tobia, eo nomine

Last night I was greeted to a tweet from the PostStandard informing me of a shooting at the Court Street Mini Mart. Once again, we have a senseless act of violence in the city of Syracuse. I’m sure that it is just like the typical robberies that we see here in Syracuse, a dead beat was looking for some cash so that they could score some drugs. This frightens me, not because I live only a mile from the store, but because criminals in this city continue to be brash and have no fear of the law. If it weren’t for the fact that it is so cold and snowy for much of the year, I really think that the crime statistics would be even worse. As it is now, I believe we are ranked as the 92nd highest city in terms of crime rate. While 92nd isn’t particularly troubling, the scary thing is that much larger cities such as Boston, Los Angeles and New York City are much safer in terms of crime.

The reason this is such a problem here in Syracuse is the absolute disparity in income levels for city residents versus residents in the metro area. The actual crime rating of the metro area is quite good as opposed to the city. I believe the entire metro is in the top 50 for safest places to live. What is occurring is that most people who are concerned with the well-being of their property and their person have moved to the suburbs. This has caused the wealth disparity to balloon and the majority of city residents in Syracuse live below the poverty level.

With these residents living in poverty, they have resorted to violence as a means for changing their fortunes and unfortunately it has turned what used to be some beautiful neighborhoods into absolute slums. In days past, the area near the Court Street Mini Mart was an area where well-to-do German and Italians immigrants had moved. Just a couple blocks from that intersection is the old George Zett House which was built by the owner of the now defunct Zett Brewery. The Zett House on Danforth Street is near several other mansions that helped this area of the city be known as a very prestigious neighborhood for many years.

I continue to hold out hope that I will either make enough money to purchase several of the homes in some of these areas and rehab them to be rented to young professionals in the hopes of revitalizing some of these neighborhoods. If there were more concerned citizens who would live in the city and would purchase homes we could return some of these neighborhoods like the North Side, Little Italy, the near West Side, Prospect Hill and West Onondaga Street to the gorgeous and prestigious places to live that they once were.

So who wants to form a small residential cooperative that will purchase homes in one of these neighborhoods, fix them up, and live in them in an attempt to revitalize the neighborhoods. I know I am in.