:Ben Walsh

Walsh is the son of former congressman James T. "Jim" Walsh and grandson of former congressman and mayor of Syracuse, New York, William F. Walsh, both of whom represented Central New York as Republicans.{{Cite web|date=2017-12-28|title=Ben Walsh: Born into political royalty, but took roundabout path to mayor's office|url=https://www.syracuse.com/news/2017/12/ben_walsh_profile.html|access-date=2021-07-19|website=syracuse|language=en}}

Walsh grew up as one of three children in the Strathmore neighborhood. He graduated from Westhill High School in 1997. Walsh attended Ithaca College and graduated with a B.A. in Political Science. He also received a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University in 2005.{{Cite web|date=2017-10-11|title=Ben Walsh walks tightrope, balancing Republican name while luring Democrats|url=https://www.syracuse.com/news/2017/10/ben_walsh_balances_republican_name_democrat.html|access-date=2021-07-19|website=syracuse|language=en}}

Walsh began his policy career working for Laborers Local 633, working on construction jobs around Onondaga Lake after his graduation from Ithaca College. Following this, he worked for the political actions staff of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations in Albany. In 2002, Walsh returned to Syracuse to run his father's congressional campaign. Following his father’s campaign, Walsh traveled to Ireland, where he stayed for three months and interned for then Prime Minister of Ireland Bertie Ahern.

Walsh eventually returned to Syracuse to work for SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, educating municipalities about brownfields. He went on to become the deputy commissioner of the city's Department of Neighborhood and Business Development under previous mayor Stephanie Miner. Here, Walsh created the Greater Syracuse Land Bank and was part of the redevelopment of Hotel Syracuse. He also worked on the Metropolitan Development Association, a precursor to CenterState CEO. Additionally, Walsh served on several boards and community groups around Syracuse, including serving as president of the Gifford Foundation board.

After resigning from his position at city hall in 2015, Walsh worked for Mackenzie Hughes law firm as Business Development Director, prior to launching his campaign to become the mayor of Syracuse.

Walsh was elected mayor of Syracuse in 2017 while running on two minor party lines, the Independence Party of New York and Reform Party of New York State. In what was generally seen as an upset, Ben Walsh won the election with 53.2% against four other candidates, namely Democratic frontrunner Juanita Perez Williams as well as the nominees from the Republican, Green, and Working Families Party.{{Cite web|date=2017-11-08|title=Ben Walsh elected Syracuse mayor|url=https://www.syracuse.com/politics/2017/11/syracuse_mayor_results_winner_independent_ben_walsh_democrat_juanita_perez_willi.html|access-date=2021-07-19|website=syracuse|language=en}}

In January 2019, Walsh introduced his major policy plan, Syracuse Surge, at that year's State of the City. The goal of the plan was to modernize Syracuse’s economy and prepare it for equitable access to new technology (as anticipated in projections in the Fourth Industrial Revolution) through both public and private investment.{{Cite web|date=2019-01-17|title=Walsh outlines Syracuse Surge: 'Biggest economic growth' plan in city history|url=https://www.syracuse.com/news/2019/01/walsh-outlines-syracuse-surge-the-biggest-economic-growth-plan-in-city-history.html|access-date=2021-07-19|website=syracuse|language=en}}

The mayor's plans have included establishing a science, technology, engineering, arts and math (STEAM) school at the old Central Technical High School and was expected to open in Fall 2022.{{Cite web|date=2021-04-13|title=Amazon will give $1.75 million to new Syracuse STEAM high school|url=https://www.syracuse.com/news/2021/04/amazon-will-give-175-million-to-new-syracuse-steam-high-school.html|access-date=2021-07-19|website=syracuse|language=en}}

In January 2020, Walsh announced the Resurgent Neighborhood Initiative (RNI), a plan for housing and economic development focused on ten neighborhoods and business corridors throughout Syracuse.{{Cite web|date=2020-01-16|title=Ben Walsh to focus new city development along 10 business corridors|url=https://www.syracuse.com/news/2020/01/ben-walsh-to-focus-new-city-development-along-10-business-corridors.html|access-date=2021-07-19|website=syracuse|language=en}} The RNI plan was expected to add 200 new units of affordable housing to the city. Despite the negative impact of the pandemic, the program's progress has continued.

Mayor Walsh made an executive order regarding police reform. The executive order included the enactment of the Right to Know law which requires officers to give their name, rank and reason for stopping someone during every interaction with the public. The officers are required to leave their information if no arrest is made. Additionally, the executive order includes equipping each patrol car with a dashboard camera, securing more body-worn cameras for patrol officers and new training guidelines such as education on the history of racism in Syracuse and the United States, among other things.{{Cite web|date=2020-06-19|title=In 1st executive order, Walsh unveils package of reforms to Syracuse Police Department|url=https://www.syracuse.com/news/2020/06/in-1st-executive-order-walsh-unveils-package-of-reforms-to-syracuse-police-department.html|access-date=2021-07-19|website=syracuse|language=en}}

Mayor Ben Walsh’s administration created The Mayor's Office to Reduce Gun Violence, tasked with conducting a Syracuse Violent Crime Assessment and recommending interventions for its Community Violence Intervention Plan.{{Cite web |title=Community Violence Intervention Plan |url=https://www.syr.gov/Departments/Mayor-Office/Mayors-Office-Initiatives/CVI |access-date=2023-04-17 |website=www.syr.gov |language=en-US}}

On April 1, 2022, Mayor Ben Walsh’s administration appointed Lateef Johnson-Kinsey, a pastor at The Well of Hope Church, as director of The Mayor's Office to Reduce Gun Violence.{{Cite web |date=2022-04-01 |title=Mayor Walsh appoints Syracuse pastor as head of Gun Violence Reduction Office |url=https://www.localsyr.com/news/local-news/mayor-walsh-appoints-syracuse-pastor-as-head-of-gun-violence-reduction-office/ |access-date=2023-04-17 |website=WSYR |language=en-US}} Johnson-Kinsey is the executive director of Transforming Lives & Community and was previously the Dean of Students at Syracuse Academy of Science.{{Cite web |date=2022-04-15 |title=Newsmakers: New Mayor's Office to Reduce Gun Violence |url=https://www.localsyr.com/news/newsmakers/newsmakers-syracuses-new-office-to-reduce-gun-violence/ |access-date=2023-04-17 |website=WSYR |language=en-US}}

On March 7, 2023, Mayor Ben Walsh’s administration announced The Safer Streets Program, a $1 million proposal from The Mayor's Office to Reduce Gun Violence and Lateef Johnson-Kinsey recommending paying known gang members a weekly $100-$200 stipend not to commit violent crime and to attend training, therapy and career coaching. The program uses federal funds from the Biden administration’s American Rescue Plan.{{Cite web |title=Syracuse mayor's office unveils plan to combat gun violence |url=https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/central-ny/news/2023/03/08/syracuse-mayor-s-office-unveils-plan-to-combat-gun-violence |access-date=2023-04-17 |website=spectrumlocalnews.com |language=en}}

Johnson-Kinsey claimed that his office found that the gangs are not fighting over drugs or money but over feuds and personal disputes.{{Cite web |last=Eisenstadt |first=Marnie |date=2023-03-07 |title=Syracuse wants to pay 50 gang members to stay out of trouble as part of anti-violence program |url=https://syracuse.com/news/2023/03/syracuse-wants-to-pay-50-gang-members-to-stay-out-of-trouble-as-part-of-anti-violence-program.html |access-date=2023-04-17 |website=syracuse}}

The Safer Streets Program proposes stipends to alleviate poverty for 50 of the city’s most at-risk individuals between the ages of 18 and 24, many of whom have criminal records and gang affiliations. The payments are designed to help gang members with basic expenses and are available if they avoid violent criminal behavior and participate in other program initiatives.{{Cite web |last=Eisenstadt |first=Marnie |date=2023-03-07 |title=Syracuse wants to pay 50 gang members to stay out of trouble as part of anti-violence program |url=https://www.syracuse.com/news/2023/03/syracuse-wants-to-pay-50-gang-members-to-stay-out-of-trouble-as-part-of-anti-violence-program.html |access-date=2023-04-17 |website=syracuse |language=en}}

This was met with pushback from the Syracuse Police Benevolent Association and opinion pieces by local politicians.

Syracuse Police Benevolent Association President Joseph Moran said, “You’re actually paying stipends to individuals who are documented gang members to maintain good behavior and obey the law. It really was a surprise to us to see that. I know it doesn’t sit well with the membership. It really doesn’t sit well with myself.”

In a Post-Standard letter to the editor, 2nd District City Councilor and Democrat Pat Hogan wrote the following: "There is no doubt that the city of Syracuse… has a gang problem that leads to acquisition of illegal guns by gang members and indiscriminate gunfire in our city neighborhoods that results in injury and death to gang members and, tragically and way too often, the innocent… We need to aggressively use every means at our disposal to stop this violence. Paying gang members is not the answer… I will never support paying stipends to gang members who are still engaged in criminal activity."{{Cite web |last=Letters |first=Your |date=2023-03-13 |title=Syracuse councilor 'appalled' at mayor's plan to pay stipend to gang members (Your Letters) |url=https://www.syracuse.com/opinion/2023/03/syracuse-councilor-appalled-at-mayors-plan-to-pay-stipend-to-gang-members-your-letters.html |access-date=2023-04-17 |website=syracuse |language=en}}

The city of Syracuse was awarded a $500,000 grant in the beginning of 2019 by the New York Power Authority to buy and replace all of the city’s streetlights with energy-efficient lightbulbs. The Walsh Administration claimed the purchase was estimated to save the city $3 million per year and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 6,100 tons.{{Cite web|date=2019-02-01|title=Syracuse awarded $500K to be New York's 'flagship smart city'|url=https://www.syracuse.com/news/2019/02/syracuse-awarded-500k-to-be-new-yorks-flagship-smart-city.html|access-date=2021-07-19|website=syracuse|language=en}}

On April 18, 2019, JP Morgan Chase selected Syracuse as one of five winners of its inaugural Advancing Cities Challenge; the City of Syracuse was awarded $3 million. This money is for improving tech sector jobs and not-for-profit organizations in low- or middle-income neighborhoods with the overall goal of training young people, veterans, and people of color for future careers.{{Cite web|date=2019-04-18|title=Syracuse one of five cities J.P. Morgan Chase awards $3M grant for tech jobs|url=https://www.localsyr.com/news/local-news/syracuse-one-of-five-cities-j-p-morgan-chase-awards-3m-grant-for-tech-jobs/|access-date=2021-07-19|website=WSYR|language=en-US}}

In April 2021, Amazon donated $1.75 million to the STEAM school at Central Tech in order to further increase access to tech education in the city.{{Cite web|date=2020-10-09|title=Walsh to remove Columbus statue, rename downtown circle|url=https://www.syracuse.com/news/2020/10/walsh-to-remove-columbus-statue-rename-downtown-circle.html|access-date=2021-07-19|website=syracuse|language=en}}

Ben Walsh worked with InterFaith Works, a local charity, to lead community discussions on Syracuse's Christopher Columbus monument in 2018 and 2019. In 2020, he established a formal advisory council, the Columbus Circle Action Group, to consider ways to modify Columbus Circle. That group put forth a number of ideas, but in its report{{Cite web |last=Columbus CIrcle Action Committee |date=October 2020 |title=A Final Report and Recommendations for Mayor Ben Walsh |url=https://www.interfaithworkscny.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Final-Report-and-Recommendations-Opt.pdf |access-date=June 12, 2020 |website=Interfaith Works of CNY}} stopped short of suggesting that the statue should be removed. Nonetheless, on October 9, 2020, Walsh announced he had decided to remove the statue and other parts of the statuary from the monument and send the statue of Columbus to an unidentified “private location.”{{Cite web |date=2020-10-09 |title=Walsh to remove Columbus statue, rename downtown circle |url=https://www.syracuse.com/news/2020/10/walsh-to-remove-columbus-statue-rename-downtown-circle.html |access-date=2022-06-12 |website=syracuse |language=en}}  

In response, the Columbus Monument Corporation and 27 Syracuse taxpayers sued the City and Mayor on May 16, 2021, to stop the plan.{{Cite web |last=New York State Courts Electronic Filing System |date=July 14, 2021 |title=Amended Petition |url=https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/nyscef/ViewDocument?docIndex=EhNV/CTPtdr4cwHVvMx3XA== |access-date=June 12, 2022 |website=New York State Courts Electronic Filing System}} The petitioners argued that the monument was privately funded and that private funds were integral to the monument's renovation by the City in 1992, and that Walsh lacked the legal authority under city law and a 1990s contract with the state to remove the monument or any part of it. On March 11, 2022, Supreme Court Justice Gerard Neri granted the petition in part, finding that the City has a legal duty to maintain the monument in its current form and place and that the Columbus Monument Corporation was a third-party beneficiary of the City’s contract with the State, a contract in which the City promised to maintain the Monument on a long-term basis.{{Cite web |last=New York State Courts Electronic Filing System |date=March 11, 2022 |title=Decision and Order |url=https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/nyscef/ViewDocument?docIndex=qsA5/FkBFJRdHx6upt_PLUS_ycA== |access-date=June 12, 2022 |website=New York State Courts Electronic Filing System}} Mayor Walsh immediately announced that the City would appeal Justice Neri’s decision. As of now, there is no date for the appeal to be heard.

{{Election box begin no change|title=2017 Syracuse mayoral general election{{cite web|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20181227065938/http://www.ongov.net/elections/documents/GE17FINALRESULTS.pdf|archivedate=December 27, 2018|url=http://www.ongov.net/elections/documents/GE17FINALRESULTS.pdf|title=The Election Book: Onondaga County Board of Elections, 2017 General Election|date=December 18, 2017|publisher=Onondaga County, New York|pages=57–60}}}}

{{Election box candidate with party link no change|candidate=Ben Walsh|party=Independence Party of New York|votes=12,351|percentage=48.38%}}

{{Election box candidate no change|candidate=Ben Walsh|party=Reform/Upstate Jobs|color=#6A287E|votes=1,233|percentage=4.83%}}

{{Election box winning candidate no change|candidate=Ben Walsh|party=Total|votes=13,584|percentage=53.21%}}

{{Election box candidate with party link no change|candidate=Juanita Perez Williams|party=Democratic Party (US)|votes=9,701|percentage=38.00%}}

{{Election box candidate with party link no change|candidate=Howie Hawkins|party=Green Party of the United States|votes=1,017|percentage=4.02%}}

{{Election box candidate with party link no change|candidate=Laura B. Lavine|party=Republican Party (US)|votes=673|percentage=2.64%}}

{{Election box candidate with party link no change|candidate=Joe Nicoletti|party=Working Families Party|votes=305|percentage=1.19%}}

{{Election box write-in with party link no change|votes=25|percentage=0.10%}}

{{Election box total no change|votes=25,555|percentage=100%}}

{{Election box gain with party link no change|winner=Independence Party of New York|loser=Democratic Party (United States)}}

{{Election box end}}

{{Election box begin no change|title=2021 Syracuse mayoral general election{{Cite web|date=November 3, 2021|title=Ben Walsh, Syracuse's first independent mayor, wins reelection for second term|url=https://www.thenewshouse.com/off-campus/politics/ben-walsh-syracuses-first-independent-mayor-wins-reelection-for-second-term/|access-date=November 7, 2021|website=The NewsHouse|language=en-US}}}}

{{Election box winning candidate with party link no change|candidate=Ben Walsh (incumbent)|party=Independence Party of New York|votes=12,013|percentage=59.6%}}

{{Election box candidate with party link no change|candidate=Khalid Bey|party=Democratic Party (United States)|votes=5,520|percentage=27.4%}}

{{Election box candidate with party link no change|candidate=Janet Burman|party=Republican Party (United States)|votes=1,786|percentage=8.9%}}

{{Election box candidate with party link no change|candidate=Janet Burman|party=Conservative Party of New York State|votes=567|percentage=2.8%}}

{{Election box candidate no change|candidate=Janet Burman|party=Total|votes=2353|percentage=11.7%}}

{{Election box write-in with party link no change|votes=57|percentage=0.3%|change=}}

{{Election box total no change| votes = 20163 | percentage= 100%}}

{{Election box end}}

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.syrgov.net/Mayors_Biography.aspx Biography on Syracuse website]
• [http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2017/12/ben_walsh_profile.html Profile on Walsh] from The Post-Standard

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{{Succession box|title=Mayor of Syracuse, NY|before=Stephanie Miner|after=Incumbent|years=2018–present}}

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{{Syracuse, New York}}

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Category:1979 births

Category:Living people

Category:21st-century mayors of places in New York (state)

Category:New York (state) independents

Category:Mayors of Syracuse, New York

Category:Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs alumni

Category:Ithaca College alumni