Years before she sat in the Syracuse Common Council chambers, Helen Hudson stood on street corners in an attempt to curb gun violence on the South Side.

“It bothered me that every day I would wake up and hear about ‘a 14-year-old was found dead today—victim of gunshots,’” said Hudson, now in her second councilor at-large term and acting pro-tempore, replacing the president in an absence. “It was just every day.”

She and other women populated different corners, holding signs like: “One life lost is one too many,” in an effort that became the well-known group Mothers Against Gun Violence.

At first, Hudson was told she was setting mothers up to be killed. But, she said, young people actually started coming to the mothers for help with employment and education needs.

That was in 2002, but poverty is still an issue in the city today. The 2015 poverty rate in Syracuse rose 1.1 percent from 2016 while poverty declined nationally.

For the last six years, Hudson has worked inside the political system to try to reform policies she sees as stifling to economic and social growth. She is running uncontested for the seat of incumbent Common Council President Van Robinson, who will be forced out by term limits.

“She calls all the young people her babies,” said Nancy Kern Eaton, president of the United Way of Central New York. “They respond to her in ways I’ve just never seen.”

Hudson is a liaison between United Way and labor unions. She is a co-founder, founder or board of directors member for seven different community organizations, per the Common Council website.

“I expect her to easily perform the duties of the president and still remain to a big degree a community activist, acting on behalf of people of the city,” Robinson said.

Josh Shub-Seltzer | Staff Photographer

The president can be instrumental in steering legislation and has a powerful platform to voice convictions. However, it is not a voting position. The president can assign committees and call special meetings, but can only vote in the case of a tie, which Robinson said he has never done in his eight-year run.

Robinson said he expects that, for Hudson, not regularly voting will be an adjustment, especially with her past of significant community involvement.

Both Robinson and Hudson were involved with the NAACP of Syracuse and Onondaga County before either were elected officials.

He said they were primarily “knocking down doors of discrimination” in those days by counseling at-risk youth, participating in the neighborhood watch and working on housing and job issues.

As far as not voting regularly, Hudson said it doesn’t matter to her how policy and legislation moves “as long as it gets moved.”

Hudson said she recently introduced legislation to raise local requirements for Women and Minority Business Enterprises from 10 to 20 percent after New York state Gov. Andrew Cuomo rose the state’s goal to 30 percent.

She also backed legislation urging the state to enact driver’s license revocation reform for “non-driving offenses to assist the unemployed or underemployed applying for gainful employment in the workplace.”

This would call for a re-examination of barriers to reinstate driver’s licenses after, for example, incarceration or falling behind in child support — barriers that could lead to further economic disenfranchisement.

The council in 2014 also unanimously passed a law giving police broader authority to deem a property “disorderly,” requiring landlords and property owners to collaborate with police to fix issues caused by rowdy tenants.

The legislation was presented by District 4 Councilor Khalid Bey, who is running for councilor at-large this election cycle.

Hudson said the ordinance, along with The Greater Syracuse Land Bank, are useful tools the city has against threats posed by abandoned urban houses.

As president, Hudson said she would look for ways to generate revenue and build up communities on the North, South and East Sides through development.

Josh Shub-Seltzer | Staff Photographer

“We need to start developing parts of our city so they can be neighborhoods again,” Hudson said. “Once people have community in their own neighborhoods, then I think that we will thrive as a city.”

Her strategy is to act as a “convener,” making sure there are open lines of communication between developers, communities and government. It’s a role that taps into her activist roots and ability to work with mostly anyone.

Eaton, who is Hudson’s boss at UWCNY, said the councilor at-large can diffuse tense situations in the community and “in the same breath … talk with the governor, a congressman — whatever.”

“I think because of her credibility because she’s always honest, she doesn’t play games, people are willing to come to the table,” Eaton said.

Hudson in 2009 helped form the Trauma Response Team, which dispatches immediate support to victims of violent incidents at crime scenes and the emergency room of the State University of New York Upstate Medical University.

“We’re touching families when they’re at the weakest point of their lives,” Hudson said. “There’s nothing you can really say to them to comfort them … I let them know that you’re not grieving alone, that we grieve with you.”

One of the reasons Hudson said she pursued a political seat was to demonstrate how people can exercise ownership in government.

“I wanted to show young minority folks within these communities that it doesn’t matter where you come from — you can be whatever you want to be.”

Published on October 4, 2017 at 1:46 am

Contact Mary: mdcatalf@syr.edu | @mrycatalfamo