A former Syracuse University employee recently became the seventh candidate to join the Syracuse mayoral race.

Juanita Perez Williams, a Democrat, announced her candidacy after receiving support and encouragement from her friends, family and community members.

“It’s a huge decision,” Perez Williams, 53, said, adding that people at her age are usually thinking about retirement.

If elected, Perez Williams plans to prioritize solving the city’s poverty issues. She also said she would work to make immigrants in the city feel safe during President Donald Trump’s presidency.

Perez Williams joined the military after completing her education and is now a United States Navy veteran. Her time serving as a military attorney, she said, paid off because she learned how to stand up and to find solutions. The military is where she said she started to see success.

“It taught me the ability to unleash the talent of other people, put people in the right place, come up with a plan and move forward,” she said.

She worked at SU for eight years, beginning in 2001, overseeing judicial affairs for the school. She later became the associate dean of students.

Following Perez Williams’ time at SU, Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner appointed her as a city attorney in 2010. Before joining the mayoral race, she also served as Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s regional labor department’s representative for the central New York region. After working at the federal, state and local levels for many years, Perez Williams said she has more advantages compared to that of other candidates.

Perez Williams is competing with Democrats Alfonso Davis, Marty Masterpole, Andrew Maxwell and Joe Nicoletti. Laura Lavine is the Republican rival, and Ben Walsh is running independently.

“I know many of them are born and raised here,” the California-born candidate said, but added that she has “a perspective that none of these candidates really have.”

If elected, Perez Williams said her first goal would be to revitalize the city’s neighborhoods.

The city of Syracuse is facing a wide range of political, economic and social issues. In the Brookings Institution’s latest annual Metro Monitor economic growth ranking, published in January, Syracuse had fallen to last place out of 100 metropolitan cities in the United States that were surveyed.

Between 2010 and 2015, Syracuse ranked 100th in economic growth, 80th in prosperity and 83rd in inclusion, a measure indicating whether economic growth raises standards of living for all people, according to the report.

The United States Census Bureau officially ranked the city the 29th poorest city in the country last year, according to bureau data.

“Poverty in the city of Syracuse is really based on a lack of opportunities in the neighborhood,” she said, pointing out a lack of local industry, training for job matching, daycare, housing and more. “In any neighborhood, you got to build the understanding that this is a place I live, I can be proud of, I’m responsible for, I’m accountable for and my voice is heard.”

Perez Williams said younger generations in the city don’t have the opportunity to work because the education system doesn’t offer a lot of resources for students.

The graduation rate for the Syracuse City School District hit 55 percent for the 2014-15 school year, the highest it has been in eight years, according to the state Education Department’s website. The August graduation rate was 58 percent, but that still fell shy of the targeted 60 percent that officials had previously hoped for.

“We may see a slight incline in the graduation rate but I’m questioning whether or not we are ignoring the fact that we are losing so many ninth graders,” she said.

In regard to Trump’s controversial immigration policies and Miner’s declaration of Syracuse as a “sanctuary city,” Perez Williams said she supported the mayor’s idea, but the conversation needs to be more than just words.

“A sanctuary city is perhaps causing more fear to them than it is helping them,” said Perez Williams.

She said she is concerned that a sanctuary city might offer a “false hope.”

It should make people feel safe, but also give them the opportunity for livelihood in the community, Perez Williams said. She added that the term sanctuary city suggests protection for people, but doesn’t give immigrants the tools to know their rights or give them the strength to protect and defend themselves.

Trump recently signed an executive order that could take needed federal funding away from cities that do not comply with federal immigration laws.

Miner, a vocal critic of Trump’s approach to immigration policy, participated in a protest at the Syracuse Hancock International Airport after Trump signed his initial executive order that banned travel from seven Muslim-majority countries. According to NYup.com, the city in 2016 accepted 157 refugees from Syria, one of the countries that was impacted by both of Trump’s executive orders.

Said Perez Williams: “I want to have a city for new Americans that creates pathways to jobs, housing and education.”

Published on March 21, 2017 at 10:58 pm

Contact Chieh: chchen@syr.edu