“I would personally love to see them take 81 down, but that’s probably not a city issue. I think it’s really important that we maintain the quality of our public schools. I see friends either moving away or putting their kids in private schools.”
(Susan Hawks of Syracuse, 61, accountant, Democrat)
“Mostly right now is the employment in the area. Just trying to keep businesses in the city, trying to get anybody back employed that’s been losing their jobs over the last year, year and a half. Somebody’s not doing it now, somebody’s got to do it in the future — I’ve been out since last February.”
(David Kent of Fayetteville, 31, unemployed, former land surveyor, Republican)
“I’m a part of this group called Syracuse 20/20. They are talking about government modernization. We’ve got a lot of waste in the county when you talk about all the excess fire departments, school districts, everything else that you’ve got in here that makes our legislature run horrifyingly slow.”
(Chris Haigney of Onondaga, 25, software engineer, Democrat)
“The town is becoming a ghost down, if you look at downtown — a lot of places downtown is closing up. Look at our streets. Our streets now are falling apart. Potholes everywhere and stuff.”
(Ardie Reed of Syracuse, 53, describes himself as on worker’s compensation, Democrat)
“Number one is my neighborhood. More police to control it, and do the more with the crime and when we call them, don’t be all night coming. And the education of the young people and the welfare of the young people –going to school and coming home to safety.”
(Jean Wright of Syracuse, in her 60s, retired, Democrat)
(Brian Amaral is a senior majoring in newspaper journalism.)
-30-
