NEW YORK STATE — Two candidates are on the ballot for the New York State Assembly’s reconfigured 127th District. Incumbent Al Stirpe is running on the Democratic and Working Families lines. Challenger Karen Ayoub is running on the Republican and Conservative lines.
The redrawn 127th District includes the towns of Clay, Cicero, Manlius and Cazenovia.
Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 8. Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Early voting began Saturday, Oct. 29. Visit ongov.net/elections/early-voting.html for more information or contact the Onondaga County Board of Elections at 315-435-8683.
Karen Ayoub (REP, CON)
How will your professional and personal experiences serve you in government?
My background is in public accounting with an international accounting firm serving clients of various sizes and industries. I have been an active member of the community, schools, and charitable organizations including the fight against opioid addiction.
What are the top concerns or issues constituents have expressed to you? How do you plan to address these issues?
NYS taxes have become overly burdensome to both people and businesses. It is time to take a hard look at state expenditures and identify areas of wasteful spending with an eye towards reducing overall government spending to provide some tax relief for the people.
With large companies such as Micron and Amazon investing in Central New York, what is your plan to encourage smart development, preserve CNY’s natural resources and protect homeowners from high real property taxes?
This is a time to keep all lines of communication open between local and state government, corporate entities and the people of CNY. Planning and evaluation of benchmarks at each stage of the process need to be monitored with an eye towards proactive detection of issues to be addressed immediately. Promises made to our community must be kept.
The pandemic has deeply impacted students’ academic performance and mental health. What is your plan to help address these issues?
Post-COVID we will provide funding for student and family mental health counseling. We must focus on core academics with an emphasis on STEM, recognizing individual student talents and interests to properly guide and prepare them for their chosen career path be it the trades, technical or university-bound. Our current youth must be prepared for the future and opportunities presented by the promise of the coming of Micron to CNY.
When it comes to issues such as bail reform and gun ownership laws, what can New York State do to balance individual rights with public safety?
Discussions must include law enforcement and our judiciary if we are to develop balanced public safety legislation. Our top goal should be to prevent crimes before they happen and address the underlying issues in our communities that drive crime without overburdening law-abiding citizens. That means investing time into strengthening underserved communities, better training our law enforcement agencies to connect with their communities as well as pursue criminals, and making sure our judges have the information and authority they need to uphold justice.
Al Stirpe (DEM, WOR)
How will your professional and personal experiences serve you in government?
I worked in my family’s restaurant since I was 5. I had two of my own businesses (CIDTEC and Qube Software). So I know what it’s like to make payroll and keep the lights on. In between, I’ve worked for big companies like General Electric, small companies like Expandable Software and not-for-profit. I’ve been the stepfather of a child with severe disabilities for almost 30 years, so I’ve experienced all the obstacles trying to get services and know what is needed to help families dealing with these issues (especially supportive housing for adult children with disabilities of aging parents).
What are the top concerns or issues constituents have expressed to you? How do you plan to address these issues?
Throughout the years people have always asked for more job opportunities so that their children won’t have to move away and so they can be close to their grandchildren. I think we’re on our way to providing those jobs with Amazon, JMA Wireless, Micron, as well as the success of the Tech Garden for start-up technology companies.
Property taxes are another concern. Over the years we’ve provided STAR, Enhanced STAR and like this past year, property tax rebate checks. This helps fight inflation along with removing the state sales tax on gas, diapers, sanitary napkins, etc.
With large companies such as Micron and Amazon investing in Central New York, what is your plan to encourage smart development, preserve CNY’s natural resources and protect homeowners from high real property taxes?
We will have to consider a focus on housing density. The city of Syracuse has the infrastructure to accommodate 250,000 inhabitants. The same is true in many towns and villages. This would reduce the cost to taxpayers by eliminating the expense of continuing to expand sewers, water, power lighting and roads. We will also need to sizably increase public transit to get people from across the region to these new workplaces. This would help get people in the city of Syracuse, who will be needed to fill many of these jobs, out to the suburbs without vastly increasing traffic.
The pandemic has deeply impacted students’ academic performance and mental health. What is your plan to help address these issues?
We’ve provided schools with record funding to allow them to assist students suffering from social/emotional needs by hiring more school psychologists and social workers. They are also now able to beef up their after-school tutoring and study sessions and enhance summer school. Plus they are able to hire more teachers and TAs in order to reduce class size.
When it comes to issues such as bail reform and gun ownership laws, what can New York State do to balance individual rights with public safety?
While bail reform has become a political football, the data shows that it has achieved its main goals. The prison population of people who have not been convicted of any crime is down significantly, which means they can continue working and providing for their families, continue receiving benefits or continuing in programs. The purpose of bail is to ensure that people show up for their court dates. Appearance for court has actually increased slightly.
While crime has increased in NY, it has increased equally across the country in states without bail reform, caused many by conditions from the pandemic.
