SYRACUSE -- An abandoned home at the center of an exclusive CNY Central investigation has been taken down.
Demolition started at around 12:30 Wednesday afternoon at 179 East Bissell Street in Syracuse. By mid-afternoon, the house was reduced to rubble.
Late last month, our Jim Kenyon uncovered complaints about the house going back six years. Neighbor Ben Jamison says he complained to City Hall that the house was a fire, health, and safety hazard. He says it was falling apart, and animals lived inside it.
As part of our investigation, the city admitted a budget problem was keeping many properties from being demolished. The demolition budget was cut in half to $500,000. The house on East Bissell Street was bumped up on the list of priority demolitions after our stories.
The city's demolition budget did get a boost recently. Half of the $1 million payment Destiny USA developers made to the city earlier this month went to the demolition budget. The Pyramid Companies paid the city to extend the deadline for the Carousel Center expansion by another six months.
