Syracuse’s Common Council will vote Monday to approve a local athletic center’s purchase of a tax-delinquent property.

Ray Rinaldi, a former professional boxer, runs the North Area Athletic and Education Center. At Wednesday’s council meeting, he asked councilors to approve his purchase of a property so he can expand the center’s youth intervention program.

Rinaldi has housed programs for at-risk kids for nearly 30 years, including boxing, GED and computer classes and counseling, he said. Councilor at-large Tim Rudd proposed an agreement with Rinaldi’s athletic club to purchase the tax-delinquent property at 301-303 S. Geddes St. for $5,000.

“These are kids that are kicked out of school, on probation, parole, whatever excuse they use — I get them, and I get a lot of them,” Rinaldi said. “We can prove that within three weeks, you can change a complete attitude.”

Rinaldi would like to purchase the new building so he can add more programs for the kids. He said a few years ago, two people from Tokyo came to visit his facilities to create a model for at-risk kids in Japan.

He teaches many of the children how to box, and in a five-year span, the club has seen more than 6,200 kids at its two locations, Rinaldi said.

“The same kids that are fighting in the streets are friends now,” Rinaldi said.

Syracuse Police Department Chief Frank Fowler spoke on Rinaldi’s behalf.

“Any time the community can invest in this gentleman and what he’s doing on a daily basis, I think we should jump at that opportunity,” Fowler said.

New York state Assemblyman William Magnarelli was also at the council meeting to speak for Rinaldi. Magnarelli said he’s been supporting Rinaldi through his work in the state assembly for two decades, and he wants to see the program continue.

“What he’s doing is good,” Magnarelli said. “It’s a good program, and anything you can do to help him would be appreciated.”

Other business

Fowler was at the council meeting primarily to answer questions about the SPD’s request for funds to compensate the people who train police recruits.

The training will take place for five days in mid-November and will focus on defensive tactics. Councilor Joseph Carni, of the 1st district, raised concerns about how this training will benefit recruits from outside of Syracuse.

“I still can’t believe we haven’t come up with something to be compensated for allowing other people to train with us,” Carni said.

Fowler said there is not currently a system in place to reimburse the city for training people outside of the city, but he said it would benefit the city to have a system to do so.

Published on October 31, 2018 at 8:44 pm

Contact Dakota: dapalmer@syr.edu