Syracuse, N.Y. – Onondaga County will build a giant aquarium at the Syracuse Inner Harbor in part because a rookie county legislator who initially opposed the project saw an opportunity.
Legislator Charles Garland cast a deciding vote in return for promises of housing and other stuff that his impoverished district, three miles south of the Inner Harbor, might not otherwise get.
That transaction put Garland on the hot seat Tuesday as lawmakers voted on the controversial $85 million aquarium.
He didn’t seem to mind. Garland has repeatedly shown a willingness to go it alone.
Community members packed the legislature’s gallery to oppose the project. Several residents lambasted Garland’s deal with County Executive Ryan McMahon.
Midway through the proceedings, Garland’s five fellow Democrats took a 10-minute break to try to get him to change his vote.
But Garland held firm.
His yes vote – the only one from a Democrat – gave the proposal the 9-8 majority it needed to pass.
McMahon’s fellow Republicans provided the rest of the votes, but the GOP was far from unified. After 10 months of pitching the aquarium, McMahon had convinced only eight of the legislature’s 11 Republicans to vote yes.
At least two GOP members who voted yes said they did not make up their minds until the day of the vote.
Given the razor-thin majority that approved the aquarium, every vote was a deciding vote. But much of the attention Tuesday was on Garland. Not only was he the only Democrat in favor, but he was also the most open about the horse trading that won his vote.
And Garland’s district, perhaps more than any other, suffers from the poverty-related issues that aquarium critics said should have been the focus of $85 million of taxpayer investment.
Bishop H. Bernard Alex, of Victory Temple Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church, a longtime community activist and an adviser to Garland, said the legislator engaged in horse trading that happens all the time in politics.
The difference in Garland’s case was that he was completely transparent about it.
“He did openly what has been happening privately forever,’’ Alex said. “He put it right out there. He told everyone, this is what I’m going to do. I want this, this and this. … If you want me to come over on your side, then this is what you got to do for my constituency.’’
Many of the aquarium critics were passionate in their opposition. Garland’s deal put him squarely in their line of fire. By Thursday evening, two days after the vote, he was still getting angry messages from people upset by his decision, he said. He was also getting positive feedback, mostly from people within his district.
“I’m getting words of encouragement, texts (and) calls of support. But on the other hand, I’m also getting disparaging remarks,’’ Garland said.
“It is what it is,’’ he shrugged.
Driving Democrats crazy
Garland, 56, a well-known South Side funeral director, was elected to the legislature, his first public office, last November. He beat out the soft-spoken incumbent, Vernon Williams Jr., who had served one term.
In the nine months since then, Garland has emerged as a unique political force on Syracuse’s South Side. He has boldly inserted himself into several major controversies, without worrying much about the traditional niceties of party politics.
In other words, he sometimes drives fellow Democrats crazy.
People opposed to the aquarium voice their concerns Tuesday at a meeting of the Onondaga County Legislature, Aug. 2, 2022.
Chris Ryan, the legislature’s Democratic minority leader, said he disagreed with Garland’s approach to the aquarium and would have liked to hear about it before it became public.
“I could probably speak for myself and the rest of our caucus. I think that we were definitely disappointed that we found out that Charles was potentially voting yes in the newspaper,’’ Ryan said.
Moments before Garland’s news conference Friday to announce the deal with McMahon, Assemblymember Pam Hunter, who chairs the county Democratic committee, called Garland. He said she urged him to walk away. She said she simply asked him what he was doing.
“I specifically asked him, ‘Why are you supporting this (aquarium) project?’’ Hunter said. “It was very clear it was to gain something for the district. … You shouldn’t have to vote in support of something to get necessary funding for your district.”
It’s not the first time he strayed from the party line.
During his campaign last summer, Garland joined with some suburban Republicans to promote a fantastical, 11th-hour “skybridge” concept to replace the outdated Interstate 81 viaduct in Syracuse. The move irritated Democratic city leaders and the independent administration of Mayor Ben Walsh, who support the “community grid solution.”
Garland’s stance prompted Democratic leaders to conduct an “intervention,’’ imploring him to be wary of endorsing GOP schemes.
The skybridge was quickly dismissed by state officials, who chose the community grid. But Garland is convinced that the state plan threatens the South Side with added air pollution in some spots and creeping gentrification in others. He continues to meet with city and state officials to press for improvements to the plan.
On other issues, Garland has jumped to the forefront of Democratic causes.
Not long after Garland was elected last November, he accused the GOP of “racial gerrymandering” in the district he would begin representing a month later. The Republican-dominated county legislature had just drawn up new legislative maps that would have changed the 16th District from 59% Black to just 37%.
McMahon vetoed the initial set of maps and urged legislators to address Garland’s concerns about the 16th District.
McMahon later approved a second set of maps, which changed the 16th District to 48% Black. Garland and the Democratic Party have threatened to sue but have not yet. They still have time.
Then came the aquarium.
McMahon’s plan was in trouble. He announced it last fall, but when he pushed legislators for quick approval, some pushed back. Democrats who chafed at the county executive’s aggressive style were joined by a few Republicans who thought McMahon sought too much autonomy over how to spend county money.
Garland said he saw a “window of opportunity’' to help his district.
In return for his vote on the aquarium, Garland got McMahon to commit $4.5 million for new housing on Kennedy and Furman streets on the South Side. He got McMahon to publicly endorse Garland’s request for up to $1 million in next year’s budget to improve building facades along South Salina Street.
McMahon also committed $3.7 million of new money to remove lead hazards in run-down housing. And the county endorsed Garland’s idea to add a lead abatement training program to prepare Syracuse high school students for jobs in a field that has too few workers.
‘Politics 101′
Before he would commit to voting yes, Garland demanded that McMahon announce the housing project publicly, at a news conference. “It’s Politics 101,’’ Garland said.
Oceanna Fair of Syracuse voices her opposition to the aquarium proposed by Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon. The Onondaga County legislature voted 9-8 to approve spending $85 million to build the facility, Aug. 2, 2022.
Critics of the aquarium project, many of whom cited housing and lead abatement as better uses of taxpayer money than an aquarium, were incensed that Garland had to trade his vote to get help with those issues.
During the public comment period at Tuesday’s legislature meeting, aquarium proponents aimed their harshest criticism at McMahon but also heckled Garland.
“I stand here looking at my county legislator and the fact that he felt the need to trade his vote for money that probably should have been coming to our district anyway,’’ said South Side resident Oceanna Fair. “It’s shameful that that deal was made.”
“Legislator Garland’s vote was bought by our county executive by offering projects in his district,’’ said Dan Vadala, president of CSEA Local 834, which represents county employees.
Alex said Garland used his leverage to press for improvements in an area of town that has been neglected for too long.
“It was a way to get them to move a little more expeditiously,’’ Alex said.
Opponents to a proposed aquarium protest Tuesday outside the Onondaga County Courthouse before the county legislature met to vote, Aug. 2, 2022. Dennis Nett | dnett@syracuse.com
Garland said he is simply looking out for the 28,000 residents of his district, whose needs are often overlooked. When it came time for him to speak, before the aquarium vote was taken, Garland took the unusual step of turning to face the raucous crowd in the legislature’s gallery.
“I’m going to turn around,’’ he said. “I’m going to speak to the people that I know. This is for the ones that know me. You know my heart. You know that I would never do anything against our interest.’’
Alex, who accompanied Garland to his press conference Friday with McMahon, said he warned the legislator that he would face criticism for making a deal on the aquarium. He warned Garland he would need tough skin.
He believes Garland is comfortable charting his own course.
“To me, he looks like the kind of kid that doesn’t mind sitting at the lunch table by themselves,” Alex said. “If you don’t want to sit with me, okay. I’m okay.”
Editor’s note: This story was updated Thursday evening, Aug. 4, with additional comments from Garland.
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