Gregory Elvis Myers Sr., lovingly referred to as Uncle Butch by the community, has been a Southside resident for 75 years, spending a majority of his lifetime in Pioneer Homes. As the 15th Ward underwent rapid changes following the construction of the Interstate 81 highway, Myers and his generation were presented with promises of an impending change. Decades later, they are finally coming to fruition in the form of a four-story building with affordable units meant for Syracuse Housing Authority’s senior residents.
“We were promised years and years that things were going to change, and they were right. Things changed, but not for us,” Myers said. “All we ever got was leftovers and now we’re getting something new.”
Myers joined more than 150 people at the intersection of Burt and South State streets to celebrate the groundbreaking on the second phase of the redevelopment of public housing on Syracuse’s Southside. Syracuse Housing Authority officials along with developer McCormack Baron Salazar and others hosted the ceremony…