The Post-Standard recently asked the three candidates for mayor of Syracuse - Mayor Matt Driscoll (D), Howie Hawkins (Green) and Joanie Mahoney (R, C, Ind.) - to answer two arts-related questions. Each was asked to limit responses to 100 words. Here are their answers:
Q. What would you do to nurture and finance the performing and visual arts in Syracuse? Õ7DriscollÕ Driscoll: I signed into law the 2003 ordinance which established a City of Syracuse Cultural District Commission, and I endorsed the recommendations contained in its report completed in August 2005. These recommendations speak to the specific steps that should be taken to develop the artist's live/workspace in Syracuse, a Pedestrian and Vehicular Way Finding System and a Web-based community accessible information database relative to arts and cultural activities. I also recognize the need to work collaboratively to identify a new dedicated revenue stream to support arts and cultural organizations. Õ7HawkinsÕ Hawkins: I would establish a Department of Cultural Affairs to develop and implement a Syracuse Cultural Plan that supports and links arts and culture programs among the city schools, the Parks, Recreation and Youth department, and private arts and cultural institutions in the city. The city has not funded arts and culture programs since 1992 due to city fiscal constraints. The city should establish two dedicated taxes to support arts and culture programs: a 25-cent tax on each entertainment ticket purchased in the city and a 1 percent tax on private developers' construction costs. Õ7MahoneyÕ Mahoney: My plan (to transform downtown Syracuse into a regional center of arts, culture and entertainment) includes:
Attracting new artists downtown by expanding the current "Lofts District" to South Salina Street to restore the upper floors of Syracuse's "Main Street" buildings and provide more affordable "creative class" residential/work spaces downtown;
Building upon current infrastructure to better link and support (the city's cultural organizations) .
Recruiting New York City-based theater and dance companies to establish lower-cost summer and off-season rehearsal operations in Syracuse; and
Establishing a Central New York/Finger Lakes Regional Film Office in Syracuse to encourage and attract filmmakers to both shoot films in the region and undertake post-production activities in Central New York.
Q.
What would you do to expand the arts-education programs in the Syracuse schools?
Driscoll: The curriculum of the City of Syracuse School District is set by the independently elected Board of Education. I can best support these efforts by increasing the amount of resources made available to the school district. I have done so by increasing the revenues by 20 percent over the past four years.
Hawkins: Limited funding for our schools is the most important constraint on their ability to provide arts programs. I would work to get more funding for our schools. At the state level, I would advocate a fair, transparent and predictable school-funding formula to replace the current inequitable state formula that was ruled unconstitutional in Campaign for Fiscal Equity vs. New York state. In the city, I would shift the burden of school funding from Syracuse's limited
property tax base to a progressively graduated city income tax, including a tax on the incomes of the over 40,000 commuters to the city.
Mahoney: Arts education is an important component to any school day. Recently, Congressman Walsh secured significant federal funding to enable the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra to initiate a fifth-grade symphonic music education program in every city school. These are the types of collaborations we need to support and encourage. As mayor, I will. Central New York has a wealth of artistic talent and resources; we simply need to do a better job of linking them with our schools.
- Frank Herron
staff writer
© 2005 The Post-Standard. Used with permission.
Posted by syracusegreens at November 3, 2005 10:48 PM