Ben Walsh

The City of Syracuse is ready to put a number of programs in place to tackle the significant housing stability problem.  One in four households in the city moves every year, mainly due to evictions.

Syracuse’s new Chief of Police began his job just moments after a brief swearing in ceremony at the Public Safety Building. Mayor Ben Walsh issued the oath of office to Kenton Buckner, the former head of Little Rock Arkansas’ department. 

It's been a week of new appoitments in local government. A surprise announcement came today from the city that the search for a new police chief of Syracuse is complete. Mayor Ben Walsh selected Kenton Buckner, who most recently led the Little Rock, Arkansas Police force.

Syracuse City officials say they too are mourning the loss of a 12-year-old boy tragically shot and killed on John Street Wednesday night.  They’re now asking for community support to provide information and band together to stop the violence. 

Central New York and Syracuse are looking to expand local solutions to climate change by holding a summit on Saturday about the topic. Advocates say the issue is largely neglected on the national level, but state and local officials are trying to change that narrative. Climate Solutions Summit organizer Renee Vogelsang says there are reasons to be optimistic.      

48 lanes in 48 days. That’s how long it took the United States Bowling Congress to set up for its 2018 Championships at the Oncenter. The event is weeks away, but they will host a trio of events to kick off their time in Syracuse, including a state competition for high school students starting Friday. Senior Director of Tournament Programming, Greg Moore, says the kickoff is their way of introducing championships to the community.

Syracuse Police Chief Frank Fowler will continue to lead the department during the first year of the new mayoral administration. Fowler was sworn in by Mayor Ben Walsh Monday. The city will bring on the new police chief by the end of the year, according to the Mayor’s office.

Fowler was vague about what might be different in his job under the new administration. He also declined to comment on his past performance in the Syracuse Police Department, or talk about goals for the future.

The President-elect of the Syracuse Common Council says she has high hopes going into a new mayoral administration that will bring a different tone to city hall.  Democrat Helen Hudson publicly supported and campaigned for Independent Ben Walsh over fellow democrat Juanita Perez Williams.  She says she got to know Walsh as a calm, thoughtful person during her time as councilor-at-large, and his six years as the city’s deputy commissioner of business development.

Syracuse’s four mayoral candidates squared off for another debate Friday, this one moderated by WAER News at City Hall Commons. 

The theme was “sustainability,” and Howie Hawkins, Laura Lavine, Ben Walsh and Juanita Perez Williams offered their thoughts on how it figures into a wide range of topics.

The Green Party’s Howie Hawkins is never short of ideas, all of them progressive and some might say a bit radical.  So it might seem the Consensus Commission’s sweeping new recommendations for modernizing local government would fit his agenda.  But Hawkins has mixed reviews…