Final Victory on 133 South Ave. (and we saved the city $31,500!)
Originally uploaded by Syracuse United Neighbors
On August 3rd, the city demolished the vacant house at 133 South Ave. As you may remember, SUN members protested at the law office of the owner, James Medcraf, back in October of 2008. We also had to take on the city’s three-part historic house review process: losing at the Preservation Committee and Planning Commission levels and then prevailing at the Common Council, when they declared the property not historic.
The owner ignored a Supreme Court order to demolish the building
issued in 2006–and Judge James Tormey was none too pleased when
informed of this fact at his regularly scheduled monthly hearing on
vacant house demolition. The combination of the loss of the house’s
historical status and the threat of contempt of court proceedings
made lawyer James Medcraf go through with the demolition, as well as
pay for it out of his own pocket. SUN got rid of a nuisance property that attracted trash, loitering and drug dealing–and saved the city taxpayers $31,500 to boot.
