I walked two blocks in downtown Syracuse tonight from East Onondaga across Warren Street. It was only 7:00, but I saw only five or six people. Several buildings were vacant. Other older structures caught my eye like the old Plymouth Congregational Church. But, it was the taller brown bricked building that stood before me that was my destination. The nearly vacant, musty and sadly aging Hotel Syracuse played the role of host for a mayoral forum about the future of downtown Syracuse.
The partially shuttered hotel gave more of an impression of the past and present of downtown than offering any promise for the future. Yet there inside the Persian Terrace room a group of 150 citizens, academics and journalists gathered to draft questions to present to the six people running for Syracuse mayor. These candidates have one week to convince primary voters they should advance to the general election in November. The impression cast off from the building sets a tone for the city, an impression set off from a candidate can decide the next leader to sit in City Hall.
Impressions decide elections. You can read issue papers, listen to candidates debate and even talk with them face to face. The details are important as to how they would run a government. But, when a voter enters the booth to make the final call there is something inside them that says: this is the candidate I like and trust to lead my community.
I sat through an hour and fifteen minutes of this distinguished group asking important questions of Stephanie Miner, Steve Kimatian, Alfonso Davis, Otis Jennings, Joe Nicoletti and Carmen Harlow. Some of the candidates seemed more comfortable than others. Some seemed better prepared. They all promised change of some sort.
What seemed seriously missing from this high minded event was a moment, just one, where someone said something that made the people smile or maybe even laugh. Everyone was so concerned they seemed to have forgotten the essence of living is joy. The candidates seemed so intent on saying the right thing in response the question they never diverted from their stump answers to flash personality. They did not seem to impress upon voters that Syracuse will be a more enlightened, creative and engaging place to live if they are running the city.
They talked about tearing down Route 81, they talked about parking, they talked about making downtown safe. Some of the candidates reminisced about better days, others focused on the future saying the status quo won't do. But, none of them seemed to spark any emotion or joy. It was not clear they were all happy to be on the stage.
I understand running for mayor is serious business. So is turning around a city where the featured location for a debate about downtown is an decrepit hotel that symbolizes Syracuse's inability to get something done. Success is all about impressions.
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