From left to right: Mike Shreeves, Alyson Christensen, Joseph Parton and John M Kosmetatos (Billy Holbert)
“Natural gas drilling in the Adirondack — it concerns New York state. Making recycling mandatory for all New Yorkers, I think it is important. Alternative energy. Why I feel strongly, because I feel we are at a really important crossroads with global warming and I feel that New York being — even with the recession — a lead state in the country, that we should lead the way or help lead the way as well.”
(Robert Willams, 27, of Albany, sous-chef at Buca di Beppo, unaffiliated with a political party)
“Where’s all this lottery money going? Why are all these schools closing? Why is there no job creation? Where did all this stimulus money go? Now I used to live here and I moved to Texas and I lived there for twenty years and now I’ve moved back and I’ve been back four years. What did you do to my city while I was a way? Anybody who says they’re a politician, I’m unhappy with. I want people who remember they work for the people of New York state and not for themselves.”
(Mike Shreeves, 58, of downtown Syracuse, retired, United States Air Force veteran, unaffiliated with a political party)
“I want the taxes to go down. They say the economy is so bad that they want to charge everybody prices higher. That doesn’t level out. The economy is down, they want to bring the prices up. They don’t have the money for it. And I think the public assistance needs a better grant. They don’t give you enough money to live on at all.”
(Alyson Christensen, 23, of Syracuse, homemaker, Democrat)
“The city and the state government need to care more about the smaller people. They don’t put enough thought and money into the process. They don’t deal with it on a daily basis so they don’t know what it is like.”
(Joseph Parton, 22, of Syracuse’s eastside neighborhood, line cook, Republican)
“I’ve got little brothers and sisters, people need to stop polluting and start going towards green and natural. I’m sick and tired of getting harassed by corporate government, telling me to pay my taxes and all you are doing is taking them and putting them in your pocket or using them to pay off debts that I didn’t help make these debts.”
(John M Kosmetatos, 23, of Syracuse, studio engineer at Victory Sound and Audio, liberal)
(Billy Holbert is a graduate student in broadcast and digital journalism .)
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