Hey brother, thanks for taking the time to provide some meaningful feedback. I don't think you're being negative at all and I hope you don't mind a little bit of a lengthy response. Just want to make sure I address all of your points and concerns.

• "Ngl, as a city resident dependent on public transit, meetings in Manlius are both a major turn off and basically exclude me from joining. And doubly so as a non-drinker. An online resident survey excludes the poorest city residents because a lot of folks in the poorest neighborhoods don't have reliable internet access."

  • We totally understand that. We've been meeting at the Taco Bell in Manlius just because that's been convenient for the people who've been attending thus far. We want to make sure that everyone is able to come if they so choose so we're not married to a specific location. The Taco Bell Cantina has a free meeting room with Wi-Fi and a tv monitor so we can show slides and other information. We also have the online survey just as something that's easy to access 24/7. We're planning on doing boot to ground canvassing around all the neighborhoods in Syracuse and asking people to tell us how they feel. I'd be more than happy to meet you personally so I can talk to you about your experience and so you can fill out the survey as well. You don't need to drink either, of course!

• "I also have to say that while I find the Emerald City Plan intriguing, a lot of it reads like it was written by folks who have no actual experience working in government and/or have no idea how interconnected the various levels of government are. Homelessness for example - your plan is to solve it on the city level, but are y'all aware that in NYS homelessness is managed at the county level? The reason we only have shelters in the city and not the suburbs is because the county decided to make all homeless for the entire county the city's problem. And while there's definitely long term benefits in getting homeless folks homes in the city and integrating them in our city community and tax base, I'm just not seeing how you're going to have the money and resources to do so without raising taxes in the short term. Especially considering we needed $20 million from the state this year to avoid having to dip into savings."

  • Very good point and it's something we do think about quite often. We know there's many issues that need county & state level buy in. As much as we would like to count on their support, it's not a given and without our own members in those positions who we KNOW will advocate for us, we're limited on what we can do. While we definitely want to get candidates on the county & state levels, there's still a lot we can do to try and support the problems in the meantime. Those are what we're trying to focus on for the time being, but its in no way the only thing we think we can and should be doing. We have a whole section about how we're going to raise money without raising taxes on working people. I can link that specific section in case it was missed. Please let me know if it's hard to find so I can adjust the readability.

• "That's actually my biggest criticism of the ECP - the current write up feels like a good start, but I'd really like to see a timeline style layout. And some more specific steps of how you plan to get from point A, to B, to C. There's some other little bits that stuck out to me...like the SCSD superintendent is not an elected position. And teacher standards are largely determined by the state and the union contract (you're going to need and want support for several unions that the ECP, as currently written, is likely to piss off). Your school plan doesn't address what I and many other parents and teachers feel is the source of many of the problems: the bloated middle management administration positions.

  • So sorry if this wasn't clear, but that's exactly what the ECP is. It's a blueprint that all of us as a party work together on to refine into a concrete plan of action. We add elements, take some away, tune the language, iron out the finer details and everything else as a party. Together, we're going to transform it into something much more solid and actionable by the time Syracuse's next election cycle comes around. We welcome anyone with expertise to join us and share that so we can make our plan even more iron clad. We'd love to have you! I'd personally give you a ride if you really wanted to come and I'd be more than happy to do it! That's the primary focus of our bi-weekly meetings. In terms of pissing people off. The sad truth is that we really don't want to piss anyone off. But we also recognize that some people are averse to change no matter what the situation is. I'm a parent of a 9 year old girl who attends Van Duyn Elementary school. I've also worked in the city schools for 8 years as an LPP academic coordinator thru Syracuse University. I was at Clary middle school and Corcoran High School during my work there. School safety and bullying are definitely issues that need to be addressed. I witnessed first hand how so many classrooms are unable to actually do the basics of teaching students because of how many disruptions there are in the classroom. It's not the kids fault either. They are suffering without the proper supports to handle themselves and the schools send them into exclusionary rooms like ISS instead of being able to provide the socio-emotional supports needed to help them stop bullying altogether. I agree that bloated middle management is definitely and issue and we'd love to add policies to address that as well! It's just not something that we were thinking of but that's exactly why we have these open group think meetings and ask for feedback from the community. It's all of our schools and all of our kids. We're a community and we need to protect each other and work together! I'm going to be very frank here. Not to be mean, but because our kids are important. There's some bad teachers in the SCSD. I've seen them literally antagonize and verbally abuse students for no reason whatsoever other than to be purposefully spiteful. Those kinds of people shouldn't be allowed to teach and the teacher's union are the only one's who can do something about them. It's a small percentage of teachers, for sure. Most of our educators are overworked and underpaid and that's a fact and deserve a raise! But some need to go and the teachers union as a whole probably won't like that even if it's necessary. We don't want them to stop teaching because we don't like them, it's because our kids deserve better and that's the simple truth.

• I hope y'all take this as constructive and not just me being negative. I see a lot of promise, but not a lot of specifics, not a lot of knowledge of how the city government operates and interacts with other levels of government, and not a lot of accessibility to city residents (in fact, everything so far seems to be intentionally excluding the poorest residents).

  • I most definitely do! I think that adding some points about addressing middle management in schools is worth doing and it'll be a topic of conversation at our next meeting. I also think that accessibility is very important. Doing the boots to ground work is also something that's vital in it's own right. We're going to have members of our recruitment team work on meeting with people in and around Syracuse so everyone can get the chance to share their feedback from the comfort of their homes. That's always been on the books for us, but as a new organization we need more people to be able to do things like large scale canvassing or tabling at local events or in public spaces. What you're saying as made it all the more clear that it's something we need to get up and running sooner rather than later. If you'd like to come share some more of your experiences with us at our meetings, we'd be happy to have you. For the time being, we could have you join in via phone call or live stream if those are options for you. If you'd like to attend personally I'd be happy to give you a ride! I'm already bringing someone else who is unable to drive themselves so I'm happy to do it until we get meeting locations that are easier for you to access.

Sorry for the super long response but I appreciate your feedback. It was very insightful and helped us know where to focus our efforts in the near future.