Binghamton’s next mayor could be a man whose worked alongside the city’s current leader for the last eight years. Republican Deputy Mayor Jared Kraham served as Rich David’s executive assistant since David was elected back in 2014.
As he tours the upcoming site of a brand-new fire department, Kraham refleced on his experience.
“That experience is invaluable. I think it’s one of the top things that voters can see the difference between myself and my opponent,” Kraham said. “It’s experience in managing things at the top level of city hall. We want to continue moving the city of Binghamton in the right direction.”
But Kraham’s opponent is no stranger to city hall. Joe Burns was elected to Binghamton City Council in 2019 and represents the city’s south side.
As he prepares to review the upcoming budget, Burns points to his experience working with constituents from various parts of the city.
“Since I’ve been running for office, for mayor, I’ve been going door-to-door all over the city and it’s pretty amazing how many people can talk about the same thing,” Burns said. “You don’t think you’re going to get the same conversation, but you end up in the same conversation.”
For Burns, many of those conversations have related to shifting a focus to the neighborhoods. He plans to work with code and landlords to help improve safety and housing.
“They feel that the last eight years or so that their neighborhoods have been deteriorating while downtown has been proliferating,” Burns said. “I want to concentrate on revitalizing the neighborhoods. I want to stop these out-of-town landlords that come in and they buy a distressed property and they don’t do anything to it. It just continues to distress.”
Kraham said the top issues he hears from residents also relates to public safety and housing. He recently announced a plan to hire a new housing prosecutor to crack down on landlords who don’t take care of their properties.
“We’re seeing a real estate boom, but we’ve got to make sure that’s benefiting all residents,” he said. “Families that are living paycheck to paycheck, new students that are choosing to stay in our community and the long-standing longtime homeowners here in the city of Binghamton that have weathered not just this latest economic storm, but many storms in the past.”
Kraham also points to infrastructure as a top focus in 2022. He said over the last eight construction seasons, he worked with the mayor to secure the milling and paving of 80 miles of city streets.
“That’s more than half of the city, and I want to continue that as the next mayor, focus on water-sewer lines on neighborhood streets,” he said. “These are water-sewer lines that may be 50, 60, 70, 100-years old. We still have trolley tracks underneath some major thoroughfares in the city, so the city has to work to invest in infrastructure.”
Burns also plans to focus on infrastructure, but criticized the handling of certain projects under the current administration. While the city moved to demolish close to a dozen blighted properties a year, Burns said there’s a lot more than can be done.
“We can do more than just get rid of blight. We can actually invigorate the city,” Burns said. “We can build homes, we can build affordable homes and housing and revitalize the neighborhoods, and if we can do that, we’ll pick up the whole city,” said Burns.
Mayor Rich David cannot seek re-election due to term limits within the city of Binghamton.
