Hey folks, I'm Matt Major from Growth Mode Content.
Welcome to another edition of Good News York.
I'm very excited. We're kicking off our week.
Usually Mondays kind of drags a little bit. We
got an all -star guest. You'll notice that we
threw Mike out of here. We didn't want him, you
know, throwing any left field questions out.
He's sitting in the back making faces at me.
Joining us here in studio is our New York State
Senator Rachel May. She's so courteous to come
and talk to us about everything happening here
in the great Empire State. Thank you for joining
us. Oh, it's a pleasure to be here. Thank you
for inviting me. I really appreciate it. And,
you know, as folks know, if you've listened to
the show, seen this show at all. We're an apolitical
show right where we're not taking any political
sides. We're not getting any controversies But
we're all talking to all kinds of different elected
officials because you are the folks that know
what's happening, right? And if anybody can share
the good news about New York State, it's it's
folklikes yourself so I very much appreciate
you joining us and Hope that we can have some
fun this morning and maybe a different type of
interview than then you deal with on most occasions
So, thank you. Let's do it Why don't we, if we
could just jump in a little bit, just a tiny
little civics lesson, if you wouldn't mind, because
I feel like folks around here could use a little
bit of that. You know, we say we're interviewing
a senator and they're like, that doesn't look
like Chuck Schumer. Folks, I think, need just
a little bit of just a refreshment of kind of
how our system works here in the state level,
if you wouldn't mind just giving us kind of that
breakdown of our houses here. Sure, so like.
Pretty much every state, we have a state government
that reflects, it's similar to what the federal
government is. Instead of a president, we have
a governor, and we have a state senate, and then
we have a state assembly, which is the equivalent
of the House of Representatives. It's pretty
similar, except at the federal level, every state
has two senators, and they represent the whole
state. At the state level, the state is divided
into 63 districts, and each senator represents
a different district. So that does make it a
little different in terms of what a state senator
does as opposed to a federal one. I see. And
then we also have the assembly members, right?
And that's kind of like the comparative to Congress
or the House of Representatives, right? There's
more of them, so I'm guessing their districts
are cut up differently, right? Smaller. They're
about a third, yeah. So I represent about 330
,000 people. Oh, wow. And I don't know exactly
what it is in the assembly, but it's probably
somewhere in the hundred and... I see. Yeah,
that makes sense. That's great. And then, so
you folks, again, just like at the federal level,
you're the ones that come together and make things
happen here in New York State. Is that sort of
fair to say? Yeah, it is. I should mention one
other thing that is really different, because
at the federal level, senators are elected every
six years. At the state level, it's every two.
Oh, wow. That's a lot. When you have a district
this big, it means you're really trying to be
out there all the time communicating with people
in a very wide variety of communities. I can
imagine. That's got to play a little toll on
you, right? It's like, hey, we won. And now we've
got to worry about the future, right? Start all
over again. But on that same tip, You've been
re -elected a few times, right? You've served
a few terms now. It's my fourth term. I love
that. Must be you're doing something right. I
will say, so I served two terms in the 53rd Senate
District, which was Syracuse, and then points
east. So it included all of Madison County, some
of Oneida County. Now, after redistricting, I
serve Syracuse, Southern Onondaga County, and
all of Cayuga County. Oh, wow. way more than
half of my district geographically is new in
the last few years. Wow. Wow. Are you finding
that there's, are there different challenges
with those different folks or is it pretty much
folks around Central New York kind of have the
same needs? It's pretty similar. I mean, I'm
unusual in the Senate that I have a district
that's got a city in it and also a lot of rural
communities. Will say a big shift happened when
I got four of the finger lakes in my district
the people in those regions You ask them what's
top of your mind, if you're knocking on doors,
they say water quality. I see. Protecting the
Finger Lakes, because it's important to their
tourism, to their drinking water, to their quality
of life. It's really front of mind. So that was
a surprise to me. That was a little different
from Madison County. Not that water isn't important,
but it wasn't. Yeah. Number one for them. No,
well, that's interesting. We talk about even
just a few miles down the road and how things
are there and how you got to serve all that.
It's one of the things that we like to celebrate
is our state. And we've tried, even though we're
locally based, and then probably 90 % of what
we talk about is kind of in our region. We're
really trying to celebrate the state, and it
is just so vast, and there's so many different
things here, and it's incredible. I tell people,
one of my biggest fears in my job is that I'm
going to get in a car crash, because I drive
all over my district, and it is so beautiful,
and I want to stop. And I just want to look at
that sunset, or look at the colors of the trees,
or the finger lakes. It's just gorgeous. just
to get an idea of Cuyahoga County. So the Renaissance
Fair, if you've been to the Renaissance Fair,
that's in my district. And then it goes all the
way down, halfway down Cuyahoga Lake, past Aurora.
So it's a lot. Yeah. A lot of just gorgeous.
Yeah, and I feel very lucky. That's great. So
Senator, if you wouldn't mind, there's a number
of... good things to talk about happening in
our area. But one I'd love to jump into has gotten
a little press is the new STEAM school. Is it
STEAM or STEM? I always feel like I'm saying
the acronym wrong. So it's STEAM, which means
STEM. So science, technology, engineering, mathematics,
plus the arts. So the A is for the arts. It's
important in that school because that building,
which was empty for 50 years, has a magnificent
auditorium. Which is where the symphony used
to perform, where great singers like Pavarotti
would come and they would perform there because
it was such a great auditorium. So the kids in
that school, they're still renovating the auditorium,
it's not open yet, but... Kids who want to do
performing arts are going to have an amazing
venue. That's incredible. I've got a young one
who's just started in the Syracuse Children's
Theater and she's taken to it like a duck to
water. So opportunities like that in the future
sound great. Well, we never had a school for
the arts out here at all. And so having that
school, it's not just performing arts or visual
arts, but they're doing a lot of tech stuff.
Kids can learn about theater tech and I see and
Production. I love that. I was I was the sound
guy for all the I was the Danny for all of our
high school productions So I love that If you
could let's rewind just a second and give folks
just a little view of what is this school? Why
is this unique from any other school around town?
it's unique in the whole state actually because
It is a school that takes kids from all over
the county in effect beyond the county of the
whole, um, Bosse's district. So, I see. So Onondaga
County, Madison County is included. And, um,
that was important to me because growing up,
my grandparents were really involved in the issue
of, um, school equity and desegregation of schools
after the Supreme Court decision in the fifties.
And, um, Living here, you know, we have a really
segregated school system basically like the city
of Syracuse people think of it as a completely
different world from the rest of the county and
There are wonderful teachers great schools kids
doing amazing things But there shouldn't be this
kind of separation. I sure and so When I was
first running for office, I met someone who was
on the school board and he said look The old
Central Tech High School is a spectacular building.
It's been empty for 50 years. Can we turn it
into something? And his idea was exactly this,
a county -wide school of the arts. And I thought,
if we're ever going to get kids sitting side
by side from all these different communities
and getting to know each other. this is the way
to do it and and it is so exciting to me that
there's the ninth grade there they're going one
grade at a time so it started with ninth grade
this year but the ninth grade is in there and
it's i think 250 kids wow i got to meet some
of them a couple weeks ago because there was
also a grand opening of the uh it's called the
inspire innovation hub yeah the old tech garden
Right, which I also got money for them to do
that renovation. And so they brought the kids
who are studying business entrepreneurship at
the STEAM school. They brought them. It's only
a block. They came over to the Inspire hub, and
they were touring around and learning about the
drone. flight deck and the maker space and all
the different companies that are coming in there
that are going to be doing entrepreneurship and
the kids were so excited and they were excited
about their school. Like when have you ever heard
a ninth grader gush about how much he loves his
school, you know? But this was kids who were
really excited and I just felt like these two
things I've worked on, the STEAM school and the
Inspire Innovation Hub. Coming together it was
it was really moving to me. That's that's awesome
You know those are the types of things I love
to talk about because I feel like we get so bogged
down and in all the other nonsense That that
we gloss over some of these incredible things
that are made possible by public and private
and members of the community and you know I'm
sure no doubt members of the art community and
you know everyone who has a passion really. Right
so the STEAM school is close to the Everson Museum
and the the Eerie Canal Museum, and it's close
to the performing arts venues like Syracuse Stage
and the Red House, and those kids are gonna be
able to take advantage of all of that in addition
to all the businesses that are down there. It's
just, and one of the kids I talked to was from
Canastota. So there are kids. You know, we're
really interested in it coming from a long way
away to be at that school, which is exactly what
we were hoping for when we. That's that's phenomenal.
That's to me. That's what we need in education
is more of these, you know, opportunities to
really nurture what kids are inclined for. Just,
you know, pick this. You got to either be good
or this or that. I don't like either one. Well,
it's a school built around career and technical
education. So the kids kind of come in knowing
what they want to study, which is. I didn't know
at ninth grade what I wanted to do, but it's
great that they've got these amazing opportunities.
That's phenomenal. That's got to really sort
of make you feel good. I imagine that in your
job, to some degree, it's almost like you can't
win. No matter what you do, there's going to
be critics. And I don't even necessarily want
to get into that. I can't even imagine how folks
in your position deal with that. Well, can I
tell you a story about it? Sure, please. I was
a new senator. I had never held elective office
before. I really didn't think I knew what I was
doing. I was kind of feeling my way around. And
I had to go to the budget director and ask for
$72 million to be put in the budget for this
school. Wow. Yeah. And I was so nervous and I
sat there with him and I explained to him why
I thought this was such a great project and really
worth doing. And he just was completely impassive
the whole time. I sat there, did not move a muscle
in his face for the whole time. And I was leaving
and I said, well, I don't know if I convinced
you how exciting this project is, but I hope
I at least got across how excited I am about
it. And he said, What do you mean? This is my
excited face. And I walked out of there having
no idea, was he making fun of me? Was he taking
me seriously? Was he like, were we in this together?
I couldn't tell. And so when the money got in
the budget, I was pretty amazed and thrilled.
That's great. Yeah. You know one of those things
I almost feel like sometimes you're in a better
position when you're kind of new with those things
because it's like you know what I'm gonna do
what I I know needs to be done and right I'm
ignorant of some of the challenges can be helpful.
I feel like honestly that could be That's awesome.
That's so awesome if you wouldn't mind let's
talk about the The big tech company in the room,
of course the buzz in the area is micron and
everything that's happening Would you talk about
just a little bit of kind of the state's role
in that whole adventure? Oh, sure. Yeah, I mean,
as you know, there was a huge negotiation that
went on and a lot of it was the state having
to convince Micron that this is a good place
to to do this. And, you know, we hear about New
York being maybe not the greatest place to start
a business. But in fact, we have, you know, really
smart people, really educated people, amazing
environment, you know, in terms of water and
land and, you know, all the resources, and I
think a very supportive state government. And
so it was impressive how Local like cities County
and state government were able to all get on
the same page and really make that case and I
think I think President Biden just because of
his connections to Syracuse and at this region
probably Helped, you know, you know in all that
so Yeah, it was that was exciting. I think from
my end of things There are a lot of Like Kalei
isn't in my district, but obviously people will
live in my district who work there. There's a
lot of impact on the district and We're trying
to make sure that we're doing the supportive
thing. So one of the things we did was we got
450 million dollars in the budget for upstate
to put in a new emergency room and expand its
its ability to serve, for example, burn patients.
Because one of the things you get in a factory
like that is you get burns. And Upstate right
now is the only burn center for the entire state
north of New York City, basically. But if you've
ever been to the emergency room there, it's really
cramped. That's for sure. You know, they have
fabulous staff, but the staff are working in
very suboptimal conditions. They're always busy,
seems like, yeah. And so being able to help them
build that new facility is good for the whole
region. It was necessary anyway, but it's even
that much more necessary because of the expectations
of the new needs that we're going to have with
Micron. We're trying to make the case for a lot
of other sorts of improvements that will also
help Micron, but the airport, for example, we
also got some funding to increase airport parking
because it's already inadequate, but it's gonna
be way more of a problem moving forward. So there
are a lot of things like that. My big focus is
on housing, and I've been working very hard.
even before Micron started talking about coming
here to try to figure out how to solve our housing
crisis because it's a serious crisis. And I think
something like the Micron project clarifies the
minds of people who might have been resistant
to say the idea of more housing in the communities
or something that people are still... finally
starting to say, oh yeah, we do need to build
more. We need to have apartment buildings, which
a lot of people in the suburbs are kind of leery
of. We need to have different options and make
sure that we're doing it in a way that isn't
just going to make a traffic nightmare for everybody.
Yeah. So from my perspective, as somebody who's
been thinking along those lines for a really
long time, it's kind of exciting now that the
whole region is thinking the same way. Folks
are finally paying attention. Yeah, we're really
trying to make that a reality. That's wonderful.
Senator, just a couple more questions and I'll
let you get back to your very busy schedule.
You know, we've talked about a bunch of these
things, Micron, when everybody talks about that's
a little bit down the road. We're already seeing
the impacts of that. But take an example of a
small business like ours. We're a local marketing
company. We've got a dozen employees. We're operating
right now, and we want to grow. Are there opportunities,
things like that, that we should look at in the
state, different programs, things of that, that
might give us grants or credits or anything along
those lines folks should know about? Well, I
guess it falls into a couple of different categories.
So there are some ways that the state is really
trying to help small businesses grow. And there
are ESD, the... State development? Yeah. Empire
State. I was trying to think what the E was.
Empire State Development. Yeah, they really do
do a lot, I think, less directly with a business
as with making sure that there is the infrastructure
in an area or just the ability for people to
grow. But there's also a lot that we're doing
as a state to make it easier for example I'm
sure right now the I -81 project doesn't feel
like that like yeah, everybody feels like they're
sitting in traffic and all their traffic patterns
are changing, but It's gonna be Transformative
I think in a really good way for our whole region
that DOT has done a great job of envisioning
the whole picture of how traffic moves through
the whole metro area. And people are already
seeing a difference in terms of just that it's
smarter. Like what we had before had was a patchwork
of roads that happened to intersect with each
other, but were really effective at getting people
where they wanted to be. And now I think we're
gonna have that. We're gonna have something where
it's gonna feel like a unified region. And I
think that's gonna make it easier for people
to move here, for people to get to work here,
for employers to recruit people. So my hope is
that we're laying the groundwork, literally laying
the groundwork on the road work. Yeah. Or precisely
the kind of thing that you want to do. That's
awesome. I love to hear that. It's you know,
for many years, it seems like this region was
sort of. depressing for lack of a better term
you know all we had was bad news and things leaving
and whatever and I'm so cautiously optimistic
that we're on the other side of that cycle and
you know we're we're in a boom and yeah I think
we're only getting started which is awesome I
agree when I first came here in the late 90s
early 2000s it felt like the can't -do city it
was like Every time somebody had a great idea,
all you would hear were all the reasons why you
can't do that here. And now it's exactly the
opposite of that. I think people are really jump
all over it. And yeah. The last question I will
ask you is sort of along those same lines. So
as you're with your colleagues in Albany from
all over the state, what are the conversations
about our region? What are what are folks from
out of the area? Are they asking you about our
region or anything like that? So when I first
was elected they were not and part of that was
I was part of the new Democratic majority in
the Senate and and the vast majority of the Democratic
senators at that time represented New York City,
Long Island, Westchester and They were pretty
focused on that part of the state, but I made
a real point of bringing them up here. I held
a lot of hearings. I took people on tours. I
brought people to the state fair, anything I
could do to get my colleagues from downstate
to come here and see what we were all about.
And it has made a big difference. That's great.
So for example, there's now a this wonderful
program called the Timbuktu program, which is
Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn combining with
SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry
in Syracuse has kids in the summer who are going
to both of those campuses and also to the Adirondacks
and in the Hudson Valley and they're learning
about environmental science and urban planning
and all kinds of things that those colleges are
interested in but it's also bringing kids from
from that part of it, from the city, New York
City up here and vice versa. And so it's creating
connections. And that would never have happened
if it hadn't been for the connections that I
built with my colleagues and bringing them up
here. So I'm really proud of that. It's something
I don't think you knew this when you asked that
question, but I'm glad you asked that question
because this is one of the things I'm most proud
of in this job is how I've kind of put, at least
for our For our state legislature, I've worked
really hard to put this area on the map. And
I will say, since I was elected, we've now got,
in the Democratic majority, seven or eight more
senators representing upstate or rural areas.
And so the conversation, I think, has shifted
completely in that, in the seven years I've been
in the Senate. So it's pretty cool. No, I didn't
know that. And I very much appreciate you doing
all that work, just as someone around here. One
of the things we always talk about divides. There's
always this New York City and upstate. We're
all part of the same team. And I just love that.
Because I think once people get exposed to it,
that just becomes another asset to draw upon.
We've got this crazy, incredible urban world.
And then we've got. the Adirondacks, where you
can breathe fresh and just enjoy life. And I
couldn't be more excited to hear that you've
done that work. That's so great to hear. Awesome.
Awesome. Senator Rachel May, you mentioned a
couple of your term. When is the next election
year? Twenty twenty six. Yeah. Every two years.
Yeah. So I love that. Again, we don't. I don't
love it. And everybody says, you know, you ought
to have four year terms or six year. Yeah. But
there it is. I do understand why they did that
kind of at the federal level and even even members
of Congress that have to do every two years seems
a little little excessive. But but that's a whole
other conversation. That's a conversation. Senator,
where's the best place for folks to get information?
You got a website, you got things of that nature.
Yeah, so my office website is may at newyorksenate
.gov and we have upcoming, I might have the information
right here, we have a senior fair coming up October
3rd at the Salt City Market from 11 to 4 in Syracuse.
I was the chair of the aging committee for four
years and we really have worked to bring together
lots of resources for seniors in the area, and
that's always a great event. So I hope people
will show up. Awesome. That sounds great. Senator,
any time you want to come back and tell us about
all the great things happening in New York, we
would love to have you. So this has been a true
pleasure. I really appreciate you taking some
time out of your day to join us. And thank you.
And with that, guys, that's today's episode of
Good News York. Just a little programming note
for anybody following along. This is going to
be unique week for us at the end of the week.
Is the retro game con our man Danny and team
putting on at the Syracuse On Center? We are
going to be there are all weekend recording sessions
and doing some live episodes. So those, in addition
to mowing the lawn, those may take the place
of our. End of the week episode so we got kind
of a unique schedule, but it's gonna be a blast
and You should stay tuned and with that. We'll
see you next time peace out