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Letter: Ogdensburg residents deserve better

To the Editor:

It’s time we stop pretending everything is fine along Riverside Avenue in Ogdensburg—because it’s not. From the Paterson Street boat launch to the Caroline …

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Letter: Ogdensburg residents deserve better

Posted

To the Editor:

It’s time we stop pretending everything is fine along Riverside Avenue in Ogdensburg—because it’s not. From the Paterson Street boat launch to the Caroline Street parking lot, the area has become an absolute nightmare.

Every night, residents are subjected to racing vehicles, squealing tires, revving engines, loud yelling, screaming, and large groups of unsupervised youth damaging property. 

The building at the corner of Riverside and Franklin was recently set on fire. The one next to it has had its windows smashed out, the front door glass shattered, and is now clearly being used as a shelter by homeless individuals and drug addicts.

The onus falls squarely on the absentee and negligent building owners who allow their properties to sit vacant, unsecured, and wide open for criminal activity. And yet—where is the accountability? Where are the fines, the enforcement, the consequences? 

It is completely unacceptable that residents living nearby are paying thousands in property taxes while these buildings rot and invite danger, unchecked and ignored.

Let me be absolutely clear—I respect and thank the majority of our City Council members who are working to address this. And I especially commend our police officers who continue doing all they can with the limited resources they’ve been given. This is not a criticism of their efforts. It’s a criticism of the system that continuously fails to support them—and fails the residents.

Ogdensburg’s waterfront has so much potential. We could be building something vibrant and beautiful, something to be proud of. 

But instead, it has been left to rot. It’s become a dumping ground—literally and figuratively. 

Meanwhile, you look across the river to Prescott or Brockville, Ontario, and see well-maintained, thriving waterfronts filled with restaurants, shops, walking trails, and families enjoying their communities. Why is it that they take pride in their riverfront, but we don’t?

And to Councilor Storm Cilley—with all due respect—come spend a night or two on Riverside Avenue. Not from a distance. Not through a secondhand account. Walk the street. Hear the noise. Feel what the residents feel. It’s easy to brush this off when it’s out of sight, out of mind. But for the families who live here, the fear and frustration are very real—and growing by the day.

We don’t want handouts. We want accountability. We want basic order and safety. We want our city to care about all of its neighborhoods, not just a select few. Enough with the excuses. Ogdensburg residents deserve better.

Dan Frank

Ogdensburg