On the Way to a Rejuvenated Syracuse

Senator Charles Schumer announced the introduction of federal legislation that would provide $300 million to repair 30 aging cities across the country.

Schumer will fight to include Syracuse as one of the cities to receive funding, he said in a press release.

The money would allow the rejuvenation of Syracuse’s Near West Side.

Schumer has met with secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan, who will select the 30 cities, media spokesperson for the senator Max Young said.

The bill will now go through the legislative process, Young said.

With 1,350 abandoned structures and property values falling, Schumer and his staff say the time has come to “turn the Near Westside into a vibrant community with new business, arts venues and renovated housing,” the Senator’s press release said.

“This is the time to address it,” Young said.

Previous efforts to reconstruct vacant buildings in Syracuse have failed.

For 30 years Syracuse has been receiving Community Development Block Grant funds but “the money has been scattered around with other programs and not enough of it is targeted toward the rehabilitation of vacant structures,” Syracuse United Neighbors executive director Richard Puchalski said.

On the other hand, “the Schumer Plan will be focused on construction,” Puchalski said.

Syracuse residents are hoping Congress supports the plan and approves the funding but the ongoing economic crisis has them worried.

“With so much money being released to bailout corporations, it’s a question whether the time is right,” Puchalski said.