A recent college graduate is making his mark in local politics and hopes to turn Syracuse into a green-development hotspot.

Matt Rayo, 23, graduated from the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry in 2008. Rayo, a Republican, defeated incumbent Michael Heagerty on Nov. 3 in the race for Syracuse common councilor of District 1. To win, it took a grassroots effort. And as common councilor, part of what he is hoping to do is apply what he learned at ESF to his new job.

Rayo has never held another official political position for the city. Up until the election, his day jobs included working at Wings in Syracuse and in the business office at ESF. But starting in the spring, Rayo showed his drive to win the race and tackle another, much larger job.

Rayo pointed out discrepancies in his opponent’s campaign. Common council candidates are required to get signatures from their district, and Rayo found that Heagerty’s list contained invalid signatures from outside District 1. Without those signatures, Heagerty did not have enough to run as a Democrat and had to run as a member of the Working Families party.

Rayo began working on his campaign after friends and local politicians encouraged him. He did most of the campaign work himself because the race was so localized. ‘I didn’t have some huge campaign team in place. I mostly ran it myself,’ he said.

Localized campaigns rely on making a personal connection with the community, Rayo said. He credits his victory with his ability to do just that. During the last six weeks of the race, he spent most nights going door-to-door talking to voters to get an understanding of the problems in the district.

‘A lot of them were quality-of-life issues. They were concerned with crime and code enforcements,’ Rayo said.

As councilor, Rayo will be responsible for listening to the concerns of his district and working with the necessary government programs and officials to fix its problems.

Even at 23 years old, Rayo has been involved in local politics for several years, and he said because of this, the job won’t seem so foreign to him.

Many voters called his age a positive factor, too.

‘When I went door-to-door and I was talking to people, they were very excited to see a young person. Many people said that we need new blood,’ he said.

As for his education at ESF, Rayo hopes to take what he learned and apply it to Syracuse. He wants to develop previous proposals to make the city more sustainable and environmentally conscious.

‘As a (former) ESF student, I think I can play a valuable role in moving the city in that direction,’ he said.

Rayo wants to run all city vehicles on natural gas, in a plan similar to the city’s Centro bus fleet. He also plans to advocate for more green space, such as parks and fields in the city.

Going green will benefit the city economically as well, Rayo said, by generating business in the growing area of green technology. He hopes Syracuse will be recognized as a hub of sustainability.

‘I think it’s important that we attract businesses with a green focus,’ he said. ‘We need to move forward and make sure we are actively promoting our city to show that we have jobs of the future.’

But Rayo is aware that the task won’t be an easy one.

‘You have to be able to convince people that Syracuse is the place you want to be if you want to start any green business venture. It’s something that we can do, but it’s going to be hard,’ he said.

Faculty members at ESF praised Rayo and called him a diligent and conscientious student. Doug Morrison, a research associate in forest and natural resources management, had Rayo in his SOC101: Introduction to Sociology class and was impressed by his attendance and focus during lectures.

‘I would hope that he’ll take the knowledge he got in the urban-forestry area and continue to improve the environment of the city. I hope he can make Syracuse a greener city,’ Morrison said.

William Porter, professor of environmental and forest biology, who also had Rayo in class, echoed Morrison’s praise. ‘He was an exceptionally good student and that’s a tall order in my class,’ he said.

Porter’s class is designed to show students the professional standards of the real world and stress the importance of teamwork. ‘Those are skills that translate directly into what he’s doing now,’ Porter said.

Rayo credits Porter’s class with teaching him work ethic and practical communication skills like working with people and giving presentations. ‘That class was very difficult and I learned to push myself, to keep working, and working hard,’ he said.

While Rayo is still focused on his current position, others have high hopes for the ESF graduate.

‘I’m hoping that someday he’ll be a future mayor,’ Morrison said.

jlsiart@syr.edu

Published on November 11, 2009 at 12:00 pm