From The Post-Standard
WHAT THE MAYOR OUGHT TO DO: THE VIEW FROM SALT SPRINGS
Salt Springs fills the funnel-shaped area bounded by Westmoreland Avenue, Interstate 690, East Genesee Street and Syracuse's eastern limit. Well-tended homes and lots line the streets in the predominantly middle-class neighborhood.
We recently toured homes around the intersection of Fayette Boulevard and Salisbury Park Drive to pose our question: "What's the one thing the next mayor of Syracuse should do to improve Salt Springs?"
Ricardo Donalson, 45, of 253 Fayette Blvd., said the city needs to 'find something more for the kids to get into ... something real, not just recreational things." Rather than shut down the schools at 3 p.m., maybe the city could keep them open, stock them with extra computers and give children computer training, he suggested. 'Lots of kids around here have nothing to do," Donalson said. 'All these kids are good, but after a while they get caught up in the same old things."
Candidates respond to Donalson
Matt Driscoll (D): 'Enhancing youth programs is a continuing priority. WeÂ’ve renovated Homer Wheaton Field and collaborated with neighborhood youth sports leagues and programs. Citywide, we established Violence Intervention Prevention targeting at-risk youth, renovated 34 parks, playgrounds, pools and fields, built the Cannon Street Community Center, and opened school-based night recreation programs in five areas."
Joanie Mahoney (R-C-Ind): 'As mayor, IÂ’ll invest in youth to introduce new mentoring partnerships, better link our schools to after-hours activities and programs, and address the critical social service needs, currently overlooked by this administration, that contribute to the escalating cycle of violence and despair in our neighborhoods."
Howie Hawkins (Green): 'We should Rebuild Syracuse Green: living-wage jobs through public works – with training apprenticeships for at-risk youth and ex-offender s– to restore Onondaga Creek and retrofit energy, transportation, housing, water, sewage and solid-waste infrastructure for sustainability. For younger kids, supervised recreation in neighborhood schools and parks."
People's voices
Ron Falise, 33, of 254 Fayette Blvd., said he and his family are fed up with violence. The next mayor, he said, has 'got to get rid of the violence; got to get rid of the crime. We're getting ready to move out of the city because of that ... There's so much violence in the area, the shootings, the gangs. I know they're working on it, but it's nothing I want to raise my family in."
Dean Crouch, 48, of 537 Salisbury Park Drive, praised the construction of a new park down the street, but said area children need more organized activities 'because it's getting a little violent." The park has a hut, but no real activity center, and has only one basketball court, he said. 'You need a center so they can do their homework," Crouch said.
Mike Pasquale, 36, of 531 Salisbury Park Drive, said, 'The next mayor needs to help folks move out of poverty, up into good- paying jobs." There used to be a lot of programs to help people do that, but they've gone by the wayside because of state and federal budget cuts, Pasquale said. The mayor, he said, should find ways to funnel money to nonprofit groups that can help people develop the 'soft skills" they need to craft resumes, find jobs and interview successfully.
Posted by syracusegreens at September 19, 2005 04:34 AM