Published on October 16, 2020
Dear City Colleagues,
From quarantine this week, I’ve been working closely with colleagues in city government and the community on multiple challenging issues facing Syracuse. I’m pleased to report, though, major positive developments during the past week for our City.
We hosted the first Syracuse Surge Summit with our partners at Syracuse University and CenterState CEO, as well as Microsoft and JP Morgan Chase, companies that would make any city in America envious. They are moving ahead with investment in Syracuse.
Day one of the summit coincided with Verizon announcing the launch of 5G wireless in Syracuse. We’re the first city in Upstate New York to have super high speed 5G service – a major competitive advantage.
Also this week, our Finance team started participating in the new Bloomberg Philanthropies’ City Budgeting for Equity and Recovery program. Syracuse is one of only 30 cities in the nation selected for the program which offers access to top experts to help us figure out the complicated fiscal decisions still ahead due to COVID-19. In facing those challenges, the partnerships we’ve built are strong and will help push Syracuse forward.
As another week closes, a sad note. Funeral services are this weekend for Detective William LaShomb who passed away last Sunday. Please join me in keeping his family, our colleagues in the Syracuse Police Department and all those who cared for Detective LaShomb in your thoughts. Thank you.
Ben Walsh Mayor