For a crusade, Lance Denno looks at the living-wage law as a reason to be in politics.

 “We should not be in the position of having people work full-time jobs and be faced with poverty. It’s important for the community that these people who work full-time jobs are able to provide care for their families,” Denno said. “It’s not just about what’s important for city government but what’s important for the community.”

Denno, a Democrat, is the District 5 Common Councilor. In the Nov. 3 general election, he is running for Councilor At-Large as a Democrat and Working Families party candidate. He is one of three candidates seeking two open spots for At-Large Councilors. A Councilor At-Large represents the entire city, while a Common Councilor represents a specific district.

Also in the race is Fanny Villarreal, the Conservative and Republican nominee, who was the director of P.E.A.C.E., Inc. , until May 2009 when she resigned to run for the Common Council. The third candidate is Jean Kessner, also a Democrat and Working Families party candidate. Kessner is the community and government affairs director of AIDS Community Resources.

Denno has served on the Common Council since 2008. As he campaigns for the new Councilor At-Large seat, he has pinned his bid to expanding the living-wage law. It requires business with city contracts to pay their employees more than minimum wage. If elected, he says, he’d also turn his attention to inner-city education.

Politics are his second career: He spent 30 years as a Syracuse firefighter. He’s a quiet man who seldom talks about himself, say those who have worked with him. He’s credited with paying close paid attention to his district — the university neighborhood — by taking care of everything from garbage complaints to sitting on neighborhood committees.

As an At-Large Councilor, Denno pledged, “I will put my efforts more into being a good representative than maybe what you’d call a good politician.” 
Denno first joined the crusade around what’s called the living-wage law in 2005. The Common Council tapped him to chair a committee to study whether a living-wage law was needed and practical in Syracuse. The committee concluded the law was necessary and the Common Council enacted legislation in May 2005.

Unions in Syracuse strongly supported the legislation and still do today. Without a living-wage law, contractors with the city could pay employees only the minimum wages set by the state and federal governments.  In 2005, the minimum wage in New York was $6 per hour. Today it’s $7.25.

Under the living-wage law, city contractors are required to pay employees more than the minimum wage. If the contractor offers health insurance then the worker makes about $10 per hour, Denno explained. If the employee doesn’t receive health insurance than the wage is more per hour.
 
The living-wage law is essential to keep working-class employees out of poverty, said Jerry Dennis Service Employee International Union Local 200 president who served on the committee with Denno.  “Without it they can’t provide for their provide families without public assistance,” Dennis said.

But the city has circumvented the law under Mayor Matt Driscoll’s administration, say unions and Common Councilor Denno. “The city administration then fought it tooth and nail,” said Denno. “I found that process extremely frustrating.”

In May 2008, the city’s enforcement of the law was challenged in court by Murbro Parking Inc. employees working in five different city garages. The parking attendants alleged that they weren’t paid properly under the living-wage ordinance. In March 2009, the city settled the lawsuit and paid the men about $440,000.

If elected as Councilor At-Large, Denno pledges to pursue expanding the living wage to cover employees at Syracuse’s Hancock Airport. He’d like to keep communication open with employers to avoid going back to court, he said.

On inner-city education, Denno suggests maximizing existing programs. The Syracuse City School District, he said, should develop and expand the Westside Community School Strategy, the program that teaches students in both Spanish and English. The program is now only in Seymour Elementary School.

He also calls for expanding the Say Yes to Education initiative. That program is designed to increase high-school graduation rates and college attendance by offering free higher education to city residents and by installing a kindergarten through 12th grade program that emphasizes higher education. “I think this is a tremendous opportunity that we need to get rolling. It needs a kick in the pants,” he said.

Denno also calls for increasing the number of social workers and the mentor programs created under by Say Yes.  And he supports bringing Say Yes to each Syracuse city school. Now the program is only in the Southside and Westside.

In the race for Councilor At-Large, Denno is campaigning as the familiar figure of the man from across the street — the kind who fixes a neighbor’s problem. Denno speaks little about himself and comes across to friends and supporters as quiet, polite and hard working. On a typical day at the Common Council, among the coordinated business suits of other officials, he cuts a subdued figure in a tan blazer, a blue shirt, grayish slacks and a tie with smiling seahorses.   He sometimes brings his grandchildren with him to neighborhood committee meetings.

Harry Lewis, of the 900 block of Lancaster Avenue, met Denno when Denno was running for Common Councilor in 2007. Denno has been attentive to the area, dealing with standard neighborhood complaints, like garbage and noise issues, said Lewis. “He seems very understanding. And he actually listens to the basic problems in the area,” Lewis said.

In one example of working to resolve basic problems, Lewis recalled working with Denno on the University Neighborhood Service Agreement Advisory Committee. About 13 years ago, the city sold several roads to Syracuse University so the university could install security checkpoints.

In payment, SU contributes at least $250,000 to the committee each year. Different community organizations in the university then apply for the money for various projects. The advisory committee makes the decision and then the Common Councilor finalizes the grants. In 2008, SU paid out $362,000 for various grants, according to the committee’s Web site.

“It’s a very good way to get money into the neighborhood,” Lewis said. “And the purpose of is to counter the effect of the university on the neighborhood — to keep the neighborhood as much of a neighborhood as possible.”

Before his time on the Common Council, Denno joined the University Neighborhood Preservation Association. The group tries to make sure the neighborhood has about 50 percent student renters and 50 percent long-term residents by offering down-payment assistance to potential residents who want to move into the neighborhood, said the association’s vice president, Eric Greenfield, of  the 2006 block of Haffenden Road. 

Denno mostly helped the group with its finances and was focused on the task at hand, recalled Greenfield.  “You’re not going to get big political speeches from this guy. I really think he believes that his actions speak louder than his words,” Greenfield said. “He just wants to get things done, that’s actually how he attacked things. He’s a work-a-day kind of guy.”

Bill Ryan, a Councilor At-Large who has known Denno for about 30 years, praised Denno as a quiet but effective force on the Common Council. “Lance is a man of few words,” Ryan said. “He does know right from wrong though, and he’s not going to let himself be influenced by what a poll says or who contributes to his campaign.”

Ryan also commended Denno’s work in the university neighborhood. “That’s one of his shinning moments, trying to bring the university and community together, and dealing with everyday problems,” he said.

For his part, Denno is running a low-key campaign for the 2009 election. He has $825 in the bank to use for the campaign and he has spent just $72, according to New York’s campaign finance Web site.  His elderly mother is ill and her health requires  a lot of time and care, he said. Being with being with her is more important than campaigning, he said.

As the Nov. 3 election nears, he predicted he’ll probably do some door knocking and walking around Syracuse’s neighborhoods. “I’ve been doing the job of Fifth District Councilor for a couple years now,” said Denno. “And I think the people will vote on whether they think I’ve been doing a good job.”

 (Abram Brown is a junior with dual majors in history and magazine journalism.)

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