Ithaca Mayor Svante Myrick is living proof of the quote “It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish”. To many people Myrick reminds them of America’s own 44th President, Barack Obama. Growing up in the small town of Earlville, New York Myrick grew up in and out of homelessness with his single mother and his grandmother, often depending on food stamps and struggling to get by. Myrick has said that his father fought with an addiction to crack which is what helped inspire him to fight for a local safe injection facility to help addicts in Ithaca.] His mom worked several low-paying jobs to support her family: “She went above and beyond. She sacrificed everything. She saved our lives,” says Myrick. Growing up poor has helped carve out Myrick’s political beliefs, he supports both local food banks and free lunch programs for students. “This is not the story of a self-made man. This is the story of a community that conspired to raise a child. That’s the truth,” he says. Myrick walks to work everyday and is committed to helping the environment and reducing energy use. He converted his own personal parking space (the reserved space next to City Hall that is one of his privileges as mayor) into a mini park. Now it’s decorated with tree stumps and benches for open use to the public.
In September 2011, Svante won the contested primary election for the Democratic Party mayoral nomination. On November 8th, 2011 he won the general election with 54.9% of the the vote. Taking office in January, 2012, Myrick was elected as Ithaca’s first black mayor. At only twenty years old Myrick was elected to Ithaca’s Common council, becoming one of the youngest African American’s to be elected in United States history. At twenty-four, he became one of the youngest mayors in US history.
While serving as a councilman Myrick began a successful effort to create a “tobacco free” zone on the Ithaca Commons. He also created the Ithaca Youth Council in hopes of promoting more youth involvement in local government. During his first term as mayor a major priority of Myrick’s budget was to raise the wages of the city’s lowest paid employees. In June, 2013 Myrick delivered a keynote address at the 13th annual New York State Supportive Housing Conference. His speech touched both on race and his own personal history of being homeless. In October 2013 Ithaca became a certified living wage employer and by the end of Myrick’s second year in office his adopted FY14 budget brought the lowest tax levy increase in over a decade.
In December 2012 Myrick spoke about legalizing marijuana, saying “We can take money out of the hands of the criminal black market and generate enormous revenues for the government while creating thousands of jobs”. In May 2013 Myrick participated in a conference regarding establishing more effective drug policies in New York.
Perhaps one of Myrick’s most noticeable, admirable and controversial efforts as the Mayor of Ithaca was announced in just February of this year. Myrick is trying to get approval to create the countries first supervised heroin injection site. Myrick is also committed to establishing a twenty-four hour crisis center to serve as a “safer” injection facility where heroin users can shoot up under the supervision of a medical professional. Part of this plan proposes implementing a LEAD (law enforcement assisted diversity” program, where the Ithaca Police Department and other local police agencies will divert people directly into the social service system instead of supporting the revolving door system of incarcerating citizens for low level offenses. The program will focus on prevention, treatment, law enforcement involvement, harm reduction, governance and leadership. Myrick’s theory behind this movement is that we as a community have a responsibility to keep drug abusers alive to provide them with the treatment that they deserve. In Vancouver, Canada these safer injection facilities have been around for more than fifteen years and have been largely successful at preventing overdose deaths, and improving public safety. Once Ithaca launches the first safe injection site, Myrick hopes it will reduce public drug use, prevent overdose deaths and promote treatment instead of criminalization.
Despite all of the criticism and harsh words from some of his critics, nobody is able to say Svante hasn’t been hugely successful in the five years since he took office. Over the past four years he has erased the budget deficit, rebuilt a once decaying downtown, rebuilt the trust between the community and the Ithaca Police Department. In 2016 Men’s Journal named Ithaca as one of the best places to live in the country. In 2015 Ithaca was named one of the smartest cities in the US, with 29.1% of it’s citizens having a Bachelor’s Degree or higher level of education. In 2015 Ithaca was named as the healthiest city in New York State.
It’s been proven time and time again that black boys have fewer people to look up to and hold accountable than their white peers and even their peers who are part of other minority groups. It is so refreshing to have a mayor of color- especially one who is able to positively impact the lives of young black men coming up in our community.
