Green Street in Camillus is almost entirely residential. That is except 1 Green Street which sits vacant at the intersection of Green and Leroy Streets. Verizon owns the property but hasn't used it for two decades. As Phillip O'Driscoll shares, fed-up residents are voicing their concerns both to Verizon, and the federal government. 

CAMILLUS, N.Y. -- Joan Wise has lived in Camillus her entire life, she has watched the property of 1 Green Street transform.  It started out as a cottage before the property owner next door sold land to allow the phone company to expand. But for the past two decades, it has sat vacant and the property's upkeep has waned.

"And then after awhile they just stopped, and this just deteriorated. There's nobody comes here, it just sits," Wise said.

But residents and local officials have not been sitting, many have reached out to Verizon but haven't heard back. Their next step was to reach out to the federal government.  

"Big corporations seem almost immune and they should be good neighbors, they should listen to communities when they are there," Senator Charles Schumer said. 

Schumer wrote a letter to Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam to echo the concerns of Camillus residents.  Verizon has replied in a statment saying:

"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."

But residents aren't waiting -- some are taking the matter into their own hands. David Smith spent years taking care of the lawn around the property.

"I'd say it doesn't even bother me now except for the fact that they don't take care of the lawn.  I mowed that lawn for 20 years and after 20 years I quit mowing it," Smith said.

But 1 Green Street is not the only corporate property in Onondaga County that Senator Schumer is working to make less of an eyesore.

Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner reached out to Sunoco about replacing this abandoned gas station with something more welcoming at the souther entrance to the city.  Very little action was taken until Senator Schumer was asked to get involved.

"We got Sunoco to agree, and we announced that they agreed to sell the Sunoco station and replace this abandoned gas station with a new Dunkin Donuts," Senator Schumer said.

Dunkin Donuts will submit an application for a building permit to the Syracuse City Council next week.  A similar account of actions are being hoped for in Camillus.