COVER
MEMBERSHIP
INTERVIEW WITH
Q: What or who inspired you to run for office?
NETWORKING
Svante Myrick: As cheesy as it may sound, President Obama.
Back when I ran for office he was still Senator Obama and he
hadn’t even formally begun his campaign, but he delivered his
big speech in 2004 and I read his book. As a young black kid
with an absent black father, being raised by a white mother, and
with a strange name, his book just meant the world to me. Seeing
someone who came from that background who could not just be
a fan of government and politics but could actually run for office
himself was eye-opening for me. You know as a kid you think
you can only run for office if your name is Jefferson or Clinton or
George Herbert Walker Bush and seeing that it was possible even
if you come from a place that I’ve come from was a big inspiration.
POLICY
What was the main goal you wanted to accomplish when you
decided to run for office? Have you achieved it?
ME
MB
ERS
HIP
I haven’t. It was making the city of Ithaca an affordable place to be
for all families. Growing up, housing was always such a problem.
We were homeless at times and the rent always rose faster than my
mom’s income did, and I just felt then and still feel that there’s got
to be a better way. There have been projects but work on an issue
like this is never over; you constantly have to keep track of market
forces and adjust your own policy regulations so that the amount
of housing available can keep up with the demand. That’s the true
way to keep costs down.
What advice would you give someone considering running for
office?
It would be to find as much advice as you can – find a mentor! Find
at least one person who has been through it before and can show
YEO F r o n t l i n e N e w s • S u m m e r 2016 • PG 8
Ithaca Mayor Svante Myrick
you the ropes, who can keep your head level and who isn’t vested
in your success but who likes you and is rooting for you. The other
advice I would give is to make sure you’re doing it for the right
reasons. If you are running because you want to be something –
you like the way mayor sounds, or senator or congressperson – be
very careful because being someone is never as fun as it sounds.
That’s why you’re running. You are not going to get a whole lot
of bang for your buck because most of the time you aren’t being
celebrated – you’re being yelled at. You have to run because you
want to do something, not because you want to be something.
Doing something never wears off or gets old and will power you
through the moments you are being yelled at.
How has the YEO Network helped you while in office?
YEO has helped hugely. Every time I come back from conferences
I take ideas from other communities which help me be successful.
You’re bringing new innovative ideas to problems that have
never been solved. There is also a therapeutic aspect to the YEO
Network. Being an elected official is tough; like anything that’s
hard, going through it with people who understand it really makes
it easier. When you’re young and elected and you’re sitting in these
rooms, it’s hard to find an actual peer. Being a part of YEO gives
you a support system of peers who really understand what it’s like
to be young and elected.
Do you plan to run for higher office? If so, which?
I don’t have any plans – I am just still so far ahead of my original
plan. I thought I would run for mayor when I was like 36 so my
plans haven’t had a chance to catch up to my reality and I am
just enjoying the time I
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