SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- In a neighborhood where joy and happiness are often in short supply, this was a day that brought smiles.

For years, they had lived in the shadow of the A-Shack Market, a place the city said was a center for everything that was wrong with this neighborhood.

“Obviously, the owners of the building were attracting a criminal element that we did not want to happen here,” said Rory McMahon of the Syracuse Corporation Counsel.

Armed with a new nuisance abatement law, the city told the owner things had to change.

“The residents got together and worked with the police department, the mayor's department and other organizations to work with the owner to change his operation,” said Mercedes Bloodworth of Syracuse United Neighbors.

When things didn't change, the city shut the market down and the city says it's all had an impact. In the months leading up to the shutdown, there were close to 200 police calls to this area. In the months since the shutdown, there have been fewer than 10. But the eyesore remained until the city finally took control of the building. And now, the A-Shack has come down.

The Midland-Bellevue area is in the midst of sweeping change. A new sewage treatment facility forced some people out. Now, the city, armed with money from the county, is focusing on what's left behind.

“This is a neighborhood that's going to be receiving some mitigation money to rehab a lot of these homes. So it's very important to us that we leverage that money by taking down the criminal elements in this neighborhood so that they can begin to rebuild,” McMahon said.

The A-Shack demolition is not the end of the work here. It really is very close to being a first step. But neighbors are applauding the effort.

“They want a quality of life that they're entitled to,” Bloodworth said.

This, they say, is a move in the right direction. The city plans to build five single-family homes on the land. There is also a plan to develop a community park on the site.