After months of speculation, Syracuse Common Councilor Joe Nicoletti announced his candidacy for mayor. With more than 30 years in public service and several attempts at running for mayor before, Nicoletti said he is the right guy at the right time.
Nicoletti’s Republican opponent for councilor-at-large in the 2016 election said Nicoletti was only in it to become mayor; that it was a lifelong dream of his. Republicans now looking towards the mayoral race say voters are sick of career politicians. Nicoletti said that's frivolous.
“I have a passion for this city," Nicoletti said. "I’ll never give up on Syracuse. Yes, I’ve run and I’ve come up short a few times. But that should tell you about my commitment to the community. Rhetoric terms like outsider, career politician means nothing to me. Show me what you’re going to do. I’m a show me guy. I have results insisting that we build a skating rink at Clinton Square. I have results in passing minority business enterprise law. I have results in passing term limits. I have results in working on neighborhood problems.”
Nicoletti described Syracuse as a perfect city in terms of the strength of its people. But he said the prominent issues facing residents include public safety and quality of life, education and moving the economy.
“We need new approaches," Nicoletti said. "We need pre-K that works. We need better job training for those that don’t wish to go to college. We need to expand our ability to have a diverse workforce and police force. We need stronger code enforcement.”
And Nicoletti said the city needs to improve its relationships with the county, state and federal governments to try to receive more funding and consolidate more services.
“It starts with trust," Nicoletti said. "It starts with people looking across the table that know each other, that have experience. This community doesn’t have the time now to provide on the job training for a mayor. Our gun violence is going up, our housing stock has got problems and we also face poverty. What we really need is someone that will usher in new ideas but has the institutional knowledge of the past, to be able to take those ideas and combine them with what has happened in the past and move forward.”
City Auditor Marty Masterpole, City Hall staffer Andrew Maxwell, and Alfonso Davis are also running for the Democratic nomination for mayor.
