I want to be as clear as possible in my opposition to the pending aquarium project. This is a horrendous decision that will have negative consequences for generations to come. I do not agree with spending over 100 million dollars for an Aquarium. 

For starters, it is simply a bad investment. Most aquariums don’t make enough money to pay their operating expenses, and Onondaga County’s own feasibility study predicted that our aquarium would require a steady subsidy to break even. We can’t count on funding from state or federal governments—they won’t even fund our public schools!—so that means we will have to spend local tax dollars to subsidize it in perpetuity. This is not only bad business, but it’s fiscally irresponsible and not something I could be in favor of. 

Another reason to oppose the project is inflation. I’m not an expert on aquarium construction; however, my lived experience tells me that 85$ on groceries doesn’t spend today, the same way it did a year ago, so I have every reason to believe inflation is going to shoot that number well into the hundreds of millions. When I’m elected, I will never vote to give more money to this project when we have so many other needs for our community.

Which brings me to the the number one reason I oppose this project, the pressing needs our community has right now. City hall posted a housing study that showed 77% of our homes are not in good condition. The rate of childhood lead poisoning is creeping up in our city, our opioid crisis is not under control and deaths are mounting. Social Service workers literally walked out last month because they are being forced to work short staffed. 

I’m on record as saying that Syracuse need’s an “Aquarium-sized investment into public transportation,” and I truly mean it. Whether it’s light rail or not, I think an investment into helping people get to work, get to school, and overall get around our community will pay us back far more than an aquarium ever could. However, my bigger point is that budgets are priority documents and our priorities at the county level are simply wrong. 

I’m disappointed that just this past Thursday it was reported that the legislature voted to spend our tax money to acquire land that could very well be toxic. I am not in favor of putting our community’s health at risk. I am calling for the entire project to be suspended until further studies can be done.

We’re in the midst of a housing crisis. We’re in the midst of an opioid crisis. Our climate crisis is at a point where earlier this week, it was literally dangerous to breathe the air. An investment of this scale should be made in direct support of our community. There’s so many better things we can focus on so I want to make this as clear as I possibly can:

We should not invest 100 million dollars into an aquarium. It is a very bad decision that we will have to live with for years to come.

Sincerely,

Maurice Mo Brown

Candidate for Onondaga County Legislature