Syracuse councilors weigh in on mayor race, expectations for Miner's State of the City speech

As she prepares to step down at the end of the year, Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner will give her state of the city speech on Thursday outlining her priorities for 2017. While the field is wide open for who will be the next mayor, some Syracuse Common Councilors are weighing in on what they would like Miner to focus on in the meantime. Councilor Helen Hudson made her thoughts clear about running for mayor. “Absolutely not, absolutely not,” Hudson said. Hudson said she thinks Miner will focus on addressing poverty in her state of the city speech and said the next mayor will need to focus on this continuing problem as well. “You have to," Hudson said. "Because if you cannot bring your city back, you’ll see tumbleweeds rolling down the street. Syracuse was deemed number one in concentrated poverty for blacks and Latinos, but that didn't exclude Rochester, that didn't exclude Buffalo, all of our big fives in the state of New York were all in the same position. We're all trying to scramble