Top Row (from left to right): James Horan, Jon Barnhart, Juan Cirino; Bottom Row (left to right): Kim Horr, Linda Church (Valerie Crowder)
“You have to look at the city as something you want to invest your life in. I was born here. I’ve worked here in the city. I bought my house here in the city and I want to see this city survive. I think the biggest thing is jobs.”
(Linda Church, 55, of the North Valley neighborhood, retired Centro busdriver, Democrat)
“I think she should take over the city school district. I think it would be very beneficial to everybody if we had better control and were to probably get rid of the school board and get some people in there that are focused on trying to manage the schools a little bit better, especially budget-wise.”
(James Horan, 47, of East Side neighborhood, owns The Edge, a clothingstore downtown, unaffiliated with a political party)
“Syracuse isn’t producing as much as it used to be. There’s not as much coming out of the city any more. So people need jobs and the job market has kind of fallen on its face. When we start to create more ‘green’ opportunities, whether it be architecture or whether it be economics, just basic things that we’ve seen other cities do, it’s going to open up more jobs, it’s going to cost us less in the long run and ultimately it’s going to benefit the city for years and years to come.”
(Jon Barnhart, 20, Syracuse University student, registered to vote in Syracuse, unaffiliated with a political party )
“The poor people in the West Side, they got too many young people there. They’re not going to school, and they can’t go to school because they don’t have any help. Nobody wants to help them. That’s why we’ve got too many crimes in Syracuse. They have to do something with the young people. Especially the Spanish people, we’ve got too many in the West Side that aren’t doing nothing.”
(Juan Cirino, 35, of the Near Westside neighborhood, wash room operator for Atlas Health Care Linen Services Inc., unaffiliated with a political party )
“You see city’s taxpayers’ money doing nothing. Even over the last few days with city police not being able to coordinate a response to a lot of the accidents that have been happening. I think it would save money. And no matter what government you’re talking about — city, county, state — you’re talking about money. And it’s about saving money and using it better and wiser.”
(Kim Horr, 40, of the Valley neighborhood, billing manager for Psychological Health Care P.L.L.C., Democrat)
(Valerie Crowder is a junior in broadcast journalism, international relations and political science.)
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