Hi, I’m marc

Growing up in the Syracuse area shaped my life and its goals, and I want to fight for this community.

Since I was a young boy, my parents instilled in me a never-give-up attitude. My dad fought a progressive neurological disease called ataxia from 1998 until he passed in 2011, while my mom raised my two brothers and me and worked a full time job. At times, we relied on the social safety net to help us out: during one year, my brothers and I were on state health insurance, while my mom had none. Watching my parents’ strength and determination in providing my brothers and me a normal childhood, while encouraging us to chase after our dreams, inspired me to work as hard as I could in school, while also giving back to the community that supported us. We frequently volunteered at the Samaritan Center, and from 2013-2019, I organized a fundraiser in Syracuse that raised $35,000 for the National Ataxia Foundation. I knew that my success reflects their legacy that I carry with me every day.

Growing up in Syracuse, the snowiest city in the United States, it was no surprise my passion was studying the weather and climate. Pursuing that dream, I majored in atmospheric science at Cornell, and later went on to receive my Ph.D. at Colorado State University. During my studies, and also during a leadership internship at MercyWorks in downtown Syracuse, I became aware of vast inequities in the U.S., for example, how the color of your skin could decide your future salary, or how most gains in company profits were going to CEOs and not to the workers that deserved them. My grandfather, who fought in the Korean War in the 1950s, was a proud IBEW union-worker at General Electric. He was able to provide my mom and her sisters a house in suburbia despite not having a college degree. This is the power of unions! While at CSU, I was a founding member of the local 7799 chapter of the CWA union. We need to continue fighting against corporate interests as they rob the working and middle classes of our hard-earned money.

Today, I work in Syracuse as a climate science fellow with the Union of Concerned Scientists, where I conduct research that supports litigation to hold fossil fuel corporations accountable for climate destruction (while they reap record profits).

Everyone in Syracuse deserves the opportunity to chase their dreams. To get there, every family needs to be financially stable with necessary support from their government. This is why I’m running for Common Council: to make Syracuse more affordable, especially as the city enters a new era of growth. I will fight for more affordable housing, work to empower our unions against corporate interests, train the workforce for the future, and fight for climate action.