When choosing a presidential candidate, I was drawn to Bernie Sanders because I value politicians who have plans of action. I don’t want to attach my vote to someone who makes campaign promises and then fails to fulfill them once they’re sworn in. I see the same drive Sanders had in Syracuse mayoral candidate Ben Walsh.

To me, Walsh is everything a mayor should be: innovative, inventive and honest. His platform encapsulates Syracuse’s pressing tasks: tackling the opioid crisis, improving public works, managing deer populations and inventing ways to have fun in the city. Walsh ran his campaign on a promise to help Syracuse “rise above” its current state, and he outlines three pillars to make that happen in a 14-page platform titled “Syracuse Rising.”

The first of those pillars is enhancing neighborhood safety and quality of life, and Walsh covers that goal thoroughly. He doesn’t just want to hire more police. He wants to hire more police, incentivize those police to live in the city, develop a homegrown pipeline of candidates through the Public Services Leadership Academy at Fowler High School and beef up the technology used on the force.

Likewise, Walsh is a sensible, progressive candidate who knows what a budget is. With all of Syracuse’s economic hardship, that’s exactly what we need to make this city shine brighter.

Walsh supports incentivizing homeowners by making water and home interest rates affordable, which could also boost home-buying in Syracuse. Combining and cutting shared county and city services can help Syracuse cut its deficit, and initiating dual client training models that bring employers and potential employees together can create and fill jobs.

It’s this bipartisan platform that has allowed Walsh to gain endorsements from both sides of the aisle. In her endorsement of Walsh, Democratic Common Councilor Helen Hudson said, “Ben Walsh is a calm, quiet spirit, and for me, that’s what we need in a leader.” The Post-Standard’s editorial board endorsed Walsh, saying his campaign “appeal(s) to all parts of the city and enlist(s) Syracuse’s young people to join its older generation in the fight for the city’s future.”

A vote for Walsh is not a vote for a Republican or against a Democrat. It’s a vote for something more than the parties we define ourselves by. Walsh’s bipartisan, community-centered policies will lead to an efficient and cooperative city government. This brand of politics is rare, but Walsh, with no major party bindings, has been able to revive it.

Walsh’s vision for Syracuse is not the proverbial “shining city on a hill.” Walsh’s Syracuse is a city on an iron pedestal: a strong city with the ambition to meet its lofty goals and the foundation to last for generations. It’s time for Syracuse to become better than what it has been, and it can get there with Walsh.

Jefferson Fenner is a sophomore broadcast and digital journalism major and political science minor. His column appears biweekly. He can be reached at jfenner@syr.edu or on Twitter @jeffersonfenner.

Published on November 6, 2017 at 10:42 pm