Lance Denno and Helen Hudson
Credit Facebook.com
This is a third in a series of profiles of selected local races in Onondaga County ahead of the Nov. 3 election.
An incumbent, a former councilor, and a retired police chief are running in the Syracuse Councilor-At-Large race. However, voters will choose only two of them.
Steve Thompson might not be the household name it once was in Syracuse. After all, it's been 10 years since he retired from the police department after a 35 year career. But he's stayed involved through volunteer work and serving on varies committees.
"When I knocked on doors, what I found was people that would say 'Oh, you're the Steve Thompson who's the police chief,' or 'Oh, you're the Steve Thompson who attended this meeting or that meeting,'" Thompson said. "So, I think that it gives me some credibility with individuals. They know what I have done, and when I tell them what a plan to do, they're reassured."
Thompson said he brings a career's worth of listening and finding solutions to the challenges facing city neighborhoods.
Former democratic Councilor Lance Denno is hoping to get back in the fold after a few years off, but this time as a Green Party candidate.
"I hear this from Democrats as well as from independents, republicans, conservatives; I mean, across the board, people are looking for an alternative," Denno said. "And most voters are more interested in the candidate as an individual and where they stand on specific issues than they are in their party affiliation."
Denno says he's also running on his previous record of being that independent voice.
Incumbent Helen Hudson also seems to pride herself on taking her own path. She was one of the only councilors who didn't support the vision of Consensus, the local government modernization commission.
"We had two different versions because I was adamant that schools need to be included," Hudson said. "Well, I was told from the county legislature if you present that with the school district, we're going to vote it down. So, it didn't get presented with the school district, so still a big push because a lot of folks, they don't want to even entertain that idea."
Hudson says she hopes to make her case by looking at the success rates of other districts that merged county-wide in North Carolina, Tennessee, and Ohio.
