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Priorities

  Tackle Our Housing Crisis  

 

Binghamton is in a housing crisis. Our housing market is broken and it's dragging down our residents and economy. There’s not nearly enough moderately priced housing for local residents, but student rentals just keep popping up. Homelessness is rising faster than units are being built. First time homeowners have been priced out of the market. Miles will:

 

  • Make student housing providers pay their fair share

  • Hold absentee and out-of-town landlords accountable

  • Empower tenants to ensure safe living conditions

  • Build small, multi-family affordable housing units throughout the city that are high-quality and safe

  • Support first time homeowners with grants and expanding new home construction 

  • Fund initiatives to end homelessness and invest in emergency shelters

  • Add more code enforcement officers in our neighborhoods

  • Incentivize new housing construction for all types of housing by streamlining the development and approval process 

  • Preserve existing affordable housing and raise the overall quality of housing

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  Expand Youth Services  

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We need to invest in our kids and young adults by creating meaningful programming and hands-on opportunities that activate the creativity and talents of our area’s young people. Allowing our young people to build happy, prosperous lives in Binghamton means offering pathways to good-paying jobs and quality housing. Miles will:

 

  • Bring back the Binghamton Youth Bureau to coordinate with schools, local service agencies, colleges, and nonprofits to connect existing programs, encourage youth engagement, and facilitate internships with local businesses 

  • Establish a youth council to nurture our leaders of today and tomorrow

  • Invest in mentorship and job training programs

  • Expand the Summer Jobs program 

  • Pass legislation to require trade unions' apprenticeships on city projects

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  Comprehensive Public Safety  

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Public Safety is amplified in each and every platform position because safe communities are fair, prosperous communities. Investing in our kids, poverty reduction, and housing make us all safer. It also means investing in our first responders. Our city is asking too much of them but not doing enough for them. As a result, they are leaving city service in droves and taking their skills with them. Miles will:

 

  • Recruit, retain, and promote our first responders

  • Create a team of mental health workers to address non-emergency calls

  • Invest in violence prevention programs

  • Revamp the city’s approach to monitoring vacant properties

  • Prohibit city employees from doing the work of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

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  Champion Small Businesses  

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Small businesses are the backbone of our local economy. But today, throughout our neighborhood business corridors, storefronts stand empty and abandoned. Miles has extensive experience stepping up for small businesses. He was the Executive Director of a non-profit that advanced small business growth and economic development initiatives. Miles will:

 

  • Provide start-up grants to emerging, local businesses 

  • Institute programs that activate and improve our neighborhood business districts 

  • Grow the city’s economy through development and cutting red tape

  • Initiate a citywide small business council to ensure small businesses always have the ear of city hall

  • Ensure all businesses have equal access to grants and resources available through the City’s Economic Development Office. 

  • Explore ways to expand coworking spaces for office workers and tradespersons alike

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  End the Blue Bag Trash Collection System  

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The city pays over $300,000 annually just to manufacture the Blue Bags. It is a wasteful, inefficient, and costly way to fund garbage collection. It hurts small businesses, homeowners, and tenants alike and doesn’t even cover the full cost of sanitation! Far from reducing waste, the system encourages “double-bagging” and forces residents to put out half-full bags. The bags are hard to access, poor quality, expensive and drive the City’s litter problem. The Blue Bag system is trash and has to go! In ending the Blue Bag system, Miles will:

 

  • Keep trash collection public and staffed by our incredible Department of Public Works employees

  • Free up funds for improved sanitation services 

  • Make payment for trash collection easier and consistent

  • Divert more food waste and explore improved e-waste collection

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  CLICK HERE TO SIGN THE PETITION TO END BLUE BAGS  

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*If you have any questions or concerns regarding the policy priorities listed under Miles' campaign platform or with issues that are currently unlisted, please contact: info@burnettforbinghamton.com

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  Revitalize Our Neighborhoods 

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The story of Binghamton begins in its neighborhoods, where families grow, connections form, and livelihoods take root. Yet too many blocks are burdened by vacant properties, neglected by absentee landlords, and scattered with unused commercial spaces. Miles will fight to reinvest in our neighborhoods, hold landlords accountable, and turn empty properties into opportunities that strengthen our community. Miles will:

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  • Restore our lapsed Vacant Property Registry, pledging to have 75% of the city’s vacant properties are registered in the first year 

  • Revitalize abandoned properties 

  • Provide grants to homeowners to help revitalize their property

  • Institute public GPS tracking on snowplows so residents can be informed 

  • Activate currently abandoned storefronts with art and culture projects

  • Expand summer employment opportunities to upkeep vacant properties at the neglectful owner's expense 

  • Work with residents and community partners to implement infrastructure upgrades that reduce speeding and dangerous driving through residential areas

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