Schumer calls on Verizon to address abandoned property in Camillus

CAMILLUS, N.Y. — U.S. Senator Charles Schumer (D–N.Y.) is calling on Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) to respond to local concerns regarding an abandoned property in the village of Camillus.

The website of the Onondaga County Office of Real Property Tax Service lists Verizon New York Inc. as the property owner.

Speaking in front of the property located at 1 Green St. with neighbors standing nearby, Schumer called it at an “eyesore.”

The senator said the neighboring residents are “fed up” with the current state of the site.

“I today am pledging to them I will do everything I can to get Verizon to clean up this site, take down this building, and put something nice up … a new home or something like that,” Schumer said.

The phone company used the building originally as a switching station and later for storage, both Schumer and a neighbor said in a response to an inquiry from BJNN.

A few months ago, village officials decided that they’d “had enough” and reached out to Verizon to see what the company planned to do with the site, Schumer said.

“But Verizon continued to ignore this untamed property,” the Democrat contended.

The residents also wrote letters and tried to contact Verizon by phone but didn’t get a response, according to Schumer.

Schumer’s office called Verizon on Friday and noted the firm “didn’t say much to us.” But the senator also figured Verizon is listening because the company mowed the property’s lawn on Monday morning, he added.

A Verizon spokesman provided the following statement to BJNN late Monday afternoon:

“We received Senator Schumer’s inquiry and after looking into the matter informed his office that we will be working through the Village of Camillus to resolve it.”

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com

PHOTO CAPTION: U.S. Senator Charles Schumer (D–N.Y.) is calling on Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) to clean up the property at 1 Green St. in the village of Camillus, which has been a neighborhood “eyesore” for several years. Schumer on Monday spoke outside the building with neighborhood residents looking on. The phone company had used the building as a switching station and later for storage, according to the lawmaker and a neighborhood resident. (Eric Reinhardt / BJNN).