Lennon discusses candidacy for City of Plattsburgh mayor

Feb. 27—PLATTSBURGH — For ethical reasons, Dan Lennon stepped down from his position as Clinton County assistant district attorney Monday to commit to his candidacy for City of Plattsburgh mayor.

He recognizes he is taking a risk in doing so.

"I knew this going into it, but I think the city needs it," he said.

"I was disheartened to see what the city's outlook was before I entered the race, and I felt obligated to enter the race."

SACRIFICE

At just 29 years old, Lennon, who lives in the City of Plattsburgh with his fiancé, Meredith, and their dog, Teddy, knows city residents may be wary of his young age.

He said sacrificing his job to pursue this position sets an example for how far he is willing to go.

"I loved working as a prosecutor. I loved my job, I loved working for (District Attorney) Andy Wylie, but sometimes leadership requires sacrifice. and I think I'd be a hypocrite if I didn't make that sacrifice and expect others to do it for me," Lennon said.

"I'm 29 years old and there's going to be residents of the city that think they're taking a risk on me; I want to show them that I'm willing to get all the way in it with them."

EXPERIENCE

Though young, Lennon is not without experience.

Lennon received his law degree from Albany Law School and his undergraduate degree from Syracuse University, where he was an NCAA All-American in track and a national champion in Cross Country.

And, beyond his recent time as an ADA in Clinton County, Lennon previously worked as a special victim's prosecutor in Schenectady County where he helped prosecute and convict former Broome County District Attorney Steven Cornwell in 2022.

Lennon said that case, along with successfully prosecuting crimes against children, women and animals, helped him mature faster than others his age.

"The reason for it (the maturity) is just involvement in the local community. You work with law enforcement, but you also work with civilian witnesses from all walks of life," he said.

"I have victims or witnesses that come in without a dime to their name, and I have some that come from pretty good backgrounds ... and have enough wealth to stand up for themselves. You learn how to talk to people of all walks of life, and not just talk to them but empathize, understand their story and understand why they matter too."

"It's all about compassion," he added, "fairness and compassion."

CAMPAIGN

The three pillars of Lennon's mayoral campaign will be housing and development, public safety and youth recreation.

Three important issues that directly contribute to the city's quality of life, Lennon said.

HOUSING AND DEVELOPMENT

"When it comes to housing and development, we've got a city population of about 19,000, most of which are renters at this point, and the median income is $55,000. We have an employment rate of about 54%, and 21% — a fifth of the city's population — is living below the poverty line. Despite that, our median gross rent is $940

"We have got to look for better solutions."

Lennon said he would help find those solutions.

When he was in law school, he worked at the Legal Aid Society and was on the executive board for United Tenants of Albany, a nonprofit organization. In the latter role, he was able to help a variety of "vulnerable tenants."

"Not just vulnerable tenants like veterans, low-income individuals or seniors, but we also helped small landlords, because as far as I'm concerned, this whole thing is about community. and I don't really necessarily support the idea of large, corporate landlords," he said.

"I'm a big fan of incentivizing small landlords to give them better access to rent their properties and also willing to look at grants ... there's federal grants, there's state grants that provide those resources ... So we need to find creative solutions and work with our partners to really advocate for our constituents for our city and housing development."

On the topic of development, Lennon admitted he supported the previously proposed hotel development project for the city's harborside last year.

He said as mayor, he would hope to find a middle ground for the project that addresses the concerns raised by councilors, because a hotel is "the right decision for the city."

PUBLIC SAFETY

For public safety, Lennon said he would like to see better first response teams locally, especially when it comes to mental health crises.

"I think that the city is doing a good job right now, but I think that we need to do a better job supporting them (the Plattsburgh City Police Department), getting them better training," he said.

"These are things that are already basically in place, but I want to continue to emphasize them, and that's kind of why I said Plattsburgh is at a crossroads, and that crossroads is we've already taken some of these proactive steps, now the fear is that we're gonna go back, and I don't want to go back. I want to keep moving forward."

YOUTH RECREATION

On youth recreation, Lennon, a former cross-country and track star at Peru High School and at Syracuse University, a Division I program, said he resonates personally with the issue.

"Sports changed my life," he said.

"Look, I was just a small-town kid from a working-class family with a modest income. College didn't seem attainable for me, let alone law school, until Syracuse offered me a track scholarship. That opened doors for me that I didn't think were possible. We owe it to our youth to provide them with resources and access to sports and recreational activities."

He said he wants to bring back the city's recreation department "first and foremost."

"It's nonsensical that we don't have one because we have a beautiful, beautiful landscape for it," Lennon said.

He wants to see the city develop a solid plan for the property of the former Crete Memorial Civic Center as well.

COUNCIL

When it comes to being mayor, Lennon also recognized the importance of being able to work efficiently with the Common Council.

He touted that he has the necessary "grit" to get things done.

"I'm a fighter, I'm an advocate and a consensus builder ... My job is very literally negotiating with people from day to day. I might disagree with somebody, but I have to keep myself professional, and it's fair and it's reasonable and it's ethical and morally righteous to do that, and you should be that way as a public servant," Lennon said.

"That's what that experience gives me is public servitude. That's all my career has been focused toward: serving the public, working in a public facing office, working for an elected official. understanding the importance of not just the formal capacity of the office, but the moral capacity of the office, setting policy, setting the tone, creating a vision for the city ... It's really important stuff."

He said if elected, he would look at any potential disagreements with his council as an opportunity to learn.

"There's an old African proverb: 'if you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.'"

"That's what we need to be doing," Lennon said. "We need to be working together to go far ... Public service is about taking that higher ground and saying, 'Hey, maybe, I'm wrong on this ... maybe, I should listen.'"

POTENTIAL PRIMARY

Wendell Hughes, a Clinton County legislator from Area 8, which covers parts of the city and Town of Plattsburgh, announced his campaign for mayor earlier this month. Hughes is also a Democrat.

A primary could be held on June 25 if both Hughes and Lennon collect the required amount of signatures of party voters on a petition.

No Republican candidate for mayor has come forward as of yet.

City Democrats were meeting Monday night to discuss endorsing a candidate in the mayoral race. The results of that meeting were not available by press time Monday.

But, Lennon said he would be at the meeting to advocate against the Democrats endorsing a candidate — in either the mayoral race or Ward 6 city councilor race — until after the primary election is over.

He said it would show solidarity and uniformity within the party if they waited to endorse until then.

"I think that is the general public's view and I think it's out of touch for us as a party to not listen to what the public thinks."

Email: cnewton@pressrepublican.com

Twitter: CarlySNewton