Len Carson To Run

For Common Council

In November Election

By JIM KEVLIN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com

ONEONTA – Former county rep Len Carson confirmed a few minutes ago he is planning to run for Common Council this fall to represent Ward 5 in the city’s west end.

A Republican, he said he has spoken with the current Council member, Democrat Dana Levinson, who told him she isn’t planning to seek another term.  All Common Council positions are up for reelection in November.

“You know me,” he said.  “I’m not into the ‘D’ and the ‘R’ and the ‘C.’  We need to have a leader, the mayor, and representatives of the wards working together to do the good work that needs to be done.  Party politics don’t work at the local level.  We need good people.”

Since he was succeeded by county Rep. Danny Lapin, D-13, in 2018, Carson has continued to serve on the city’s DRI Committee (for Downtown Revitalization Initiative).  “We’ve worked very hard,” he said. “We’re just now starting to see some of the fruits of that labor.  I would like to continue seeing our downtown revitalized, and the railyards.”

When he spoke this afternoon, he was driving home from a meeting of the city Airport Commission, which he, the late chairman Dennis Finn and businessman Ed May helped revive eight years ago.  (Former mayor Dick Miller used to call them “the three guys.”)  His continued involvement in that “made me realize I’d like to take a more active role in our city government.”

A retired captain in the Oneonta Fire Department, Carson graduated from Laurens Central School and received an associate’s degree in fire science from Corning Community College.

An Air Force veteran, he served as commander of the city’s American Legion Post for eight years.

In addition to public service, he is also an entrepreneur, proprietor of DC Marketing, which operated the electronic billboards on I-88.

The father of three sons, he is married to Delene Carson.