IamA Green Party candidate for City Council office in Syracuse NY; have been designated as one of the top 6 "Powerhouse Candidates to Watch" in America by the National GPUS Campaign Committee, and am running in the shadow of Bernie Sanders' progre...

Hi Frank,

What do you plan to do about Bob Congel? Its my understanding that Pyramid has repeatedly broken promises pertaining to the rehabilitation on the brownfields around the mall. They were supposed to clean up the sites and build renewable energy power generation in the form of fuel cells, solar panels etc in exchange for their tax-exempt status. They never built those facilities, and the city will no doubt cut him another deal in the future.

I don't have full details at this time as to the full contract/agreement with Congel, but I will say that going forward I will not vote for any developer subsidies unless there is a clear and contractual CBA (or Community Benefits Agreement) in place (which should include local hiring requirements), and then only after it has been determined that the development is in the interest of all Syracusan's not only financially, but also socially, and culturally (malls at the expense of downtown fulfills none of those requirements in my mind). Now that you bring this question up, I am curious to research if there are any currently available matrix templates for judging the feasibility of a development subsidy request in the light of other factors (such as social welfare).

Are you familiar with Circles of Sustainabilty? It measures a city or region on four social domains culture, economics, ecology, and politics. More info here and here.

Maybe it could also be used by businesses to provide some information on the region impacts across the 4 domains. Best of luck in your campaign and thank you for doing this AMA!

Hey thanks, that's not a tool I have heard of actually, I'm eager to check it out though (ahem, I do have a Master of Science degree in Sustainable Systems, so should be up my alley). And, you're welcome.

Thank you, that is an excellent answer, if I still lived in 'Cuse you would have my vote. If you find a matrix could you share it please?! Best of luck with your campaign!!

Share with your friends who are still in the Cuse if you can, thanks! When did you live here?

I went to SU from 2009-2014

just missed you. Come back to visit us sometime.

I'm not defending Congel but there is a quite of bit of work going on in those brown fields currently. They are grading them and even installed a driveway in one of the larger fields. It seems they are setting up to do some building.

It looks that way, probably in anticipation of the expected dollars that will be available relating to the Inner Harbor mixed-use development going on (separate from Congel). I had proposed an urban campground in one of those spots for tourism, and bicyclists along the Erie Canal corridor, though doubt that would ever happen, not even potential revenue from a developers perspective.

Hi Frank,

You might reach a more targeted audience by also doing an IAMA on /r/upstate_new_york or /r/syracuse

This the first that I've heard of you, but I'm very impressed by your work.

Did your gardens require any remediation? Do you have hope that condemned or unused building in Syracuse (I admit that I know nothing about the layout of Syracuse), could be turned into green spaces?

We soil test each of our sites, and they have all fallen within the safe parameters for heavy metal and toxin levels. In any case, we heavily invest in adding organic matter to the locations, which provides all kinds of good healthy benefits to soil health and food growing, and watershed health, as well as binding materials such as lead to prevent them from entering the environment in a way accessible to the human system. I think unused buildings should be used for manufacturing, and industrial uses, and that outdoor spaces should be used for food production and agriculture, yes, even in upstate NY - see Elliot Coleman and Four Season Gardening. I bought a house for $1 from the city, a 100-year old Victorian that had sat vacant and falling apart for 4 years, and am turning it and the surrounding yard and adjoining lot into a functional and productive green space - so yes.

How do you to about buying a house for a dollar? I heard there was a lot more to it but can't find the info. I know its a lot of fix me uppers but that isn't a problem.

There are no more $1 homes on the market here, that was a short-lived strategy, but there are many many affordable houses and vacant lots through the Greater Syracuse Land Bank (seizes tax delinquent properties and puts them back on the tax rolls and in use). When I bought the $1 home I had to show a work plan/scope of work, and obtain pre-approval of a construction loan (and promise to live here for a specified amount of time, 5 years I think).

How do you feel about the 2nd amendment and they way New York currently regulates firearms?

I just heard someone speaking about the 2nd amendment the other night - Comedian Barry Crimmins who performed here in Syracuse (he is originally from nearby Skaneateles). His theories and analysis were pretty interesting, but neither he nor I are Constitutional scholars. Point being, I don't see guns ever going away - just like I don't see marijuana use, or prostitution, from ever going away. So should they be legalized and regulated? Guns are already legal, just not regulated enough - that's what I would like to see. And no, I don't think someone should be able to have an automatic rifle or other weapon intended for combat just hanging out in their bedroom - "get a room", or a range, for that stuff.

How can you possibly day guns are not regulated enough... You have no idea what you're talking about

Can you tell me more about the limits of gun regulation? Are you sure there is nothing more we can do to make it an equitable, fair, and safe process and ownership, to keep guns out of the wrong hands?

Not regulated enough? Try getting a CCW in Onondaga County Frank, it's regulated plenty. My cousin protects your city, I can assure you the guns on the street are not legally acquired registered weapons.

Yes, I'd like to know how the guns on the street appeared there too if there was enough regulation and oversight in place?

The same way the phony marijuana causing big problems in the Cuse got there, supply and demand. There was a recent bust of weapons being run from Georgia to NY, can't remember the exact month. The guns that were being transported were illegal by definition of taking them into NY so what I'd like to know from you is how more laws will prevent that. In NYC even the police from elsewhere in the state cannot carry their duty weapon without permission, so how did Cuomo's staff member catch one in the head? Why didn't the stiffest laws in the land prevent that?

Can you take it back further? Where did the guns being smuggled originally come from? Why was there no way to track their possession from manufacture to current location?

Is your response to those who want to keep and use firearms is, "Get a room / range?" If so, then your knowledge of America's founding documents is fundamentally flawed.

Our Founders explicitly included the Second Amendment to assure the Citizenry could always overthrow an oppressive or abusive government. If you are so fortunate as to raise your right hand and swear to uphold the Constitution, you should understand what the hell you are swearing to defend.

Robin, do you know how much money our federal government currently spends on defense and weaponry? Do you think that the citizenry will ever come close to being able to overthrow that? Does the citizenry have tanks and fighter jets and all those goodies? Is that your understanding of what you think will happen some day? If so, then I want to know more about how that is going to happen? Also like, where the quote in italics that you gave me came from.

You do know that the 2nd amendment states "Shall not be infringed", right? The government has no right to tell me I can't keep my automatic rifle sitting on my bedside, if I wanted to.

Also, your argument about tanks and fighter jets and drones and stuff is a little flawed. We spent 15 years using all of those things in Afghanistan. And we lost to a bunch of guys with AKs hiding in caves. Not to mention that if there was a large scale rebellion against the government, the government would be fighting easily fighting about 10x as many people as they did in Afghanistan. If you want my math- 300 million guns, with about 30% of americans owning guns. 100 million gun owners, and lets say 10% of that actually take up arms- 10 million people fighting. In Afghanistan, we fought against less than 100,000 people. In a war vs the USA, they wouldn't be able to use drones. Could you imagine how much shit the media would give if they learned we were using drone strikes against our own citizens?

This doesn't even factor in how many people in the military would refuse to even fight against their own citizens

You would do that? Leave it lying on your bedside table, with no lock, where anyone could grab it? Locked you say? What if it was mandated to be locked? Is that infringing on your rights? These hypothetical bug out scenarios are tiring you have no idea what the power holders would resort to if there was an armed civilian uprising, neither do I. You keep your guns and I'll keep working to create equality by developing jobs, health care resources, housing, and free peanuts at my local pub. Btw, the current military and police already fight against their own citizens (during protests and occupations), why would they not in the future?

If you raise are so fortunate as to your right hand and swear to uphold the Constitution, you should understand what the hell you are swearing to defend.

Presumably he can do that whilst aiming to change the law, even if it means a change to the constitution? I think I'm right in saying that the idea was that the constitution would change with the times, rather than be seen as some sort of fixed form of perfection..

Although if we are looking for criticism, I'd argue that /u//franklenraymond's answer reads like a hedge somewhat that can be read and understood to mean something slightly different within a fairly broad spectrum... Or rather, I think you deserve a little clarity on what 'regulation' and '"get a room", or a range, for that stuff' means in context...

Fair enough. "Get a room" is a euphemism for having combat weapons securely stored and used at a range or other permitted facility. I don't have a problem with owning a relatively appropriate handgun for protection, and a simple rifle for hunting, as long as you are a qualified user and mentally stable, and we can track the gun, and you take responsibility for where it ends up if it leaves your hands.

Hi Frank!

I was born and raised in Syracuse. I went to SU and received two degrees.

I left because, frankly, there was very little in the way of promising growth and work. Many of my peers and friends left too.

There are things that I miss, like restaurants, the Fair, the University...the things that most people love about the Cuse.

But there is a distinct lack of presence and growth in the tech industries.

How do you plan to help Syracuse become great again and stop the brain drain?

Also, how do you feel about municipal internet services like in Chattanooga and incorporating them in Syracuse as a way to energize the business climate?

Hi Six, I am originally from the Pittsburgh area, and I have seen how that city has transformed itself from steel town to tech town. People in Syracuse think that we are headed in that direction, but hell, our city can't even livestream and archive public meetings, so we as government are not leading by example even. My idea for stopping the brain drain is making a place that people want to be in - i.e. there is not excessive poverty and segregation (who wouldn't be proud of that and want to stay?), and the accompanying crime and safety issues that so many people cite. One of my goals in city council is to create a public financed revolving loan fund for worker cooperative start-ups, and let's get more of those tech businesses up and running, but also anchored here (there is a story of a recent winner of a competitive grant who won and promptly in less than a month after that moved to NYC, with our money).

Completely in favor of municipal broadband. I have even thought about starting a neighborhood mesh network on my own time and dollar to show the potential at the grassroots level.

What do you consider the best pizza in Syracuse?

Without hesitation, my favorite is Peppino's :>)

Though, my fave pizza in the whole world comes from the small patch town of Royal in SW Pennsylvania were I was raised - The Pizza Wagon! https://www.facebook.com/pizzawagon

Frank, the state of care for those suffering from mental illness and addiction in Syracuse is abysmal; the rescue mission on Gifford is essentially on open drug market and programs such as the supportive living from SBH no longer provide assistance to those completing a program in a halfway house and instead focusing on giving an apartment to anyone fresh off the street whether they've been clean at all or not. This is in contrast to those with months of sobriety being denied assistance for aftercare housing over those with less clean time, if any.

My question: how would you address a growing addiction epidemic on a county level? How would that differ from how you would address it on a national level? Do have plans or even support public funding of substance abuse and mental health rehabilitation as well as supportive living programs?

This is a major concern, it exacerbates the poverty epidemic, it creates hostile environment for residents and visitors. Mental illness cannot be made to disappear, there must be adequate treatment facilities and staff, there can be no shortcuts in this area of spending. I once spent time at an ecovillage in the country of Iceland (I was there completing an internship for my higher-ed degree). It was called Solheimer and it existed to take care of people with developmental disabilities. Here's the thing, they weren't just treated and set into a room somewhere, and they weren't just treated and put back on the street - they were given jobs (I guess these days you would call this social entrepreneurship) on site such as tending the tomato greenhouses, or making handcrafts that were then sold at market. And they lived on site, in independent tiny homes, with attendants living nearby. It takes a village. And it can't be a NIMBY situation, these poeple exist, their problems exist, their problems are our problems, and they require action. Can you imagine what it must be like to be forgotten and pushed aside on a daily basis by the rest of society?

Hey frank! Want go to Faegans? I'm starving

Hmmm, only been there one time - better get there soon before they tear it down or there will be a wait! But sadly, my belly is full, just got back from a fundraising event for the Rahma Free Health Clinic where dinner was served - I developed the food forest snack garden that is on the clinic's property adjacent to the building at 3100 South Salina St - https://www.facebook.com/Rahma-Edible-Forest-Snack-Garden-1434315193475219/

Since Syracuse is one massive landfill with insanely high taxes, white flight out to all the surrounding burbs, a rapidly degenerating old iron industrial base, please explain how raising the minimum wage to $15 will do anything other than accelerate above?

It's about providing for the minimum livable wage, not some random minimum wage. We've done the calculations for our local economy and $14.65 is the minimum livable wage to cover basic costs and live without fear. We won't degenerate the industrial base any further because there is none. We won't accelerate flight any longer because we are basically at the max for that and we are now increasing in population within the city, and if we tax people proportionally, not regressively, taxes will be equitable, and we may need less social services paid with your taxes to provide people who are currently not making a living wage with a minimum wage salary (See WalMart anyone).

What's your take on school lunches? How are you going to save money and a healthy meal for kids at the same time?

The neighborhood I live in has 68.2% of its residents living in poverty. Nutrition is a key factor in success and education. Many of these poeple do not have enough food or are in need to food prep assistance and education. One way to do this is to model healthy food choices by providing healthy and balances lunches, and providing them for free for these children in need, of which it is noit their fault they are living in such conditions. This is a long-view issue, we may pay more for school lunches now, and hopefully our community will benefit by better educated and better behaved adults in the future. All schools should have agricultural education as part of the curriculum and contain school gardens on site that is able to prepare and provide some of the lunch ingredients.

All schools should have agricultural education as part of the curriculum and contain school gardens on site that is able to prepare and provide some of the lunch ingredients.

This is such a beautiful idea.

As a hiker and wild food consumer, I see so much waste when I look around and all I see are pines, oaks, etc. Why not replace them with fruit trees? This goes for trees in cities, parks, and schools.

Those bushes around schools should be blackberry, thimbleberry, raspberry, etc.

And I have the expertise to make this happen, see our urban forest garden project in Syracuse that I developed - https://www.facebook.com/Rahma-Edible-Forest-Snack-Garden-1434315193475219/

how can I get my friends to be excited about the political process not only on a national level but also on a local scale?

I was hoping one of you would have that answer for me :>) Like I said, the shadow of Bernie Sanders right now is pulling many of our local progressives to spend their time organizing debate watching parties and getting signatures for the Bernie lists, and not working on our local progressive campaigns unfortunately, even though the election is over a year off. Ask them to turn off the TV, video games, music videos, and other screen time suckers for a week, and absorb the world around them, it might make them see what's actually going on in this world?

What is your ideal solution to the I-81 question, and why. How would you deal with the possible negative side-effects of your solution?

I am in favor of the boulevard solution (restoring the street grid). I want to live in a usable city, right now I-81 is mostly there to benefit the folks who want the straightest line possible. What do you think crash? What solution would you like to see? The main negatives that the grid solution seems to bring to the news are the potential loss of sales and revenue to city businesses, and Destiny. I don't know if it has been proved that will happen, but we do see many examples now of highways coming down and the beautiful cities that emerge. And 481 is a nice and pretty drive around the city for those who don't want to stop in ;>)

Should banks/universities be regulated as public utilities?

I believe that banks have been given too much free reign, and they have proven that they are unable to properly manage the money in the best interests of their customers (see the 2007-2008 debacle). In contrast, our Credit Union community utilized our own reserve funds as a highly regulated and coordinated federation to bail ourselves out of the slump, while we know that the banks required taxpayer money to be bailed out. I believe that regulation is not a freedom limiting concept.

The current issue with universities is that they pay no property tax in our community but hold a large percentage of the land base. If there is no regulation, then why should they get a free pass on paying a fair share to the city and infrastructure?

Should Shafer be fired?

DO I go out of my way to watch or listen to the games? No. Why? Because they are losing. You're not a real fan Frank. Give me a reason to watch, it doesn't even have to be winning, I'm talking about personality, passion, community engagement, etc. I think three years should be a standard mark, if there is not a recognizable turnaround by that point, so long.

Hello Frank I was wondering what you thought about the legalisation of recreational cannabis?

Legalize & regulate, like alcohol and tobacco.

Just a genuine question I always ask to everybody who tries to call himself "green".

What's your energy policy? Are you really into renewables everywhere (including biofuels) or do you accept that some baseload power has to be always available and not depend from nature (for example nuclear)?

Thanks for your time

I accept that in the short-term there must be some fossil fuel usage, but that a clear plan should be in place with a timeline for the conversion to 100% renewables. Listen, I grew up in coal country, my father made his living on a coal train, I understand that people are surviving with these industries as employment, but that doesn't mean we have to accept that forever. I do not believe that nuclear is necessary, nor desirable due to the environmental and human health concerns with the wastes and potential malfunctions. Also, all of the estimates I have seen indicate that renewable energy systems create more jobs. When I bought my $1 home, i made it "frack-free" by going all-electric, didn't hook the gas line back up, am getting solar panels this year, and eventually hope to be 100% off of fossil fuels.

Wait, I never mentioned fossil fuels, and I absolutely have no care for "but fathers have families" arguments.

I mean, if you replace an industry with another, I guess employment will be more or less the same in the end.

I was only interested on the two biggest emotional "bias" I usually see in "greens", which I otherwise totally respect for.. how may I say? Their devotion and foresight.

Which are:

• thinking renewable is itself an end (which usually prevent some to even realize there are polluting renewable energy sources)
• extrapolating the "normal" power usage of the average (middle-high class) Joe and thinking there's no reason for the whole world to not follow this model (and this usually prevent to realize how load distribution works)

In particular, I'd like to know.. how would you cope for, say, cloudy days? Be it your own home or your office. And what about nights or winter?

Ah, I see. No, not an end in itself. A key is reducing energy usage overall, not replacing dirty energy with "clean", nor making energy using appliances more efficient to only end up using more energy in additional and other ways - the Jevons Paradox as I bet you are familiar. Hey, no air-conditioning in my home, and I try not to turn the heat on till after Halloween - downsized my energy usage from what my family practiced when I was growing up.

Why Green Party and not Independent?

First, I'm assuming you don't mean the American Independent Party. Second, because I believe that to have a chance to change the future of electoral politics, it is necessary to build a 3rd party movement. What advantages would you ascribe to being independent?

What are some of your divisive stances, and why do you think some people disagree with them?

$15 minimum wage is seemingly always divisive, but no one seems to have a different way to help people out of poverty and keep wealth in circulation. I don't see any evidence of trickle-down being successful locally, so we should raise the minimum. Anything that is perceived as socialist in nature is divisive to those who are fearful of "communism" even though they rarely understand the difference.

See what I mean, this answer about the minimum wage has gotten more comments than other of my other answers.

I voted for Howie Hawkins in the past election and he got absolutely slaughtered, what do you think you can do differently with your campaign to do better as a Green Party candidate?

If you're referring to the 2014 Gubernatorial election, then well, we as the Green Party did better than ever before, that's movement building not getting slaughtered - we tripled our vote count to over 150,000, and moved up the ballot to line 4, maintained our ballot line status for 4 more years of local elections, and showed we are the "3rd party of record" here in NYS.

My election this year is local, if voter turnout is as low as it was in 2013, I only need 1250 votes total, less if it turns out the Republican actually runs and we have a 3-way race. Totally doable in any instance, and I have been working my butt off since June, the other candidates are resting on their party connections, and likely on spending money in high voter turnout areas in the GOTV time period, not however on building constituent relationships, which is ironically what my Dem incumbent opponent says he is resting his hat on (which in my opinion ins the bare minimum a Councilor should do, and I want to elevate expectations of the position). My grassroots and community building experience have permitted me to reach a tried and true group of previous supporters and bring them into the political and electoral activism realm, we are on track for our $12,000 fundraising goal (though we would like to bum p that to $15,000 with a last minute push and media so that we can tackle a few other media/lit actions).

Do you consider yourself a communist? If not, in what ways are you not a communist?

If I didn, i would say so, and it would probably have been in my bio introduction to this IAmA. Socialism and communism are not one and the same, socialism is an economic system, and communism is a political system (that uses socialism). Here's a good recent article about this type of thing - https://www.jacobinmag.com/2011/12/four-futures/ and if you want ot cehck in on my personal reading list of articles during the campaign, you can go to http://votecetera-syracusegreens.nationbuilder.com/reading_list_on_pinterest

Great work. Every town needs a leader like you. I hope you win and set the bar high for the green party. What are you going to do for clean water and the environment?

I have campaigned both against the shipment of crude oil bomb trains through ou city (one derailment, spill and/or explosion, could set back the cleanup of Onondaga Lake by decades likely), as well as perennial landscaping food agriculture for city right-of-ways (permaculture) to assist with storm drainage and sewer loads. I'm a natural resource scientist by education, I believe in science.

I have to duck out for a while, we are starting afternoon door canvassing in a few minutes so keep reaching voters, so I may get to answer some questions on my smartphone, but if not, I'll respond to questions tonight, thanks for participating everyone! In the meantime, check out my public statement from a couple nights ago and my opponents lackadaisical response - http://votecetera-syracusegreens.nationbuilder.com/washington_square_appearance

What's the relationship of the GPUS to the Sanders' campaign? Will you run somebody against him if he gets the nomination? What sorts of internal politics are happening around this issue?

No internal politics really. Some people think it is a good thing, some don't. But no matter what, the GPUS will have a Presidential candidate just like we did in 2012, the front runner is our previous candidate Jill Stein, but there are a number of people vying for the nomination. We have no formal relationship with the Sanders campaign since he is running as a Democrat. Informally, many of us have relationships with local Sanders supporters, because, well, they are people who live in our community. For instance, I went to a live viewing of the Dems Presidential debate last week at a bar in Solvay (Bridge St Tavern) which was hosted by the a local Syracuse for Sanders group. It was fun. They are progressives in their views, if not in how they see the game of politics from a party standpoint. I got 15 email addresses ;>) I'll tell you one thing though, they are very aggressive in trying to get you to switch parties from Green to blue.

What is your favorite color?

It was red when I was a child, now I would say it is brown (followed closely by green). Or, for football fans, my favorite colors are black & gold.

Do you like pants ?

I don't think they would let me wear a dress into Council chambers.

What are your thoughts on Super Dirt Week relocating?

hopefully the fans and participants will be much further away from the train lines that lead the crude oil bomb trains into our city and directly adjacent to the NYS Fairgrounds. Anyone attending is in the 1/2 mile blast zone, and/or the 1-mile evacuation zone. So I think relocating is a good thing. Aside form that, I haven't kept up with the opinions on this one, is the proposed location not seen as desirable as being at the Fairgrounds?

The diehard mile fans don't think that anything can replace the syracuse mile. On the other hand, I think the new facility will be a much better place for it.

As with any change, it will just take time to get used to I bet, then for the next generation, those who participated at the Fairgrounds will lament the loss, while the youngsters will just hopefully enjoy doing what they enjoy doing at the new location.

Hi Frank,

What do you think about the current health system in the US ? Are you in favor of a single-player health care ?

I am, this would simplify life as well as make it more inexpensive on our government bureaucracy, create a healthier population which should increase education levels and reduce crime levels, and generally show human compassion as a country. The current health care system is actually an insurance company revenue cash flow business plan - if that tells you anything about how I feel.

Shit this is late, but I'll ask a couple questions anyway.

Is synchronizing the traffic lights feasible? Because that would keep traffic flowing. And fuck the Sarah Loguen & Harrison light. And Seeley rd. & Erie.

What can you do to attract joe jobs to the area? There's medical centers and business parks, but what about factories and shit?

idk, but one of my good friends used to be a transportation planner here, maybe I'll ask him soon about the syncing. Renewable energy installation is a good job that is increasing. Manufacturing has to be brought back to the area, but we have to start thinking and finding niches - for instance the only steel plant left here is no longer producing mass steel, but specialty steel products, they can't compete with bulk standard inventories from other countries. I also really want to see us bring small agriculture back with a vengeance, family farms. There is a farm incubator in Burlington VT called Intervale that does just this, we need one too.

The farm incubator. Is that like the vertical farm that was proposed a few years ago?

Naw, I'm not big into the techno-utopian farm scenarios. This is just a multiple acre land holding, where small start-up farmers are leased maybe a 1/2 acre and then given access to the shared tractor, and other tools, equipment and resources to grow with.

Serious question: What is your party's plan to get over the 'Ralph Nader Problem'? Chiefly the problem that a whole generation of liberal people won't vote Green Party because of resentment over the 2000 national election fiasco. Will it just take a couple more decades to get over it or is ther a plan to address it head on?

There is no plan that I know of. This issue is more emblematic of our nation's lack of civic and governmental intelligence than it is only of this election fallacy, we all need to step up to correct it and increase awareness for the greater good of the Democratic process. - http://treesong.org/2014/10/23/the-spoiler-fallacy/

Howdy, I was born in raised in the Syracuse area and currently attend Syracuse University. I am sure you heard about the recent shooting near the university, how do you plan to deal with issues of violence on our streets? Is there any plan you can try to push through in the city or is this all above our head? I am not scared of violence happening to me, but I do not want children being killed for any reason.

Also on a more light hearted note, in regards to our city's name, are you a deer or a bear?

Deer, just like my last name (it is Ceteera, not Ceteara). Increasing policing at the community level (foot and bicycle patrols), increased youth activities during after-school hours, and raising a general awareness that the City Council cares, that we are passionate about fixing the problem, and letting those involved in drug crimes and youth gangs aware of it.

Things really do get better when you as a community of neighbors stand together, I've seen it happen on my street.

Do you talk in third person too or only just write in it?

That was Cut & Paste from website for the bio Mr. hanky ;>)

Are you familiar with participatory budgeting?

How about other innovations promoted by Havard's Ash Center for Democracy that promote small-d democratic government?

Yes, I proposed participatory budgeting for the city in my public statement at a candidates forum last Thursday - you can listen to it at http://votecetera-syracusegreens.nationbuilder.com/washington_square_appearance

I haven't had the pleasure of knowing the Ash Center, but I will soon, anything you want to recommend I pay attention to?

What are you going to do when Bernie drops out and endorses Clinton?

Stand by Jill Stein, and true political independence, like I do now.

Do you know what tldr means?

Does it mean you don't read the original post because it is too long, but you respond anyway ;>)

Why do you think this garners an AMA? You are running for a city councilor seat.

Jk, because it is an interesting juxtaposition of a significant local race that could lead to the first Green elected in this city of 140,000 people, with national recognition from our party, and the current interest in socialist issues and ideas due to Sanders' campaign, many of whose progressive ideas us Greens have long promoted.

How many comments will it take for legitimacy?

Soda or pop?

"pop". Grew up in SW Pennsylvania coal country, south of Pittsburgh, "soda" was a foreign word.

Would you mind explaining a bit of your political genesis? I'm from a bit north of Pittsburgh and knowing the region I have to imagine you probably weren't steeped in left politics!

Interesting question that I haven't really spent time mulling over. Politics and community involvement are in the blood - my grandma was involve with local Dem organizing, my mom was always a PTA and Little League start, my dad was president many years of his local UMW union, and my brother is currently County Supervisor in Fayette where I grew up. I got involved in community work first from the nature side - volunteering on trail crews, leading a local North Country Trail Association club, etc. And that got me thinking green, and registering Green. It wasn't hard or far to make the connection between the natural world and the human world, and how they affect each other. I also like to credit Bookchin on some of his thoughts that I have read over the years - "Given my longstanding fascination with the wonders of natural evolution and, yes, wilderness, what need do I have for a “biocentrism” that deflects me from the social roots of the ecological crisis? I believe that non-human and human nature are as inextricably bound to each other as the ventricles of the heart are bound to the auricles and that both human and non-human nature deserve moral consideration." Oh yeah, and at some point I realized, damn, I can do this stuff, I have been given the head and heart to do so, and I'm gonna!

How soon will you guys legalize marijuana when Bernie is elected? and u got my vote if u guys legalize weed...

Yes, legalized and regulated, just like alcohol and tobacco. Okay now, move to Syracuse and vote for me like you said . . .

How big is your dick? Are your balls proportional to it?

Really? Redditors, is this a troll or what? If your asking me if I can do the job, then yes, and stand aside.

Hey Frank, I'm currently on a bus to Syracuse and my ride had to my school (about a 45 minute drive) had to cancel, would you be able to give me a ride?

Sorry, missed this hours ago when I was out campaigning. But here's a video I made today - https://youtu.be/GWktq_wK9A8