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Syracuse, N.Y. — Sharon Owens received an unexpected gift on the night she became Syracuse’s mayor-elect. While Owens made history as the first Black person and second woman to be elected mayor, a group of six Democrats running for Onondaga Legislature seats achieved something not seen in five decades. They won contested races to take control of the county’s legislative branch from Republicans. In an interview at City Hall the morning after her decisive victory, Owens said the blue wave on the county Legislature presents a huge opportunity for Syracuse. “We have the county that is majority blue now with folks who are going to lead who are very much invested in the city‚" Owens said. The mayor-elect said the power shift could have a meaningful impact on county funding decisions to address systemic socio-economic problems that disproportionally affect city residents. Many of the issues related to poverty, homelessness, drug abuse and mental health that people want city government to address fall under the county’s umbrella of services, she said. “The county is the safety net for homelessness, for shelters, for substance uses and not for profits,” Owens said. “We don’t fund the shelters. We don’t fund the supportive housing units. We don’t fund the treatment centers. We try hard not to police homelessness. But the real help is needed from the county level. And I’m hoping that the county legislature will be able to help us do this now.” The legislature will still need to work with Republican County Executive Ryan McMahon. So will Owens. Owens, the deputy mayor under incumbent Ben Walsh since 2018, believes their administration’s productive relationship with McMahon over the years can help her be a bridge when needed between the two branches of county government. She also believes there’s plenty of alignment already between her and McMahon, who was a city councilor before becoming a county legislator and later the executive. They both view the city’s Inner Harbor neighborhood as a tremendous economic development opportunity. She’s also supportive of McMahon’s efforts to develop the Harrison Street corridor as a hotel and convention district. “I’m going to find where we have commonalities,” Owens said. “He was a city guy for a long time.” Owens views the strong results for Democrats in this year’s local elections as a reflection of frustration and worry people have about President Donald Trump’s second administration. She pointed to the recent “No Kings” rally on Erie Boulevard in DeWitt, where thousands of Central New Yorkers turned out to voice their concerns. “People were energized, and so what I don’t want to lose is the momentum of the energy,“ she said. ”Let’s soak up what just happened. But how are we practically going to use that to really benefit our community?” On her first full day as mayor-elect, Owens was not ready to make any announcements about who will serve in key roles in her administration. She plans to take several weeks to collect feedback from people in and out of City Hall about what is needed before making decisions. Owens expects leadership announcements won’t come until December, and she’s also not planning to make all of her changes before she takes office on Jan. 1. She said she learned a hard lesson from the transition from former Mayor Stephanie Miner to Walsh in 2018. On the second day of the new administration, the city was hit by a massive winter storm. Some new public works leaders were not yet on board. “To start day one with all new people, that’s just not good business practice,” she said. “You need people who know where the lights are and how to turn the fuse box back on and how just to operate.” To that end, Owens said Syracuse Police Department Chief Joe Cecile has agreed to stay on the job into January to help the person Owens taps to succeed him. Owens has said the next chief will come from inside the department. This week, Owens is going to take a couple of days off to spend time with her family, but not before some important work in her deputy mayor role. She’ll be at a Syracuse Common Council committee Wednesday to talk about a new state-funded criminal justice program for youth she’s working to launch. She’s working with Walsh to adjust her workload so she can do transition work while also focusing on his final priorities. “The mayor’s priorities through the end of his term will be my priorities,” she said. ”We’ll take a bunch of stuff that I do and shrink it down a little bit so that I can really focus in on what he’s counting on me to bring across the finish line."
