SUN’s Work On Vacant Houses Featured On New Web Site

The National Training and Information Center of Chicago has created a new web site Foreclosure Photo Project to highlight the work of community groups across the nation that are fighting the effects of mortgage foreclosures and an increase in the number of vacant and abandoned buildings.

The web site, in addition to having many photographs of vacant houses in SUN’s neighborhoods, features a story about SUN’s two public Town Hall meetings held in April and May to discuss the city’s plans to reduce the number of abandoned houses in our turf.

Southside Coalition Kicks Off Campaign To Demolish Vacant Apartment Building

Southside Coalition Kicks Off Campaign To Demolish Vacant Apartment Building

Originally uploaded by sunvacants

About 30 Southside residents gathered at the Cannon St. Community
Center to kick off a campaign to
demolish the vacant 12 unit apartment building at 170 W. Newell
Street. As we sat outside in the bright
sunshine, we didn’t have to imagine what we were talking about. The
building is located right next to
the community center.

Area residents have put up with drugs, gangs and prostitution coming
out of the building. The former owner
was a notorious slumlord who never paid taxes and never got the
required inspections and permits from city
Code Enforcement. Unfortunately, the city was too lazy to go the
extra step to close him down. The building began
to rapidly deteriorate.

In 2005, the building was sold to an absentee landlord from Long
Island. The final straw for residents: the new
slumlord pumped sewage backup from the basement onto the side yard.

At the meeting, SUN got a commitment from Monica Williams, Onondaga
County legislator, to bring the County
Health Department back to study the site of the dumping and to look
into fines against the slumlord. City Attorney
Rory McMahon announced that the city will pursue a hearing against
the owner for violation the city’s Nuisance
Abatement ordinance preventing the landlord from re-opening the
building for at least a year. They also will look
for ways to ratchet up the pressure on his delinquent taxes–now over
$20,000.

SUN also collected postcards from the people at the meeting,
describing their opinions of the building, that we will
be sending to the new slumlord. We will be looking for creative ways
to put pressure on this slumlord until that
building is gone and the community center isn’t living under a
cloud. We do not give up.

SUN Testimony Before Governor’s Economic Security Cabinet

SUN attended the town hall meeting held in Syracuse on June 26th by Governor David Patterson’s Economic Security cabinet. The group is made up of the heads of 20 state agencies and they are charged with developing ways the state can help low income families survive in these tough economic times.

SUN wanted to focus attention on the problems low income neighborhoods in Syracuse are facing with skyrocketing home energy costs. Here is the statement we read at the meeting:

SUN is a grassroots neighborhood organization whose members are residents of the the south, southwest and near-west side neighborhoods of Syracuse. 500 families are dues-paying members of SUN and the organization has been in existence since 1978–fighting to improve our community, working on the issues of safe and affordable housing, crimne-free streets, bank redlining, quality city/county services and environmental justice.

SUN’s neighborhoods consist of 10 census tracts on the south and near-west sides of the city. According to the 2000 Census, 24,809 residents live in 8,625 households in these neighborhoods. 10,725 people in SUN’s neighborhoods live below the federal poverty line. This is 44% of the population whose income was determined–this compares to a poverty rate for the income determined population of 12% in Onondaga County and 27 % for the city of Syracuse. The median incomes for our 10 census tracts range from $8,974 to $22,515 with an average median income of $16,607 ( The median incomes for the county is $40,847 and for the city is $25,000).

Only 31% of the households in SUN’s target area are owner-occupied. The city has a owner-occupancy rate of 40% and the county’s rate is 64%.

SUN’s target area is 61% African-American, 26% white and 13% other minorities. 13% of the area’s residents consider themselves to be Hispanic or Latino. 41% of the city’s African-American population and 40% of the city’s Hispanic residents live within SUN’s target area.

Beyond all the statistics are our neighbors. Many are struggling to make ends meet. Unemployment, underemployment and small fixed incomes for disabilities and retirement make lifre difficult for many folks in our neighborhoods. In a report prepared by the Fiscal Policy Institute for your committee, it was revealed that 30% of working families in New York do not have enough income to cover the basics of life: food, shelter and energy.

Our neighborhoods reflect this reality. When people are juggling what little income they have to keep a roof over their head and food on the table, things that more affluent families consider basics are just not possible: home repairs, savings accounts, a computer for children’s schoolwork.

SUN is here today to ask the Economic Security cabinet to focus on what we believe is the single most pressing financial problem for families in our neighborhoods–the skyrocketing cost of home utilities–electricity and heat.

New York has the nation’s third highest utility bills, behind only Alaska and California. Syracuse, the nation’s snowiest metropolitan city, faces severe winter weather and families are struggling to keep up with their heat bills. Our neighborhood’s housing stock largely consists of large, wood-frame houses, many over 100 years old. Since only 31% of the neighborhood owns their own home, many families are unable to make repairs that would reduce their heat bills, even if they could find the money to finance the necessary work. We have entered a time where families heat bills in the winter months regularly exceed the payments made on either rent or mortgages.

Our office fields dozens of calls a week from families desperate to avoid utility shut offs or make arrangements to pay delinquent bills. Many families have told stories of being without power for extended periods of time, heating their homes with gas stoves.

SUN has several suggestions to deal with this growing crisis in our neighborhoods:

1. Create low-income utility rates for electricity and natural gas. According to a 2004 study by the Public Utility Law Project, creating a separate schedule of rates for low income families would cut costs to utilities and communities by reducing: the number of shut offs and reconnections, the number of uncollectible accounts, the costs to cities for fire and emergency services and to government for Medicaid and homeless shelters.

2. Expand and improve low income energy efficiency programs. The state’s Weatherization Assistance Program has a two year waiting list in Onondaga County. More money for the program could be found by adopting the Assembly’s bill 11590 for a windfall recovery tax on oil companies or committing profits generated by the state’s proposed participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative cap and trade program.

3. Vigorously enforce the Home Energy Fair Practices Act. The state policy of continuous service without unreasonable qualification should create a climate where a utility shutoff is a rare occurrence.

4. Establish incentives for utilities to reduce service interruption. To help reach the goal of rare shut offs, utilities should be rewarded for finding creative ways to keep a customer’s power on, rather than being forced to use shut offs as a collection tool.

5. More state investment in safe and affordable housing–construction and rehabilitation. Homes built new for low income families (and homes rehabilitated for low income families) will be more energy efficient and reduce the overall use of energy. The state should increase the commitment to funding housing programs under DHCR and HFA, AFC and SONYMA. In addition, the state should work with groups like the Empire State Housing Alliance to wok toward creating a true state Housing Trust Fund, with annually dedicated funds from a stable source of income.

No Mayor, But SUN Still Wins

No Mayor, But SUN Still Wins

Originally uploaded by Phil At Sun

Claire McGrath, SUN treasurer and 50 year resident of the Southside, gave city
officials a piece of her mind about the problem with vacant houses in our neighborhood.
Claire was upset that the Mayor decided to skip out on this meeting and not hear for
himself the concerns of the neighbors.

Attending in the mayor’s place were (l to r):
Assessment Commissioner John Gamage, Code Director Jim Blakeman, Director of
Operations Tim Carroll and Finance Deputy Commissioner Sheldon Ashkin.

SUN did win two solid victories from the Driscoll administration:

1) The city will work harder to market its negotiated saleprogram for
tax delinquent homes–with more outreach in the
media and easier access to information.

2) The city will work with SUN to create a third program to sell
vacant houses for $1. SUN’s idea for a $1 Homestead
program will sell homes to pre-qualified purchasers. Why should the
non-profits and investors have all the fun?
Our neighborhoods need more homeowners, let’s cut out the middlemen!

Media Coverage Of SUN’s Meeting On Vacant Houses

For those of you who may have missed it, both Channel 5 and Channel 9 covered SUN’s hot meeting on vacant houses on their 11 P.M. newscasts. Link on to their stories on the internet (channel 9 even has the newscast video):

Neighbors Demand Mass-Demolitions
Channel 5 WTVH 4/28/08

City Struggles With Vacant Homes
Channel 9 WSYR 4/28/08

Channel 9 WSYR newscast video 4/28/08

Stories From Our Neighborhood

Stories From Our Neighborhood

Originally uploaded by Phil At Sun

Louise Thompson, a member of SUN’s Southside Coalition, led off a
parade of neighborhood residents telling city
officials their stories, mostly horror stories, about living around
vacant houses. For over a half hour, resident after
resident spoke about the problems their families confront in the face
of vacant and abandoned buildings.

On Louise’s short block, almost half of the houses have become
vacant. Across our neighborhoods gangs stash
drugs in the overgrowth and under the siding of the houses. Trash
and debris is mysteriously dumped late at night.
Loiterers blast loud music, fight, cause property damage and urinate
on adjoining houses. Homeowners find it hard
to get insurance and see their home’s value decline.

The meeting last night focused attention on the worst of the houses,
the vacants that are beyond saving and need to
be demolished. SUN will host a second meeting on May 29th at 7 PM at
Most Holy Rosary church to discuss how the
city can encourage both non-profits and private investors to
rehabilitate vacant houses and increase owner-occupancy
in our neighborhoods.

SUN Demands Action On Vacant Houses

SUN Demands Action On Vacant Houses

Originally uploaded by Phil At Sun

Over 70 SUN members from the south, southwest and near-west sides of
the city packed the basement hall at St. Anthony’s Church to discuss the ever increasing number of vacant houses in our neighborhoods.

SUN’s Housing Leadership Team (l-r) Sabrina Rautio, Brenda Williams,
Olga Podolak, Ann Reynolds and Carolyn Stanley chaired the meeting.
The night’s topic focused on how the city can improve its record on taking
down dangerous houses in SUN’s neighborhoods. Attending the meeting
for the city were Director of Operations Tim Carroll, the city’s top lawyer
Rory McMahon and director of Code Enforcement Jim Blakeman.

SUN won three major concessions from the city. SUN will be included
in quarterly meetings with the city to determine the vacant houses taken to state Supreme Court for potential demolition. The nine vacant houses on the 200 block of Fitch Street will receive priority attention for demolition and inclusion in the new investor rehab program. The city agreed to participate in a meeting with SUN and state officials to discuss training city staff to certify historic properties.

The Constitution/Urban CNY On SUN’s Vacant House Campaign

The longtime community newspaper, The Constitution/Urban CNY wrote its most recent cover story on the problem of vacant houses and SUN’s upcoming public meetings designed to pressure City Hall into action.

Editor and article writer Ken Jackson wrote:
“After the announcement of the Mayors’ new housing initiative there were those who thought it was a move in the right direction however those who inhabit some of the cities most challenged neighborhoods are responding with dismay. Syracuse United Neighbors, a neighborhood community advocacy group, staged a spirited protest on the steps of Syracuse’s City Hall against the seemingly endless list of dilapidated abandoned structures.”

Come on out to the meeting on Monday April 28th at 7 PM at St. Anthony’s Church Hall 1515 Midland Ave. The meeting will focus on demolitions. Next month, a second meeting will focus on rehabbing vacant houses for owner-occupancy.

SUN Fights To Stop Mortgage Foreclosures

SUN Fights For Mortgage Foreclosure Assistance

Originally uploaded by Phil At Sun

15 SUN members and staff attended the 36th annual National People’s
Action conference
in Washington, DC April 12-14th. The big issue for SUN, as well as
for over 500
grassroots neighborhood leaders from across the country was to stem
the tide of mortgage
foreclosures that are hitting our neighborhoods.

SUN and NPA were busy this weekend. Protests at the White House, the
Federal Reserve
and the home of Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke all demanded
the same thing:
work as hard to help the homeowners and neighborhoods, as you did
when you bailed
out Wall St. investment bankers and hedge fund managers.

The crowd pictured below is talking with a top aide to Federal
Reserve chair Bernanke
on the front steps of the Fed. As a result of our protests, the Fed
has agreed to schedule
a meeting representatives from NPA affiliated groups.

“Fight, Fight, Fight! Housing Is A Human Right!”

"Fight, Fight Fight! ‘Cause Housing Is A Human Right!"

Originally uploaded by Phil At Sun

SUN member Peter Polikarpenko is pictured at a protest organized by
National People’s Action in
Washington, D.C. on April 14th. Groups gathered in front of the
Department of Housing and Urban
Development and demanded to speak with the acting director of HUD,
former Syracuse mayor
Roy Bernardi.

Bernardi’s chief aide (former Syracusan Jim Parenti) came down and
talked with the group’s leaders.
National People’s Action has several major demands for HUD:

An immediate moratorium on public housing demolitions.

Create a plan for the future of low-income public housing.

Reverse plans to take away the rights of tenants to have a voice in
public housing policy.