As a result of a two-year fight led by Syracuse United Neighbors (SUN), the Syracuse Common Council unanimously passed legislation in September to stop corner stores and bars in the neighborhood from playing a leading role in the crime ravaging the south and near west sides of the city.

Many of the corner stores and bars in this area have become one-stop crime stores. They sell little more than alcohol, tobacco and lottery tickets. The more enterprising sell hot food to the crowds of drug dealers loitering on the corner and in the parking lots.
Before police raided and closed Ariel's Market in May, it was the site of a cocaine and heroin ring netting over $100,000 of sales per week. Bo’s place, another neighborhood bar, was the site of a summer gang-related murder.

The legislation created a business license for corner stores and bars operating in the city. The license, called a Certificate of Use, requires the owners of the business to run a clean operation that does not threaten the health and safety of its neighbors.

SUN had been fighting for this legislation for more than two years. SUN held a series of meetings with members of the city council in 2002 and 2003 to press for this law. All nine councilors committed to passing this legislation, and a proposal was given to the city attorneys in Feb. 2003. SUN prepared for its trip to NP A this past June by marching into the city attorney’s office and demanding to know when legislation would be drafted. Led by SUN leaders Juan Cruz and Lionel Logan, 30 SUN leaders forced the attorneys to draft legislation within two weeks of the visit.

During the summer of 2003, several working meetings with SUN members, the police, code enforcement and city attorneys were convened by Councilor Kate O’Connell in her role as chair of the Council’s Public Safety Committee. As a result, the bill became law. In addition, this group is still meeting to write rules and regulations guaranteeing public hearings in both the Certificate of Use and Nuisance Abatement Proceedings.

The Certificate of Use is SUN's strong message to those businesses that do not recognize their obligation to the neighborhood—Clean Up or We’ll Close You Down!