The Stand
One goal of the Paint the City event held Saturday, June 3, in Syracuse’s South Side is for neighborhood youth to no longer have to walk by drab, boarded-up vacant homes daily on their way to school. Instead, the Greater Syracuse Land Bank will use the 62 completed boards created that day to secure the tax-delinquent properties throughout Syracuse that have been transferred by the city to the nonprofit. The group has also partnered with local teachers and community members to replace boarded-up windows and display students’ art.
Jake Thorsen, director of operations with the Land Bank, said this event brings together local artists, community members and the city school district to “add life to these homes.”
Liam Kirst and Logan Reidsma, both community outreach coordinators with the Land Bank, hope adding the art to the vacant homes will brighten up the children’s day, rather than remind them of their neighborhood’s economic realities.
[Read reflections from Kirst and Reidsma here]
Last Saturday’s painting event met at the South Presbyterian Church on South Salina Street and brought together nearly 40 community members.
— Video by Sarah Perkes, The Stand intern
