svante

Interview Highlights

– Spoke about his early childhood of growing up poor to becoming the youngest Mayor of Ithaca at age 24 in 2012.

– Inherited a budget deficit of $3 million but through “merging departments, streamlining operations, reducing the size of our staff..and growing our tax base” the deficit has been erased.

– “We (Ithaca) now have the lowest unemployment rate in all of New York” through changing zoning laws to allow for more growth, re-building downtown, and investing in infrastructure.

– Spoke about the challenges of getting young people involved in government. Stated their is a belief that “politics is corrupt…and nothing they do will actually matter.”   

About Svante L. Myrick

Mayor Svante L. Myrick was elected Mayor of Ithaca New York as youngest Mayor and first Mayor of color on January 1, 2012.  This after serving the 4th Ward of the city for 4 years on Common Council.  Myrick is a member of the Democratic Party. First elected at age of 20 to Ithaca’s Common Council, Myrick was one of the youngest elected African-Americans in United States history. At 27, he is one of the youngest mayors in US history.  When Mayor Myrick assumed office in January 2012, he inherited an anticipated $3 million to $3.5 million budget deficit in the City of Ithaca.  By the end of Myrick’s 2nd year in office, half his term, the Mayor’s adopted FY14 budget had successfully closed the budget deficit inherited in 2012, and brought about the lowest tax levy increase in over a decade.

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