Left to right: Tammy Everett, Margaret Bonner, Carl Simpson, George McCarthy, Ted Lenkiewicz (C.J. Baker)
“I think they should do more to take control of the abandoned buildings that are in the city. That makes the city look absolutely horrible — in some of these areas where people have just moved out. I don’t know if they were renting them out to absentee landlords. That really puts a blight on the city.”
(Tammy Everett, 47, of Cicero, court assistant at NYS Unified Court System, Democrat)
“We need more subsidized housing. There is just not enough…There’s a lot of empty buildings in Syracuse that are just sitting there. But I understand you’re going to need somebody who has money to do these buildings up and make them into apartments or whatever.”
(Margaret Bonner, 65, of Syracuse, former waitress and bartender, Democrat)
“Black contractors are not being able to get bids are or jobs. They are not getting loans to do jobs and they’re not getting jobs. It’s really sad… I’ve been to places where I’ve applied for a job and they see my resume and say, ‘Wow, this guy is really qualified’ — as soon as I walk through and they see I’m black nobody wants to talk to me anymore.”
(Carl Simpson, 35, of Eastwood, a carpenter, Democrat)
“It’s hard to find a job. I’ve been trying to find a job for the past couple years, and there is like 30 people applying for the same jobs. Dunkin’ Donuts, McDonalds, Burger King — it doesn’t matter where it is.”
(George McCarthy, 40, of Syracuse’s Northside, unemployed, Democrat)
“Well, the main thing I see with the city is I think it’s visually going down the tubes. There’s trash that does not get picked up. There’s streets that don’t get repaired. It just looks like it’s depressed. Vacant houses that don’t get taken down, and vacant buildings — it’s an eye-sore.”
(Ted Lenkiewicz, 57, of Syracuse’s Westside, insurance adjuster, Republican)
(C.J Baker is junior majoring in broadcast and digital journalism.)
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