.com readers about the upcoming campaign season...

I want to stop giving tax breaks to private developers. I think public economic investments ought to be targeted to building community wealth that is anchored to our community by democratic ownership structures.