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TUESDAY
march 27, 2018 high 45°, low 36°
t h e i n de p e n de n t s t u de n t n e w s pa p e r of s y r a c u s e , n e w yor k |
N • “Sheriff of Wall Street”
P • Still serving
Preet Bharara, a former U.S. attorney known for prosecuting crimes by Wall Street executives, will deliver the 2018 SU College of Law commencement address. Page 3
Ruth Johnson Colvin aimed to improve literacy rates in Syracuse, but her influence has gone far beyond the community. At 101, Colvin is still advocating. Page 7
dailyorange.com
S • Getting graded
The D.O.’s men’s basketball beat writers critique everything about the 2017-18 season, including the quality of coaching and the best and worst players. Page 12
city
city
Spending bill surprises councilors Council passes rental registry amendment By Casey Darnell design editor
Syracuse’s Common Council on Wednesday passed an amendment to the city’s rental registry that will require certain landlords, including some in the University Hill neighborhood, to allow interior inspections. Under the amendment, landlords of homes with one or two families must submit to both exterior and interior inspections by the code department every three years to be compliant with the rental registry, a list of one- and two-family homes that landlords are required to be on. Previously, the rental registry only required exterior inspections every two years. While the city’s code enforce-
July 1 Some Syracuse common councilors are pleased that the Fiscal Year 2018-19 budget bill recently passed by Congress doesn’t include cuts to a major grant program. kai nguyen photo editor
Date the amendment goes into effect
ment department currently performs periodic interior inspections of buildings with three or more families, there were no periodic interior inspections of one- and two-family homes until the passage of the amendment. Several companies that rent to Syracuse University students own properties that are classified as oneor two-family residences, meaning these properties will be under the scope of the amendment, which goes into effect on July 1. Ken Towsley, director of the city’s code enforcement department, has said that only one-third of one- and two-family homes are on the registry, which has no enforcement mechanism. The amendment removes a list of compliant landlords that allowed the city to keep track of how many landlords were on the registry. Councilor-at-large Khalid Bey proposed the amendment at a Jan. 31 meeting of the council. At that meeting, Bey said the change would help the city crackdown on landlords who are “serially negligent.” A few councilors were confused about the details of the amendment and how it would see registry page 6
By Daniel Strauss asst. digital editor
President Donald Trump’s proposed budget was expected to affect every corner of the United States, including Syracuse. And while the proposal was initially expected to eliminate or completely cut funding for major social programs, some of Syracuse’s common councilors are pleasantly surprised with a new congressional budget that rejects many of the Trump administration’s ideas for cuts. The Syracuse community relies heavily on federally-funded social programs that alleviate the effects of poverty and fight homelessness. Programs such as Community Development Block Grants and HOME Investment Partnership funds help city officials provide affordable housing for low- and moderate- income Syracuse residents. Trump initially wanted to completely eliminate the CDBG program in Fiscal Year 201819. But Syracuse’s Common Council on Monday approved a request to the Department of Housing and Urban Development for about $4 million in CDBG funds and about $1 million in HOME Investment Partnership grants. And those CDBG
figures are subject to change. Stephanie Pasquale, director of the city’s department of neighborhood and business development, said she’s optimistic Syracuse will receive an increase in CDBG funds under the budget approved by Congress last week. What she doesn’t know is how much that increase will be, Pasquale said. “I’ve been doing this for about 18 years, and I can’t recall,” Pasquale said of the last time CDBG received additional funds in the federal budget, opposed to cuts. “I think when I started here, we were getting more than $10 million a year.” Originally, Trump proposed cutting the entire CDBG program next fiscal year. Instead, the $1.3 trillion budget bill passed by congressional leaders boosted the block grant program’s funding by $305 million. In Syracuse, CDBG grants are used to fund emergency repairs and other costs of homeownership. In the president’s original budget proposal, HUD was going to receive an $8.8 billion or 18.3 percent funding cut. Originally, Common Councilor Joe Driscoll said those funding cuts to CDBG were among his top concerns in regard to Trump’s proposal. The city’s council initially budgeted for an anticipated 10 percent decrease in CDBG funding next see budget page 6
$4,019,550 Amount of money Syracuse requested from the Department of Housing and Urban Development in CDBG funds for Fiscal Year 2018-19 source: syracuse common council
student association
‘Senior Scaries’ event to highlight SU resources By Ryan Dunn staff writer
Syracuse University’s Student Association announced on Monday that it would host an event to help students navigate the local rent market and cover financial issues such as taxes and loans. Chris Yin, a senior information management technology major and SA’s director of technology, organized the initiative called “Senior Scaries.” The event is scheduled for April 9-12, and Yin said the programming seeks to highlight on-campus resources that students might not realize they have. SA will partner with the Office of Financial Literacy, Office of Alumni Engagement, Health Services, Blackstone LaunchPad and SU Ambulance to host events throughout the week. Each organization has a designated day during which they will present resources pertaining to housing, healthcare, finances and professional topics. “I think Syracuse does a really good job at preparing us for our careers, but I think it’s really lacking in how to prepare us in the noncareer stuff,” Yin said. “The school
has the resources on campus that students don’t know about. We are trying to raise awareness.” While the event will target matriculating seniors, it’ll be open to all SU students. New York real estate agency Cooper and Cooper will kick off Senior Scaries next Tuesday with representatives giving a talk about finding housing and navigating the rent market. That event is meant to raise awareness of Senior Scaries, which will begin the next week. The first events that Monday will focus on helping students find an apartment. Tuesday’s events will focus on mental and physical health and healthcare, Wednesday’s events will cover financial issues such as taxes and student loans and Thursday’s events will cover networking and other professional subjects.
Other business
SA’s Judicial Review Board was called to review a special electionheld on Feb. 26, during which members were elected to the organization’s finance board. The review board met to discussa complaint that had been made by a finance board see sa page 6