The Honorable Sharon Owens

55th Mayor of Syracuse, New York

Good afternoon, Syracuse! 

To God be the Glory for this great thing he has done! 

I want to thank each and everyone of you for being her today, for those watching, listening now and later. 

Thank you to Kamala Harris for those kind words and Attorney General Letitia James and Bishop Alex.  

Thank you to my parents who never lowered their expectations for me and recognized and nurtured my gifts. 

I’m the oldest of three, so thanks to my sister and brother for bearing with growing up with me. 

Thank you to my children: 

Simone whose confidence in her womanhood I wish I had at her age 

Isaac, the quiet soul who has shown us that a person’s unique walk, paves a path for us all. 

You make us the family we are. 

My husband Shaun, who has been my rock for 35 years. No matter my journey, when I turn to my side I see my partner.  

Thanks to the Owens/Moody clan, all 2,000 of you!

Thank you to my hometown and church family from Geneva. 

To my dear friends and Owens for Syracuse crew, you believed when no one else did. I can’t take time to name you all (Monica), we only have an hour. I love you all. 

Syracuse is my home! Syracuse is our home! 

Forty-four years ago, as an eighteen-year-old girl from Geneva, New York, I arrived on the Syracuse University campus for an adventure. Once there I found some track spikes and earned a scholarship. I didn't know a soul in this city. 

But in Manley Field House, surrounded by teammates who would become family, I found something more than a place to train—I found the first members of what would become a lifelong extended family. I found my new home. 

That young woman—that high jumper, that Big East champion, that Olympic qualifier—stands before you today Syracuse, as your 55th Mayor. 

As I reflect on this moment, I acknowledge that this journey did not begin September 30, 2024. 

It was forged through the faith and fortitude of our enslaved and indigenous ancestors, 

a woman named Harriet,

Jerry and his rescuers, 

Martin, Malcolm and a 

19 year old shero named Ester determined to escape the poverty and discrimination of the Jim Crow south for the hope and opportunity of New York. 

To the elders of this community, you who for decades looked toward a future when there would be a mayor who looks like you—I am humbled beyond measure. I will work every single day to make you proud. 

To every young person in Syracuse and anywhere else, Particularly those who braided their hair and twisted their locs. To those who have been told you don't have the experience, who has been called the underdog, 

who has been told that certain dreams are beyond your reach—hear me clearly: 

There is nothing beyond your reach. 

Your mayor is living proof of that fact. 

Before I look forward, I must look beside me—to a man who exemplified what servant leadership looks like. 

He stepped down as Mayor just days ago. Ben Walsh, 

you inherited a city facing tremendous challenges, and you met them with integrity, innovation, and an unwavering commitment to all Syracuse residents. For eight years, you led with steady hands through a global pandemic, through economic uncertainty, through moments that tested the soul of our city.

And when the time came, you did something rare in public life—you supported the person you believed could carry this work forward, regardless of party, regardless of anything except what was best for Syracuse.  

You have passed a baton, not a burden. 

I thank you my friend and I wish all this world has to offer you and your family. 

Now, let me be clear about what time it is in Syracuse. 

We stand at a crossroads unlike any in our history. We are not merely experiencing change—we are standing at the threshold of transformation. 

The $100 billion Micron investment will bring nearly 50,000 jobs to Central New York. And countless business and job opportunities through parallel industries. 

The $2.25 billion Interstate 81 Viaduct Project is creating new career paths while reconnecting neighborhoods that have been divided for sixty years—tearing down not just concrete, but the literal shadow that has hovered over our communities for generations. 

Our population is rising for the first time in decades. 

This is our moment. And we will maximize it.

I did not run for mayor to celebrate statistics. I ran because I know—from my years of working in the community sitting at kitchen tables and on doorsteps across this city—that prosperity means nothing if it doesn't reach every neighborhood, every family, every child. 

Let me speak plainly about the challenges before us. 

Nearly half of our children—live below the poverty line. Black and Latino families bear the heaviest weight of this burden, the result of generations of disinvestment that we can no longer accept and will not tolerate. 

Our housing challenge is real. More than sixty percent of Syracuse residents are renters, and too many of them are paying more than they can afford for homes that don't meet basic standards of safety and dignity. 

25% of our families move two times each year affecting their stability.  Too many of our neighbors face the impossible choice between paying housing costs and buying groceries.  

The evidence of our unsheltered, mentally ill and substance abused neighbors is heartbreaking. 

While crime has fallen significantly—and we celebrate that progress—however, one gun shot, one stabbing, one porch pirated package is too much. 

I will not pretend and ask you not to pretend that these problems have easy solutions. They don't.

But I know something else with equal certainty: the people of Syracuse are fighters, and so am I. 

Innovation will be the key that unlocks our future. 

Let me tell you what that means in practice. 

It means we will not simply build housing—we will reinvent how we build housing. We will partner with modular construction pioneers, pursue every state, federal and private resource available, and reach for energy efficiency to close the gap between what it costs to build a home and what working families can afford. 

Where you lay your head must not predetermine your potential but how you lay your head can most certainly affect that potential. 

Our Thriving Neighborhoods initiative will transform not just houses, but entire corridors—because your zip code should never determine your destiny. 

Innovation means rethinking public safety. 

It means increasing the ranks of dedicated individuals who wear the uniforms of our police and fire departments. 

It means community policing that builds trust. 

It means investing in mental health resources, in violence prevention, in addressing the root causes of crime.

Innovation means ensuring that when Micron creates those 50,000 jobs, Syracuse residents—especially those from historically marginalized communities—are prepared for the work. 

We will partner with our schools, our educational institutions , and our training programs to build pathways to these careers. 

We will support small businesses and women, minority and veteran-owned enterprises so that the rising tide lifts boats in every neighborhood, 

We will develop Syracuse’s waterfront neighborhood: the Inner Harbor 

Innovation means tearing down the I-81 viaduct isn't just a construction project—it's a healing project, 

to rebuild the former 15th Ward not as it was, but as it should have been. We want to create housing and green space and economic opportunity on land that has been scarred by the interstate for sixty years. 

Now, I know some people wonder if this can really happen. I know there are those who have heard big promises before. 

But here is what I need you to understand about who I am. 

I am the woman who showed up at the Dunbar Center, 4 decades ago when it was expecting SU football players to intern and got a track athlete who worked harder than anyone expected.

I am the woman who walked the streets of the lower east side during the infant mortality crisis, door to door, kitchen table to kitchen table, because that's how you save lives—person to person. 

I’m the parent who raised a differently abled young man, and learned that educational pathways must be diverse, that opportunity must be extensive, that we cannot leave any child behind because their path looks different. 

When I say I understand the struggles facing Syracuse families, I mean it. This is not policy for me. This is personal. 

So today, I’ll make this covenant with the people of Syracuse. As a pastor, understand that a covenant is more than a statement, it is a relational commitment.  

So this covenant I will make: 

I will listen before I speak. 

learn before I act. 

I will work to build coalitions across every neighborhood, every background, every economic circumstance—because we can do nothing alone. 

I will fight for 

housing that is safe, affordable, and dignified. 

economic opportunity that reaches every corner of this city. schools that prepare our children for the jobs of tomorrow  streets where every person can walk without fear. 

a Syracuse where your past doesn't limit your future. My friends, do you know what I see when I look out at this gathering?

I see the women I worked with at Head Start, who came back to me years later saying, "I got my GED. I went back to school. I have a good job. My baby is going to college!" 

I see the entrepreneurs in our neighborhoods who deserve to turn on the lights in storefronts that have sat dark for far too long. 

I see young people who will become the engineers and technicians building chips that power the future of technology. 

I see the families who will finally own a home of their own, who will build wealth to pass down to their children. 

I see the elders who prayed and marched and worked for this day, and who will see their grandchildren grow up in a city that is healthier, safer, and more prosperous than ever before. 

I see Syracuse—not as it is, but as it can be, as it will be. The strength of Syracuse has always been its people. 

Recently I watched the documentary BooYa! About the great sports commentator and professional Stuart Scott. His quote is one for us all: 

”Don’t downgrade your dream just to fit your reality. Upgrade your conviction to match your destiny.” 

So Syracuse, are you ready? 

Ready to build a city where every child can thrive?

to prove that our best days are not behind us, but ahead of us? Then let's do this thing, Syracuse! 

Let's move forward—together—for our future, to maximize the most for our city. 

And together, we're going to make it greater than it's ever been. God bless you, and God bless the City of Syracuse!