Hey folks, Matt Major from Clickstream Studios.
Welcome to Good News York. This is a phenomenal
day. We have an incredible guest. You notice
that's not Mike. We actually have replaced him
with a state senator. It's a wild thing. We'll
get to that in a minute. But first, if you haven't
noticed, we broke the news this weekend that
Clickstream Studios, our parent company, is moving
into the soon to be former Spaghetti Warehouse.
space downtown Syracuse. It's over 16 ,000 square
feet that we are going to transform into one
of the most unique content creation digital marketing
spaces anywhere in the country. It's going to
be right here. Good News York, this show, we're
going to take that up to a new level. It's going
to be live. It's going to be incredible. We'll
be talking about that a lot between now and then,
of course. So stay tuned for all of that and
the cool opportunities that we're going to have
with it. But without further ado, let's get to
today. Enough of the future. As I mentioned,
we have a very distinguished gentleman who was
so gracious to join us and take a few minutes
of our time. This is one of our local state senators,
Mr. Chris Ryan. Welcome to Good News York. Thanks
for having me. Absolutely. Thank you very much
for having me here. Absolutely. Senator, if you
don't mind, let's jump right in. If you wouldn't
mind, let's talk a little bit about yourself
and just sort of how you came to where you are
today. So if you would, just give us sort of
the abbreviated version of what you did before
you came to elected office. Yes. So this is obviously
my first year as a senator. Prior to that, I
was on the county legislature for 13 years. Wow.
County government. Before that, I was on the
Gettys Town Board for six years. So this is my
21st year in government service. I worked at
Verizon, but I moved up the ranks through the
union leaderships. At the end of my career there,
I was the president of the communications workers.
Let's see, 1123. We represent about 700, 800
members in and around central New York. Mostly
work at Verizon, but we have smaller contracts,
couple other ones, American Red Cross and negotiate
contracts, collective bargaining agreements,
you know, make sure that the... middle -class
worker is taken care of. That's awesome. And
I think that that's sort of like with a union
and kind of transcended into politics, I think
at an early age, but also family coming from
electeds. My uncle was on the county legislature
for 30 plus years. He ran for state assembly,
family's involved. My cousin is on the city council,
just ran and won a spot in the county legislature.
So kind of meshed together and two plus decades
later, here I am. That's incredible. If you could,
for folks, and unfortunately I find a lot of
folks aren't necessarily familiar with some of
these things, but could you just kind of in a
nutshell explain a little bit of your role as
a Senator? What does the New York State Senate
do for us? Well, we make the budget, well, it's
a governor's budget, but then we adopt the budget.
We make those changes, modifications, make the
laws, policy, policy and legislative branch for
the... State of New York, us, the two houses,
the Senate and the Assembly pass bills. We'll
have to make it a Senate bill and Assembly bill,
both have to be passed. Then it gets delivered
to the governor's desk and whether she makes
amendments, signs or vetoes, they have it. So
we're in session, you know, for the most of the
half of the year and then afterwards it's also
working with legislation, working with constituents,
constituent services, out in the community, do
a lot of out. you know, in the community, businesses
and helping out and volunteering. That's incredible.
So something I've always been sort of interested
in, because I don't think anybody ever takes
the time to talk about it, but I always love
the behind the scenes. How do things work a little
bit? And I've always been interested. Obviously,
you've been in public service for a long time,
but like you said, this is your first year in
this office. What happens when somebody gets
elected to a new office? Like, is there a, you
know, we've all started new jobs and there's
the first day orientation and all these things,
but When you come to elected office, is there
anything like that? How do you learn the ropes
or even where to go in the capitol buildings
and such? Well, the good news, I knew where to
go in the capitol building and the legislative
office building because I was there doing years
of lobbying on behalf of unions and middle class
workers, right? But it's, I don't know, it would
be difficult. Being in government for 20 plus
years, knowing it, county legislature making
laws, proposing laws, public hearings. you know,
Robert's rule, understanding how the intricacies
work. I think it would be pretty overwhelming
and pretty difficult. I mean, it's a big place.
There's a lot of people, move a lot of legislation.
So I would think it could be intimidating, but
I, you know, I was able to hit the ground running
because of previous experience. But also, I'll
also go back in my career. I've been the beneficiary.
I've had good mentors too. And I've always been
able to pick up the phone and some of my predecessors,
whether it be friends or unions or whoever they
are, and shaping policy. But you gotta have advocates.
You gotta have mentors. You gotta be able to
call people for advice and listen, too. You can't
just... I like hearing that. Yeah, yeah. Brokered
opinions. Give multiple opinions and then take
it. But if you think you're going in with all
the answers, you're gonna have a tough, tough
time. I appreciate that you have that mindset
of taking the input of so many different people.
I think you're absolutely right. That's the key
to success in anything, right? What are some
of the most positive stories? I know, like I
said, there's all kinds of controversy and there's
all kinds of things that folks want to focus
on. At the same time, I know there's a lot of
other really great positive things that are happening,
things moving in a great direction in New York
State. What are some of the first things that
come to mind when I talk about those good things?
from a policy perspective and an Albany perspective.
Anything. Oh, that's a lot. I could say a lot.
But, you know, from an Albany perspective, you
know, I think we were able to bring home a central
delegation itself. Like, we was able to secure,
I brought them up about a billion dollars for
the district, where there's $450 million for
SUNY Upstate. We need a new emergency room and
emergency department, which is helpful to also...
Helping the county and also with the micron 116
million dollars for the water. It's gonna be
brought in with the wastewater But a lot of economic
development opportunities too. We were able to
help the manufacturers associate central New
York that do great great work School lunches
universal pre -k. Those are impactful on families.
Yeah, I'm trying to With striking out with the
affordability making sure that century and their
occurs aren't getting hit in the pocket rights
making things more affordable school aid foundation
aid, so And really trying to access and impact
access to healthcare, especially rural healthcare.
That's something I've set out to do and we're
trying to help with some grant money for educational,
not educational systems, but also the healthcare
system. So we're doing that. And then there's
also the opportunity to meet a lot of people,
municipalities and help out, whether it's helping
a volunteer fire department or something with
funding. And also, we also have to get, we were
able, We've been doing a lot in the community
lately to two good stories that I'll have we
were This past Saturday. I was up in Fulton at
the Walmart and there was a partnership with
the on a school kind of Sheriff's Department
Phoenix fire department the mayor of the feet
village of Phoenix We able to it's called shop
with a hero Okay, and and go out and everybody
that so many people donate three hundred twenty
five dollar gift cards they would take children
need and you know kind of restores it. The good
part about this job is you meet so many good
people doing so many good things that you wouldn't
hear otherwise because you know every they love
to you know impact or just the negative impacts
and controversy but there's a lot of good people
doing a lot of good things in this community
and I'm glad I'm a part of them. Well, we love
it. And honestly, that's one of the reasons that
we love talking to elected officials like yourself
is because you get that exposure, in many cases,
better than most of us. You get invited to all
the cool events and all the things happen. And
that's why we love talking with you and these
different things, and especially hearing about
these different investments that you're bringing
to our area. We've talked in the past with Senator
May, and she's talked a little bit about some
of the similar things. And it's just so great
to hear that. You know, a lot of folks think
that we're sort of forgotten in Albany and to
hear our representatives go, no, we're working
and the state's investing in our area and things
like that is wonderful. Well, I will say this.
You know, we do have a good partnership. Our
central delegation, myself and Senator May, you
know, it helps having, you know, members that
are in the majority conference. But, you know,
but then also, you know, Senator Magnolio has
been there for every chair of the transportation
committee. He's been there for a long time. He's
a good mentor of mine. Assemblyman Sturpp, he's
been there forever, Pam Hunter, and awesome.
But also working at Crossale, too. Assemblyman
Will Barkley is also the minority leader for
the assembly, the Republican. We have a really,
really good working relationship, working with
him to impact lives and matters for Spiegel County.
It's been really good. We're working on the nuclear
facility up there that's kind of - trying to
push for that, that's going to mean thousands
and thousands of jobs, hundreds of jobs afterwards
is built. But yeah, it's good. We have a really
good delegation. That's great delegation. And
it's obviously without all that we're doing,
it's impactful. That's great. How do you find
you interact with folks from other parts of the
state? You know, one of the things that we love
to do, the reason we call the show Good News
York, is to really talk about the entire Empire
State, including the city in all points. We really
see those as valuable assets. How does that work
in government? Do you have different partners,
things like that, that are from downstate? Of
course. Do you learn from each other? We do.
And, you know, I may not always agree on every...
policy. Sure. Sometimes with the New York City
delegation or downstate. But, you know, I will
say this, that every single member is really
genuinely just a really good human being. That's
great. And it's something I also wish the public
knew, how really people cared about their community.
We always going to agree to disagree. You know,
also Staten Island and Long Island, the Long
Island delegation, there's more Couple Democrats
out that way that are good that we I work in
conjunction collaboration with a lot of piece
of legislation also a good senator from Staten
Island and and Brooklyn we kind of work together
on some some things so that's good. It's you
know, it's uh, I Learned that's great Senator,
I really appreciate this. I got a couple more
questions and I'll let you get back to it I have
to ask of course about the Micron project and
just kind of your thoughts on the positive impact
that that might bring to us and what we might
need to consider and things like that, not even
necessarily just for our area, but in other parts
of the state. Is this, are they, first of all,
are they telling this story in other parts of
the state, as much as we're talking about it?
Oh, yes, for sure. Everybody, well, you know,
it's a topic of discussion. There's also tax,
but there's also a lot of needs too. We're gonna
need people from all over the state. You're talking...
in excess of 4 ,000 construction jobs. Wow. For
many, many years, like perhaps even to build
all fabs out. Sure. At least 10 years, more so
than that. I mean, we're talking about people
who can start a career, talking about people
who will end their careers working there. And
we're gonna need them from all over the state.
So it's also gonna be impactful. But for here,
there's I think the state, one state study said
there's gonna be additional 40 ,000 jobs, whether
it's gonna be in transportation or hospitality.
Housing, talking about 20 ,000 new homes a year.
But that's also for the region, also. I'm doing
a lot with the Oswego County, their chamber,
their economic development teams, the local elected's
up there to make sure that there's readiness,
make sure that utilities are gonna be there.
I mean, I'm talking when I say utilities, I mean
infrastructure, whatever. What happens when you
flush the toilet? It has to happen. So I think.
Those are, and then the long lasting effects.
But also, we also have to talk about not just
site readiness, but making sure that the next
generation workforce is prepared for those jobs
there. What we did up at OCC with a semiconductor,
we talked about transportation issues, so that
these kids have the transportation they need
to learn that trade or that skill set, then are
able to get the jobs out there. I think it's
gonna be really, really good for the region.
That's great. I remember from the initial announcements
when Micron was talking about here, from the
very jump they talked about transportation initiatives
to make sure that folks in the city who might
not have good transportation out to Clay would
easily have that and that wouldn't be a barrier
for them getting the workforce or for the folks
that are already here that really need it. So
I love hearing those sorts of things. We're all
very excited. Everyone here in the business community
couldn't be more excited. I think more of just
the workforce, the more they hear about it, the
opportunities that are coming. It's not 40 ,000
fast food jobs. These are great careers. I'll
tell you a story. We were doing a tour. I went
up to the Hannibal School District. My district
was all the way up to Hannibal. And the superintendent,
phenomenal people, by the way, that school board
superintendent, great, great people. And we were
in the cafeteria, lunch, and these kids were
leaving, and they were going through both seats.
They were doing a welding class. And the welding
class was full. And my thing in talking to some
of the people in the trades, we got to make sure
that that doesn't happen. We make sure that every
kid who wants to become a welder, there's enough
space and capacity for them to do that. Or it's
an electrician apprenticeship, or... or operating
engineers. Heavy equipment. Look at what's happening
with 81, right? They're full. Iron workers. There's
a huge need for iron workers. So we're gonna
make sure that, A, number one, that there's a
new awareness. Number two, that we make sure
that we're identifying those next generation
of workforce, that that is there for them, and
also making sure we can deliver. Yeah. Is it
fair to say, as a union, man, is it fair to say
that the unions... are driving a lot of that.
I know I see at least the electrical unions are
working hard to kind of recruit people into the
trade. Do you find all the different unions are,
we always think of them as representing existing
workers, but it looks like they're also helping
to kind of grow their trades as well. Is that
true? They've been really out in front of the
traditional training centers, because obviously
with more people, you get a bigger training center.
But there's also some Empire State development
dollars that would help, because they have to
roll that out. Like they can't just say, okay,
I'm going to put in millions and millions of
dollars training center, but I think that's going
to pay dividends. But yes, the trades and the
central and northern building trades association
and the teamsters have had job fairs. So they
have, and they're great partners and everything.
I mean, they're going to have to be, we're going
to need the people. I've always been a big fan
of unions, but I think that's just another one
of those things that people don't necessarily
realize. Like I said, I think they always think
about it as after you've gotten the job, but
they kind of lead the... the way on some of these,
helping you find it to begin with, which is pretty
cool. Senator, last question I will ask you.
So as you mentioned earlier, you get to travel
and you get to see a lot of these areas in ways
that a lot of folks don't. So I would love you
to share with us a couple of your top favorite
things, whether it's an activity for a family
or a couple on a date night. What are some hidden
gems in our area that folks should check out
for something fun to do? Hidden gems, all right.
I don't know, we do a lot of tours for businesses
and fire departments and police departments.
So that might not be a great date night to go
to visit a police department. But, you know,
driving around, we have, you know, great, great
hospitality. You know, Spiegel Chambers, the
city of Spiegel in the summertime is unbelievable.
Maybe a good date night, I don't know, go out
and... There's no shortage of places to eat and
drink there, right? Get a chilly dog at Rudy's
and watch the sunset on Lake Ontario? I don't
know. See, that counts, like romantic. I love
that answer. I'm not a big romantic. To be completely
honest with you, I think one of our biggest assets
in New York State is just the beauty of nature.
I'm a big fan of the Adirondacks ever since I
was a Boy Scout and just the Finger Lakes and
everything else. We go up by the water. I think
that's a great answer, to be completely honest
with you. So I love that. I think that's wonderful.
Last question I'll ask you. In the fair. Don't
forget the fair. Don't sleep on the fair. New
York's Day fairgrounds. You can go out and, you
know, play the dart game and get a big dinosaur.
It is a huge, huge asset. Yeah. Yeah, we love
it. Senator, this has been phenomenal. I really
appreciate you taking a few minutes. The last
thing I'll just ask you is, just as we ask everybody,
sort of your plugs. So if folks want to learn...
more about yourself, your policies, things like
that. Where's the best place that they can follow
you? Our website. Yeah. I think we have a Chris
Ryan at NYSenate .gov. Perfect. Or no, that's
the email address. The standard... Senator website.
Standard website. You got it. Senate website.
We're on social media. Perfect. Our communications.
I'm going to give a shameless plug. Yeah, please.
To my staff. I will say this, as I say it all
the time. hands -down best staff in the business.
That's our communications. If not, make sure
you sign up for our newsletter, do a great job.
You can make sure that you know where we're at.
We're in a lot of places. We're here, there,
we're everywhere. Whether it's giving toys away,
Toys for Tots, we do Toys for Tots. This weekend,
also right after the shop with the hero, over
in the village of East Syracuse with the SU women's
basketball team, East Syracuse Fire Department.
So, yeah, and I think it's good, because it also
shows everything that we're doing also in the
community, because it's not just the branded,
you know, go up to home and make legislation.
I love that. I love that. Senator Ryan, thank
you for joining Good News York. Come back here
any time. You got something good to share. We'd
love to have it and talk about it. And thank
you again. Yeah, thanks for your time. Appreciate
it. And guys, that'll do it for this edition
of Good News York. Stay tuned for all of the
great news we got coming up. We got new episodes
of GNY Sports. I think the bill's just won, so
Mike might be a little extra happy. Well, no,
I don't know. But follow all of that at Good
News York. Sponsored by Ads on the Go. Getadsonthego
.com is the website for that. And I guess that's
it. Peace out.