TNT Holds October Meeting

Tomorrow’s Neighborhoods Today (TNT) Area 3 Planning Council for the South Side met Monday, Oct. 4, at Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. School, 416 E. Raynor Ave., for this month’s community meeting.

There were approximately 24 people in attendance, including South Side residents and representatives from the police department, code enforcement, Dunbar and Home HeadQuarters.

The meeting was called to order and the first item on the agenda was a presentation by the Syracuse Parks Conservancy, an organization that promotes and maintains Syracuse parks. TNT members voted yes to pay the Conservancy $250 to plant a butterfly garden, plants that draw butterflies, at Bellevue Elementary School to beautify the area for students.

A representative from the city’s transportation department discussed the idea of making Colvin Street from Salina Street to South Avenue into a two-way street. The idea received mixed reviews from attendees because to accommodate a two-way street, all the parking along that stretch of Colvin would have to be removed. Per the suggestion of TNT, the transportation department will survey the residents along the street who would be impacted before making a decision.

The meeting was then broken into small groups to review previously discussed ideas for a five-year plan for the South Side. The proposed areas for improvement for the five-year plan included housing, education, infrastructure, green space, neighborhood management and improving the image of the South Side. Every group discussed specific ideas to add to the five-year plan and then shared with all members. Some proposed ideas were to hold landlords more accountable, go after absentee landlords and seek more funding for demolitions of dilapidated homes and businesses.

TNT meets the first Monday of each month, in hopes of involving neighborhood residents, businesses and organizations to develop workable plans and priorities for the neighborhood.

The next South Side TNT meeting will be held at 6 p.m. Nov. 1, at Roberts School, 530 Stolp Ave. There will be a housing presentation by Commissioner Paul Driscoll and Deputy Commissioner Sharon Owens. For more information, visit the TNT website.