Holiday 2009

It's the first annual (belated) Syracuse B-4 holiday stocking stuffer! (Click on pages to enlarge.)

December 12, 1963

The litter problem is once again news in Syracuse. Several suggestions have been made in the past: civic service day; Syracuse football players donating their bye weekend to highway cleanup. None of these ideas have caught on, and the situation is obviously not getting any better. Is it time to bring out the hippo heads?

How would you like to have trash baskets with hippopotamus heads along Salina Street?

Do you suppose this would cut down the litter?

This is a device used in a playground in Copenhagen. Prof. Noreda A. Rotunno, chairman of the Advisory City Planning Commission, last night told members of the Citizens' Council on Urban Renewal.

"Children love to stuff their waste into the hippo's gaping mouth," he said. "I didn't see a single piece of waste paper anywhere." (Post-Standard, December 12, 1963)

During the urban renewal years, Syracuse leaders fancied themselves with the notion they were rebuilding themselves as a European city. Though they tore down a century-old brick church, the concrete wall for the new downtown steam plant—in their minds—resembled a European cathedral. As more buildings were razed and an empty pit became a defining feature of downtown, one could ask if they were recreating the bombed-out Europe that they may have seen as veterans of WWII. Rather, it was quite the opposite: in 1955, when downtown and the 15th Ward were still relatively intact, Mayor Mead stated the city shared "the same problems" as a war-ravaged West Germany:

Mayor Mead, who returned Friday from a 26-day tour of West Germany, reported last night that municipal officials in that country are faced with just about the same problems as encountered here.

The mayor said German officials are concerned with housing as the major problem of the post-war rehabilitation. He said the problem is critical in German cities which suffered from 30 to 90 percent destruction during the war.

But Germany and Syracuse did differ in one respect:

One thing the mayor noted, drawing again on problems faced here, was that the Germans do not appear to be taking advantage of the chance to modernize their cities while they have the chance.

He said the war damage requires almost complete reconstruction in most areas yet there is no tendency to widen streets or take other planning steps to guard against future problems.

Instead, the mayor said, streets are patched and new buildings are erected on the exact site of the old. "The people appear to want the old Germany and are reluctant to make changes," Mead said. (Syracuse Herald-Journal, September 25, 1955)

The international travel continued into the 1960s, with Mayor William Walsh, members of the City Council, MDA, City Planning Commission and Chamber of Commerce traveling to Ottawa, Canada to visit Sparkes Street Mall ("If we decide to build one in Syracuse we shall have considerably more money to spend on the project than what was spent in Ottawa"—Post-Standard, July 30, 1963); Mayor Walsh, "30 prominent civic leaders and their wives" on their own 16-day trip through Europe to "inspect methods of reconstruction and redevelopment resulting from the devastation of World War II" ("The mayor forecast 'more green spaces' in the redevelopment of downtown Syracuse as a result of the trip."—Post-Standard, October 22, 1963). One frequent member of the Syracuse delegation was chairman of the Advisory City Planning Commission and later chairman of the Syracuse Planning Commission Noreda Rotunno. Rotunno, a landscape architecture professor employed by Syracuse University as instructor, planner and architect at the same time as he held this advisory post—a seemingly huge conflict of interest apparent to only one astute letter writer in 1963 ("Why does the city of Syracuse tolerate the obvious conflict of interest which exists with Prof. Noreda Rotunno on Syracuse University payroll and as Chairman of the Planning Commission of the City of Syracuse?"—Post-Standard, August 20, 1963)—not only traveled to Ottawa with Walsh, but to pedestrian malls in Kalamazoo, Michigan and Toledo, Ohio (Post-Standard, October 30, 1959), looking to rebuild downtown Syracuse as a pedestrian mall. His greatest inspiration came from a trip made wearing his SU hat, as one of two American delegates sent to Poland for an 11-day conference of the International Federation of Landscape Architects. Ever mindful of his city planning cap, he and his wife spent an additional four weeks in Europe, studying the community facilities in eight cities in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Austria and Poland:

This past week, Professor Rotunno showed more than 100 color slides of community facilities in European cities to members of the Citizens' Council on Urban Renewal and several guests.
...
Council members exclaimed with delight and satisfaction over many features the slides showed. Some of these features were:

1. Satisfying Scenic Vistas—wide boulevards, tree-lined or flowered, forming the approach to public buildings, themselves set off by fountains or pools, or by grassy swards with beds of flowers.
...

2. Open spaces in abundance. Besides parks, plazas and playgrounds, these included pedestrian malls with colorful beds of flowers in the midst of shopping areas.

3. Cleanliness, everywhere.

"I never saw so much as a cigarette butt," the professor commented. (Post-Standard, December 15, 1963)

Rotunno saw many more wonders, including "pavements so beautifully patterned...it would hurt you to litter them," "exciting use of color," and "appealing, eye-catching detail." (You know, those same design tips that Nate Berkus recommends for your home.) One could argue that this had been present on historic James Street (which Rotunno advised the City Planning Commission to rezone to allow apartments and office buildings) or the Syracuse University campus (on which Rotunno razed classic late 19th century buildings for reinforced concrete boxes). In what seems like an architectural bait-and-switch, Rotunno advocated that all new urban renewal buildings "should be complimentary to the natural beauty of this area" (Syracuse Herald-American, February 19, 1967) and then presented this redesign plan for Syracuse University (yes, while still on the City Planning Commission):

Further inspired by visions of seemingly limitless growth, and empowered by the mandate to modernize, the University, the City, and the hospitals were remaking the face and character of University Hill. This process reached its apogee in 1966 with the unveiling of a University Hill General Neighborhood Renewal Plan, authored by Professor Rotunno. Conceived in the modernist spirit of contemporaneous New York State developments such as Albany's SUNY campus and that city's Empire State Plaza, the plan proposed an expanded series of quadrangles, set into a landscape radically remade to accommodate the automobile. The plan included expressway ramps leading directly into plinth-like underground parking garages with new groups of residential and academic towers built atop the parking plinths as far north as East Adams Street.

Rotunno was hardly the first planner to be enamored of European design only to enact a plan representing the antithesis. Viennese-born Victor Gruen also found his inspiration for his architecture in the cities and towns of his past:

Gruen often lamented how Americans flew to Paris, Rome, Florence or Vienna simply so that they might stroll through the city. He wondered, "What is it—what makes Europe the aim of millions of American tourists every year?" His response: "It is the unity between human and habitation and nature which are married happily to landscape," along with Europe's "rich public social life." American tourists—"who at home are usually not willing to walk from the garage to the house"—loved walking in Europe's picturesque cities.

In one speech, Gruen denigrated American cities as "seventeen suburbs in search of a city." "In contrast to the hearts of American cities, the core areas or inner cities of European towns...are still filled, morning and evening, day and night, weekdays and Sundays, with urban dynamism," Gruen wrote. On another occasion, he compared Los Angeles' Ventura Boulevard with Le Gran Boulevard in Paris. Paris' streets possessed "the character of real cities, urban qualities and urban functions." "I haven't seen people sit at sidewalk tables on Ventura Boulevard because there is nothing to look at," Gruen complained. "I haven't seen the kind of life and vitality and intermingling of very many human functions and urban functions." Americans, he lamented, gave up community and chose to live "detached lives in detached houses." (excerpt from Mall Maker: Victor Gruen, Architect of an American Dream, by M. Jeffrey Hardwick, p. 133)

Victor's Gruen's solution for bringing the charm and vitality of European cities to America? The enclosed suburban shopping mall.


Victor Gruen's idea of recreating European cities in American fit in perfectly with an America that was looking to recreate its downtown in suburbia:

The shopping center would be clean, safe and ordered, whereas downtown seemed dangerous and dated. "Eliminate the noise, dirt, and chaos, replacing them with art, landscaping and attractively paved streets" and you had American's shopping malls, one magazine explained. Likewise, the shopping center's commercial density, pedestrian environment, cafes, and civic art suggested the aura of urbanity that suburbanites had lost. In addition, it was hardly a secret that the suburban experience, and especially the shopping center, was premised on creating a separate, private space for whites. Southdale's court provided a secure, predictable space from which white suburban men and women could feel a part of a larger civic world. (emphasis added)(excerpt from Mall Maker:Victor Gruen, Architect of an American Dream, by M.Jeffrey Hardwick, p. 152)

***

Litter has been a problem in downtown streets since there have been downtown streets. 1890:

"Let us first abate our own nuisance of allowing contractors to dump garbage in the street. Consistency is a jewel, and we should set an example for others. The dumping of garbage in the highways has been a reprehensible custom. We have laws which ought to be enforced." (Syracuse Daily Standard, April 11, 1890).

1906:

The Council of Clubs is much disturbed concerning the scattering of papers in the streets, especially in the downtown section...while our minds are taken up with larger enterprises in the beautification of Syracuse, we must not forget the lesser things which add so greatly to the appearance of the city. (Syracuse Herald, March 2, 1906).

For many years, Syracuse sponsored an annual "clean-up week," complete with business sponsors getting in on the action:





While the windblown plastic bags and takeout containers on the sidewalk today may look awful, one has to think that in the days of horse and streetcar travel in a downtown where the train ran through the heart of the city, the litter problem of a century ago assaulted the senses. And yet, the ladies of Strathmore and Sedgwick Farms still journeyed downtown on a regular basis, at the department stores which grew as fast as the renowned architects could build the stores. Litter appeared to be an ordinary, if annoying fact of city life—like honking horns or snow-covered sidewalks—until post-WWII, when it became another symbol of downtown "blight":




Litter had suddenly transformed from an eyesore to epidemic:

Health Commissioner C.A. Sargent called on every citizen for his fullest cooperation during Clean-Up Paint-Up Fix-Up Week from April 29 to May 6.

One thing to look out for especially, he said, are breeding places for flies, rats, mosquitoes, and other germ-bearing insects.
...
He emphasized that trash piles and dump heaps are not only eyesores and blights in a neighborhood but also constitute a menace to family health.
...
Because in this community, as in all others, residents live intimately with each other, it follows that such circumstances breed danger of disease or epidemics, Dr. Sargent said, and for this reason, community health and safety depends on everyone's practicing rules of hygiene. (Post-Standard, April 23, 1950).

Had Noreda Rotunno lined South Salina Street with hippo head trash receptacles during the time of urban renewal, downtown still would have failed. Not only because gimmicks never work, but the connection between downtown and trash had already been established. Did Syracuse (or, more specifically, the Syracuse Herald-Journal) not see the absurdity of "Mayor Henninger express[ing]...concern over lack of an aggressive agency in the city to concern itself with bringing new business into the Syracuse area" in the very same edition of the paper (one page apart) which stated "it is difficult to imagine how a highway could cause further depreciation or deterioration [of S. Townsend Street area]. It's almost like saying the construction of a highway—an elevated highway, if you will—through the city's "Big Moe" dump would depress real estate values"? (Syracuse Herald-Journal, April 27, 1958, p. 49 and p.50). What business would want to locate to a city being presented by its own newspaper as a "dump"?

Conversely, thirty years later, the city supported the construction of a shopping mall on land contaminated with toxic soil, next door to a sewage treatment plant, on the banks of one of the most polluted lakes in the nation. Not only was the opening of the mall celebrated by shoppers and press alike with nary a mention of dirt or grime, Syracuse considers it one of the greenest jewels in their emerald city.


The litter problem downtown is not just downtown litter, it's the association between the two that city leaders dumped on the post-WWII public and allowed to rot for the next six decades. By even highlighting the problem today, the connotation is again reinforced. It's important to remember that before urban renewal planners could build their highways and high-rises, they had to tear the city down. Unfortunately for Syracuse, this is the one area in which they succeeded.

November 2009

No, I haven't abandoned blogging. Rather, I've only been able to think in 140-character increments for the past several weeks because every other thought has been consumed with the process of moving. Though I only traveled a mile away, I made the far more daunting jump from apartment to (rental) house. After living in nothing but studios and one-bedroom apartments for the past thirteen years, I now find myself faced with six rooms, basement, porch and yard. As much as I'd like to see it as some great opportunity, after a decade of viewing home decorating shows, I feel an overwhelming sense of anxiety with every box unpacked and allen wrench turned. Right way, I'm featured on HGTV; wrong way, I'm Urban Renewal Syracuse.

October 4-10, 2009

On September 18, another cornerstone of my childhood came to an end. From age five to eighteen, I would come home after school every afternoon and catch up with the Reardons, Lewises, Bauers and other families of the soap opera Guiding Light. Though the storylines often dealt with adult topics such as alcoholism, rape, and cancer, the show at the time drew audiences young and old, given that the only other viewing options were soap operas as well (although, locally, the STM Club aired opposite GL during the mid-80s.) This mother and daughter demographic tied in perfectly with the booming shopping malls at the time, so soap stars often became the main attraction at grand openings and anniversary celebrations:



Considering all but one of the malls mentioned above have closed, it shouldn't be surprising that a similar fate has met the soaps as well.

I stopped watching GL on a regular basis after high school, but I would occasionally tune in over the years to check in on the goings-on in Springfield. I read about the declining ratings, and the resulting switch to outdoor sets and reality tv-like camerawork in order to draw in a younger audience. When the announcement came six months ago that the show would be cancelled, Guiding Light had an opportunity to make a statement; to show the importance of their 72-year old "time capsule," and the shame of casting it aside for a remake of the long-ago cancelled game show Let's Make a Deal. They had 72 years worth of clips at their disposal; 72 years worth of viewer memories. Instead, I tuned in the the last week's worth of episodes just to watch veteran actors looking glum and morose, like not even twenty-five or thirty years of acting experience could mask the reality they were about to join 15.1 million Americans on the unemployment line. Perhaps being relevant to the end, or, more likely, still not getting it.

Not unlike, say, the newspapers.

***

October 4-10 is National Newspaper Week, a celebration "to build the image of newspapers as a vital and vigorous news medium in the past, present and future as our industry uses all the changing technology to remain the leading gatherer, editor and dispenser of news in the this nation." Locally, the Post-Standard Newspapers in Education division will offer "complimentary Post-Standard e-edition licenses" to every classroom in the Post-Standard reading area that chooses to participate, giving all students the opportunity to read the Post-Standard as part of their daily studies. The Newspapers in Education website currently offers a weekly blog with a "preview of some of the news that you will find in The Post-Standard this week...includ[ing] activity ideas and relevant information to help you plan your lessons." Let's look at some of the listings for the week of September 28-October 2:

Voices: Voices, the weekly page by, for and about local teens is in the CNY section. This week's theme is Blogging. Two teens share why they started blogs and what blogging entails. Another teen writes about his school's news blog.

screenshot on 9/27/09:

— HEALTH: Read the story on avoiding Swine Flu and remind students what you are doing in school and in your classroom to avoid it.

Now, you have an abandoned downtown, an empty monstrosity of a mall, impoverished neighborhoods and an upcoming election for a city mayor that has to make sense of it all, and the lessons the Post-Standard encourages Syracuse students to learn about are blogging ("What blogging entails?" Really?), a Colorado group that teaches "non-voilent" yoga to kids in order to "clam" them, and the Swine Flu? This is how the newspaper considers itself the "leading gatherer, editor and dispenser of news in the nation"?

How about this for a classroom lesson?

There is a general agreement among civic leaders that the next four years will be critical ones for the city of Syracuse.

Progressive programs—or lack of them—may well determine whether Syracuse is to continue to be a thriving metropolitan community or tread water and eventually sink into second class obscurity.

The next mayor of Syracuse will face the responsibility of providing imaginative, intelligent, aggressive leadership in many important areas necessary to the community development.

Indifferent or mediocre leadership—a mere "housekeeping" operation—could wreck the city's future for decades.

Keeping the "store" open will not be enough. The next mayor will face a deskful of problems the moment he crosses the threshold of his City Hall office on January 1.

Discussion: Other than the exclusive use of the male pronoun, could this statement from the September 8, 1957 Post-Standard be published in a current edition verbatim? Or is Syracuse currently treading water if not sinking, and if so, should Syracusans study what decisions were made in the 1957 election and why, so as not to repeat them this time around?


***

I never intended my trilogy of "1950s Syracuse" videos to become a trilogy, or even videos, for that matter. While researching my entry about Parkside Commons six months ago, I came across an article about a proposed 1950s public housing project on the corner of Velasko Road and West Onondaga Street; a corner that I have passed countless times in my life. It's one intersection that I see every time when I am home, because it's on the route between my family's house and the nearest Wegmans. But never once had I heard that this parcel of land was the center of such controversy, or how the public hearings over the matter brought to light the issues that within the next decade would split (or bisect, if you will) Syracuse apart. What I ended up reading could not be condensed into a tidy blog entry (okay, not many of my blog entries could be described as "tidy"); the words had to be read, as written. Interesting that a repeated comment I received regarding the videos was that the quotes went by too fast, as I wished I could put more quotes in every video. When discussing these epic events in the history of Syracuse, it seems not one sentence should end up on the cutting room floor.


Then again, Ken Burns directed his eleven-hour documentary on the Civil War twenty years ago, and over 252,000 books with the keyword "civil war" have been published since. Same as for more recent wars such as World War II, Vietnam: while Wikipedia may sum them up in a few paragraphs and web links, their histories are so vast and complex that there never will be one definitive narrative about the war itself. So why isn't Syracuse's own 20th century conflict—Urban Renewal—studied and discussed in the same manner?


In a column about a 15th Ward reunion published this past August, Post-Standard writer Dick Case stated that the neighborhood's "profile was altered when I-81 went through, in the late 50s and early 60s." Is this what we want the Syracuse school children—the future of Syracuse, if Syracuse can manage to hold on to them—to learn about the 15th Ward? The 15th Ward was merely a casualty of highway technology, not unlike iTunes replacing CDs? City leaders had their eyes on the 15th Ward since the 1930s, presumably under the guise of "slum clearance":

The City of Syracuse, through the municipal administration and Syracuse Housing Authority, is planning a long range program of slum clearance to follow up the demolition of 39 buildings in the 15th Ward which had been condemned by the Department of Public Safety and the Department of Health.

This was learned Wednesday by a group of representative citizens who accompanied Mayor Rolland B. Marvin on a tour of slum sections, with the Mayor pointing out where condemned buildings already had been demolished and indicating other sections in which it is proposed to introduce a slum clearance program. (Syracuse Herald, February 5, 1936)

But even these 1930s Syracuse Newspapers' articles made it quite clear that there was money to be made in "slum clearance," with the ability to utilize the cleared residential land for commercial purposes:

"It is good business to eliminate your slums and undertake housing projects," Miles R. Frisbie of the Schenectady Housing Authority told members and guests of the case work division of the Syracuse Community Chest and Council Wednesday afternoon at the Y.W.C.A.

Social aspects of good housing and slum clearance are acknowledged facts. But the business aspects and economic advantages of such programs have not been stressed enough, according to the speaker.

Schenectady is launched on a program of housing and slum elimination designed to clear downtown portions of the city to make way for municipal parking spaces which will relieve traffic congestion.

"When you approach businessmen with certain facts which prove slums and blighted areas prevent proper care of traffic conditions, make the insurance rates higher in the business districts and prevent the location of new industries within the city—you claim his instant attention and active support," he said. (Syracuse Herald, January 16, 1936)

Ten years later, a Post-Standard editorial openly advocated using slum clearance funds in order solve the downtown parking problem:

One of the things Syracuse must do is to provide off-street parking in the business area for 1,500 to 2,000 cars.

It has become apparent to even the least discerning that traffic is too congested. There are never enough parking spaces for the number of cars downtown.

The question of financing such a project is a serious one at a time like this, when the city is cramped for money and is determined, with the support of its citizens, not to go back to a wild spending and borrowing regime.

Two factors ought to be considered. One, that the project will be self-liquidating. Two, that funds for slum clearance may be obtainable. (Post-Standard, June 29, 1946)

In other words, bulldoze city homes that had been owned by (African-American) families for decades so that the new (white) suburbanites could have someplace to park. Until I-81 came along twenty years later, and kept everyone out of downtown altogether.


Though where exactly are these lessons taught? Growing up, the only Syracuse history I learned involved elementary school lessons of salt production and the paved-over Erie Canal. By high school, social studies classes focused exclusively on World and US history, as apparently the New York State Regents board didn't see any value in high school students studying their own state history. So why is it that newspapers want to "remain the leading gatherer, editor and dispenser of news in the this nation" by focusing on topics such as swine flu (37,700,000 Google results) and yoga (62,000,000 Google results) when they have such a valuable opportunity to teach children—and adults—about local historical issues such as the 15th Ward (2460 Google results)? I mean, if you want to know what blogging entails, it's this: spending hours at a time searching through a century's worth of newspapers, filling in the gaps of the local history you never learned in school (because while Clinton's Folly turned out to be one of the greatest transport and engineering marvels of the United States—insert corresponding self-esteem metaphor for children here—urban renewal just turned out to be one big, unmitigated failure), all the while wondering why, for all the concern about new media overtaking their business, the print newspapers don't take advantage of the one information asset they possess: the print newspapers.

September 24-26, 1936

Elevated Pressure from syracuse b4 on Vimeo.

September 1955 - September 1959

Part 2:

September 1955-September 1959 from syracuse b4 on Vimeo.

August 1937 - August 1955

August 2, 1956

"To have such things would be identical with a woman buying a beautiful, expensive dress and then proceeding, very methodically and deliberately, to daub it all over with ink, or to slit it up the back. There are many such cases in Syracuse which the new Park commission will find it advantageous to alter." -- Syracuse Herald, July 27, 1906

City beautification, as it turned out, could be an ugly business. Parks were acres (and acres) of lush green space in an otherwise chaotic, crowded city. Like rare gems, it wasn't enough to merely appreciate their existence. Everyone wanted a piece of them, and they became an unlikely battleground for a variety of issues, such as class:

At a meeting of the board of directors of the Syracuse Associated Charities held March 28, 1906, it was voted...that it was the sentiment of the Board of Directors that the Park Commission, when created, should aim not so much at the development of an outlying boulevard and park reserve system, which would be enjoyed chiefly by the well-to-do, as at the establishment of playgrounds in the crowded sections of the city where they could be utilized by the poorest people, who stand most in need of park facilities. (Syracuse Herald, August 10, 1906)

Gender (or, perhaps more appropriately, Not In My Backyard):

H. I. Seddon, a property owner near Kirk Park, believes that the commission has a wrong idea of what is demanded. He would have pretty walks and flowers and shrubbery and benches, and make no provision for sport for men and boys. In his letter to Mayor Schoeneck, he writes:

"I am intensely interested [in Kirk Park], as I happen to own the house immediately at the entrance of the park, that is, corner of Midland and Kirk avenues...Now, as far as the writer has been able to glean from the opinions of the neighboring residents of Kirk Park, which, of course, includes the writer's own opinion, a laid-out park is desired where mothers with babies and little girls may have a safe place for outings and recreation, meaning by that, pretty walks with flowers and shrubbery, comfortable benches, etc. Such a park in that section of the city is very much needed for the benefit of women and little children. What use would a racetrack or public playground be to them? It would mean a raising of dust and constant danger... (Syracuse Herald, February 1, 1910)

Morality:

It is now suggested that the city should assume the expense of such supervision next summer at other playgrounds in the city. One thousand dollars is the sum mentioned by the leaders of the movement...it is not a large sum to pay for the results which the playground people hold up to view, the wholesome happiness of thousands of children and the saving of boys from crime...(Post-Standard editorial, November 1, 1910)

And, most of all, Politics:

A fight which threatens to lose David Campbell his position as superintendent of parks and which has upset the city government has resulted over the determination of Mayor Will and Commissioner of Public Works Van Wagner to cut openings in the wire fence surrounding Schiller Park near Grumbach Avenue.

Superintendent Campbell put the fence up a short time ago. Men employed by Commissioner Van Wagner cut the two openings in the wire Monday morning. Superintendent Campbell sent a squad of ten men to the spot today and they built a new fence. Mr. Campbell says that as fast as they tear down the fence he'll rebuild it if he has to employ a thousand men...

One of Mayor Will's arguments in favor of the openings was that boys using the park changed their clothes over the store near which one of the openings was to be located, and that the boys should have easy access to the grounds. Mr. Campbell said that if the city could not provide a place in the park grounds for the boys then the city should be ashamed of itself. (Syracuse Herald, November 6, 1914)

Apparently, the Valley Theater wasn't only place for outdoor entertainment back then.


When the Parks Commission was created in 1906, it was set up as independent of the mayoral administration, with the intent that it could complete the park and boulevard plan over a 10-20 year period, and not have to worry about being removed with every new election. In short, see a project through. While this seems logical, the Commission had absolute authority over the "development of parks, squares, parkways and playgrounds"--in essence, the design of the city, with no oversight from the city administration:

An agitation has been started for the abolition of the park commission at the next session of the Legislature...it is charged that there is a duplication of functions between the park commissioner and department of parks. The theory of the creation of the commission was that it would remove from the administration responsibility and blame for park matters. But it has proved that the administration is held responsible for what the commission does and yet has absolutely no power over the commission's activities. (Syracuse Herald, October 30, 1921)

Further complicating matters was that the responsibilities of the parks was split between different departments and job titles. Initially, the independent Park Commission made decisions regarding park development and permanent improvements of existing parks, while the Park Bureau (headed by the Superintendent of Parks), operating under the Department of Public Works, supervised construction and maintenance issues. In 1917, Mayor Walter Stone, an original member of the Park Commission, reorganized the structure somewhat, by abolishing the Park Bureau, and delegating its duties to a Commissioner of Parks, who would serve under the Mayor. Therefore, the Superintendent/Commissioner would in effect be reporting to two separate entities: the Park Commission and the City Government:

According to Mr. Campbell and other city officials, the trouble [with the Schiller Park fence situation] has resulted from the fact that Mr. Campbell is working both for the Park Commission and for the Bureau of Parks which Commissioner [of Public Works] Wagner heads. As superintendent of parks he receives $1,250 a year from the city and as expert for the commission he receives an additional $1,250. As expert for the Commission he is in charge of planning and carrying out all park plans and as superintendent of parks he cares for the parks after they have been completed...

"I've been here for 12 years now and my authority was never been questioned before," said Mr. Campbell. He said no man could work for two masters and that members of the Park Commission and Bureau of Parks ought to get together and find out what they wanted done. (Syracuse Herald, November 6, 1914)

In New York City, Robert Moses used a similar predicament to leverage his way to becoming one of the most powerful figures in New York State history, transforming the physical landscape of New York City (for better or worse) throughout the first half of the 20th century. In Syracuse, Campbell never took full advantage of this potential power (for better or worse), and park development languished for several years as each successive mayoral administration butted heads with the Park Commission/Parks Department:

The Common Council adopted a bond issue ordinance in October, 1919, during the last months of the administration of Walter Stone, former mayor [and original Park Commission member]. Among other things, $25,000 was supplied for buying certain properties in Onondaga Park...These properties were surrounded by the park lands and the buildings constituted an eyesore, destroying the whole park effect.

Two years have elapsed. The Herald's investigation shows that not only have the properties in question not been acquired, but Mayor Harry H. Farmer, who retires this year, has now reached the arbitrary conclusion that by refusing to remove the buildings in question he has helped to solve the local housing problem.

"The buildings will never be removed while I am mayor," he said, when he was informed that the city has now wasted two years in the purchase of seven or eight pieces of property... The Park Commission would ordinarily go ahead, but while David Campbell, superintendent, did not say so, it is evident that Mayor Farmer...has taken the commission by surprise.

Theoretically, the Park Commission is independent of the Mayor. But practically, the commission would not go ahead over his veto. (Syracuse Herald, October 12, 1921)

The city's next mayor, John Walrath, ran on a campaign platform promising "to abolish departments where there is a conflict of functions" (December 18, 1921). Within a year of taking office, the Park Commission and Park Bureau had been eliminated (like the establishment of the Commission, the process had to go through Albany), and created the Planning, Parks and Recreation Commission, consisting of the city's Corporation Counsel (Frank J. Cregg), Commissioner of Public Safety, City Engineer, and three additional appointees (including president of Muench-Kreuzer Candle Company, Alexis M. Muench). Not only were the parks no longer being developed under an independent group and plan, but Walrath openly discussed his adoption of "a policy of having his appointees in power on various commission in the city government as means of securing cooperation." (Syracuse Herald, April 17, 1922)


Meanwhile, the loss of power did little to affect the success of original members of the Park Commission, who expanded their fortunes during the 1920s housing boom in Syracuse. Emil M. Kotz went back to his furniture business on North Salina Street; his son Emil F. Kotz built houses in the brand new subdivision Bradford Hills (September 30, 1928). James Pennock also became a realtor in the East Genesee street area, selling lots on Allen Street before passing in 1929 at the age of 87. And Mayor Alan Fobes, who had sold his family mansion to Ada and Frederick Hazard in 1907, took a job as an insurance salesman and lived with his wife and children on Teall Ave until he died of pneumonia on January 5, 1944. A rather unceremonious news article about his death summed up his mayoral career in four sentences:

As mayor, Mr. Fobes had great popularity and his election to successive terms by large majorities was testimony to the people's confidence in him. He was successful in reducing the city debt and brought about several improvements and reform in city government. His administrations were noted as business administration. While mayor, Mr. Fobes developed Burnet Park to its present beauty. (Syracuse Herald Journal, January 5, 1944)

Though there are several other paragraphs in the article discussing his post-mayor titles and honors (including Vice-President of Syracuse Savings Bank, member of Onondaga Orphans Home Board, and director of Oakwood Cemetery Association), the absolute lack of detail regarding the "improvements and reform" in the city (as well as no mention of the development of the many other city parks that occurred during his administration) may be indicative of the new year that had dawned in Syracuse. Tales of 1900s-era mayoral accomplishments must have seemed positively quaint to a city that was on the cusp of declaring itself the center of the electronics industry:

Announcement that General Electric's big new electronic plant--Electronics Park, it will be called--is to be located just north of Syracuse, near Liverpool, is a major development from the standpoint of the postwar progress and prosperity of this community.

It seems safe to predict that Electronics Park will become the center of electronics research, invention and production in the United States. That undoubtedly means that it will become the world center in a new field whose potential possibilities are inconceivably vast. (Syracuse Herald Journal editorial, August 25, 1944)

To them, the Syracuse Fobes had shaped was a "rickety" relic becoming quickly outdated, with residents and businesses alike making a push towards the "modern":

Sergei N. Grimm, secretary to the [City Planning] Commission, pointed out..."it is an interesting matter for speculation as to whether these small businesses and machine shops which have crawled out of rickety downtown 'holes in the wall' to locate in more modern commercial establishments, vacated by folding automobile businesses and others, will ever be satisfied to go back to their old quarters after the war is over." (Syracuse Herald Journal, May 6, 1943)

Nowhere was this more true than James Street:

The rambling homes, surrounded by acres of lawn, are of another era. People today don't go in for big, ornate mansions; they can't afford to build or maintain them...Young couples today are seeking out the suburbs for homes; they don't want 'Dad's' big place. Cars today bring the suburbs closer to downtown than the horse and buggy did from upper James Street. (Post-Standard, September 21, 1952)

So perhaps it was only fitting that a decisive zoning battle for James Street eventually centered on 989 James Street, the former mansion of the Fobes family. And the city officials who would make this crucial decision were members of a modified Park Commission.

***

Throughout the '30s, zoning requests for James Street were routinely brought to the Planning, Parks and Recreation Commission, seeking changes from Residential to Business Status. A commission that had been formed a decade earlier by Mayor Walrath to consolidate park development power under his mayoral reign were now deciding whether a gas station should be allowed to open at the corner of James and Catherine Streets (Syracuse Herald, April 3, 1934), or a sanatorium and convalescent home at 1010 James Street (Syracuse Herald Journal, May 6, 1940). James Street residents came to these public Commission meetings in full force to oppose the rezoning requests, including Emil F. Kotz, who protested the construction of a gas station on James Street between Grant Boulevard and North Avenue (Syracuse Herald, July 2, 1936). The board turned down early requests, but businesses persisted in their fight, including Leo and Edward Eagan, who fought the decision against a James & Catherine Street gas station for four years through a series of court appeals (and eventually won). After a while-- given the determination of developers like Eagan--the board started to give some thought to Eagan's argument that "the growth of the city is making James Street more and more a natural business street," (Syracuse Herald, September 6, 1935). In 1938, the Planning, Parks and Recreation Commission underwent another structural reorganization and became the City Planning Commission, which became populated with members such as Alexis Muench (appointed to the original Planning, Parks and Recreation Commission in 1922), George W. Cregg (whose father was also an original member of the Planning, Parks and Recreation committee in 1922 as Corporation Counsel) and Paul Hueber (who designed several homes in Sedgwick Farms).

In April 1950, the Leavenworth Mansion at 607 James Street was the first grand James Street home to be sold (by Lucy Van Duyn, a surviving member of the Leavenworth family) to a developer (Jackson M. Potter) in order to be razed and turned into a "high class apartment house." (Post Standard, April 20, 1950). The idea of replacing mansions with apartment buildings had been discussed since 1941, when the city completed its own study of James Street:

Conclusions then were that the best thing would be for some developer to buy up many of the deteriorating homes and build garden-type apartments, with lawns and general appearance to equal the 'texture' of the street. Planners also thought that developments of small homes might be promoted...However, the home owners didn't go for it; people thought it "far-fetched" and they just wanted to be "left alone," Mr. [Sergei] Grimm [said]. (Post Standard, September 21, 1952)

When the actual zoning change request by Jackson M. Potter, Inc. came before the City Planning Commission in July 1950 (asking to change from Residential B to Residential C), "no opposition to the change was voiced at the hearing in the common council chambers that preceded the commission's vote." (Post Standard, July 12, 1950). Although the Post-Standard seemed to hope there might be some sense of seller's remorse on behalf of the Syracuse people

If the 2000 persons who roamed through the old Gen. Elias W. Leavenworth mansion at 607 James Street could have displayed the same interest a few months back as they did yesterday, then the remains of one of the last of Syracuse's historical landmarks yesterday might not have been picked over, inspected closely, fondled gingerly by those prideful of their city's past or disdained by a handful seeking just practical usage of the old items. (Post-Standard, May 16, 1950)

the city planning commission continued to rezone James Street block by block. And in August 1956, 989 James Street - the former Fobes family mansion- was sold by Myron Melvin to Malcolm Sutton for $100,000. Sutton bought the property for the purpose of building an "ultra-modern luxury type apartment house for the higher income group," with an expected construction cost of $2 million dollars. (Syracuse Herald Journal, August 2, 1956) Skyline Apartments had already been built under a similar premise four years earlier, but the Sutton apartments promised to be "one of only four like it built in this country...three [others] have been built, one in New York City, one in Chicago and one in Los Angeles." (Post-Standard, August 13, 1959) The Syracuse Board of Zoning Appeals, seizing the opportunity to be four-of-a-kind rather than one-of-a-kind, "granted [the developers] all that they asked as far as altering density, height and marquee requirements" for the apartment building (Post Standard, August 13, 1959) More specifically, the zoning board approved the following:

• apartment house with density of 810 sq. ft. for 2 bedroom apt and 510 sq. ft. for 1 bedroom apt (previous zoning had required 900 sq. ft. for 2 bedroom and 600 sq. ft. for 1 bedroom)
• height of building at 95 1/2 feet (previous zoning would have required an entire story to be eliminated, and apartment building financing only supported by a provision for 115 apartments). This made the building the highest point in Syracuse at the time.
  
• marquee to extend "30 feet in the front yard as a protection against elements for tenants and guests" (previous zoning allowed 15 feet)
  

The zoning for the construction of the apartment building itself had been approved eight months earlier, when the City Planning Commission established a new office district zone on James Street, "covering a six block area roughly between N. Townsend St. and DeWitt St. and Sedgwick St" on the basis of a study done by a "Planning Advisory Commission," headed by Syracuse University Landscape Architecture Professor Noreda A. Rotunno (Post-Standard, January 21, 1959). If you're wondering how a Landscape Architect could not only condone but endorse the wholesale destruction of historic landmarks, it is important to note that during the same time, Professor Rotunno was redesigning the SU campus to accommodate for post-WW II growth:

Old gave way to new without sentimentality; the Old Gymnasium, which had been moved in 1928 to a site between Steele Hall and Archbold Stadium to accommodate the construction of Hendricks Chapel, was subsequently demolished in 1965 to make way for a new Physics Building...The campus' physical expansion coincided with the heyday of urban renewal in the City of Syracuse...This process reached its apogee in 1966 with the unveiling of a University Hill General Neighborhood Renewal Plan, authored by Professor Rotunno. Conceived in the modernist spirit of contemporaneous New York State developments such as Albany's SUNY campus and that city's Empire State Plaza, the plan proposed an expanded series of quadrangles, set into a landscape radically remade to accommodate the automobile.

Imperial Gardens opened in November 1960, complete with a special 12 page supplement in the Post-Standard (Nov 13, 1960). Surely the area had some VIPs working in the neighborhood that would appreciate the "new building [which] substitutes 115 modern, high-rise apartments with the latest in conveniences and services for the century-old James Street mansion which, however
striking, represented on older way of living," considering that in 1963, WHEN (later WTVH) TV opened their new studio across the street, which happened to be the site of the former James Pennock mansion (the house had been converted into apartments in the '40s, and burned in a suspicious fire in 1960). Yet perhaps they wanted to stand up and tell 'em they were from Syracuse rather than "a four-room apartment...done in tones of avocado, melon and electric blue...blend[ing] modern with some Far Eastern features." (Post Standard, November 13, 1960)

***

[Imperial Gardens] will bring an approximate total of 275 or 300 residents closer to our downtown area and thus bring that many more shoppers to our downtown merchants...

Now, if other builders would erect similar apartment buildings in the southern, eastern and western parts of Syracuse as close to the downtown area as feasible, this would be a great boon to our fine stores on Salina, Warren and other adjacent streets... It would not only be good for the health of the people to walk downtown, but it would eliminate a lot of traffic, as the people would not have to bring their cars down.

Let's hope some far sighted builders will do just this in the near future.

-An Observer, Post-Standard letter-to-the-editor, March 6, 1961

As a car-free advocate in 2009, there is something appealing about an apartment building within walking distance of an active downtown. Yet in 1959, Syracusans had already demonstrated their affinity for the suburbs, or at the very least, houses. For $285/month (Imperial Gardens 2-bedroom rent in 1961), Imperial Gardens' ads promised "luxury that can be yours at less than owning your own home." (Post-Standard, July 17, 1961). Not only is that claim somewhat debatable (the real estate ads at the time seem to put houses within reach at that price), but people wanted to own their own home. Syracuse (and the country) had just gone through the largest period of housing growth in history. Certainly many people have lived at Imperial Gardens over the years, but when the Syracuse zoning board so readily approved the sale and razing of the Fobes Mansion, did they give any thought to the necessity of a 12 story "ultra-modern" apartment building? Or did it just sound really cool to them at the time?

I have read comments on syracuse.com about how Destiny would succeed if it had followed its original design plans, which would make it similar to the West Edmonton mall, whose features include:

• waterpark
• indoor lake
• ice rink
• miniature golf
• skate park
• petting zoo
• stores in an area designed to look like a European streetscape
  

As opposed to what they got stuck with, whose features include:

• Public pools in eight city parks
  
• The Finger Lakes, Lake Ontario, and (for what it's worth) Onondaga Lake
  
• The Clinton Square ice rink
• Burnet Park golf course
  
• Onondaga Lake Skate Park
  
• Burnet Park Zoo
• Downtown Syracuse
  

And that "really cool" mall that turned out to be one more ugly concrete addition to the city of Syracuse.

***

At least once a month, it seems, the Post-Standard features a letter to the editor about the post-WWII days of Syracuse, along with stated wishes--no matter how unrealistic--that we could bring about that Syracuse again. What is conveniently forgotten is that while downtown Syracuse was certainly vibrant in the '40s and '50s, it was also essentially on the road to ruin: ripping up trolley tracks, rezoning James Street, placing its entire future in those bustling department stores and related retail.

Meanwhile, historical lessons of turn-of-the-century Syracuse are reduced to architectural studies or charming photos of petticoats and pince-nez. The city of Syracuse website "mayors of Syracuse" section only lists leaders through 1870. While this appears to be because of a programming error, the fact that it exists for months? years? without correction shows not only the continuing lack of effort put into its website, but a stunning lack of concern for this mayoral history in the first place. And yet if we are to look at history for some guidance in reshaping Syracuse today, wouldn't it make the most sense to look towards the buildings and landmarks that have remained--for the most part--physically unchanged for over 100 years, and the leaders who made them possible in the first place? These early leaders concentrated on beautifying the basics: parks, roads, schools. The building blocks of a city.

July 8, 1910

After I sort through all of the ridiculousness that is Destiny USA, I find myself asking one simple question:

Did Syracuse really think that a Dave & Buster's was its ticket to economic fortune?

As someone who currently lives 15 minutes (walking distance) from a Dave & Buster's, I've never heard of anyone visiting my city solely because of the possibility of playing skeeball at a Chuck E. Cheese for grownups. The fact that Dave & Buster's chose to be here suggests they view this city as a viable market, but they certainly aren't the backbone of its economic or tourism prospects. Therefore, I always find myself a bit confused when I read some of the entries on Post-Standard Store Front Blog. I understand perhaps wanting a Cheesecake Factory or Cabela's in Syracuse for the sake of personal convenience, but in discussions regarding Carousel Center/Destiny USA, there still remains this sentiment that having Dave & Buster's or any other number of retailers would draw visitors to Syracuse from far and wide:

"Anyway, we've watched Pyramid grow over the years, borrowing things it created in its mall "lab" at Carousel and taking them to their projects downstate and in Western New York. Then doing cooler things at those locations.

"Let's start with Buffalo, and its Walden Galleria. They had a rather smooth transition with an addition. So what do they have that Carousel doesn't? This: Bachrach, Bar Louie, Bravo Cucina Italiana, Brighton Collectibles, The Cheesecake Factory, Christopher & Banks, CJ Banks, Giorgio Brutini, Hugo Boss, Hyde Park Steakhouse, Jos. A. Banks, Tim Hortons and Urban Outfitters, to name a few.

"How about Palisades Center? Granted, it is the 10th largest mall in the U.S. parked in West Nyack, minutes from Manhattan. Still, Carousel was the prototype for Palisades. Why not share the wealth? That includes Armani Exchange, Barnes & Noble, BJ's Wholesale Club, The Home Depot, Brooks Brothers, Buffalo Wild Wings, Chili's Bar & Grill, Dave & Buster's, Desert Moon Cafe, Jessica McClintock, LEGO, Lucky Strike Lanes, Outback Steakhouse, Palisades Ice Rink, Q'doba Mexican Grill, Thomas Kinkade Galleries, United Colors of Benetton, White House / Black Market.

"I haven't done the math, but all of those combined and some others I didn't include would nicely fill the expansion, don't you think? Pyramid already has these folks on board. Why aren't there any leases for the expansion here and if there are, why not shout those names from the expansion's rooftop?''

Sure, these stores could fill the expansion, but then what? The most unique feature of Syracuse is that it has a central location for all the chain retailers that you can find in thousands of other cities, not to mention online? The fact that both Outback Steakhouse AND Chili's chose to locate at Destiny meant Syracuse had finally arrived? What I still can't get my head around: if the expansion had been fully leased, and even brought in shoppers "as far away as Canada and Pennsylvania," would it all be okay? Would a giant mall be the centerpiece of Syracuse postcards, and is this the picture of Syracuse that would be sent out to all corners of the world? Syracuse as a destination solely because of "destination shopping"?



"Parks form the most permanent investment a city can make. Other things wear out, parks remain indefinitely." - George Kessler, in an interview with the Post-Standard, July 8, 1910


Long before the Syracuse Chamber of Commerce invited visitors to its website to Explore the Exciting Wonders of...China




they were far more interested in exploring the exciting wonders of...Syracuse:

The Committee on Home Ownership of the Chamber of Commerce last night took up the question of a system of boulevards and parks and recommended that the Board of Directors secure legislation necessary for the naming of a Boulevard and Park Commission to provide what the city needs in that line.

Members of the committees expressed it as their belief that the city had arrived at a point in its career when a general plan of boulevard and park improvements should be mapped out. In the matter of natural advantage, namely, the lake to the north and the hills to the south with a stream connecting, Syracuse is far ahead of most cities of the country. (Post Standard, October 13, 1905)

A movement for park development had started in large cities some fifty years earlier, with an emphasis on securing open spaces for city dwellers to take a break from the chaos of urban life. Reflective of the transcendentalism ideas taking hold in New England at the time, parks—and the nature they provided—were viewed as necessary for human development:

Now, if urban scenes and influences can make that which is best of the human body, mind and heart, then the whole problem might be solved by widening our streets into convenient promenades. But experience has proved in the past, and it is probable that it will remain true in the future, that purely urban conditions cannot produce that which is best in mankind: that only through country freedom and country influences can the best in man be developed. Therefore, parks are absolutely essential to city life, if those who are born and bred in the city are to be kept free from degenerating. (from the wonderfully-titled article Trend of the Park Movement: The Superintendent of Parks of Hartford, Conn Has Led in the Movement to Humanize Public Parks in America—He Is a Rebel Against the Old-Fashioned Ideas Which Would Run a Park With as Little Life in it as there Is in Plush- Covered Parlor Furniture or in the Potted Plants of An Undertaker's Shop, by George A. Parker, reprinted in Syracuse Herald Magazine, February 24,1907)

Syracuse appeared less concerned with spiritual or moral issues when it came to their own park development, and more driven by the need to play catch-up:

SYRACUSE MUST FALL IN LINE

As we have repeatedly said, the strongest practical argument for an enlightened and systematic policy of civic improvement in Syracuse is found in the fact that the most prosperous and progressive cities in the country have already adopted it, and that in every instance it has been justified by results...

One of the cities that have made large expenditure for park purposes is Philadelphia. Yet it is far from being content with what has already been accomplished, and it is now discussing the advisability of a heavy loan for park extension. In giving its editorial approval to the project, the Public Ledger of that city says:

"There is nothing upon which Philadelphians can congratulate themselves more heartily than upon the foresight that preserved Fairmount Park and the Wissahickon valley and such other green spots and open spaces...Appreciation of the great value of parks and pleasure grounds came to us but slowly. Ever since our gradual awakening we have allowed many opportunities to pass, and each year these opportunities grow fewer." (Syracuse Herald editorial, Sept. 24, 1906)

Syracuse had apparently made its own attempt to pursue park development in the past, but perhaps because it was the (18)80s, they suffered from Wacky Wall Walker Syndrome:

"To prove that the present system is wrong, take Burnet Park. Work there was started nearly twenty years ago and the park is not half completed. Instead of completing the park the city started on Onondaga Park and expended about $10,000 on it. Onondaga Park work was given up and about $7,000 was then spent on Round Top Park. Only a little has been accomplished in this park. Before the work on Round Top Park began about $6,000 was put into Lincoln Park. This work was also abandoned. Not one of the larger parks has been finished. We should have at least one park that we could take pride in." (David Campbell, superintendent of parks, quoted in Syracuse Herald, Jan 15 1906)

The Chamber of Commerce, as well as other city officials, including Mayor Fobes, felt that the best way to pursue park development would be the establishment of a Park Commission. As David Campbell, superintendent of parks, explained:

"The great advantage of a park commission is that in case of a change in administration of the city affairs the commission will continue in service and carry out the plans as formulated. Even with the amount of money appropriated here now parks improvements would be apparent if we worked in a practical and systematic way. And more could be accomplished. As it is now money is scattered all over the city and the people cannot see any direct benefit. And they can see little improvement. A park commission will take up one park and finish it instead at dabbing all over the city to suit certain localities or individuals." (Syracuse Herald, Jan 15 1906)

As independent of the mayor, the commission would have final say in all decisions regarding "the parks, squares and trees. It can employ expert advisers to study Syracuse and its environment and map out plans for the development of parks, squares, parkways and playgrounds." (Syracuse Herald, May 7, 1906) The commissioners were to serve terms of one to five years, and receive no compensation.

After formally approved by the state legislature, assembly, governor and finally Syracuse common council, Mayor Fobes appointed five individuals to the Syracuse Parks Commission on July 27, 1906. The commission, led by James Pennock, met that day for an "informal talk" and in a scene that I can only dreamily re-enact in my head, promised to bring good design to Syracuse:

"Mr. Pennock, speaking for the work of the commission, said that one of its first duties would be to interest itself in the bridge to be built on North Salina Street and see if the state could not be persuaded to make the bridge an ornament to that section of the city and at least to prevent such an ugly structure as that over the Oswego canal on James Street. Bridges can now be built so that they will be ornamental as well as useful, and it is hoped that the new bridge will be made an illustration of this fact." (Syracuse Herald, July 27, 1906)

Of course, opinion will only get you so far, and the park commissioner felt their first priority was to hire a world-class landscape architect to plan a park and boulevard system:

It is the opinion of the commission that the right way to go about its work is to place itself under expert guidance and determine what Syracuse should strive to accomplish in the next ten years in the matter of park and boulevard building...it intends to bring to the city a landscape architect of experience and acknowledged ability to determine this question (Syracuse Herald, August 3, 1906)

Uh-oh, this sounds familiar: pay for studies from outsiders that lead to, evidently, a boarded up concrete prison as the first visible Syracuse landmark to any visitors from train, bus or Thruway Exit 36. Yet a century ago, there was a transparency to the process from the start. Pennock anticipated opposition regarding this move, and addressed these concerns from the outset:

"The first thing we must do is to engage a man who has made systematic municipal improvement his profession, who has acquired wide experience in this line and who has demonstrated by results that he can do what we want. The members of the Park Board are businessmen, who know that a thing of this kind should be done by a man who makes it his profession, and they have after deliberation decided to engage such a man. Nothing further will be done until we have procured a satisfactory expert." (Syracuse Herald, Aug 6, 1906)

While the directness of Pennock is admirable, so too is the cynicism of Alderman Walter Hinkley:

"From what I learn through the press," said Alderman Hinkley, "I understand that this expert is to receive $3500 for the first year just for thinking the matter over, and the following two years he is to produce plans. Perhaps to those who understand such things this may seem good business, but I can't see it that way. I would require something more substantial than thoughts for that $3500, because the thinker might stop thinking for a long time...it's the old story: A prophet has no honor in his own country. An outsider who is unknown except what we hear from him from afar can get anything he wants and we ask no questions." (Post Standard, September 18, 1906)

These days, these two speeches go hand in hand. It is understandable that Syracusans can't believe in before and "after" pics of 81:



when they are faced with this "after" and after:




Yet early 20th century Syracuse was a city where architects like Archimedes Russell were setting the design standard. James Pennock himself was considered a pioneer in the real estate development of the East Genesee Street section of the city. Syracuse pride didn't mean cheerleading any new project that came along:

But there's more to this story than a mall. Carousel Center is the centerpiece of a development that will have a profound impact on the kind of city Syracuse will be well into the 21st century...

...To be sure, Congel stands to make a great deal of money from this project, but what's wrong with making money? That's how things have been getting done in this country since it's been a country.

And there will be money for a lot of people to share — Carousel Center and Franklin Square will bring it here. (Syracuse Herald-American editorial, October 14, 1990)

but rather, putting its best face forward to the world, and knowing that this responsibility rested solely with Syracuse itself:

The decision of the Park Commission to recommend that George E. Kessler of Kansas City be engaged to map out a system of parks and boulevards for Syracuse means that this important part of the work will be done...by a landscape architect who stands as high in his profession as any man in the country. Mr. Kessler has given evidence of his ability in many cities, and as landscape architect of the World's Fair at St. Louis his work attracted widespread attention...

It will be understood, of course, that all Mr. Kessler can do here is suggest. He can study the city and its environment, the tendency of its growth and its resources, and out of his experience tell us what we should aim to do. He can give encouragement, no doubt, by pointing out the material benefits which other cities have reaped from courageous and energetic work of this character. But when he has done all that he can do and said all that there is to be said it will remain for Syracuse to decide for itself whether it will continue to drift, improving itself in haphazard fashion as the whim or fancy strikes some municipal administration, or whether it will grasp the situation boldly, masterfully, and determine to have a hand in the shaping of its destiny. (Syracuse Herald editorial, Aug 14, 1906)

George Kessler made his first official visit to Syracuse on January 8, 1907. Although his contract was to last three years (and three years salary), the city ran low on funds after the first year. Rather than demand payment, Kessler "willingly agreed to release the city, stating that he had an abundance of work in many cities of the country which had caught the park and playground spirit. He said he would enter the employ of the city any time there was actual need of his services." (Syracuse Herald, April 4, 1909) (He was engaged by the city once again in 1909 for additional consultation.) However, in this brief time, Kessler made a monumental impact on Syracuse, providing the city with plans for the Frazier Playground, Onondaga, Lincoln and Schiller Parks, and suggestions for Burnet Park. He was instrumental in negotiating the purchase of Kirk Park, and spurred the Park Commission to pursue the acquisition of Thornden Park. The New York State Fair Commission sought his insight about redesigning the Fairgrounds; he visited Syracuse University to see if the campus could be worked into his park and boulevard system. Not only did he inspire Syracuse to act, but long after he received his final payment, he continued on as an unofficial public relations official for the city, as the city now became part of his portfolio. Syracuse hosted a city official from Dallas, Texas, who was "attracted to Syracuse parks by reason of the fact that George E. Kessler [was] soon to be engaged in a similar advisory capacity in Dallas." (Post Standard, July 1, 1910). Kessler gave an interview to the Kansas City Star, praising the natural landscape of Syracuse:

"Syracuse is already a beautiful city, resting in a pocket surrounded by hills," said Mr. Kessler. "It has something we can never have, of course, a pretty lake on the north, which can be seen from the higher levels. Tree planting began many years ago. Now magnificent elms line the streets and make canopies with their branches. In this respect Syracuse has at its maturity what Kansas City hopes to have several years from now." (reprinted in Syracuse Herald Magazine, February 24, 1907)

On one of his later visits to Syracuse to view the city's progress, he once again emphasized the point, this time stating that Syracuse had the potential to become a great travel destination:

"Syracuse should capitalize its natural advantages and attract thousands of visitors as a result of adequate expenditures for park improvements," said George E Kessler."Denver has given the cities of the country a great object lesson in the winning of material benefits by the beautification of the city and development of its park system. By this policy it attracts thousands of visitors and these visitors make extended stays there...Syracuse has fine natural advantages and a splendid location...it should be made a stopping point rather than a mere passing point for travelers. There is much which is attractive about Syracuse at present. With a finely developed park system I believe the city would win wide fame and draw hosts of visitors. The money expended in this manner would not be for the visitor alone. Syracuse's own people would enjoy the benefits all the time." (Post-Standard, July 8, 1910)

In the early 1900s, Kessler looked at Syracuse as a blank slate, focusing on nothing but its natural landscape. One hundred years later, everything that Kessler saw is still there. Sure, that "pretty lake to the north" is polluted thanks to the actions taken back then (even Kessler himself suggested "the refuse of the Solvay Process Company could be used...in filling in the sections [of shoreline] which would be desirable for park lands, after which a covering of two or three feet of earth would be placed over the refuse"- Post Standard, April 8, 1907), but one ugly mall has done nothing to affect the appearance of the parks that Kessler envisioned. This is not to say that the landscape hasn't changed, however:

What surprises the English writer H.G. Wells, who has been traveling about America and writing up his observations and reflections in Harper's Weekly, is the way the American city calculates so confidently upon the certainty of growth. "All cities," he urged..."do not grow. Cities have sunken."
...His doubts fell on stony ground. All America knows is that every favorably located city must make preparations for increasing population....The day isn't far off when the progressiveness of a growing American city will be estimated by the intelligence it shows in laying out the area of its future...
Before Mr. Pennock's term as commissioner expires it will doubtless be seen that the work of our newly created Park Commission has a wider meaning than the beautification of the city as it is, namely, the laying of the plans for the Greater Syracuse of 1950. (Post Standard editorial, July 21, 1906)

What the Post Standard editorial writers, or Mr. Pennock himself, could not have imagined was that as Syracuse grew exponentially in the 1950s, the city center itself would sink. The park system which they felt held the key to the city's future would not only fall victim to this phenomenon, but also to Syracuse abandoning the promise of recreation for re-creation.

COMING SOON: PART 3 (of 3, I think)
August 2, 1956
Movin' on up to the (Far) East Side!

June 25, 1910/June 25, 2009

"I'm going to glue rhinestones on my eyelids, bitch!" — Adam Lambert, Rolling Stone, issue dated June 25, 2009

Yes, we're back to Adam Lambert. When I wrote about my own obsession last month, little did I know that the existence of this obsession would itself turn into an obsession. Countless articles and blogs have been written about the strange, peculiar hold that Adam has on previously unassuming women in the thirties and up age range. There are the Cougars for Adam, of course, as well as happily married mothers for Adam (and their ever-popular Babies for Adam), grandmothers for Adam. We are a nation that filters all real life discussions via reality shows, so plenty of theories have been presented, ranging from androgynous power to embracing our inner outcast (and the simple explanation that he is an amazing talent). One explanation that I find interesting—no surprise—is that it all relates to our past: "According to [psychoanalyst Dr. Gail] Saltz, buried deep inside all of us is the childhood desire to be able to have everything and anything, whenever you want. So part of our fascination with Mr. Lambert is that we may want to be like him...[Lambert] is the poster child for having it all."

Adam Lambert is, as one blogger says, [a master] of both feminine and masculine traits: people pleasing smile and emotional connection, but utterly strategic, articulate and focused. The blogger goes on to state her belief that "easy mastery of both male and female skills is a hallmark of advanced evolution."

So perhaps it is no wonder that when I think about this guy:


I am also reminded of this one:

First, it should be said that there was no question as to what team he batted for, as "he was the best second baseman the Syracuse High School ever had." (Post Standard, January 3, 1904)

Nor did he wear guyliner or nail polish:

He is a plain dresser and while neat in his personal appearance his clothes do not indicate that he spends much time studying the latest fashion plates. One of the most familiar features of the last local campaign...was a rainy-day coat which many young men of half Mr. Fobes' means and social prominence would have scorned. (Post Standard, January 3, 1904)

His vocal talents were not encouraged:

This time it was different. He could not sing himself into the mayor's office. It would not have been considered quite correct even if it were possible. It would have been almost a violation of political etiquette. (Post Standard, November 8, 1903)

And though I can't be certain, I'm going to take a guess and say that a psychedelic experience with certain funguses didn't lead to his decision to run for mayor in 1903. Rather, much like Adam's "knack for quickly assessing the best way to work everybody he comes across," Mayor Alan Fobes "like[d] to meet men face to face and study their characteristics for himself." (Post Standard, January 3, 1904). While he may not have referred to it as being "unrepentant about flirting with both sexes," Mayor Fobes knew the power of "that famous smile of his, which one of the men who managed the Democratic campaign said won him more votes than all of Police Justice Thomson's speeches won for him." (Post Standard, January 3, 1904)

And both knew the importance of taking risks and wowing crowds with the results.

I should note that I realize comparing mayors from the early 20th century to the early 21st century based on a few newspaper articles alone is an endeavor perhaps as ridiculous as comparing a 1909 mayor to a 2009 American Idol contestant. And yet, how can we not, when this is one of the more remarkable buildings constructed during Mayor Fobes' time in office:


As compared to this, under the current mayoral administration:


This alone makes Fobes—or, really, anyone who didn't support this monstrosity—automatically worthy of praise. But North High School was just one of Fobes' many achievements:

(click to enlarge)

While the above is a campaign ad, (limited) research shows that not only do Fobes' listed acts appear true, but in some cases merely scratch the surface. When the ad states that "Mayor Fobes has gone further than anyone before him to protect the city's valuable water supply from possible contamination," he's not exaggerating: from throwing on "high rubber boots and old clothes...[and] wad[ing] through the slime and water of Onondaga Creek under the Erie canal yesterday afternoon on a trip of inspection" (Post Standard, July 27, 1904) to "enjoy[ing] the experience of riding through a portion of the Fourth ward tunnel sewer" under construction (Post Standard, May 1, 1906), Mayor Fobes routinely toured Onondaga Creek and growing sewer system:

Onondaga Creek is not suited to navigation. The scenery is not charming, and the odors are not inviting. Yet the Creek Commission and several other city officers made the trip from Kirk Park to Onondaga street yesterday afternoon. in a miniature scow...During the first part of the voyage Mayor Fobes, Commissioner Edward Joy, Engineer Beech and Inspector Maloney took to the bank of the stream, but later all but Mr. Beech took their chances on the craft. (Post Standard, August 6, 1904)

(And just to be clear about the traveling condition of Onondaga Creek at the time:

People who reside or have places of business in the vicinity of Onondaga Creek say they cannot recall when the creek was in as bad condition as at the present time. The stench arising from the sewerage, which has settled in stagnant pools, is being complained about blocks away from the creek...There has been so little fresh water in these streams that they resemble open sewers. The conditions show forcibly the need of intercepting sewers, the plans for which are nearing completion. (Syracuse Herald, Aug 11, 1908) )

Fobes seemed to be a man about town during his mayorship, inspecting school bathrooms ("'The sanitary condition of the closets at Porter School,' said Mayor Fobes after his return, 'is very bad, and I would be in favor of putting in a new flushing system in place of the dry air system...I think also that the closets should be heated'"—Post Standard, February 5, 1904), city sidewalks ("Mayor Fobes has turned his attention to the care of the sidewalks throughout the city and the number of negligence actions brought against the city on accounts of accidents alleged to result from defective condition of sidewalks"—Syracuse Herald, March 29, 1904), and the quality of coal purchased by the city ("'The city is paying for first class coal for use in the schools,' said the Mayor to a Herald reporter. 'And the city is entitled to good coal. I shall see the dealer who furnishes the coal and talk with him. He ought to furnish better coal, and I am going to tell him so.'"—Syracuse Herald, February 3, 1904). One year into Fobes' first term, a Post-Standard editorial noted the changes in the city:

No one having even casual knowledge of affairs at the City Hall can fail to be impressed with the present quiet and decorum of all official procedure as compared with conditions that existed under the old McGuire regime...Now all is changed and the business of the municipality, whether in larger or smaller affairs, whether in the Mayor's office or in the departments, is carried forward on businesslike lines—quietly, quickly, sensibly and efficiently. And the crowning feature of the situation is that everybody having pride and unselfish interest in the city's welfare is satisfied and gratified at having things as they are now...The municipal work of Syracuse as a whole has never been as well done as it is being done at the present time, and the people of Syracuse never got as much for their money as they are getting now. (Post Standard, January 25, 1905)

Honestly, as you read through pages of the Syracuse newspapers at the time, you start to think that if you weren't plagued with scarlet fever (diptheria, typhoid, tetanus, etc.), drowned in the canal (lake, river, pond, etc.) run over by a train (trolley, car, horse, etc.) or subject of any of the other thousands of gruesome death stories that dominated at least three-quarters of each edition, the first decade of 20th century Syracuse was a pretty rockin' place to be:

The picnic season, which ordinarily does not open actively until the first week of July, is now in full blast...At the office of the Beebe system the general passenger department has been obliged to devote almost exclusive attention to the pressure of business of this character, so great has been the demand for special travel to the several resorts along its various lines.

The opening of the Valley Theater on Monday last, a week ahead of the regular time, has made the pretty little hamlet nestled between the hills south of the city the Mecca for hundreds of pleasure seekers, who find the two hours of vaudeville entertainment at the al fresco playhouse, sandwiched between two trolley lines, a pleasant way of spending a warm evening.

Syracuse persons are especially fortunate in the picturesqueness of the country immediately surrounding it, and in the number and the diversified features of the resorts— lake, river, sylvan and pastoral— easily accessible for a day's outing or for an afternoon or evening's rest and recreation. Suburban trolley lines are constantly revealing new possibilities in this regard, solving the problem of how to spend a pleasant summer for the tired business man and others who are unable to take any extended vacation trip.

Boarding a car late in the afternoon when business is over, one can reach inside of an hour any one of a score of pleasant resorts, where dinner can be obtained and a couple hours spent in quietude or in various forms of amusement...Long Branch, Baldwinsville, Onondaga Valley, Skaneateles, Edwards Falls, South Bay, Frenchman's Islands, North Syracuse, Fayetteville, Manlius, and Jamesville are among the places which offer pleasing possibilities for dinner outings. (Post Standard, June 25, 1910)

Syracuse was on a major upswing in the early 1900s ("The Census Bureau, in a bulletin issued today...puts the population of Syracuse June 1 [1903] at 114,443 as against 108,374 in 1900"— Post-Standard, April 8, 1904), and Fobes placed an emphasis on the importance of unity necessary as the city tried to achieve star status:

Of all the subjects which might be assigned [for a speech at the North Side Citizens Association dinner], "Our City" is perhaps the easiest, because the most familiar. Well called the Central City, located in the very heart of the richest state in all the rich United States, it is served by the greatest railroad In the country. It is within a short distance of the greatest seaport of the continent. It is within striking distance of one of the greatest of inland lakes and even now work is beginning upon a canal, one of the engineering models of the world, which will lay at its feet the raw product of the vast West...

Although I am a North Sider it is not as a North Sider that I must face the problems that come to me for solution. I said many times last fall that there should be in the determination of public policies no North Side or South Side, East Side or West Side, but that every section of the city should be treated fairly and justly, having in view the interest of Syracuse and not of any particular section of Syracuse. (Fobes speech reprinted in Post Standard, May 19, 1904)

These days, it seems that the city administration and related groups tend to view Syracuse as the sum of its parts: surely everyone can find something that appeals to them in the 60 or so images crammed into this 30-second video. A century ago, Syracuse considered itself one entity: every element of its being contributed to its overall look and presentation on the world stage. When you have limited time and means to do this, like Adam Lambert in the few minutes before his finale performance with Kiss, you glue rhinestones to your eyelids. Or if you're Mayor Fobes, competing to make a name for Syracuse in a rapidly changing United States, you focus on the emeralds before your eyes.

COMING SOON: PART 2
July 8, 1910
Syracuse: An American Idyll?