Partnership for Onondaga Creek Holds Meeting
Lanika Mabrey was unemployed for over two years. Struck by type 2 diabetes and uninsured, she said she spent a long time struggling with the disease while lacking health care. Then, a friend, Louise Poindexter, told her about the existence of a free health clinic in Syracuse.
“I went there and they even gave me my diabetes medication for free,” said a jubilant Mabrey.
In the late afternoon of June 4, both women reunited. They were holding hands in silence as a part of a circle. The circle opened the community assembly of the Partnership for Onondaga Creek, the advocacy organization that drew the women close to each other.
The partnership, rooted in the Midland area of the South Side, meets throughout the year on the first Tuesday of the month at Brady Faith Center, a few blocks away from the creek.
One of the main items scheduled on the assembly agenda was a report on the I-81 Third Public Meeting, which took place May 21 in the OnCenter.
The partnership sent a representative to the I-81 meeting, who was asked to post comments on the public boards, regarding the future of the I-81, on behalf of the non-profit organization. As Peter King, the representative, was absent at the assembly, Aggie Lane conveyed his ideas. She said that King’s concerns revolved around insuring environmental justice on this issue. King told her that people living in the Pioneer Homes neighborhood of the South Side weren’t giving input to the state Department of Transportation and the Syracuse Metropolitan Transportation Council to decide what to do with I-81 at the end of its functional life in 2017. The reason being that both governmental agencies weren’t doing outreach to the South Side community, she added. Further concerns for King were that there was no health impact assessment of the alternatives to I-81. For instance, on the urban heat island effect of laying more concrete and asphalt where units of Pioneer Homes stand now.
Pioneer Homes is a
“I went there and they even gave me my diabetes medication for free,” said a jubilant Mabrey.
In the late afternoon of June 4, both women reunited. They were holding hands in silence as a part of a circle. The circle opened the community assembly of the Partnership for Onondaga Creek, the advocacy organization that drew the women close to each other.
The partnership, rooted in the Midland area of the South Side, meets throughout the year on the first Tuesday of the month at Brady Faith Center, a few blocks away from the creek.
One of the main items scheduled on the assembly agenda was a report on the I-81 Third Public Meeting, which took place May 21 in the OnCenter.
The partnership sent a representative to the I-81 meeting, who was asked to post comments on the public boards, regarding the future of the I-81, on behalf of the non-profit organization. As Peter King, the representative, was absent at the assembly, Aggie Lane conveyed his ideas. She said that King’s concerns revolved around insuring environmental justice on this issue. King told her that people living in the Pioneer Homes neighborhood of the South Side weren’t giving input to the state Department of Transportation and the Syracuse Metropolitan Transportation Council to decide what to do with I-81 at the end of its functional life in 2017. The reason being that both governmental agencies weren’t doing outreach to the South Side community, she added. Further concerns for King were that there was no health impact assessment of the alternatives to I-81. For instance, on the urban heat island effect of laying more concrete and asphalt where units of Pioneer Homes stand now.
Pioneer Homes is a