05/01/09 - Resident to Mayor: "'May I' is great!"
Questions:
Angelo Roefaro, Public Relations
315-792-0100 |
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Mayor: "Happy May I Day"
Roefaro announces city wide clean and green blitz
"May I" Project takes on over 600 total complaints
Mayor vows to enact graffiti law, threatens violators with felony charges, Councilmembers on board
May 1, 2009- (Utica, NY) – "Happy May I Day."
That was the phrase Utica Mayor David Roefaro began his Friday morning press conference with. "Today, we take over 180 hotline calls, and over 400 Codes and DPW requests to action, to rid the city of all of these issues before the summer even begins," the Mayor said this morning. "I asked residents, "'May I help you'?" Well, they sure let me know I could, and that's why I'm here today with my Codes Department, Deputy Police Chief, Mark Williams, and Common Council members, Joan Scalise and Frank Vescera."
Today, Mayor Roefaro highlighted some of the over 600 total complaints the "May I" project will take on, while showcasing that it was indeed, May 1, 2009 -the day he promised his plan would take action, and the month he promised to remedy all of those concerns-.
He held his Friday morning press conference on Mary Street. At a home owned by Frank and Angela Capirci. Frank and Angela called the "May I" Hotline back in April asking for help.
"There was an abandoned and burned out house across the street from our home," the Capircis said. "We called the hotline because it had been sitting there for 3 years, thinking maybe it could come down."
Roefaro not only logged in the Capirci's complaint, but he tore the blighted home down earlier this week. This is what the "May I" Project was all about- letting people know that I can help them, that we want to help them, and that no complaint is too trivial or too unimportant."
The Capircis also had another problem- The fence along their property -nearly 100 feet- had been vandalized with graffiti.
Mayor Roefaro said graffiti is one of those unfortunate things, he's not taking lightly. "Today, I am announcing that the city is not only going to get tough on graffiti violators, but that together, with the council, we'll be enacting a law to charge offenders in the toughest way possible, making an example out of them."
Roefaro also announced that with the help of District Attorney, Scott McNamara, he has been charging graffiti vandals inflicting over $250 worth of property damage with Class E Felonies.
"I feel good today. It really worked, calling the 'May I' Hotline," Utica resident Frank Capirci said as he sipped his coffee. "My wife and I will never have to look at that abandoned old home again."
