“All of the malls are losing stores and if the malls are losing stores, then you know that everywhere else is losing jobs. Factories have been closing down, so I think it would just help to make sure we have more money in the economy and more people that are working.”
(Katie Budd, 20, of Liverpool, Syracuse University student, Independence Party)
“I work downtown. I work in the county office building and there’s really not much to do down here. And just Salina Street up — it’s just been going downhill for many years. I’d like to see it where it once was.”
(Elizabeth O’Hara, 45, of Syracuse, Department of Social Services employee, Independence Party)
“Both the county, city and state legislatures have really got to find some program for attracting more industries, more businesses into the Central New York area.”
(Mahlon Wagner, 74, of Clay, retired professor of psychology at SUNY Oswego, Democrat)
“When I read that a great percentage of our young population is leaving the region because they either can’t afford to live here, they aren’t getting employment here, or I read about, you know, small businesses leaving the region because the taxes are so high, you know, that’s very disconcerting.” (Linda Markert of Baldwinsville, higher education administrator, Republican)
“We’re spending a lot of unnecessary money on healthcare, which we know it, and I think there’s a lot of big businesses kind of sucking it dry. It could be trimmed way back. The pharmaceutical industry, I think, is a big culprit of that.”
(Doug Pacheco, 51, of Clay, water environment protection, instrument & controls employee, Republican)
(Michelle San Miguel is a senior with double majors in broadcast journalism and international relations.)
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