SYRACUSE -- If you take a drive down Euclid Avenue just to the east of Syracuse University, you'll likely see a barrage of students walking to and from class. Drive down it on the weekend, and you'll likely see kids walking to and from party to party.
What you might not notice -- families live there, too. And a local law in Syracuse has tried to strike a balance between both groups, limiting the number of occupants in a building by the number of parking spaces available.
"Some of the streets are jam packed with student cars," said Syracuse Common Councilor Jean Kessner. "There's a concern -- can you get a fire truck down the street.? I'd have to say on some streets, it would be kind of difficult."
Homeowners in the Special Neighborhood District have been all for it, saying it's kept landlords from exclusively buying up vacant properties and turning them into student housing. But Kessner has proposed a change. She wants to redistrict the Special Neighborhood District, shrinking it in size. In her opinion, students are likely to leave the East Campus area, now that new apartment complexes closer to campus have been built, like Park Point on Comstock Avenue. If that were to happen, Kessner said, student housing would be left abandoned and make it difficult for landlords to sell.
"What I want to see is if there are resources to be had, they're concentrated where the problem is the strongest where there are families still living there are all sorts of apartments around it," Kessner said.
Kessner's assessment -- which she said is just a proposal aimed at being a starting point for the discussing redistricting -- isn't sitting well with everyone. Neighbors who live on Maryland and Westminster Avenues told me they can't believe this is being proposed. They say the parking ordinances are what have kept their neighborhoods from being morphed into rows of excessive students housing.
Mike Stanton, President of the South East University Neighborhood Association, said redistricting is not a bad idea. However, he said it needs to be done the right way, or it could be the end of family neighborhoods near SU's campus.
There will be a public meeting on this issue February 17th at 5:30 at Syracuse City Hall.
What do you think about this Special Neighborhood District? Does it need to be redistricted, or will it open the door for landlord expansion?
