tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21704469858643854412024-03-13T20:58:04.133-07:00Syracuse B-4In which we look at local stories in Syracuse newspapers past to discover how we arrived at the Syracuse of today.Syracuse B4http://www.blogger.com/profile/04953423821970292832noreply@blogger.comBlogger60125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170446985864385441.post-49470383682179463672013-06-25T07:41:00.000-07:002013-06-25T07:41:16.791-07:00June 25, 2013<div class="p1">
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<i>To be honest, I don't know what's sadder: the knowledge that artifacts representing the pride and enthusiasm of a generation are (currently?) buried underneath this building that has barely made it fifty, let alone one hundred, years, or that bank president Warren R. Bentley was so naive to believe that his building's fate would be any different than that of the fifty-year old Warner/Post-Standard building which had been razed a mere decade earlier</i>. <span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 17.77777862548828px;">—<a href="http://syracuseb4.blogspot.com/2008/06/june-30-1949.html">blog entry posted June 27, 2008</a></span></blockquote>
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Or saddest yet: the decision of the <a href="http://www.cnyhistory.org/index.html">Onondaga Historical Association</a> to open the recovered time capsule on a Thursday afternoon six weeks ago, with little publicity or fanfare; an opportunity for a centerpiece celebration for a rising downtown to go up in as much dust as 321 South Warren itself.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The apparent audience at the time capsule opening, screen shot from <a href="http://centralny.ynn.com/content/top_stories/663792/oha-opens-time-capsule-for-150th-anniversary/">YNN News report</a></td></tr>
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<span class="s1">H</span>istory is littered with footnotes, and that I should become one in this story<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 17.765625px;">—</span>with no contact from the OHA in regards to the capsule's opening, despite <a href="http://twitpic.com/cz0qkg">acknowledging</a> that they knew nothing of the capsule until I discovered its existence on the second-ever entry on this blog (five years ago this week)<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 17.765625px;">—</span> is slightly insulting, but not inconceivable. (In fact, I only learned of the opening last week, after reading <a href="http://paleofuture.gizmodo.com/1968-time-capsule-opened-prematurely-robbing-future-of-516668061">this piece</a> about time capsules.) That the entire Syracuse community became footnotes, at the very hands of the association whose <span style="background-color: white;"><a href="http://www.cnyhistory.org/about.html">mission</a> is to "educate and encourage the exploration, appreciation, and utilization of the past in order to add value throughout our community</span>," is inexcusable. </div>
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I would have never known about the time capsule had it not been for the <a href="http://newspaperarchive.com/tags/time-capsule-bank?ndt=by&pc=28660&pci=7&pey=1951&psi=67&py=1950">extensive coverage</a> of its burial in 1950, but the same cannot be said for its opening. Searches of <a href="http://syracuse.com/">syracuse.com</a>, <a href="http://wsyr.com/">wsyr.com</a>, <a href="http://cnycentral.com/">cnycentral.com</a> all come up empty, though it is unclear if reporters were not invited, no shows, or did not did not archive the coverage on their websites. (The <a href="http://cnyhistory.org/press/2013-05-15-SNT-TC.pdf">Syracuse New Times</a> does have a small clipping, albeit with a misspelled "histrory".) How can this be, when not only did the site of 321 South Warren Street once house both the Syracuse Herald and Post-Standard, but the documented capsule contents included <span class="s1">a recorded commentary by <a href="http://www.syracusepressclub.org/Wall/wall-ervade.html"><span class="s2">E.R. Vadeboncoeur </span></a>of WSYR, and copies of the all (when an actual multiple quantity existed) of the city's newspapers at the time?</span></div>
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The decision to put the <i>Marcellus Observer </i>in the tube was prompted by the suggestion that copies of every weekly newspaper published in Onondaga County during the week of January 15 be included among the capsule's contents. In addition, issues of the two Syracuse daily newspapers will be buried with the time capsule. (<i>Marcellus Observer</i>, January 20, 1950).</blockquote>
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Contrast this with the coverage of opening of a <a href="http://www.okhistory.org/centurychest/">century-old time capsule in Oklahoma</a> this past April, with news reports from several local print and television outlets, video on Yahoo! News, and images of the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.534242846614101.1073741827.138937816144608&type=1">entire capsule inventory </a>on the Oklahoma Historical Society Facebook page. The OHA Facebook page contains only two photos from the capsule (and no live stream or tweeting of the event), with one generating this fitting<a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151377397106356&set=a.395492896355.180303.48636186355&type=1"> comment and response</a>: <br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 17.765625px;">—</span>Cool! When was this opened?<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 17.765625px;">—</span>This was opened at 2:00 as part of our History House Party.</blockquote>
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When the event, of course, was already history.</div>
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As the capsule opening was part of larger <a href="http://www.centerstateceo.com/news/newsarticledisplay.aspx?ArticleID=532">open house celebration</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 17.765625px;">—</span>complete with a $15 ticket charge, which seems absolutely antithetical to the spirit of time capsules (even for one buried in a bank)<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 17.765625px;">—</span>there apparently was no chance of any schoolchildren participating in a field trip at the museum that day, as there were on the afternoon my dad stopped by back in May 2009, to take some photos of the just-found capsule:<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TqgAmnB-kxs/UceLMvjrrtI/AAAAAAAADqs/AxFXzts3tXk/s1600/IMG_4522.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TqgAmnB-kxs/UceLMvjrrtI/AAAAAAAADqs/AxFXzts3tXk/s400/IMG_4522.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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While I should have been excited to see photos of the capsule, I was far more taken with the kids in the background. These teens appear to have expressions of actual interest on their faces! About history! Probably because in they have grown up in a world with very little mystery left, but this copper capsule, with its dented exterior and faded print, was a real-life buried treasure. How can OHA Executive Director Gregg Tripoli <a href="http://centralny.ynn.com/content/top_stories/663792/oha-opens-time-capsule-for-150th-anniversary/">speak</a> of<span class="s1"> "creating a community identity and optimism and hope for the future" when the very hope for the future</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 17.765625px;">—</span>young people<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 17.765625px;">—</span>are nowhere to be seen as the capsule contents were revealed?</div>
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<span class="s1">However, given that one of the later <a href="http://cnyhistory.org/pdf/HousePartyEventsSchedule.pdf">activities</a> on the same day of the capsule opening was the opening of the Jean Daugherty Memorial Magic Toy Shop Room, the OHA clearly recognizes that nostalgia forms a large part of Syracuse's identity. <span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Every article or <a href="http://www.syracuse.com/kirst/index.ssf/2013/02/post_433.html">column </a>remembering the city of yesteryear posted on syracuse.com generates<span style="line-height: 17.765625px;"> dozens</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 17.765625px;">—if not<a href="http://www.syracuse.com/kirst/index.ssf/2009/04/elmwood_iii_on_toward_3000.html"> thousands</a></span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 17.765625px;">—of responses and recollections. </span></span>As Sean Kirst <a href="http://www.syracuse.com/kirst/index.ssf/2013/02/post_433.html/post/2013-02-28/1362067297-598-711.html"><span class="s1">commented</span></a> recently to a reader who remarked on the ongoing popularity of these nostalgia pieces: "I need to find some way to give readers the chance to do this [nostalgia remembrances] more routinely." Such as the opening of a time capsule, containing items from 1950 downtown Syracuse?<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--eMGbh5_LG0/Uch9PSo36XI/AAAAAAAADq8/OsDsH1UEiRk/s1600/capsulecontents.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: #666666; clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--eMGbh5_LG0/Uch9PSo36XI/AAAAAAAADq8/OsDsH1UEiRk/s400/capsulecontents.jpg" width="95" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Syracuse Herald-Journal, January 21, 1950</span></span></td></tr>
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Granted, there was no mystery as to the contents of this capsule; the citizens of 1950 apparently did not envision that the various newspapers and periodicals placed in the time capsule would be digitized, not only removing element of surprise, but the necessity for the capsule itself, as many of the items in this capsule can be found online. Or maybe they did, as the magic of a time capsule isn't about the <a href="http://www.theonion.com/articles/newly-unearthed-time-capsule-just-full-of-useless,631/">artifacts</a>, but the aura: the idea that a crowd gathered in downtown Syracuse sixty-three years ago, in hopes that one day, a similar crowd would come together and remember:<br />
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A hundred years from today this time capsule, as it has been termed, will be opened and probably the Syracusans of 2050 will smile a bit at this city's status of a century before. Probably they will wonder at the comparatively primitive fashion of our lives in 1950 and think we were rather odd folks. (<i>Syracuse Herald-Journal</i>, January 21, 1950)</blockquote>
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No, when it comes to primitive and rather odd folks, 2013 seems to have 1950 beat. Given the unique opportunity to stage an event that could have highlighted downtown Syracuse both past and present, gathering the younger generations who <a href="http://www.believeinsyracuse.org/">believe in Syracuse</a> with the older who have <a href="http://www.syracuse.com/kirst/index.ssf/2008/10/elmwood.html">never forgotten</a> Syracuse, the OHA instead chose to open the capsule in a near-empty room in the middle of the work/school day, when the very community that the museum is there to serve could in no way partake in the activity. I can only ask the question that has so often been at the heart of the sixty articles I have posted on this blog over the past five years:<br />
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Why?</div>
Syracuse B4http://www.blogger.com/profile/04953423821970292832noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170446985864385441.post-5010777076285342182013-01-15T11:02:00.001-08:002013-01-15T11:02:06.308-08:00January 2013<b id="internal-source-marker_0.3680275697261095" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Architecture critic Ada Louise Huxtable, who died last week at the age of 91, started her writing career at the <i>New York Times</i> in 1963, and one year later, wrote an essay that singled out Syracuse as an example for all that was wrong about urban renewal. While I quoted a small excerpt of “Ugly Cities and How They Grow” in an <a href="http://syracuseb4.blogspot.com/2012/11/november-2012.html">entry</a> this past November, I first read the piece shortly after I started this blog five years ago. I felt then</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">—</span><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">as now</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">—</span><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">that Ms. Huxtable’s piece captures Syracuse’s urban renewal with such prescient precision that not only should it be read in its entirety*, but, frankly, makes this whole blog “obsolescent,” as she summarized it all in about a dozen paragraphs of Pulitzer Prize-winning prose forty-five years earlier. </span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But what never gets old is the Syracuse response. John R. Searles, Jr., the executive vice-president of the Metropolitan Development Association, immediately penned a response to Huxtable and the <i>New York Times</i> (as printed in the <i>Post-Standard</i>, March 28, 1964). Rather than expressing anger or indignation at his city being called out as “ugly” in the nation’s premier newspaper, Searles essentially threw up his hands and agreed, the consequences of which Syracuse has been fighting back from ever since.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A breakdown of Mr. Searles’ letter (all emphases mine):</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="color: purple; font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To The Editor of the New York Times:</span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px;"><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ada Louise Huxtable’s article in the Sunday Times, March 15, 1964, </span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">properly attacks</span><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> the current ugliness of American cities, but does not mention efforts to probe the cause and find cures for </span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the disease</span><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. In this she may give comfort to hand wringers and finger pointers who plead for historic preservation but hurt positive action programs which can actually preserve architectural assets and ally them “with the best new building.” </span></i></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The </span><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=3DsAaW2vn5sC&lpg=PA66&ots=MJ8JQ8xFe2&dq=sert%20city%20illness&pg=PA66#v=onepage&q=sert%20city%20illness&f=false"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“sick city” metaphor</span></a><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> had been spreading through architecture and city planning circles since prior to World War II, comparing “blight” to decay and illness, and “open air” to cures. To be certain, the amount of sunlight necessary to disinfect the city wouldn’t be achieved by knocking down a few buildings in favor of pocket plazas; rather, massive amounts of land would have to be reclaimed. By the mid-1960s, architectural critics such as Huxtable and Jane Jacobs argued precisely the opposite:</span></span></b><br />
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<span style="color: #999999; font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: normal;">To say that cities need high dwelling densities and high net ground coverages, as I am saying they do, is conventionally regarded as lower than taking sides with the man-eating shark. </b><b style="font-weight: normal;">But things have changed since the days when Ebenezer Howard looked at the slums of London and concluded that to save the people, city life must be abandoned. Advances in fields less moribund than city planning and housing reform, fields such as medicine, sanitation and epidemiology, nutrition and labor legislation, have profoundly revolutionized dangerous and degrading conditions that were once inseparable from high-density city life (The Death and Life of Great American Cities, p. 218).</b></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But Syracuse has often found itself stuck in a time warp, which is possibly why fifteen years after the James Street mansions initially met the wrecking ball and almost a quarter-century since the last streetcar ran in the city, Searles chalked up the ugliness to a byproduct of progress:</span><br /><br /><i><span style="color: purple;"><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Most cities, like Syracuse, are making the </span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">traumatic adjustment </span><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">from the street car to the automobile; from the </span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">pretentious mansion</span><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> to the apartment and ranch house and from an economically dominant downtown core to a collection of shopping and commercial centers dispersed through an urbanized area. Syracuse in the last generation has also had to accommodate itself to the transformation of the New York Central right-of-way and the Erie Canal (</span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">both cutting through the center of town</span><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">) into traffic arteries.</span></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span><br /><span style="color: purple;"><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To meet these changes of the last 30 years, </span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">cities had no clear plans</span></span></i></b><i><span style="color: purple;"><b id="internal-source-marker_0.3680275697261095" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">—</span></b><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and if they had plans</span></b><b id="internal-source-marker_0.3680275697261095" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">—</span></b><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">they had </span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">no legal powers t</span><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">o give effect to plans which might direct new construction and destruction towards more aesthetically pleasing results.</span></b></span></i></span><br />
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Of course, this didn’t stop <a href="http://syracuseb4.blogspot.com/2011/09/september-2011.html">Searles from arranging</a> a two-and-a-half week tour of European countries for himself, Mayor Walsh, and seventeen other city notables (and their wives) for “city planning” services six months earlier! </span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><i><span style="color: purple;"><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The increase in automobile traffic and the loss of pedestrian traffic has had such a devastating effect on downtown property values that cities relying heavily for financial support on ad valorem real estate taxes have been </span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">understandably obsessed </span><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">with the economic rather than the aesthetic effects of urban change. </span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px;"><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How many cities can expect a Williamsburg treatment or have the opportunity to enjoy a </span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Georgetown </span><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">rehabilitation movement? Owners of </span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">obsolescent but historic </span><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">property </span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">cannot be expected to let sentiment outweigh economic considerations </span><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">for any substantial period of time. Children </span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">sell the family mansion</span><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> when the land becomes more valuable as an</span><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">apartment or office site than it could possibly be worth with the old house</span></span></i></span></b><i><span style="color: purple; font-family: inherit;"><b id="internal-source-marker_0.3680275697261095" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">—</span></b><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">heavily taxed and expensive to maintain</span></b><b id="internal-source-marker_0.3680275697261095" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">—</span></b><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">undemolished. </span></b></span></i><br />
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Interestingly enough, while we have come to associate urban renewal with the destruction of the historic 15th Ward, Searles seems clearly focused on the James Street transformation. Hardly surprising given that Searles and Mayor Walsh decided to tour Europe when hundreds were picketing City Hall in support of the residents of the 15th Ward, but a bit of a head-scratcher when you consider this: there was little to no organized public support for the historic preservation of the James Street mansions:</span></b></span><br />
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.9747322835028172" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: inherit;">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)</span></span></b></blockquote>
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Also puzzling is Searles’ reference to Georgetown, as their residents were successful in saving endangered historic architecture by precisely focusing on the economic value of the buildings:</span></b></span><br />
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Historic Georgetown, Inc., in Washington, D.C. successfully bought and rehabilitated several outstanding examples of mid-eighteenth century architecture at 30th and M Streets in that city. In 1951, the houses were about to be </span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">torn down to build a parking lot</span></span><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #999999;">. To save these buildings, a group of Georgetown residents formed Historic Georgetown, Inc. The aim of the corporation was to make not only a sound architectural restoration but also a sound business achievement. Money was raised by the sale of stock to Georgetown residents and a plan was worked out whereby subscribers might donate their stock to the National Trust and take a tax deduction for this gift at par value. As a result, the National Trust is now the largest single stockholder in the corporation. The restoration of these buildings is now complete except for one small apartment. The completed part is fully occupied on long-term leases and the rentals provide a sizeable surplus above upkeep, taxes, interest and preferred dividends. The operations of the corporation are deemed locally to be quite successful (<i>College Hill: A Demonstration Study of Historic Area Renewal</i>, Providence City Plan Commission, 1967, p. 13)</span><span style="color: #666666;">.</span></span></span></b></blockquote>
<br />
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.2715924591757357" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Yet Searles was very familiar with the area, as prior to his position as chief executive of the Metropolitan Development Association, Searles had worked as executive director of the Redevelopment Land Agency in Washington, D.C. for from 1951-1961, where he oversaw the</span><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/29/AR2005102901243.html"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> “redevelopment” of Southwest Washington</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: </span></b><br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Inspired by the resurgent downtowns he had seen emerging from European cities damaged in World War II, Mr. Searles sought to bring a similar spirit of modernism to Washington...From 1954 to 1960, the old rowhouses and alleyways of Southwest were demolished, along with hundreds of small businesses. About 20,000 residents, most of them African American, were forced to find new homes.</span></b></blockquote>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><i><span style="color: purple;"><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The best current solution and indeed perhaps the only solution of general availability</span><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">is urban renewal. The acquisition of obsolete blighted property and resale subject to conditions of preservation and architectural standards is making possible the retention of many fine old buildings. The </span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">use of renewal to study and preserve structures in the College Hill area in Providence is an outstanding example.</span></span></i><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Searles is referring to the 1959 study conducted by the Providence City Plan Commission which proposed the use of federal Urban Renewal funds not to raze the historic buildings of College Hill but</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">—</span><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">gasp!</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">—</span><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">restore and renew. </span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="color: purple;"><i><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A number of architecturally significant structures in Southwest Washington which were surrounded by slums and inadequately maintained are being brought back to life through urban renewal. Wheat Row, built by Lawrence Washington, George's brother, the Washington, Lee and Barney Houses are being integrated in Architect Clothiel Woodward Smith's design for the Harbour Square apartments.. The Law House to the north of N Street S.W. was required to be preserved in the Tiber Island Development. Both preservations were accomplished through urban renewal.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The best opportunity for Syracusans to save the </span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Third Onondaga Court House </span><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">is through urban renewal. There is no current apparent economic use and developers seeking t</span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">he building as a parking lot </span><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">gain support with offers of taxes for currently public property. They are held off only by a group led by Common Council Majority Leader Albert Orenstein, who has a considerable following in his efforts to solve a very difficult problem. Local citizen efforts saved the Weighlock Building on the old Erie Canal. </span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Syracuse Savings Bank has made an "uneconomic" investment in the' preservation of its local building.</span></i></span></span><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The difference between Providence’s College Hill plan and Searles’ self-congratulatory Washington references</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">—</span><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and stated plans for Syracuse</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">—i</span><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">s that Providence aimed to preserve not a mere building or two, but the entire neighborhood:</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></b><br />
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Unfortunately, the approach in most cities has been piecemeal, and except in a few instances, only one or two of the techniques described in this report are in operation at any one time in a locality. The comprehensive approach to renewal of a historic area is needed and the techniques described in this report may guide the way for such renewal in College Hill and in other parts of the country. </span><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(<i>College Hill: A Demonstration Study of Historic Area Renewal</i>, Providence City Plan Commission, 1967, p.13)</span></span></b><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span></b></blockquote>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(Granted, it should probably be noted that a mere two years after publishing this report, the Providence City Plan Commission published an </span><a href="http://www.gcpvd.org/reports/providence-yesterday/"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">urban renewal plan</span></a><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> for Downtown Providence not much different than Syracuse’s own, yet never materialized due to</span><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> lack of interest.)</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br /><span style="color: purple;"><i><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A total downtown urban renewal plan now underway has among its objectives one of saving</span><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the </span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">best of the old architecture</span><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> not only for sentiment or to blend, but also to influence and to guide the design of new buildings. Syracuse </span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">would be vain to aspire</span><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> to become a Paris or Vienna, but it is proud and becoming increasingly sensitive about its appearance.</span></i></span></span></b><br />
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="color: purple;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><br /></i></span></span><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Syracuse could never aspire to be a Paris or Vienna, yet Searles organized <a href="http://syracuseb4.blogspot.com/2011/09/september-2011.html">three additional trips</a> to Europe after the initial 1963 excursion for himself and the city VIPs, in the continued name of city planning! </span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Similarly, from Searles’ 2005 Washington Post <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/29/AR2005102901243.html">obituary</a>:</span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></b><br />
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<span style="color: #999999; font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Writing in The Post, Mr. Searles extolled the parks of Copenhagen and the vibrant urban dynamism of Rotterdam, but that rosy vision of Southwest Washington never developed. Instead, it remained largely desolate until highways, large office buildings and apartment houses were built in the 1960s and 1970s.</span></b></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: purple;"><i><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We agree with Miss Huxtable’s estimate of the significance of the Council on the Arts’ </span><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">excellent study, but</span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> disagree strongly that "most urban renewal seems doomed to sterility.” </span><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Rather, cities which like Syracuse, wish to use their </span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">excellent old buildings</span><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> as the cornerstones of reconstruction, will find urban renewal to be their best and </span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">perhaps only solution</span><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">JOHN R. SEARLES JR.,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Executive Vice President.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Metropolitan Development Association</span></i></span></b><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: purple;"><i><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">of Syracuse and Onondaga County</span></i></span></b></span><br />
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Just a few of the “excellent old buildings” that didn’t make the “best of the old architecture” cut:</span></b><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://syracusethenandnow.org/WorthSaving/WorthSaving.htm" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Gv4VrYK-Vnk/UPWSfxYlrZI/AAAAAAAADe4/nlT90fXznZg/s1600/oldbuilding.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From left: McCarthy Warehouse, Third Onondaga County Courthouse, Kirk Fireproof Building </td></tr>
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And their replacements:</span></b><br />
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">***</span></span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></i></b></span>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">[Ada Louise Huxtable] liked Boston’s City Hall when it opened in 1968, although most people didn’t, and she liked it 40 years later, when a young generation of architects was coming around to its Brutalism, but much of the public still wanted to tear it down. The building was “uncompromising,” she wrote. </span></i></b></span><b style="font-family: inherit; font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><br /></i></span></b><b style="font-family: inherit; font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><br /></i></span></b><b style="font-family: inherit; font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Like her.</i> ( </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/09/arts/design/ada-louise-huxtable-appraisal-of-an-architecture-critic.html"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">New York Times</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, January 8, 2013</span></a><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">)</span></b></blockquote>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Which brings us to the greatest flaw in Syracuse urban renewal plans: while the results were certainly uncompromising, the decisions</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">—</span><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and decision-makers</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">—</span><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">were capricious if not downright capitulating. Although little protest was raised over the loss of the James Street mansions, newspaper editorial writers nevertheless predicted an “ugly city” essay in Syracuse’s future:</span><br /><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #999999;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Syracuse has too little that is old and good, so it has suffered a defeat that will </span></span></b><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #999999;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">hurt it for years in the loss of the great Leavenworth mansion...</span></span></b><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #999999;"><br /></span></b><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #999999;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Soon it will be a memory and Syracuse will have left only the old and hideous, none of the old and beautiful and no proof, but rather the opposite of it, that it has any respect</span><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">or reverence for what our fathers accomplished. If we do not cherish and keep our best examples of beauty, we are soon surrounded by the drab and ugly and our lives reflect</span><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the environment we have elected. (Post-Standard, July 15, 1950)</span></span></b></span></blockquote>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The </span><a href="http://syracusethenandnow.org/CompPlan/1965SyrPlan/1965CentralSyracusePlanPolicy.pdf"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1965 Downtown Urban Renewal Plan</span></a><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> justly saw its revitalization potential in providing unique opportunities not available in the outlying neighborhoods:</span></span></b><br />
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #999999; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Central Syracuse should seek out and encourage those few-of-a-kind supporting activities which, by virtue of their location in or near the central area, contribute to its "optimum" location.</span></span></b></blockquote>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and then tore down an entire city block for a </span><a href="http://syracuseb4.blogspot.com/2009/01/january-12-1963january-12-1976.html"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">new department store</span></a><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, even as the ones that had anchored downtown for decades were closing and moving to the suburban shopping malls.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And perhaps the most </span><a href="http://syracuseb4.blogspot.com/2009/09/september-24-26-1936.html"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">egregious compromise</span></a><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">:</span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></b><br />
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The mayor is certain that he will be able to stop any thinking along the lines of elevated highways. He said that state officials agreed to “review the situation.” Mayor Henninger added he has learned that such</span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> elevated highways “have ruined other cities.”</span><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The mayor also pointed out that he and his administration would “have to move fast. We are on top of this and will keep after it.” (Post-Standard, April 13, 1958)</span></span></b></blockquote>
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Syracuse Mayor Anthony A. Henninger indicated the city will not hold out for a depressed-type construction. He is more interested in getting the highway built than </span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">quibbling over whether it will be built above or below ground level</span><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, he indicated. (Post-Standard, February 25, 1960)</span></span></b></blockquote>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">These days, there seems to be the general air that renewal</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">—for real—has arrived </span><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">downtown, as the old cornerstone buildings that survived </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">are being renovated into high-end condos. Yet while their original beauty is restored, a new <a href="http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2012/08/moving_centros_hub_will_transf.html">ugliness</a> is creeping in:</span></span></b><br />
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></b>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #999999;"><b id="internal-source-marker_0.2715924591757357" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“It’ll be a different corner,” said David Nutting, the chairman and CEO of VIP Structures, whose bid for a $25 million redevelopment of four buildings across from the Dunkin’ Donuts stipulated the long-planned bus move must happen for the Pike Block project to go forward.</span></span></b><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Would Nutting have taken on the project – with its 78 apartments, 25,000-square-feet of retail space and new walkway to the more bustling Armory Square – if the buses and riders had stayed?</span></span></b><br /><br /><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“I don’t think so,” he said.</span></span></b></span></blockquote>
<br />
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For as Huxtable wrote, architecture is about far more than aesthetics or silhouettes against the skyline. </span></span></b><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">From her <i>New York Times</i> </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/08/arts/design/ada-louise-huxtable-architecture-critic-dies-at-91.html?pagewanted=all"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">obituary</span></a><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">:</span></span></b><br />
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></b>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.2715924591757357" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Though knowledgeable about architectural styles, Ms. Huxtable often seemed more interested in social substance. She invited readers to consider a building not as an assembly of pilasters and entablatures but as a public statement whose form and placement had real consequences for its neighbors as well as its occupants.</span></span></b><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></b><br /><b id="internal-source-marker_0.2715924591757357" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“I wish people would stop asking me what my favorite buildings are,” Ms. Huxtable wrote in The Times in 1971, adding, “I do not think it really matters very much what my personal favorites are, except as they illuminate principles of design and execution useful and essential to the collective spirit that we call society.</span></span></b><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></b><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></b><b id="internal-source-marker_0.2715924591757357" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“For irreplaceable examples of that spirit I will do real battle.”</span></span></b></blockquote>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">*As posting the article in its entirety might run against Fair Use laws, if you wish to read it, it can be found in the March 15, 1964 edition of New York Times, or the March 28, 1964 edition of the Post-Standard.</span></div>
</div>
Syracuse B4http://www.blogger.com/profile/04953423821970292832noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170446985864385441.post-19629314920371720092012-12-26T11:22:00.000-08:002012-12-26T11:28:53.902-08:00December 2012<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ez7IQJgByUA/UCk0TYMW7GI/AAAAAAAADcc/JRi5Apl8dow/s1600/syracuse+herald+pedestrian+insurance.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ez7IQJgByUA/UCk0TYMW7GI/AAAAAAAADcc/JRi5Apl8dow/s320/syracuse+herald+pedestrian+insurance.jpg" width="155" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Syracuse Herald, June 5, 1923</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In May, I returned home to run the Mountain Goat. Despite being one of the hilliest courses I’ve raced, I achieved a new personal record: the most miles ever covered in Syracuse without being chauffeured by my parents. </span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Though most of the landmarks of my childhood experience in Syracuse are long gone, one remains steadfast: the necessity of a car to travel anywhere in the city. The Mountain Goat provided a ten-mile traffic-free tour in about the same time it would take to walk from the Regional Transportation Center to Downtown Syracuse (if the pedestrian unfriendly route didn’t cause the ultimate DNF). A taxi ride would cost<a href="http://www.taxifarefinder.com/main.php?city=Syracuse-NY&from=regional+transportation+center%2C+syracuse%2C+ny&to=Clinton+Square%2C+North+Clinton+Street%2C+Syracuse%2C+NY"> approximately</a> $15, an expense equivalent to half the entry fee of the race. Ironically, one could walk to the start line of the Empire State Marathon from the bus station, but picking up the race packet would require a 9 mile trip to</span></b><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: x-small; line-height: 17.77777862548828px;">—</span><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">of all places</span></b><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: x-small; line-height: 17.77777862548828px;">—</span><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Driver’s Village. With no race-provided shuttle, taxi fare plus tip would be <a href="http://www.taxifarefinder.com/main.php?city=Syracuse-NY&from=regional+transportation+center%2C+syracuse%2C+ny&to=5885+East+Circle+Drive%2C+Cicero%2C+NY">close to</a> $40</span></b><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: x-small; line-height: 17.77777862548828px;">—</span><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the price of a Greyhound bus from New York to Syracuse. Walking would be its own medaled event.</span></b></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">While the city does not control logistics of race planning (they would just prefer <a href="http://blog.syracuse.com/divots/2011/10/route_to_creating_empire_state.html">not to have</a> the runners on the streets), I use these examples to illustrate how two major happenings with the ability to draw a large number of out-of-towners effectively shut out any who arrive without their own means of transportation. Does Syracuse require that every visitor either drive or rent a car? Or otherwise factor in expenses of taxis in an area that has been expanding outward since World War II? Or use the bus system that the city (or, at least, its newspaper) considers is for <a href="http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2012/08/moving_centros_hub_will_transf.html">"mostly poor and black bus riders"</a>? </span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> View the <a href="http://www.visitsyracuse.org/gettingaround">“Getting Around” page </a>on Syracuse Convention and Visitors Bureau website, and the visitor is presented with nothing more than a list of taxis, car rentals and a blank Google map:</span></span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cNI5Edqflh4/UCkoLxnj9OI/AAAAAAAADcM/wCdz2WvF1uM/s1600/Screen+shot+2012-08-13+at+12.14.47+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cNI5Edqflh4/UCkoLxnj9OI/AAAAAAAADcM/wCdz2WvF1uM/s400/Screen+shot+2012-08-13+at+12.14.47+PM.png" width="243" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span><br /><span style="font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">While car-free visitors are left to their wits and a <a href="http://www.visitsyracuse.org/sip-on-syracuse">detailed “beer trail” map</a><span id="goog_35918255"></span><span id="goog_35918256"></span><a href="http://draft.blogger.com/"></a>, the SCVB is busy <a href="http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2012/08/canadians_a_major_shopping_tar.html">counting license plates</a> of out-of-town cars in the <strike>Carousel Center </strike> <strike>Destiny USA</strike> <a href="http://twitpic.com/bpmx6q">Carousel Center</a> parking lot. Of course, if the route from the Transportation Center to the mall was made a bit more pedestrian friendly, there could be numerous shoppers arriving from practically any location in the United States or Canada in just a few steps. But why consider a pedestrian bridge that could lead out-of-town travelers from the train or bus when you can build one that takes them <a href="http://blog.syracuse.com/storefront/2012/04/syracuses_destiny_usa_wins_app.html">back to their cars</a>? </span><br /><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span><br /><span style="font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Regional Transportation Center recently <a href="http://www.centro.org/parkingRTC.aspx">expanded its parking lot</a> to accommodate the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/16/business/hassles-of-air-travel-push-passengers-to-amtrak.html?pagewanted=all">increased number of Amtrak</a> and Greyhound passengers:</span><br /><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The number of people who use the inter-city transportation services at the Transportation Center has grown significantly since we opened in 1998,” said Central New York Regional Transportation Center Executive Director Frank Kobliski. “We have reached a point where we need to expand to accommodate our customers.”</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span><br /><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Not only is it ironic that Syracuse acknowledged an increase in bus and train travel by adding more parking spots for cars, but the plan is completely one-sided. If more people are leaving Syracuse by train and bus, wouldn’t it stand to reason that more are arriving by these same modes of travel? And if so, where are their accommodations? The only improvement geared towards pedestrians is the addition of </span>“d</span><span style="background-color: white; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">irect sidewalk access between the facility’s main entrance and a new sheltered taxi stand,”</span><span style="background-color: white; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">where presumably visitors can remain dry before their wallets get hosed. </span></span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Dh9crfym4Vc/UNpP6QFO1yI/AAAAAAAADc8/DEr8HvrVLe8/s1600/greyhoundbusterminal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="204" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Dh9crfym4Vc/UNpP6QFO1yI/AAAAAAAADc8/DEr8HvrVLe8/s320/greyhoundbusterminal.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Former Greyhound terminal in downtown Syracuse. <br />
Opened in 1941, razed in 1960s for construction of<br />
MONY Plaza. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Syracuse seems <a href="http://syracuseb4.blogspot.com/2010/01/january-4-1941.html">forever caught up</a> in its car culture, extending its bias even towards the new Centro bus hub. Apparently, the $18.8 million, 38-years-in-the-making project was never meant to revitalize downtown by encouraging more mass transit use, but rather, be transformative by <a href="http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2012/08/moving_centros_hub_will_transf.html">removing bus-riding pedestrians from the path of car-owning pedestrians</a>. Why not utilize the hub as an additional stop for Greyhound and Megabus, allowing visitors to walk to a <a href="http://www.cnycentral.com/news/story.aspx?id=724522#.UNnvB5PjnFI">hotel</a> or through the <a href="http://www.syracuse.com/kirst/index.ssf/2012/12/post_387.html#incart_river_default">new-and-improved downtown</a>? (Though one has to ask, if </span></span><b id="internal-source-marker_0.2588796007912606" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“<a href="http://downtownsyracuse.com/static/C111">downtown living</a>” still requires a car, do any of the much-ballyhooed downtown condo dwellers truly “live downtown”?</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Shortly after my springtime visit, Syracuse </span></span><b id="internal-source-marker_0.7356019497383386" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">went agog with the <a href="http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2012/06/wegmans_closing_its_pond_stree.html">news</a> that the Wegmans Pond Street location would close by month’s end, potentially leaving the area’s elderly and non-driving residents without a supermarket within walking distance:</span></b><br />
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.7356019497383386" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444e5c; font-family: Verdana; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Nicoletti said he doesn’t buy into Wegmans’ numbers and said the company is abandoning shoppers who rely on the store because they can walk there.</span></b><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444e5c; font-family: Verdana; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444e5c; font-family: Verdana; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> “It is an area in transition, an area we are fighting for, and the city is fighting for,” said Nicoletti. “They worry about a TV commercial with Alec Baldwin. They should worry about people who don’t have vehicles, who are handicapped.</span></b></blockquote>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b><b id="internal-source-marker_0.7356019497383386" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If Syracuse’s chickens were going to come home to roost, then perhaps it is only fitting that they did so at a Wegmans. </span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">While this crisis seemed to be quieted by the later announcement of a Tops in the same location, where is the uproar for the </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">senior suburb dwellers who in due time may have to give up their car keys?</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> My parents don't have the option of walking to a supermarket or even a bus stop. Without a car, they will be as stranded at their house as I am without their ride when I come home to visit. A sobering reality from which I cannot run away. </span></span>Syracuse B4http://www.blogger.com/profile/04953423821970292832noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170446985864385441.post-55214693872634991052012-11-12T10:06:00.000-08:002012-11-15T10:22:31.060-08:00November 2012<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.003445362439379096" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In cities like Syracuse, new and old co-exist as bellicose, resentful strangers. There is a curious, Martian mixture of almost surrealist strangeness; Queen Anne gingerbread next to cantilevered steel.</span></b><b id="internal-source-marker_0.003445362439379096" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b><b id="internal-source-marker_0.003445362439379096" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The old waits grotesquely for the new to swoop it to destruction, and the all-important lesson of urban design is still unlearned. You don’t wish the old city away; you work with its assets, allying them to the best new building for strengthening relationships to both.</span></b><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At present, most urban renewal seems doomed to sterility. As long as its architects reject the past and fail to deal in continuity, what they produce will be a nightmare mix. Values will be lost instead of added. The Council’s architectural study [Architecture Worth Saving] is the first sign of the civilized maturity that can save cities like Syracuse from self-destruction.</span></b><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16px; white-space: normal;"><br /></span></span></b><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16px; white-space: normal;">—</span>Ada Louise Huxtable, “Ugly Cities and How They Grow,” New York Times, March 15, 1964 (and reprinted in Post-Standard, March 28, 1964)</span></b></blockquote>
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.003445362439379096" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Alas, a siginificant number of buildings listed in the 1964 <a href="http://syracusethenandnow.org/WorthSaving/WorthSaving.htm">Architecture Worth Saving study</a> have since met the wrecking ball, and the “nightmare mix” of the resulting landscape became the inspiration for this blog five years ago. I was never so much interested in the nostalgic remembrances of department stores and downtown days gone by but rather the reimaginings of what could have been: what if the <a href="http://syracuseb4.blogspot.com/2009/08/august-2-1956.html">historic mansions</a> still lined James Street? What if the <a href="http://syracuseb4.blogspot.com/2009/08/august-1937-august-1955.html">15th Ward</a> still remained, or if <a href="http://syracuseb4.blogspot.com/2011/01/january-16-1922.html">North Salina Street</a> had not been cut off by <a href="http://syracuseb4.blogspot.com/2009/09/september-24-26-1936.html">elevated railroad-turned-highway</a>? What if the <a href="http://youtu.be/LMip2HWCKCw">theaters</a> had not been torn down for <a href="http://syracuseb4.blogspot.com/2009/11/november-2009.html">parking garages</a>, the hotels for <a href="http://syracuseb4.blogspot.com/2010/08/august-14-1945.html">parking lots</a>? Though what I’ve never really explored is this:</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://194xsyracuse.tumblr.com/">What if the postwar vision for Syracuse had been fully realized?</a></span></b><br />
<br />
<br />Syracuse B4http://www.blogger.com/profile/04953423821970292832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170446985864385441.post-13555025288934481302012-01-31T10:08:00.000-08:002012-01-31T10:08:02.086-08:00January, 2012<br />
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<i><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b><b id="internal-source-marker_0.5647753158118576"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To the editor of the Post-Standard:</span></b><span id="internal-source-marker_0.5647753158118576"><br /></span><span id="internal-source-marker_0.5647753158118576"><br /></span><span id="internal-source-marker_0.5647753158118576"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In regards to the much talked-about war memorial, I would like to say, like all other projects in the city, I am afraid it is going to be too small. It may be alright for the city of today, but 20 years from today it will be like the U.S. Post Office built 20 years or more ago, too small.</span></span><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Look around at some of our buildings in recent years, MacArthur Stadium, too small; post office, too small; NY Central Station, too small; State Tower Building, too small, and a lot of other projects which were big enough when built, but too small now. </span></b><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now, 9,000 seats are too small for boxing. I saw a few boxing matches at the ball park last summer, and they say the ball park seats 12,000. Well, I had to sit on the concrete steps, because I could not get a seat. That would give you an idea just how many seats you would need if let’s say, DeJohn fought some top flight boxer like Tony Zale or Marcel Cerdan and others. Why, you have to turn them away.</span></b><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">While we are at it, let’s build it big enough, or let’s not build it at all....Syracuse is going to be a pretty big city in a few years to come, and a small coliseum is going to be just too bad.</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">…</span></b><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Anyway, in conclusion, I will say here’s for a bigger coliseum, one that you will not have to try to make larger later.</span></b><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">William J. Ganeau, Syracuse </span></b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">February 17, 1949</span></i></blockquote>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Post-Standard, April 23, 1976</span></td></tr>
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.5647753158118576"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What was that I wrote in my <a href="http://syracuseb4.blogspot.com/2011/09/september-2011.html">last entry</a> about “</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">back to school, back to work, back to activities and appointments that often seem to continue non-stop through year’s end</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">”? </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Yes, this blog has been on the quiet side, but Sean Kirst’s <a href="http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2012/01/music_legends_from_aerosmith_t.html">article</a> about the musical history of the War Memorial inspired me to revisit the archives. To be honest, I haven’t been inside the War Memorial in over thirty years, and the closest I’ve come to a rock concert at the venue is a clown parade at the Shrine Circus. But as the article made clear, most War Memorial memories are well entrenched in the past, leading many commenters<a href="http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2012/01/music_legends_from_aerosmith_t/978/comments-6.html"> to debate</a> the future of the facility:</span></b></div>
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.5647753158118576"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">johnsyracuse: </span></b><b id="internal-source-marker_0.5647753158118576"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sorry guys....I am a veteran myself...but the War Memorial is a sh##hole. It's a building, like many before it and many after it whose designed function has gone the way of the dinosaur. Replacing it no way disrespects our veterans. In fact; I think it is more disrespectful NOT to replace it. That being said...who wants to pay for it? The state needs to focus on the infrastructures that benefit everyone for the right reasons; not rebuild a worn out building. Syracuse has not been a mecca for rock bands for a long time. I travel to Rochester and near Albany to hear anything relevent. Seems unnecessary to me. </span></b><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><b id="internal-source-marker_0.5647753158118576"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Michelle Klukiewicz: </span></b><b id="internal-source-marker_0.5647753158118576"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">totally disagree John....I think if the War Memorial is spruced up a bit, many of the bands today that I am sure are fans of the past bands that graced the stage at the WM, would be honored to play in the same place....I would LOVE to attend a show there...somethings are sacred and should be treated as such..it honors the Veterans as well as the music that in my opinion..keeps us all sane..." let the music keep our spirits high"....</span></b></blockquote>
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.5647753158118576"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The conflict is obvious: the War Memorial has a dated form tied to timeless function. Yet why had such a decision been made during a time when obsolescence was linked with progress?</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“The pace of obsolescence is growing more rapid,” Mr. Grimm said. “We must make things more susceptible to obsolescence in order to make way for progress. If dresses were designed to so that women wore them until they fell apart, the dress industry would die. There will be more acceleration in change of design." (Post-Standard, February 26, 1955)</span></b></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If city leaders envisioned a 21st century downtown Syracuse with <a href="http://syracuseb4.blogspot.com/2010/02/february-20-28-1955.html">"modern structures of glass and steel,"</a> then why did they decide upon the construction of an arena as a war memorial, which would certainly be a target for demolition as it aged? Is this another case of the post-WWII generation fulfilling an immediate need</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16px;">—</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">much like the highways and </span><a href="http://youtu.be/c1W3onge7BY" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">suburbs</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16px;">—</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">and leaving future generations to sort out the inevitable conflict of interest? Or were there Syracusans who foresaw these 2012 comments in their own impassioned letters over 60 years ago? </span></div>
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<i><b id="internal-source-marker_0.5647753158118576"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To the editor of the Post-Standard:</span></b><span id="internal-source-marker_0.5647753158118576"><br /></span><span id="internal-source-marker_0.5647753158118576"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Will Syracuse ever get out of the one-horse town class?</span></b></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Imagine a city the size of Syracuse thinking of building an auditorium that will only seat 8,800 maximum!</span></b></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That is what you would look for in a village the size of Baldwinsville.</span></b></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Don’t they ever expect to have any large conventions in Syracuse?</span></b></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Maybe they are only planning on a peanut vendors’ convention.</span></b></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It looks as if the major veteran organizations will never be able to hold another convention in Syracuse. What they have planned now is not suitable to veterans and the whole of Syracuse.</span></b></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What a war service memorial!</span></b></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Why not get smart and put up a memorial everyone will be proud of and not ashamed of.</span></b></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Why not go two or three levels underground if they want a squatty building, and have the entire main floor for an auditorium only, with offices, meeting rooms, etc. on the floors above?</span></b></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It might be well for some people to get out and visit other cities and see what is needed in such a building. Let’s not throw our money away on something that will be useless!</span></b></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Member of VFW and American Legion</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Marietta </span></b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">March 12, 1948</span></b></i></blockquote>
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.5647753158118576"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Economy had been essential during the World War II years, so not surprisingly the War Service Memorial committee saw a multi-use memorial as a most ideal solution:</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For some time prior to the appointment on January 10, 1945, of the original six members of the Onondaga County War Service Memorial Committee by [Onondaga County Board of Supervisors chairman] Mr. [Edward] Yackel and Thomas E. Kennedy, then mayor of Syracuse, there had developed considerable sentiment and need for a civic center. This sentiment and this need were promptly visualized by the committee as the ideal solution to the primary problem of what type of memorial should be adopted. </span></b><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We saw and grasped the opportunity to realize in one move two long-hoped-for ambitions...a fitting war memorial and a community center with unlimited possibilites for general public use. Having reached this decision we began planning for the time when the citizens of the city and the county would have their own civic center adequate for any social, cultural or athletic indoor activity, and simultaneously, a memorial to those who gave their lives, those who served in the armed forces and those who served on the home front. <i>(from War Memorial Progress Report given by Hurlbut W. Smith, chairman of the Onondaga County War Service Memorial, Inc. to Onondaga County Board of Supervisors chairman Edward O.Yackel and Frank J. Costello, Syracuse mayor, on February 15, 1947, reprinted in Syracuse Herald-American, February 16, 1947)</i></span></b></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Yet it quickly became clear to the parties involved that one building could not be all things to all people:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“A sports arena, and a music hall, and theater can never under any architectural plan be housed in the same hall. Love of theater, music, dance or beauty must not come in a poor second again when a civic enterprise is under consideration. Whatever the final decision, it should be representative of both athletic and cultural groups. Perhaps the amount should be increased so that the plans might include two complete and separate units under one roof. If it is impossible to raise such an amount, let’s do one or the other and create a memorial of which we we all may be proud for many years.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16px;">—</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dorothy Kelly Carr, Mary F. Lynch, Marydee Richards, directors of Children’s Theater group of the Museum of Fine Arts</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“The civic center should be in two complete units, one as an auditorium to seat about 3500 in permanent designed seating, including all necesssary facilities for stage</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16px;">—</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the other an arena type for sporting events, conventions and the like. Each unit could then operate independently of the other. To us, the idea that one auditorium could be used for a hockey match one night and a symphony concert the next in the same hall seems highly impractical. It is up to the people to see that one center is built to satisfy the needs of the various civic enterprises, even if necessary to allot more money in bonds. It must be built right to serve many years.”</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16px;">—</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">David B. Salmon of Dave Salmon, Inc.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(as quoted in Syracuse Herald-Journal, March 11, 1947)</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A year earlier, the War Memorial commission had plans for such a “2-in-1” building, and retained L. Andrew Reinhard, an architect who worked on Rockefeller Center, to design a building with “two separate areas, one a music hall, one a sports arena,” and left the decision to Reinhard to “put both under one roof or erect them separately” (Post Standard, March 23, 1946) Yet as there was only a limited amount of land for the building, sports enthusiasts quickly saw the flaws in this proposal:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here we go again on the proposed sports arena. The county memorial committee has revised its plans again, this time to evolve some method of satisfying both the sports fans and the so-called cultural group. I would like, at this time, to emphasize again that the plans better be good.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">...</span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It is my personal opinion that the Putnam school site for the proposed memorial building or buildings isn’t big enough for two auditoriums, providing the sports arena, which would be part of the building, is to be big enough for profitable operation. </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">…</span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Many fans want more than 7,500 seats for sports events , but any rate, that should be the minimum, and worthwhile promotions could not be attracted to Syracuse if the seating capacity were less. (“Keeping Posted with Bill Reddy,” Post-Standard, March 23, 1946)</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To the editor of the Post-Standard:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bill Reddy is right (Keeping Posted, March 23) and more power to him! The county war service memorial committee can’t please everyone, but if this is to be a war memorial, let’s have what the veterans want, a first class sports arena. </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">...</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If it is to be a war memorial and the money is to be raised by public subscription, let’s give the veterans what they want and not camouflage about it. The veterans want to be entertained, they don’t want to be “cultured.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If those who want an auditorium for conventions and a music hall are in earnest, let them go out and raise money independently for it, and not try to ride in on the backs of the veterans.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There’s only one location in the city that would be big enough for a sports arena with an eye to the future when Syracuse will be much larger. That is the old New York Central railroad station property. Close up that one-block extension of West Washington Street and use the entire space and then a sports arena seating 12,000 to 15,000 could be erected.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Let’s either drop the whole thing or give the veterans what they want. Ask them, they’ll tell you quickly enough, you memorial committee members. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Peter Piper</span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Syracuse</span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(March 26, 1946)</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Not only was lack of space a concern, but lack of budget as well. An initial shortage of building materials in the years immediately following the war led to higher costs, which led some to question whether a more substantial arena could be built if the project was held off for a few years:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">While a large number of veterans are pressing for action, others are said to be taking the same view the board has taken thus far, that it would be unwise to undertake erection of the building under present conditions.</span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Because of the prohibitive cost of materials and labor and difficulties in procuring many items at any price, it is said if a decision to begin this year should be reached, it will not be possible to carry out the plans, for the sort of memorial building that has been proposed. There is fear that if a building of the sort that could be built is erected, regrets are likely to be heard a few years hence. (Post-Standard, January 28, 1948)</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This point became further emphasized one year later, when none of the construction bids submitted to committee came within the 3.5 million dollars appropriated for the project:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Since the bids were opened, architects and engineers have been figuring substitutes and alternatives and otherwise wearing out their pencils in an effort to make $3,680,000, plus architects’ fees, plus extras not included in the contracts go into $3,500,000.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">…</span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How far the architects and engineers can go in recommending substitutions is another question. The memorial has been “sold” to the public on the basis of the plans and specifications on which bids were submitted, and to cheapen it to a point where the public might suspect that a “shoddy” memorial to the county’s war heroes would eventuate could result in trouble, a possible situation that board members are keeping in mind. (Post-Standard, July 24, 1949)</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">By the time construction began in late 1949, nearly every facet of the building had come under criticism. Ninety-two Syracuse University Architecture students signed a petition calling the auditorium’s design by Edgarton & Edgarton “a disgrace to any progressive city...with all of its superfluous ornament resembles a colossal wedding cake.” (Post-Standard, March 10, 1948). Several Post-Standard editorials lamented the lack of dedicated theater space, and worried that Syracuse would always lose valuable performances to other upstate cities:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Recently many of the city's music lovers went to Rochester for an opera performance </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">with the famous tenor Tagliavini. Many more will go to Utica on the first of April for another opera with this famous tenor.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It is always away from the city— never here that we can attend and enjoy events of this kind.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">While Syracuse certainly is not as much of a musical city as Rochester, it seems pathetic, to say the least, that Utlca could get the drop on us and take its place as a Central New York gathering place for the many people who like the opera and the legitimate stage.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The proposed sum to be spent on the county war memorial will do very well for a sports arena. But we might as well forget about a theater thrown in to boot. It would take more than that for a suitable theater alone. By suitable we mean a permanent theater seating at least 3,000 in comfort, acoustic excellence with a perfect view of the stage from every seat in the house, the very best in all stage technical requirements, and a simple and dignified exterior. That names a few of the specifications in general.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If people in this area are going to listen to opera and orchestral music, and maintain a love for the legitimate stage, they are going where those needs in their lives are available. If they can't come here, they will go to them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Is Syracuse going to admit defeat in this matter, or is it capable of taking the bull by the horns? (Post-Standard, March 23, 1948)</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And the complaint as old as downtown and cars themselves, parking:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The question is, of course</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">—</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">where are those 8,000 or more persons going to park around the proposed sports arena, provided it is located on the site given out in the elaborate publicity.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Your paper editorially and otherwise, and committees concerned with parking facilities in Syracuse, have been asking the same question over and over again</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">—</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">where are people going to park? (from a letter to the editor signed “Curious,” Post-Standard, March 13, 1948)</span></blockquote>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--WZdKrssIkY/TyLsX7lwwAI/AAAAAAAADWA/cHM2rs5mb9w/s1600/psaug71949.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="100" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--WZdKrssIkY/TyLsX7lwwAI/AAAAAAAADWA/cHM2rs5mb9w/s320/psaug71949.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">from Post-Standard, August 7, 1949.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">"Death of a Landmark: Written by Progress and Staged in Syracuse...</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">these four photos trace the destruction of the old Syracuse post office</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">and the transition of the historic site into a parking area."] </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Planners actually had considered the downtown parking shortage, and had an inspired solution: tear down buildings!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"Unusual measures" will have to be taken to get smooth operation of traffic in Syracuse, with prewar conditions soon to be reached and passed, worsening due to increases in large trucks and semi-trailers, William F. Kavanaugh, city lighting-traffic engineer warned as a highlight of his 1945 annual report released yesterday.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">…</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Buildings will either have to be removed or remodeled if parking space convenient to the retail center is to be acquired. Old New York Central terminal site and old West Shore site at E. Belden Ave. and N. Salina Street suggested “for serious consideration.” The Hills Bldg. block (S. State, E. Washington, Montgomery and E. Fayette Sts.), if closed, would not interfere seriously with traffic and would also eliminate a bad five-point intersection. [Plan called for “abandonment of all the rest of the Hills Bldg. Block to provide multi-deck parking space.”] (Post-Standard, January 27, 1946)</span></blockquote>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Post-Standard, Decemeber 31, 1950</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Which is to say, perhaps this is why, at a time when the landscape of downtown was about to undergo its most radical transformation, city and county leaders planned for a living war memorial. There’s a fine line between history and nostalgia, but neither had saved the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMip2HWCKCw&feature=player_embedded">vaudeville theaters and movie houses</a>, the <a href="http://syracuseb4.blogspot.com/2009/08/august-2-1956.html">homes of prominent figures</a> or <a href="http://syracuseb4.blogspot.com/2009/08/august-1937-august-1955.html">countless</a> <a href="http://syracuseb4.blogspot.com/2009/11/november-2009.html">other buildings</a> that faced the wrecking ball as the city viewed its “scaffolding-scarred face...the mirror of prosperity” (Post-Standard, December 31, 1950). Yet by establishing their arena as a living memorial, the War Service Memorial Commission could possibly ensure that the War Memorial would be spared in the future precisely because it would have the ability to evolve. As a Post-Standard editorial noted on the day of the building’s groundbreaking, the War Memorial “will not be a statue or primarily any object of art for all to look upon and pass by. It will be a living part of the community’s life...it will not have the quality of a museum, but a home</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">—</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">a county community home where we can enjoy ourselves as each of us sees fit.” </span><b id="internal-source-marker_0.5647753158118576"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The editorial continued:</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">The dead no longer care what we think about them. That would be impossible in the face of that vision of eternity which they now contemplate. But we are living and bounded by the finite world of human emotion, idea and thought. We cannot escape reacting in that sphere.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">(October 22, 1949)</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Considering the outpouring of letters and comments that always accompany any discussion about the War Memorial and its future, this element of the building's history appears to be the most timeless of all. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>Syracuse B4http://www.blogger.com/profile/04953423821970292832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170446985864385441.post-30293762825392964602011-09-02T06:51:00.000-07:002011-09-02T06:51:23.524-07:00September 2011<span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">September</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">—</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">always a jolt to the system. After a month with a calendar so empty that its <a href="http://www.slate.com/id/112553/">very existence has been questioned</a>, September is back to school, back to work, back to activities and appointments that often seem to continue non-stop through year’s end.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Unless you were the top city and business leaders in urban renewal-era Syracuse, when September meant three-week <strike>vacations</strike> "<a href="http://blog.syracuse.com/cny/2011/08/tired_of_staycations_try_an_oblication.html">oblications</a>"</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> to Europe! </span>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Forty-two Syracusans will leave Hancock Airport at 4 p.m. today for a three-week trip to Europe where they will study urban development programs in four countries. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">
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</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The group, participating in a tour sponsored by the Metropolitan Development Association (MDA), will visit Denmark, Sweden, Finland and England to see new town developments and other urban development programs. (Post-Standard, September 9, 1970)</span></blockquote>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GWXVmUQqSIA/Tk5yTHPRMCI/AAAAAAAADV0/qeSoOrw7VsI/s1600/protest.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="227" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GWXVmUQqSIA/Tk5yTHPRMCI/AAAAAAAADV0/qeSoOrw7VsI/s320/protest.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Wanna get away? Post-Standard, September 28, 1963</span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the days before Google street view, or, apparently, <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1kILMvF_caPvouAaLc46_X0d-bc7H4xQMbhc446_lB04">access to the</a> <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1cS7zblafIsv5BAFVjs_vaHctsGnF25GcgYvAl0RpBTg">New York Times</a>, city leaders routinely browsed European countries in person for inspiration for Downtown Syracuse. Between 1963 and 1974, the MDA arranged four European tours, each trip lasting between 16-20 days. The first trip, in October 1963, brought Mayor William Walsh, <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1Zwp_-6H7p2MhJY_lNQ_CiDlEyS6zyw2ZqqtxEZp6WyQ">18 city notables</a></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and their wives to England, France, Germany and Amsterdam: </span>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Old World hospitality was the fare for members of the Metropolitan Association's European tour when the Burgothe Burgomaster of Rotterdam, hosted a state luncheon in the great banquet hall. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">
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</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Women members of the tour agree that this was a high point of the entire trip. There were 60 seated at the table where footmen waited on the assembly. Five thousand chrysanthemums were used in riotous colors, an organ was played during the luncheon and all present toasted the Queen of the Netherlands and the President of the United States.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">
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</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">While the Rotterdam occasion was an outstanding event, Mrs. William F. Walsh, wife of Syracuse's mayor, also remembered another state luncheon in London, where she had a British Peer Lord Farrington sitting beside her. As in Rotterdam, the Lord Mayor of London feted the American visitors at a formal luncheon. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">
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</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">"We weren't entertained by royalty, but we certainly were accorded the royal treatment by every city visited on the tour," Mrs. Charles N. Howard was quick to report. (Post-Standard, October 24, 1963)</span></blockquote>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Almost 50 years later, this still seems outrageous. No, not because took first trip at same time the city was torn up by the tearing down of the 15th Ward, or that six years later, when the city had suffered even greater decline due to this decision, the focus of the trip had shifted from downtown observations to “gather ideas for the <a href="http://www.radissoncommunity.org/outside_home.asp">new town being constructed near Baldwinsville</a> by the MDA and the State Urban Development Corp.,” (September 9, 1970), or that the city paid $1,100 (<a href="http://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm">$8,114</a> in 2011 dollars) for Mayor Walsh’s trip (other members paid for themselves, with the mayor’s wife travel “privately financed” (Post-Standard, September 22, 1963)). Rather, after spending a total of 78 days abroad, in cities such as London, Coventry, Rotterdam, Bonn, Cologne, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Paris, Stockholm, Berlin, Zurich, Vienna, Budapest, Salzburg, Munich, Copenhagen, Bergen, Oslo, and Brussels, where is the European influence in post-urban renewal Syracuse?</span>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Because of her position as councilwoman, Maria (Mrs. Richard) Farr played sort of a “divided role” on the European trip. Despite her businesslike interest in slum clearance, rebuilding of war-torn cities and attendance at all the briefing sessions and lectures, Mrs. Farr evinced a very feminine interest in shopping centers</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">—”malls,” as they are called.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">
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</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“They really are a shoppers paradise,” she said. (Post-Standard, October 24, 1963)</span></blockquote>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">While American cities are synchronizing green lights to improve traffic flow and offering apps to help drivers find parking, many European cities are doing the opposite: creating environments openly hostile to cars. The methods vary, but the mission is clear — to make car use expensive and just plain miserable enough to tilt drivers toward more environmentally friendly modes of transportation.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">
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</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cities including Vienna to Munich and Copenhagen have closed vast swaths of streets to car traffic. Barcelona and Paris have had car lanes eroded by</span><a href="http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,725229,00.html"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">popular bike-sharing programs</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Drivers in London and Stockholm pay hefty congestion charges just for entering the heart of the city. And over the past two years, dozens of German cities have joined a national network of</span><a href="http://www.german-way.com/driving-environmental-zones.html"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“environmental zones”</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> where only cars with low carbon dioxide emissions may enter. (<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/27/science/earth/27traffic.html?emc=eta1">New York Times, June 26, 2011</a>) </span></blockquote>
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<span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">
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<span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Clearly, when it comes to transit, few similarities exist between European cities and Syracuse today. Yet even back in 1963, Mayor Walsh could not envision a city not shaped by cars and interstates:</span>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The mayor reported an amazing thing was that 22,000 of the workers [at Philips Electric Company in Eindhoven, Holland] ride bicycles. It was a sight he confessed he had never seen the equal of when these workers left the plant. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">
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</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He remarked to one of the officials what the situation would be like when eventually the workers put aside their bikes and drive cars to and from their work. (Post-Standard, October 12, 1963)</span></blockquote>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">While some of these Philips’ jobs <a href="http://travel.nytimes.com/2011/07/31/travel/eindhoven-netherlands-design.html">disappeared</a> in the late 1970s and 1980s when production moved to Asia, the bicycles did not. Eindhoven <a href="http://www.cyclingcarma.com/english/gemeente-eindhoven.php">currently has</a> “140 km (87 miles) of cycle paths and many additional km of cycle lanes.” </span>
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<span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Meanwhile, by year’s end, Syracuse should have its first half-mile <a href="http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2011/07/syracuse_plans_to_give_bike_ri.html">“cycle track”! </a></span></span></div>
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<span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">While in Königswinter, Germany, MDA President Kenneth Bartlett wrote a 14-page letter to the Post-Standard, reprinted in the newspaper over the course of two days. At its conclusion, Bartlett highlighted key observations that he thought could be of great service to developing downtown. 48 years later, these ideas are still discussed as mere possibilities</span>—if that<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">—</span> in Syracuse:</span></div>
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<span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We have, of course, seen only 'the best,' " Dean Bartlett continues in discussing the rebuilding of several European cities. "But even from it, some conclusions may be drawn:</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">
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<span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The European city values land so highly that it places the most severe limitation on the development...<a href="http://blog.syracuse.com/storefront/2009/06/061009mallDN7.JPG">Simply because a man owns land is no reason why he should be allowed to desecrate a city that will live a thousand years</a></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></span>
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<span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">The planner holds a position of high regard, at least he is not thought of as a bureaucrat whose motive is to slow up growth. The planners we have met are men with vision, courage and the ability to articulate their plans. In Coventry, for example, they showed what they were doing by maps that showed, separately, (a) a schematic theme or principle; (b) pedestrian traffic; (c) car park; (d) roads, and finally (e) a model. <a href="http://www.syracuse.com/kirst/index.ssf/2006/01/destiny_one_way_to_win_folks_o.html#incart_mrt">Anyone may see it, it is on permanent display.</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span>
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<span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Eindhoven is one of the few cities where we were told they want not new industry, and, further, they want <a href="http://blog.syracuse.com/cny/2010/03/putting_the_squeeze_on_urban_sprawl_county_executive.html">no new suburbs</a>—preferring to develop ‘a totality.' The latter term is, in fact, one heard many times. </span></blockquote>
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<span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Flowers are everywhere. One really can <a href="http://www.syracuse.com/kirst/index.ssf/2011/07/the_tiger_lily_could_it_be_a_p.html">not sense how barren our downtown is until one sees for himself the flower boxes</a> in London, in Rotterdam, Coventry, Amsterdam and Utrich. (Post-Standard, October 21, 1963) </span></span></blockquote>
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<span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></span>
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<span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Then again, some observations were taken to heart immediately:</span></span></span>
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></span>
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<blockquote style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; white-space: normal;">
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">They also will see a town in Gothenburg, Sweden...Gothenburg contains the largest enclosed shopping center in western Europe. (Post-Standard, September 9, 1970)</span></span></span></blockquote>
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></span><br />
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></span>
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">***</span></span></span>
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></span><br />
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></span><br />
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In 1974, after returning from a 20-day MDA trip, William G. Morton, chairman of the Onondaga Savings Bank, “gushed images of the places he’d seen”: </span></span></span><br />
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></span><br />
<blockquote>
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The group arrived in Bergen on Constitution Day to find a riotous celebration going on in the square outside their hotel, Morton remembered. </span></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Food and paper had been mashed by hundreds of feet so that it coated the street.</span></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></span></span><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></span><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></span><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Morton rose early the next morning to find the square spotless.</span></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He said he noticed the same concern for appearance everywhere in Europe. </span></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"I don't know how you can transfer it here," he said.</span></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> "Education?" he asked, then let the question alone. (Post-Standard, June 8, 1974)</span></span></span></blockquote>
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<span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></span>
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In this same edition of the June 8, 1974 Post-Standard, there was an educational lesson of a different sort:</span></span></span><br />
<blockquote>
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></span><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">South Salina Street between Water and Onondaga streets has seldom looked worse than it did yesterday afternoon. </span></span></span><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></span><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></span><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The messiest block yesterday was that, between Fayette and Jefferson, where both sides of the street are lined with big new planters, set up in former bus lanes.</span></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></span></span><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></span><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></span><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sidewalks on each side were littered with trash, including a considerable pile of cigarette butts in front of Woolworths, which had been there for at least 24 hours. Apparently some oblivious citizen had emptied the ashtray of his car on the sidewalk beside one of the planters.</span></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></span></span><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></span><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></span><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Out on the street, buses were weaving in and out of traffic, with several cars parked double in the second lane beside the planters, drivers gone. Other cars were tucked into curb areas between planters, all apparently immune to parking violation tickets.</span></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></span></span><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></span><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></span><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Incidentally, when we got back to the office we had a telephone call from a former president of MDA who had returned Thursday evening from a 20-day MDA trip to Europe.</span></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He was shocked at the appearance of Salina Street and had some blunt comments about the planters blocking traffic. </span></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It would seem our local planners and beautifiers are still a long way from transforming Syracuse's Downtown in the European pattern. (Post-Standard, June 8, 1974)</span></span></span></blockquote>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span>
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">The following September, the MDA stayed home, <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1qQuSDZ7dwNuFMy_i4EA_M0jelSk0ooHdOcM7OkoLH4s">using their newfound knowledge of European government to help aid the city, albeit New York City</a> (in the New York Times, which by then must have become available in Syracuse!). However, a grad student at SUNY-ESF arranged a far more productive tour: studying how outsiders view downtown Syracuse.</span></span></span><br />
<blockquote>
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></span><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Some of downtown's finer spots to people watch were given the once over by a group of urban scientists, city planners, managers and designers the other day.</span></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">By the time participants had filled out the 10-page questionnaire and finished the tour with lunch at a local restaurant, the Everson, MONY Plaza, Plymouth Square, Salina Street, Lincoln Plaza, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Vanderbilt Square, Clinton Square and Hanover Square, in that order, had been scrutinized by experts from across the U.S. and Canada. (Syracuse Herald-Journal, September 8, 1975)</span></blockquote>
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">
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<span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The tour members—” a meteorologist from Washington, D.C., a professor from University of Toronto's faculty of forestry, a member of Syracuse City Planning Commission, and an internationally recognized ecologist from University of Quebec”—were not as enthusiastic about the city as their counterparts had been in Europe. Regarding Lincoln Plaza:</span></span></span><br />
<blockquote>
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></span><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"Bank windows reduce sense of privacy. Too busy. Too much going on in the immediate area," one questionnaire said.</span></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></span></span><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></span><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></span><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"Too much heat source. Concrete paving," another participant wrote.</span></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></span></span><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></span><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></span><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"Sitting near the art form, it feels warm and somewhat uncomfortable," said another </span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">questionnaire. "Aware of high noise levels," another respondent wrote. </span></span></blockquote>
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></span><br />
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></span></div>
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<span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">MONY Plaza:</span></span></span><br />
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></span><br />
<blockquote>
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"Too much money has gone into pavement patterns, too little money into human needs. No congregating areas have been provided for outside the building," one participant commented.</span></span></span><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></span><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></span><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"No place to sit except for seats in the front of the plaza placed unaccountable to </span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">people," another said. </span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"The plaza is quite large</span></span></span>—<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">does not encourage the average person to enter the complex," was the comment of the third participant.</span></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span></span></blockquote>
</div>
<div style="background-color: transparent;">
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: transparent;">
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: transparent;">
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: transparent;">
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">
</span></span>
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Also as part of the study (and a slightly distasteful way to force tourist dollars in downtown), participants were “instructed by their questionnaire to buy something for someone on the tour along South Salina Street”:</span></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: transparent;">
<br />
<blockquote>
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Among gift items exchanged were a pair of ladies bikini briefs, a bag of mixed nuts, a book called "The Art of Living," a key chain, a bandana and a pot holder.</span></span></span></blockquote>
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></span></div>
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">
</span></span></span>
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Save for the keychain, none of these items could probably be purchased today on South Salina Street.</span></span></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">
</span></span>
<br />
<br />
<div style="background-color: transparent;">
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You could, however, buy them at Syracuse’s lasting European tour souvenir: the mall. </span></span></span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.8748203623108566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
Syracuse B4http://www.blogger.com/profile/04953423821970292832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170446985864385441.post-24039120598072456642011-07-25T08:49:00.000-07:002011-07-25T08:49:42.913-07:00August 13, 1979<span id="internal-source-marker_0.8282853052606395" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">It’s
summer in Syracuse! For some, this means sunning or swimming at the
beach, for Alec Baldwin, <a href="http://yfrog.com/kks2twj">cooling off </a>in the Wegmans dairy case. The city
broke a heat record on Thursday, with a high of 101 degrees.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In other words, the perfect time to discuss snow-covered sidewalks!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">No,
not because maybe with a two-season lead time, the problem of snow
removal on city sidewalks in Syracuse and elsewhere might actually be
solved this year. Rather, the hubbub every winter about unshoveled
sidewalks buries the year-round truth of the matter: pedestrians are an
afterthought in the American transportation system. At best, they are
simply ignored (such as with the unshoveled sidewalks); more
increasingly, they are viewed with outright contempt, such as the recent
conviction of pedestrian <a href="http://www.ajc.com/news/cobb/pedestrian-convicted-of-vehicular-1014879.html">Raquel Nelson</a> in Atlanta, Georgia with
vehicular homicide. Despite the driver being intoxicated and guilty of
two previous hit-and-run accidents, Nelson was charged with “homicide by
vehicle in the second degree, crossing roadway elsewhere than at
crosswalk and reckless conduct” as she attempted to cross the busy highway with her three children at a
designated bus stop (much like, in 2009, Professor Emeritus <a href="http://www.syracuse.com/kirst/index.ssf/2009/12/post_17.html">Joel Kidder</a> tried to cross Erie Boulevard from Barnes and Noble to a designated bus stop). Unlike Kidder, Nelson survived, but her 4-year old
son, who broke away from her grip as they waited on the median, ran into
the street and was killed. For this tragedy, she faces 36 months in
jail, thirty more months than the actual hit-and-run driver
served.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I’ve
often thought the anger directed at pedestrians is born of fear: fear that financial misfortune may cause the loss of a car;
fear that age or sickness will rob the ability to drive. But how to explain the hostility long held towards one particular group of pedestrians?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span><br />
<blockquote>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><i>For
reasons best known to themselves, some people can’t stand the sight of a
runner. There aren’t many of them, but when one comes along you know
it. They shout abuse at you from passing cars, fling objects at you and
sometimes drive so erratically that you fear for your life</i>. (Jim Fixx, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Complete Book of Running</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, 1977)</span></blockquote>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-a7d3AmmN1a4/TisGm0cZCNI/AAAAAAAADQo/PfJE10zWsHU/s1600/psmay171975.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-a7d3AmmN1a4/TisGm0cZCNI/AAAAAAAADQo/PfJE10zWsHU/s200/psmay171975.jpg" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Post-Standard, May 17, 1975</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">While
buildings were being torn down in cities across 1970s America, a very
different sort of urban renewal was taking shape among their residents.
Inspired by books like Bill Bowerman’s </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Jogging </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">and Jim Fixx’s </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Complete Book of Running, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">millions
of people hit the streets in their jogging shorts and <a href="http://www.retrotogo.com/2009/06/1970s-nike-challenger-vintage-reissued.html">Nikes</a> for fitness
and fun. Syracuse fully reflected this trend: summer weekends in the
seventies were filled with local races. A 50K bike race and marathon were
held on the same day; the Mountain Goat Run was but one event in the
“Run for Fun,” which also had 3k run and 3k walk options as well. While
running grew because of the involvement of suburbanites, the suburbs
themselves weren’t necessarily designed for the sport.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5NjpHKIYxzo/TisGmbvYQaI/AAAAAAAADQk/A2hUEq2kPsY/s1600/hjjune41979.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5NjpHKIYxzo/TisGmbvYQaI/AAAAAAAADQk/A2hUEq2kPsY/s200/hjjune41979.jpg" width="136" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Syracuse Herald-Journal, June 4, 1975</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In
July 1979, with the country facing a second oil crisis and sold out gas
pumps, Jimmy Carter gave his <a href="http://millercenter.org/scripps/archive/speeches/detail/3402">“Crisis of Confidence” speech</a>, asking
citizens to reduce their use of energy. While new runners in Syracuse
weren’t abandoning their autos for <a href="http://www.retrotogo.com/2009/06/adidas-trx-1970s-running-shoes-reissued.html">Adidas</a>, there were a few who worked
their commute into training runs:</span><br />
<br />
<blockquote>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">George
Dowley, president of Wells and Coverly, will be sponsoring several of
his employees in the “Run for Fun” to benefit the Olympics.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">One
entrant is the assistant store manager, Tom Shafer, who is entered in
the 10-mile race. Shafer, as part of his training, ran 7.3 miles from
work to his home on Cold Springs Road the other day. (Post-Standard, April 22, 1979)</span></blockquote>
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Yet
rather than encourage runners</span><span class="st"> (</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">and walkers) </span><span class="st"></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">in this direction, to
rethink how a city of growing outdoor fitness enthusiasts could promote
alternative means of transportation, the Post-Standard, in its lead
August 13, 1979 editorial, chose to highlight the dangers of traveling
by foot:</span><br />
<br />
<blockquote>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The
State Motor Vehicle Bureau has no figures to back it up, but suspects
that joggers are responsible for an increase in pedestrian deaths during
1978 as compared to 1977.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The department reports pedestrian deaths increased from 706 in 1977 to 736 in 1978.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The increase, the department noted, accompanied a growth in popularity of jogging. But, as incredible as it sounds, motor vehicle officials claim that that the
police reports on which their statistics are based do not show whether a
pedestrian who was killed was jogging at the time.</span></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></blockquote>
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Incredible as it sounds, the Post-Standard didn’t appear to be
concerned with pedestrian deaths, per se, but rather, what they were
doing when a 2-ton car veered off the road and mowed them down:</span><br />
<br />
<blockquote>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Becuase
of the reams of information that police and insurance companies and
lawyers gather on a fatal motor vehicle accident, the many questions
asked and the great amount of time consumed, it seems absolutely
unbelievable that somewhere there is not some reference to what the
pedestrian was doing at the time he or she was killed.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We just can’t understand the state officials remaining mute on the subject.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">An investigating police officer certainly has to say, somewhere on his report, what the pedestrian was doing when he was killed.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">If this information isn’t being forwarded to the motor vehicle department, someone down in Albany should be screaming for it.</span></blockquote>
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">To
which one asks, why? The editorial contends that while the Motor
Vehicle Bureau press release warns joggers to be more careful, “we ought
to find out first if they are now being careless.” What about
the blame of the drivers? Were they being careless? The editorial makes
no mention of this, but a letter published on the editorial page two
weeks later criticized the Post-Standard’s auto-centric view:</span><br />
<br />
<blockquote>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The
initial paragraph states that “joggers are responsible for an increase
in pedestrian deaths during the 1978 year.” I wonder if this might be
due to the heavy jogging suits that they wear, which increases their
mass as they crash into the pedestrians that are traversing the
highways.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The
next interesting bit of information that is stated is “that the major
thrust of the press release is to warn joggers to be more careful.” The
editorial comment states that we should make an effort to find out how
careless joggers really are. It may be naive from my point of view,
however, I do feel that if a person in a motor vehicle strikes a
pedestrian, whether he is ambulating slowly or moving at a faster rate
with a slow jog, or even God forbid running, that it is the person
handling the automobile that is at fault, rather than the pedestrian. If
it were in God’s divine plan, we would be born with wheels rather than
legs. (from letter signed Charles A. Mango, Syracuse, Post-Standard,
August 30, 1979)</span></blockquote>
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We
are now experiencing another running boom, both nationwide and in Syracuse. The Ironman 70.3 will make
its second appearance this September, followed by the
inaugural Empire State Marathon. Although the Ironman Syracuse <a href="http://ironmansyracuse.com/">website</a>
features images of Syracuse University, Clinton Square and the Dinosaur Barbeque, participants won’t
bike or run near any of these sights, as the course is now contained
entirely in Jamesville. Local race director Ken Hammond stated in a
March <a href="http://blog.syracuse.com/cny/2011/03/organizers_change_syracuse_ironman_703_empire_state_marathon_course_routes.html%20">Post-Standard article</a> that this course change was due to last
year’s traffic on Erie Boulevard where spectators clamored to photograph
participants</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. This move actually may be preferable to the triathletes (as one
comment on the event’s <a href="http://www.facebook.com/Ironman70.3Syracuse">Facebook</a> states that he found the Erie Boulevard
portion “mind-numbing”), but how much influence did the angry drivers
who <a href="http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2010/09/paul_matthews_of_australia_win/978/comments.html">complained </a>about their own personal delays last year influence this
decision?</span><br />
<br />
<blockquote>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Maybe
next year, if there is a next year, the organizers can use some common
sense and not tie up the busiest streets in the county on a Sunday
afternoon. This race did not score many points with the hundreds of
motorists who were greatly inconvenienced. Next time try running your
race on isolated rural roads and at a more appropriate time.</span></blockquote>
<br />
<blockquote>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">What
a mess! Tied up in traffic near E Blvd for about an hour trying to get
to lunch whith [sic] our family and the family behind us. We decided to abort
the eating out at Cici's because of the time sitting idle for so long
and not being able to turn around on the blvd. Here's a novel idea go
jog in a park not on a busy street in the city. Bottom line is I don't
give a crap about a bunch of people jogging, only when they interfere
with everyone else trying to get from point A to point B.</span></blockquote>
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Just
months after excitedly announcing a 2-loop course around Onondaga Lake,
Empire State Marathon <a href="http://blog.syracuse.com/cny/2011/03/organizers_change_syracuse_ironman_703_empire_state_marathon_course_routes.html">announced</a> last March that the course would have
to be altered, so as not to require closing a 690 off-ramp:</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<blockquote>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Hammond
says the site for the start and finish has not been finalized, but
looping the lake will not work because runners would have to cross the
off ramp of the Interstate 690 on the west side of the lake. "There's no
way you're going to be able to close a 690 off ramp without spending a
lot of money," he says.</span></blockquote>
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">True, closing streets for races costs money. However, aren't the runners paying large entry fees so they can run the city's main thoroughfares, <a href="http://syracuseb4.blogspot.com/2009/05/may-14-1982.html">for once having priority </a>on the streets?</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> As
a runner <a href="http://www.fleetfeetsyracuse.com/PhP/themessageboard/show.php?topic=20110309072502">posted</a> on the Fleet Feet message board, if the exit/on-ramps
for I-690 at Hiawatha were closed, there’s an alternative route for
drivers a half-mile away on Bear Street. And perhaps more to the point: </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<blockquote>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Providing
a good course for upper end racing and the general recreational market
will be a long lasting benefit. If all our politicians,chambers and
tourist agency interests who tout the city and area benefits get in line
maybe a city-suburb course would be workable. Instead we get negative
feedback about all the inconvenient logstics [sic] problems with traffic
control and expenses. Hey,take that $150,000 of squandered taxpayer funds
to pay <a href="http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2011/03/greeters_hired_to_be_ambassado.html">downtown greeters</a></span><span style="background-color: #ffd966; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">
and put some of it towards what can be a yearly event of merit. And has
real potential to grow and attract out of towners to spend some money
in our market.</span></blockquote>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">***</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Syracuse
has <a href="http://blog.syracuse.com/opinion/2011/06/syracuse_considers_changes_to.html">recently</a> <a href="http://blog.syracuse.com/opinion/2011/06/complete_streets_transportatio.html">turned</a> its focus to redesigning some portions of its
roadways according to <a href="http://www.completestreets.org/">“Complete Street”</a> guidelines. While the construction of designated bike lanes and safe crossings is welcome news,
what does this mean for all the other streets? Will runners, cyclists
and pedestrians be expected to limit themselves to Complete Streets?
Will the winter sidewalks of Complete Streets be shoveled, while those of
“Incomplete Streets” remain uncleared? </span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Once the weather turns cold and snowy, the topic will surely again be one of the hottest in the city.</span>Syracuse B4http://www.blogger.com/profile/04953423821970292832noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170446985864385441.post-62535271993541137172011-06-22T09:33:00.000-07:002011-06-22T09:33:17.287-07:00June 2011<span id="internal-source-marker_0.15751972875492481" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Last month, I spent the weekend in Fredericksburg, Virginia, where I ran the Marine Corps Historic Half Marathon (and beat <a href="http://www.stripes.com/sports/comedian-carey-s-marine-dream-comes-true-at-historic-half-1.143624">Drew Carey</a>!). While the course started and finished in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Park_%28shopping_complex%29">Central Park</a>, a retail “power center” that includes almost every big box store and chain restaurant currently in business (as well as three hotels, an expo center and a two-year old Wegmans), the race also ran through the historic downtown district, past such landmarks as the <a href="http://www.nps.gov/frsp/fred.htm">Fredericksburg Battlefield</a> and <a href="http://kenmore.org/kp_home.html">Kenmore plantation</a>, once home to George Washington’s sister.</span><br />
<br />
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.15751972875492481" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sQ57pEf6V8Q/TgDKv1URFQI/AAAAAAAACr4/4dfzcb0eW48/s1600/ps092654.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="177" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sQ57pEf6V8Q/TgDKv1URFQI/AAAAAAAACr4/4dfzcb0eW48/s200/ps092654.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Post-Standard, September 26, 1954</span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br />
</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">What’s remarkable is that the Town of Onondaga</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">—</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">where I grew up, and where my parents still live</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">—</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">has its own rich history that dates back to the very founding of the city of Syracuse. Unfortunately, the hypothetical trolley tour today might be somewhat sparse: here is site of Onondaga County’s first courthouse, now an intersection; </span><span id="internal-source-marker_0.6966610990708106" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">here is the site of the town's first schoolhouse (and later town hall), now the same intersection.<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">True, most of the historic buildings were already gone by the early 20th century:</span><br />
<br />
<blockquote><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The oldest of present or former residents of Onondaga Hill are too young to remember the events which wrote the name of that community high on Onondaga County’s historic roll of honor.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">But there are men and women who have heard their parents or grandparents tell of the epoch making days when virtually all lawyers in Onondaga County lived on the hill, when the lone prisoner in the jail was shackled and taken to the new jail, when a new courthouse had been built on North Salina Street, Syracuse.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">They have heard tales, too, of the visit of LaFayette, who toured the country and stopped at the hotel on Onondaga Hill, which long since has disappeared.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">While Onondaga Hill, in the main, is made up of modern homes occupied by families whose heads work in Syracuse, a few historic old buildings still remain. (Syracuse Herald, August 5, 1930)</span></blockquote><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<div style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The most recent change is the <a href="http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2011/06/town_of_onondaga_seeks_to_bloc.html">expansion of the local Byrne Dairy</a>. 562 residents have "allegedly" signed a petition opposing the land swap that would eventually result in the installation of gas pumps at the store (and another parking lot for the town). Is this another shift away from the town's historical past, or one step closer to the landscape envisioned 45 years ago,</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> when town councilo<span style="background-color: white;">rs</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">—</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">including current petition skeptic Charles Petrie</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">—</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">became enamored with another Virginia city?</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><br />
<br />
</div><blockquote><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white;">Nine Town of Onondaga residents will depart</span> at 8 am Monday from Hancock Airport for an on-the-scene look at America’s community of tomorrow.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Just 18 miles from Washington, D.C., Reston, VA, has been hailed as the community of the future. A planner’s dream, Reston is a model planned community built upon what used to be open land.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">It contains one-family residences, town houses, high rise apartments, its own churches, schools, stores and industry. It was designed so everybody who lives there works there.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Two planned “community” developments are now in the preliminary plan stages for the Town of Onondaga. One of them is the multi-million dollar Sherwood Farms development which, if approved, would be located on Harris Road.The other is the $12 million Marnell development on East Seneca Turnpike. (Post-Standard, May 20, 1967)</span></blockquote><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Reston, Virginia had been founded in 1961, conceived by (and named after the initials of) real estate developer Robert E. Simon, who purchased the 6,750 acres of land in Fairfax County after the sale of Carnegie Hall (which his family had owned). Simon wished to create Reston in the model of a “New Town”: a <a href="http://www.restonmuseum.org/main_/rht_promise.htm">community</a> where residents could work, shop, and play within walking distance from their home.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<blockquote><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The ideals Simon sought to apply in Reston included: a wide choice in housing to accommodate all income and age levels; the ability to work and live in the same community; the proximity of commerce and culture; the importance of recreation and leisure activity; privacy in the midst of public space; walkability and convenience with a minimal role for the automobile; preservation of trees and woodland and a minimization of lawns that require maintenance; and underground utility lines.</span></blockquote><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><a href="http://www.restonmuseum.org/main_/rht_promise.htm"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></a><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The “New Town” concept had also caught fire in Syracuse at the time, with MDA Executive Vice-President John Searles discussing about the possibility of creating new “planned and balanced communities” in Onondaga County:</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<blockquote><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Could this be done in Onondaga County? I believe it could. A new town planned for our county could cover 500 to 1,500 acres of land in the city or in one of the suburban towns. The development, unlike existing developments, would be balanced and planned. In the new town, there would be sites for industry, commerce, housing for families of different income groups and accompanying recreational, social and service facilities. Because the new town would be planned at the start to provide the various, but essential, types of uses which make an urban area tick, the problem of pushing the lower value, higher consuming uses into the next town, and of attracting an extra share of the “high return</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">—</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">low consumption uses,” such as high cost housing and clean industry, would be minimized. (Post Standard, January 6, 1963)</span></blockquote><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Certainly Syracuse had a need for more housing, as a mere nine months later, a long-standing residential community that had great proximity to commerce, culture and industry was bulldozed in favor of a highway. Yet as former 15th Ward residents relocated to nearby urban neighborhoods also complete with recreational, social and service facilities and housing for families of different income groups, a large number of white homedwellers left for the suburbs. Where, in accordance to the “New Town” movement, they wished to recreate their old existence:</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<blockquote><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">A $12 million planned residential development, Marnell Heights, would add 1,014 housing units to the Town of Onondaga, according to a preliminary program for the development.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">When complete, the project would provide a “progressive, self-sustaining community” with shopping and restaurant facilities as well as complete summer and winter recreation developments, according to [project developer John] Marnell.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Marnell Heights, to be located on the southern side of East Seneca Turnpike, north of the Lafayette Country Club, had a master plan similar to Reston. Like the Virginia new town, Marnell Heights would be built in “clusters," with a mix of apartments and single-family homes:</span><br />
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<blockquote><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Plans call for four neighborhood groups clustered about a centrally located shopping complex. Each neighborhood would contain a combination of apartment units and town houses accented by a high-rise unit near the core of the overall project.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The shopping core, at the center, a multi-leveled structure, would contain a partially enclosed arcade with small supporting retail shops and a larger market. A below grade parking plaza would serve both the high rise units and the shopping area. Ultimately it would combine and conceal all building, shop servicing and mechanical areas.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Plans for the shopping center include a superette, drug store, laundry, barber shop, beauty salon, small restaurant and a below grade service station.Each of the four neighborhood sites feature:</span><br />
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<ul><li><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">housing for more or less 250 families</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">an adult swimming pool and a wading pool</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">three tot play areas</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">seating pavilions</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">a tennis court, as well as the general recreation area</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">interior trash storage with pickup by a project maintenance crew</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">landscape development</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">semi-concealed parking areas</span></li>
</ul><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Essentially the choice of materials and building systems reflects a direction toward totally unified design, both in appearance and thought,” the developer said. “An organic approach of brick and wood seemed to reflect the human scale and elegance we intended.” (Post-Standard, April 6, 1967)</span></blockquote><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Or, more succinctly, a Downtown do-over in suburban Syracuse! </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Make that two new (down)towns, as just seven miles away, developers wished to build an even more ambitious planned community:</span><br />
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<blockquote><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The state’s first total community, featuring a full-range of housing from single-family residences to high-rise apartments, is scheduled for construction next spring near Howlett Hill and Harris roads in the Town of Onondaga.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Tagged Sherwood Farms, the new concept in living will cost private investors in excess of $25 million for just the 500 apartment units and 500 single-family homes.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Included in the overall plan will be a small shopping center, an elementary school, fire house, two churches, and 120 acres for park and recreational area. These facilities are expected to cost again as much as the apartments and houses.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The developers describe the community as “small neighborhood clusters of housing units spaced by sprawling parklands featuring pedestrian walkways.”</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">To avoid drawing large numbers from outside the community for shopping, the shopping center will only be 26,000 square feet, including a supermarket, variety store, drugstore, hardware store, laundry, liquor store, bank, barber shop, beauty salon and a small group of offices.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Current estimates call for about 3,400 persons living in Sherwood Farms enjoying “the convenience of the city residence with the freedom and individuality of suburban life.” (Herald-American, August 6, 1967)</span></blockquote><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Syracuse Herald-American, October 30, 1966</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">When Town of Onondaga Supervisor George F. Savage returned from his exploratory trip to Virginia (which had been sponsored by Sherwood Farms developers and Niagara Mohawk), he felt that Sherwood Farms had even greater potential than Reston, as “the hills of Onondaga would lend themselves to ‘better views’ (Post-Standard, May 23, 1967). Town of Onondaga residents were not so enthusiastic, expressing their downright displeasure of the idea at a town meeting:</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Approximately 35 Town of Onondaga residents last night voiced disapproval and skepticism of the proposed Sherwood Farms planned community at Howlett Hill and Harris Roads in Onondaga township. Primary objection was to the high rise apartments, town house and duplex facilities to be included in the 320-acre development.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Residents of Harris Hill and the existing Sherwood Farms tract felt that the high density concentration in the community would decrease the value of adjacent properties. Proposed changes in zoning restrictions met with objection. (Post Standard, August 11, 1967)</span></blockquote><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Although several new “luxury” high rises had <a href="http://syracuseb4.blogspot.com/2009/08/august-2-1956.html">recently been built</a> on James Street, high rise apartment buildings in Syracuse were still closely associated with public housing controversy from a decade earlier. Reston, VA was 18 miles outside Washington, DC; Sherwood Farms was located less than four miles from the corner of Velasko Road and West Onondaga Street, where one of the <a href="http://syracuseb4.blogspot.com/2009/09/september-1955-september-1959.html">more contentious battles</a> had been fought to prevent a </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">public housing </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">high rise from being built in the neighborhood. Renting also had a negative connotation due to urban renewal:</span><br />
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<blockquote><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">He’d hate to sell and leave this neighborhood, the homeowner thought.</span> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">But what to do? </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The house needed costly repair. And plainly the area was changing. Would the future justify the outlay he must make?</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> He sat on the porch surveying the street. The sun filtered through the tall shade trees across the wide lawns. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">But how many of the lawns were unkempt! Paint was peeling in strips from the house next door. Porch steps sagged across the way. Should a middle-aged man and his wife invest in a new furnace, and a year or so a new roof, to continue living here? </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">His glance moved to the two one-family houses down the block, which an investor had bought recently. The new owner did not plan to live in the area. The talk was that he would cut these fine old homes up into housekeeping apartments. Everyone knew that many families would soon be looking for quarters because of the urban renewal program. This would bring more cars to be kept on the street. If other houses went the same way, there would be much more traffic. And where would the children play? (Post-Standard, November 23, 1961)</span></blockquote><blockquote><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></blockquote><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">As a more transient population, renters might not contribute to required responsibilities of the homeowners’ association:</span><br />
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<blockquote><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[Gallinger Real Estate's John] Gallinger said the parks and recreation area would be managed by a homeowners’ assocation at the expense of the residents.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The association would also oversee the maintenance of community regulations designed to prevent property deterioration. Typical of rules enforced, officials said, would be a ban on above-ground utility wiring, exposed trash containers, and any exterior construction without the approval of the association’s architectural review board. (Syracuse Herald-American, August 6, 1967)</span></blockquote><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Marnell Heights and Sherwood Farms would differ from Reston in one other key factor:</span><br />
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<blockquote><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The first industrial customers came to us before there were roads, sewers, or waterlines, when Reston still looked like Virginia countryside. Soon there was a strong demand for industrial space. Albert Mayer, who was connected with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radburn,_New_Jersey">Radburn</a></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, wrote me a letter saying, "Congratulations. You are the first New Town to get industry at its conception." This pleased us very much. (<a href="http://draft.blogger.com/%20http://www.restonmuseum.org/main_/rht_genisisSpeech.htm">1966 speech</a> by </span>Robert E. Simon)</blockquote><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oD30xSTzEaw/TgIEPMHG1QI/AAAAAAAACsI/BPMy589kkT8/s1600/westernlightsopening.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oD30xSTzEaw/TgIEPMHG1QI/AAAAAAAACsI/BPMy589kkT8/s200/westernlightsopening.jpg" width="130" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Post-Standard, November 16, 1967</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Ideally, residents of “new towns” could forego their cars, as they would be able to walk to work as well as their daily errands. Neither Marnell Heights or Sherwood Farms had any plans to locate significant employers within their developments, given that each had far less acreage than Reston (320 acres in Sherwood Farms and 88 acres in Marnell Heights, compared to the 6,750 acres in Reston). Nor did either have any plans for public transportation from the community to Downtown or neighboring suburbs. So if residents had to drive from Sherwood Farms to their workplace, they could easily stop for groceries at Loblaws or Kmart in the new Western Lights Plaza, go shopping or eat at Fairmount Fair or Camillus Plaza. Therefore, the need for a supermarket or salon located within walking distance from home became less important, as more expansive options were located along the driving route that residents traveled every day.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Approval for both Marnell Heights and Sherwood Farms was contingent upon the construction of sewers for the projects. As stated in an article about Marnell Heights, “under town regulations, the developers would have five years to build the development under ‘modified, planned development district’ before the building would return to ‘open land.’” (Syracuse Herald-Journal, April 6, 1967). Apparently, Marnell could not build the development within the five years, as the project was not mentioned again until the the 1980s, when Lee Belle, husband of then (and now) Town Councilor Suzanne Belle</span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">wished to revive the project as Stonegate Heights. By decade’s end, Sherwood Farms resolved their sewer issues, but the mixed-use community</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">—apartments, in particular</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">—</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">had lost even more appeal. In 1969, 1,000 Town of Onondaga residents protested the construction of the Westbrook apartment complex, located just two miles from Sherwood Farms:</span><br />
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<blockquote><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Over the protests of an estimated 1,000 individual homeowners, the Onondaga Town Board, last night, passed a zoning resolution, 4-1, paving the way for the construction of a 408-unit apartment complex to be located between McDonald Road and Route 173, behind the Onondaga Community College site.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Casting the no vote against the resolution was Charles Petrie, of Nedrow, who said, “I am not opposed to good apartments...I am opposed to a heavy concentration of apartments in any area.”</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Robert H. Marble, treasurer of the Hill Homeowners’ Association, said the town had a population of better than 16,000 persons in its 58 square miles and the resolution approving construction of the new apartment complex had the effect of jamming too many persons into a tight area which would produce undesirable conditions. He described the town as a neighborhood which 98 percent of the homes were individually owned. (Post-Standard, September 18, 1969)</span></blockquote><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Syracuse Herald-Journal, May 2, 1988</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Ironically, the town soon underwent an explosion of single-family housing developments, which some felt had the effect of jamming too many houses into a tight area which then produced undesirable conditions:</span><br />
<blockquote><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">For generations the hills of Onondaga have provided a panoramic view of the city below and served as a barrier to the growth that spread more easily to the north and the east, into Clay, Salina and DeWitt.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">But those towns are now heavy with subdivisions and developers are going west, tantalized by the town of Onondaga’s open spaces, scenic vistas and proximity to Syracuse.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“People were attracted to Onondaga, a town of 17,793, because of its semi-country atmosphere, Doug Morris, planner for the Syracuse-Onondaga County Planning Agency, said. Even houses that were built in subdivisions look out onto nice vistas and vacant land, he said.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Now all of the sudden, all that vacant land is disappearing,” he said. “In some people’s minds, it’s going to look like Clay with a lot of hills.” (Syracuse Herald-Journal, May 2, 1988)</span></blockquote><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The number of subdivisions has increased even more in the two decades since, seemingly limited only by the thesaurus which provides their pastoral-sounding names. One <a href="http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2011/06/town_of_onondaga_seeks_to_bloc/978/comments-3.html">comment</a> in the recent Post-Standard article about the Byrne Dairy expansion controversy suggests the town that grew as an escape from the city must now be escaped as well:</span><br />
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<blockquote><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I moved from the Town of Onondaga six months ago, after 30 years as a home owner there. The Town of Onondaga is one of the top towns for SPRAWL in the United States. There was an article about a year ago with the supporting statistics. They have turned a small town atmosphere area, with a lot of green space, into a sprawling future ghetto of tract housing on a sea of over fertilized lawn with sparse immature landscapes. It has become overcrowded and ugly. The sound of lawn mowers never ceases, and the traffic is overpowering the road networks.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The greed and short-sightedness of the Town of Onondaga administration has already done its damage over the past two decades. All of the development in the past decade looks the same cookie-cutter style. It is ugly and it won't age well. A totally automobile dependent community. I'm just glad that I got out of the Town of Onondaga, and now live on a farm north of Oneida Lake. There is a need for another gas station there like there is a need for another donut shop there. It is stupid from a town planning perspective and a real shame.</span></blockquote><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Of course, similar sentiments could be expressed about Reston. In 1967, the community was sold to Gulf Oil Corporation, who it turn sold it to Mobil Oil in 1978. Oil companies would hardly be the champions of car-free lifestyles, and accordingly, despite a <a href="http://www.restonmuseum.org/main_/images/masterPlan.pdf">master plan</a> which called for “the pedestrian [to] have uninterrupted access to the full range of neighborhood facilities,” <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reston,_Virginia">few major arteries</a> have complete sidewalk networks . The master plan called for “seven villages with seven community shopping and social centers,” each with its own housing and pedestrian walkways; this was <a href="http://www.restonmuseum.org/main_/rht_promise.htm"> eventually considered </a>“economically unsound...later centers, like South Lakes and North Point, were built more along the lines of traditional shopping centers.” And: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reston_ebolavirus">Ebola</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Although the Town of Onondaga at times appears to suffering its own virus of hemorrhaging every last trace of its past, it is important to remember that the oldest and most key element of its history remains intact: Seneca Turnpike. The road that carried travelers from Utica to Canandaigua was "of the greatest importance to the county, it meant more than any single railroad ever constructed here” (Syracuse Standard, June 9, 1894). Opponents of the addition of gas pumps at the Byrne Dairy are concerned about increased delays and accidents on the turnpike, but what could be more true to road’s roots?</span><br />
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<blockquote><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Rising out of Onondaga Hollow is a long and steep hill. The road is constructed on the southern side of a precipice, in such a manner that, as you approach the top of the hill, you have a tremendous gulf on your left hand, at the bottom of which you hear the murmur of a brook fretting among the rocks, as it is passing on toward the Onondaga Creek, which it joins in the Hollow. There is a kind of railing or fence, composed of logs secured with stakes or trees, which is all that prevents the passenger, and even the road itself, from falling to the bottom of the gulf. (<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=Fad1AAAAMAAJ&dq=genesee%20road&pg=PA130#v=onepage&q=genesee%20road&f=false">Pioneer Roads and Experiences of Travelers</a>, by Archer Butler Hulbert, 1904). </span></blockquote><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Talk about a traffic nightmare! But relief awaited the travelers at the top of the hill:</span><br />
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<blockquote><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">On the hill we found an embryo of the village. A courthouse is already built, and the frame of a hotel is raised. The hotel, we are told, is to be kept by one Brunson. It is an accommodation much needed on this road. (Pioneer Roads and Experiences of Travelers)</span></blockquote><br />
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.15751972875492481" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">What could be more accommodating in our present day than not having to drive 60 more seconds in three possible directions to locate another gas station?</span><br />
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.15751972875492481" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.15751972875492481" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">And there’s this: while in Fredericksburg, I paid a visit to the James Monroe Museum, dedicated to the history of our fifth President of the United States, who once made his home in the city. One of the first reading panels that greets visitors shares <a href="http://www.umw.edu/jamesmonroemuseum/history/site_history/default.php">this history</a> regarding the museum: </span><br />
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<blockquote><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[Monroe’s great-granddaughter] Rose de Chine Gouverneur Hoes played a central role in the creation of this museum...In 1927, when notified that the old buildings on Monroe's Fredericksburg town lot were about to be demolished and replaced with a gasoline service station, she bought the buildings and brought there her collections of objects, books and documents, opening our James Monroe Museum, now in its seventy-fourth year.</span></blockquote><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">So even the property of a Founding Father has been threatened with a gas station. With their own current fight, Town of Onondaga residents stand beside the great figures of early American history once again!</span>Syracuse B4http://www.blogger.com/profile/04953423821970292832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170446985864385441.post-82968288231758932672011-04-27T08:52:00.000-07:002011-04-27T08:52:06.158-07:00April 1917<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-c90VK-liezw/TbWTUnKH-_I/AAAAAAAACp0/5lLwZG1_9wA/s1600/trolley+rr+crash+pic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-c90VK-liezw/TbWTUnKH-_I/AAAAAAAACp0/5lLwZG1_9wA/s200/trolley+rr+crash+pic.jpg" width="170" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Syracuse Herald, March 21, 1917</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span><span id="internal-source-marker_0.9686683151437954" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">As Syracuse approaches the 75th anniversary of the elevation of the railroad tracks, this blog will revisit the history leading up to this most divisive decision. Call it <a href="http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/disunion/">(Dis)Union</a> Station, if you will.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.9686683151437954" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></span><span id="internal-source-marker_0.4974739170560001" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><br />
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.4974739170560001" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">After taking a break from this series for over a month, I had to refresh my memory on where we were in the timeline of grade crossing elimination in Syracuse. This was not a problem for Syracuse residents in April 1917, as they were where they had been for close to two decades: trains running through the center of the city, gruesome accidents, and every mayoral candidate promising to be the one to solve the issue. In a 1915 campaign speech, eventual winner Walter Stone stated that he “expected to see the abolishment of grade crossings during the coming two years.” (Syracuse Herald, October 7, 1915).</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Stone’s first action to make this revolutionary change finally happen? Hire the person most closely associated with the grade crossing project for the previous thirty years: Henry C. Allen.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Henry Clayton Allen first worked as an assistant to the City Engineer in 1886, and took over the post four years later at the age of 26 under Mayor William Cowie. Cowie had been one of the early mayors to express his concerns about the grade crossing problem:</span><br />
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<blockquote><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Mayor Cowie said that the question under consideration was one of great interest to the city. The most important thing was “to get the New York Central out of the heart of the town,” and a committee of influential citizens should be appointed to wait upon the railroad authorities and see if they couldn’t learn what they proposed doing in the matter. (The Evening Herald, May 1, 1891)</span></blockquote><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Six months later, these “influential citizens” apparently consisted of Mayor Cowie alone entering into an agreement with the New York Central Railroad to “make improvements on Washington Street in return for releasing the Central company forever after from its present obligations”:</span><br />
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<blockquote><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Mayor Cowie returned yesterday and was called upon this morning by a Herald reporter. He said that he went to New York on private business, but incidentally he called at the general offices of the New York Central railroad company, where he had a conference with President Chauncey M. Depew, H. Walter Webb and others of the road relative to their intentions in regards to the improvements asked for by the people of Syracuse. Regarding the result of the conference, the Mayor said:</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“They are ready to go ahead and pave Washington Street as proposed by the city. This means a sandstone pavement on a concrete foundation from Franklin Street to Crouse Avenue, to be laid under the supervision of the City Engineer...I say they are ready to go on with this work at once. I came away thoroughly convinced of one thing, and that is that the company has no idea of abandoning Washington Street.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“It can readily be seen from this expression,” continued the Mayor, “that the company have no idea of moving their tracks, and, as we cannot drive them out of the street, the next best thing, in my judgment, is to get all we can out of them. I have been hammering at them all summer with the hopes of getting some sort of a settlement, and when I found that they would accept my proposition, I thought it was a good bargain, and so did some of the leading property owners.” (Evening Herald, November 20, 1891)</span></blockquote><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Though he had been city engineer under Mayor Cowie, and later Mayor Amos, who <a href="http://syracuseb4.blogspot.com/2011/02/february-1901.html">finalized the paving agreement </a>(which absolved the railroad from any further responsibilities until 1917), Allen soon became the leading figure associated with plans to eliminate the tracks from Washington Street. By 1915, he had served as City Engineer under Mayors <a href="http://syracuseb4.blogspot.com/2009/07/july-8-1910.html">Fobes</a> and <a href="http://syracuseb4.blogspot.com/2011/03/march-1910.html">Schoeneck</a>, and as Grade Crossing Commission Engineer during the <a href="http://syracuseb4.blogspot.com/2011/03/march-18-1915.html">Will</a> administration. Under Mayor Stone, Allen would hold both titles simultaneously. Hoping to break the stronghold that Allen held over the grade crossing planning for the previous thirty years, Mayor Will, in his final days in office, set aside funds for the hiring of an expert to study the problem.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bion_J._Arnold">Bion J. Arnold</a> certainly had the credentials to serve as an outside consultant; he had devised plans for Chicago and New York regarding the electrification of their rail systems. Of course, such expert advice came at a price: not only Arnold’s $250/day fees, but a long delay in the review process:</span><br />
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<blockquote><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Over thirty different possible solutions of the grade crossing problem in this city are being considered by B.J. Arnold and his assistants. It is expected that he will be able to report upon what he considers the best within the next few weeks.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The many different solutions which Mr. Arnold is considering do not necessarily mean that he will recommend any solution different from the one adopted by the Grade Crossing Commission which contemplates the use of the Erie and Oswego canal beds. It does mean, however, that Mr. Arnold is conducting thorough investigation into the situation here.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Mr. Bibbins [Arnold's assistant] said that he could not explain which solution Mr. Arnold favors, but that it would only be a matter of a short time before the decision is made. The report will be sent directly to Mayor Stone and Mr. Allen. (Syracuse Herald, July 2, 1916)</span></blockquote><blockquote><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"></div><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In fact, Arnold did not submit his findings until January 1917, a full year after his hiring. As mayors only held office for two-year terms, such a delay cost valuable time when grade crossing elimination formed a central component of candidates’ platforms. Luckily for Mayor Stone, Arnold’s report agreed with Allen’s earlier opinions regarding both the New York Central and Lackawanna tracks:</span><br />
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<blockquote><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The so-called dual plan A-X is recommended by Bion J. Arnold, of Chicago, expert engineer, in his report on grade crossing elimination in Syracuse, submitted to the Grade Crossing Commission. This plan provides for:</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Elevating Lackawanna tracks along or near present right of way under certain stipulations.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Depressing New York Central tracks in the Erie Canal from the eastern city line to the junction with the Erie Canal, then northwesterly on the line of the West Shore, with certain modifications.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">A depressed passenger station for all New York Central traffic located along Belden Avenue west of the Oswego Canal with station headhouse near the junction of West Genesee and North West Streets.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Mr. Arnold practically accepts the plan prepared by city engineer H.C. Allen. (Syracuse Herald, January 26, 1917)<sup><a href="http://draft.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=2170446985864385441&postID=8296828823175893267#fn1" id="ref1">1</a></sup><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">With this plan confirmed as the best option, Mayor Stone worked to have a new Syracuse Grade Crossing Bill passed by the state:</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Syracuse grade crossing bill is expected to become a law within a week. Advanced to a third reading yesterday in the Assembly, it will be finally passed on Monday next. Governor Whitman will sign it soon after and before many weeks the people of Syracuse will actually see work started on the grade crossing elimination. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Under the bill the city is permitted to start the work. At the end of the year the grade crossing commission will submit a list of the expenditures involved to the public service commission, which, as a board of audit, will scrutinize the figures and determine how much of the money has been spent in actual grade crossing elimination. It will then pro rata the cost, reimbursing the city for money spent in the work assessing the State one-fourth, the city one-fourth and the railroad one-half. (Syracuse Herald, April 4, 1917)</span></blockquote><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">There was also a late amendment added that required a public hearing and Common Council approval of any plans that involved track elevation. The amendment had been added under the pressure of the Syracuse Real Estate Association and various neighborhood improvement groups who were against the planned elevation of the Lackawanna tracks through the southern section of the city:</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">With the plan of eliminating the Central tracks at grade by the partial utilization of the Erie Canal channel our Syracuse readers are now familiar. No objection to it that is worthy of serious consideration has been heard. It is generally regarded, we believe, as the best solution, from the engineering point of view, of the Central problem, as well as the least expensive. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The same cannot be said of the proposal to remove the Lackawanna tracks from grade by the expedient of an elevated structure. This has encountered resolute opposition among the people most directly concerned. The Herald has contended that this feature of the plan should not be pressed in the face of a determined, and as we believe, formidable antagonism. It may be questioned whether any proposed measure of relief of the grade crossing nuisance which involves a bitter grievance to the residents of a populous section of the city would be preferable to existing conditions. (Syracuse Herald editorial, April 18, 1917).</span></blockquote><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">When the bill was finally signed by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_S._Whitman">Governor Charles Whitman</a> on May 16, 1917, the Herald announced that “plans for the elimination of crossings at grade have been started and the work will now be rushed in every way possible.” Except, as they noted a month earlier in their editorial, without ownership of the Erie Canal lands, there was no way possible:</span><br />
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<blockquote><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We must, however, possess our souls in patience a while longer. The actual launching of our great enterprise of grade crossing elimination must await the abandonment and alienation of the canal bed by the State. That may come a twelvemonth hence, or perhaps a little more than a twelvemonth; but the time is so relatively short that it will seem like a single circuit of the clock compared with our long years of tribulation and patient endurance. (April 18, 1917)</span></blockquote><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Their patient endurance would continue to be tested, as "a little more than a twelvemonth" stretched into nineteen years.</span><br />
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<hr /><sup id="fn1">1. The Arnold report also discussed improvements for the city as a whole, such as connecting Lodi Street to Walnut Street. Arnold also suggested that "every artificial barrier to the expansion of the present business should be discouraged." Read the report <a href="http://twitpic.com/4q6agg/full">here</a>. <a href="http://draft.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=2170446985864385441&postID=8296828823175893267#ref1" title="Jump back to footnote 1 in the text.">↩</a></sup>Syracuse B4http://www.blogger.com/profile/04953423821970292832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170446985864385441.post-73408273792603498982011-03-31T07:50:00.000-07:002011-03-31T07:50:28.338-07:00March 1957-March 1958A Syracuse tale of city, suburbs, public housing, arterial highways...and <a href="http://www.visitsyracuse.org/welcome-usbc-bowlers">bowling</a>:<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/eEE3LrOMDi4?rel=0" title="YouTube video player" width="480"></iframe>Syracuse B4http://www.blogger.com/profile/04953423821970292832noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170446985864385441.post-49887879819179108442011-03-18T06:23:00.000-07:002011-03-18T06:23:20.984-07:00March 18, 1915<span id="internal-source-marker_0.9573040308324456" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.9686683151437954" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.9686683151437954" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">As Syracuse approaches the 75th anniversary of the elevation of the railroad tracks, this blog will revisit the history leading up to this most divisive decision. Call it <a href="http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/disunion/">(Dis)Union</a> Station, if you will.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.9686683151437954" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></span><span id="internal-source-marker_0.6624168178138913" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span id="internal-source-marker_0.6624168178138913" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">By 1915, Syracuse still had no answer to the Grade Crossing dilemma. It had, however, “reached the conclusion that one solution had been found that eliminates the disadvantages of all other suggested solutions” (Syracuse Herald, March 18, 1915). The proposal: run the trains through a 6,000-foot long tunnel underneath the eastern section of the city.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Yes, this was a far cry from the track elevation plan that had seemed inevitable just two years earlier during the <a href="http://syracuseb4.blogspot.com/2011/03/march-1910.html">Schoeneck administration</a>. But 1913 brought the election of a new mayor, president of <a href="http://www.willbaumer.com/">Will & Baumer</a> Louis Will, as well as an in-depth study by the Grade Crossing Commission, which submitted seven potential plans for grade crossing elimination to Mayor Will shortly after he took office. The plans, as described in a February 6, 1914 Post-Standard article, are summarized in the chart below:</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Click to enlarge</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-uSt4Bs5rtvs/TYDpBOmBtsI/AAAAAAAACo8/J74uugnZ9PA/s1600/09141912+train+accident.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-uSt4Bs5rtvs/TYDpBOmBtsI/AAAAAAAACo8/J74uugnZ9PA/s320/09141912+train+accident.jpg" width="161" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Syracuse Herald, September 14, 1912</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Will, the city’s first <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_Party_%28United_States,_1912%29">Progressive</a> mayor, had placed Grade Crossing Abolition at the top of his campaign platform, stating “any future city administration will be remiss in its duty if it fails to use every means in its power to accomplish the abolishment of [railroad] traffic through our city” (Syracuse Herald, October 16, 1913). Granted, the Republican and Democratic candidates had as well; the problem had now been in the headlines for almost 15 years. East Washington Street continued to be scene of gruesome accidents. As the number of automobiles increased, traffic jams also became a major concern, as Will addressed in a speech to voters:</span><br />
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<blockquote><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The switching of trains by means of switches located between Clinton and Franklin Streets frequently cuts off these streets for five and ten minute periods, and these switches, located as they are (causing two streets of such great importance to be shut off almost hourly), should never have been permitted at these points and should be removed. (Syracuse Herald, October 16, 1913).</span></blockquote><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Yet as the years passed, the option that once had been most readily considered, the solution that had been put in place in other upstate cities such as Rochester and Schenectady, fell more out of favor with Syracusans. Despite actual fatalities cause by grade crossings, Mayor Will spoke of the death that could befall Syracuse if elevated tracks were allowed in the city:</span><br />
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<blockquote><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“If the New York Central lines were elevated through the city that would mean that the Lackawanna tracks would also be elevated,” said Mayor Will. “There would be two unsightly banks running through the heart of the city and the city would be killed.” (Syracuse Herald, June 11, 1914)</span></blockquote><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-MD1I5KpPWuk/TYDp5doBYQI/AAAAAAAACpA/Q6xDKaO8KqI/s1600/DLW1Map.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="216" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-MD1I5KpPWuk/TYDp5doBYQI/AAAAAAAACpA/Q6xDKaO8KqI/s320/DLW1Map.gif" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delaware,_Lackawanna_and_Western_Railroad">The Delaware, Western & Lackawanna Railroad map, 1922</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Residents from all sides of Syracuse came out in protest against track elevation: the North Side against elevated New York Central tracks that would act as another barrier in addition to the canal, the South Side, against elevated Lackawanna tracks on embankments that would depreciate property values, and the East Side against the railroad’s plan to “open Van Buren Street, declaring that it will practically shut off the Raynor tract and make the district far from desirable for residential purposes” (Syracuse Herald, July 31, 1914). In the face of this widespread opposition, the City Planning Commission issued the following statement:</span><br />
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<blockquote><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“We, the members of the Commission, are agreed that in effect and appearance, no matter how sightly and well-designed an elevated structure may be, it will always be a barrier and affliction. If any other solution is practicable, elevation should not be tolerated.” (Syracuse Herald, July 28, 1914)</span></blockquote><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Though the Syracuse Herald editorial page offered this observation the next day:</span><br />
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<blockquote><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The members of the City Planning Commission are agreed that the proposed elevation of the Lackawanna tracks in this city would “always be a barrier and an affliction.” It would be an affliction richly deserved, however, if the city meekly puts up with it.” (Syracuse Herald, July 29, 1914).</span></blockquote><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-QKzNfBV8D7Q/TYDtgIQlBoI/AAAAAAAACpE/Cwg-KS7Shk0/s1600/oct+19+1913+ad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-QKzNfBV8D7Q/TYDtgIQlBoI/AAAAAAAACpE/Cwg-KS7Shk0/s200/oct+19+1913+ad.jpg" width="152" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Syracuse Herald, October 19, 1913</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Louis Will had run on the “the efficiency ticket,” promising “a vote for efficiency is a vote for better methods.” When New York Central engineers seemed amenable to considering track depression as an alternative solution (tracks would be built in the abandoned Erie Canal bed), Will</span>—<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">in disagreement with the Grade Crossing Commission</span>—<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">rejected the proposal as unacceptable:</span><br />
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<blockquote><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The mayor says that, as he figures it, it will be five years before the canal bed is abandoned and that it would probably mean years of litigation when the city set about to secure the abandoned land. He is against any plan for ending the grade crossing nuisance which is going to take that length of time. (Syracuse Herald, November 24, 1914).</span></blockquote><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The efficient plan was the one that could be started immediately, and Will contended that such a plan existed:</span><br />
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<blockquote><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Mayor Will said that if the commissioners and the railway authorities would agree upon the plan to have the railway tracks pass through the center of the city on the north there is no good reason why work of doing away with the grade crossings could not begin tomorrow. He is against any policy which will interfere with the beginning of the work. (Syracuse Herald, November 24, 1914).</span></blockquote><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Will favored what would later be come to known as the Northern Route: the tracks would skirt the city to the north, with a passenger station on Spencer Street, by Onondaga Lake. Will contested the railroad's claim that the disadvantage of the plan was the non-central location of the station:</span><br />
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<blockquote><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Mayor Will said he believe he could prove if he had time to gather statistics that 75 percent of the cities of the United States have their railway stations a mile or more distant from the center of the city. He sees little to the argument that a railway station must be near the center of the city. (Syracuse Herald, November 24, 1914).</span></blockquote><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The mayor argued that New York Central rejected the plan outright due to their own corporate and financial interests:</span><br />
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<blockquote><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Mayor Will said that he pointed out to the officials, among the [New York Central Railroad] president A.H. Smith, that extending tracks north of the city would allow the trains to run at full speed. Much time could be gained over that which it takes trains to proceed through the city at present.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Of course what the Central wants,” said Mayor Will, “is to shorten their trackage and still be allowed to run at full speed through the city.” (Syracuse Herald, June 11, 1914)</span></blockquote><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Perhaps this gives some indication as to why Will championed the underground tunnel suggestion. The plan certainly didn’t seem more efficient in terms of time, as digging a tunnel that would begin “east of the city, somewhere in the vicinity of Greenway Avenue...run under Teall Avenue, Lincoln Park, Oak and James Street” would probably take at least the five years required to secure canal beds. Nor was it very practical, as there were questions about tunnel ventilation, and the soil, which “throughout the eastern section of the city would not lend itself advantageously to the tunneling work...it is a loose shale and elaborate supports would have to be constructed.” (Syracuse Herald, March 19, 1915). Yet the plan was efficient in one specific area: Mayor Will asserting his autonomy from the New York Central Railroad and the Grade Crossing Commission. Mayor Will did not wish to “appeal to the [railroad’s] sense of justice and good” </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">as city leaders had <a href="http://syracuseb4.blogspot.com/2011/02/february-1901.html%20">fifteen years earlier</a>. Even when the Grade Crossing Commission officially approved a plan using the canal bed on April 23,1915, with the intent of immediately entering a contract with the New York Central Railroad to construct this new route, Will made clear that he would not give up on tunnel proposal:</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The idea of tunneling as the solution of the grade crossing elimination problem has not been abandoned by Mayor Will despite the fact that the members of the Grade Crossing Commission have reported adversely upon it and have proceeded to endorse another plan recommended by [Grade Crossing Commission Engineer] Henry C. Allen, providing for a depressed route through the city.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Accompanied by City Engineer Wooley, Deputy City Engineer Palmer and Commissioner Mather of the Department of Public Works, Mayor Will spent some time today looking over the surface of the land in that section of the city where it is proposed to build the tunnel.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Deputy City Engineer Palmer has been busy drawing contour maps of the vicinity, and the mayor is evidently determined to investigate the project thoroughly before endorsing any other plan. (Syracuse Herald, April 29, 1915).</span></blockquote><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">One month later, he still held firm:</span><br />
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<blockquote><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Officials of the Grade Crossing Commission declined today to make any comment on the Mayor’s statement in which he charged that they were wedded to the canal route as a solution for the grade crossing problem. In the statement, the Mayor again went on record in favoring of his tunneling plan.</span> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“If he had plans which are the most logical why don’t [sic] he let us in on the secret?” asked Henry C. Allen, chief engineer. He said that he did not intend to get into any dispute with the Mayor. (Syracuse Herald, May 26, 1915).</span></blockquote><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In another ten years, Will would let the city in on his plan, when he became the driving force behind the group of prominent Syracuse businessmen and residents determined to keep elevated structures out of the city. Even more importantly, the Future Syracuse Committee, formed in 1923, wanted the decision of grade crossing elimination to be made directly by the voters. Because as Will realized during his final weeks in the mayor’s office in 1915, there was a great dispute of opinions between the Mayor, the Grade Crossing Commission, the Railroads and the people of Syracuse:</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<blockquote><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">FOR THE GOOD OF THE CITY</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Mayor Will has acted wisely in taking a firm stand against the settlement of the Lackawanna’s grade crossing problem proposed by the railroad company and acquiesced in by the city’s Grade Crossing Commission. If he succeeds in blocking this plan to build a huge concrete embankment through a populous section of the city, it will be one of the most important acts of his administration. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In this matter, as the Mayor says, too much deference has been paid to the railroad’s point of view. The city’s interests come first, and no plan that involves such injury to those interests as this track elevation plan does should be accepted without at least first making sure that no other solution is possible. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Other cities have solved this problem in a manner which did not sacrifice their interests to those of the railroads. Why should it be impossible for Syracuse do to so? The union station proposition was accepted in Utica. Evidently we need to take some lessons from Utica on how to deal with the railroads. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Mayor’s suggestion that an outside expert be called in to look over the situation is a good one. Certainly no effort should be spared to provide the right solution to a problem which is of such vital importance to the future of the city. And rather than accept the wrong solution, it would be better to let matters remain as they are. (Syracuse Herald editorial, November 11, 1915).</span></blockquote><br />
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.05174955711040441" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">And so matters did remain as the same. But as Will may have realized, so too would those making the decisions on these matters. The members of the Grade Crossing Commission</span>—<span id="internal-source-marker_0.05174955711040441" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">including Will’s own brother, Albert</span>—<span id="internal-source-marker_0.05174955711040441" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">had remained unchanged since their appointment in 1911 (with the exception of Alan Fobes, who stepped down after one year, replaced by Thomas Meachem). Of particular concern must have been Grade Crossing Commissioner Engineer Henry C. Allen, who started with the crossing elimination project under the McGuire administration as city engineer. When Will replaced him upon his own election to office, the Grade Crossing Commission immediately appointed Allen as their chief engineer. Now, as Will concluded his time as mayor (he did not run for reelection), Allen appeared poised to serve as both City Engineer and Grade Crossing Commission Engineer simultaneously under the incoming (Republican) Walter Stone administration. With less than two months left in office, Will not only successfully blocked Allen's plans to elevate the Lackawanna tracks, he issued a critical statement against Allen and the Grade Crossing Commission:</span><br />
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.05174955711040441" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br />
</span><br />
<blockquote><span id="internal-source-marker_0.05174955711040441" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Mayor Will today issued a broadside against the Grade Crossing Commission and Henry C. Allen, the commission's chief engineer. He first declared that Corporation Counsel Stilwell would refuse to approve any contract calling for elevation of the Lackawanna tracks through the city and then detailed his criticisms of Mr. Allen and the commission. </span><br />
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.05174955711040441" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br />
</span><br />
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.05174955711040441" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The chief criticisms can be stated as follows:</span><br />
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.05174955711040441" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br />
</span><br />
First—That the plan to elevate represents the conclusions of the railway companies and one man, Mr. Allen, and that the problem is too important to be passed upon finally but one representative of the city.<br />
<br />
Second—That Mr. Allen, and the commission have accepted the plan of the railroad to elevate in order to avoid a fight with the company and that if the commission and Mr. Allen had dared "lock horns" with the railways three or four years ago the whole crossing problem would have been settled advantageously to the city before this time.<br />
<br />
Third—That the city should not be committed to the elevating plan until some impartial expert has gone over the whole situation. The Mayor holds that no expert has been called in for consultation yet.<sup><a href="http://draft.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=2170446985864385441&postID=4988787981917910844#fn1" id="ref1">1</a></sup><br />
<br />
Fourth—That the companies accepted the union station proposition in Utica and other cities. Why not in Syracuse? <sup><a href="http://draft.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=2170446985864385441&postID=4988787981917910844#fn2" id="ref2">2</a></sup><br />
<br />
Fifth—That it would be better to wait twenty years and get the right solution of the crossing problem than to hastily select the wrong solution. <br />
<br />
<br />
(Syracuse Herald, November 10, 1915)</blockquote><br />
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.05174955711040441" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">With less than six weeks left in office, Will scored a final victory: the Grade Crossing Commission would hire an outside expert to conduct a study of Syracuse grade crossings. But in another decade's time, the most prominent outside voice in the grade crossing dilemma would be Will himself.</span><br />
<br />
<hr /><br />
<sup id="fn1">1. After making this declaration, Will discovered the 1899 Seaman study done under Mayor McGuire, which had supported elevation of the New York Central tracks, but not the Lackawanna tracks.<a href="http://draft.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=2170446985864385441&postID=4988787981917910844#ref1" title="Jump back to footnote 1 in the text.">↩</a></sup><br />
<br />
<sup id="fn1">2. The Grade Crossing Commission insisted that "it would be impossible to get the Lackawanna and New York Central railways to use the same station." When Will expressed an interest in hiring the expert who eliminated grade crossings in Chicago, Grade Crossing Commission president Alexander T. Brown said "practically all the tracks in that city are elevated and that if the expert were brought here he would probably approve the elevating plans." Will immediately shot back that "as he understood it, there wasn't a railway station in Chicago that wasn't occupied by more than one railway." (Syracuse Herald, November 13, 1915) <a href="http://draft.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=2170446985864385441&postID=4988787981917910844#ref2" title="Jump back to footnote 2 in the text.">↩</a></sup>Syracuse B4http://www.blogger.com/profile/04953423821970292832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170446985864385441.post-24256562177474357852011-03-01T10:18:00.000-08:002011-03-01T10:43:05.871-08:00March 1910<div style="text-align: right;"></div><span id="internal-source-marker_0.9573040308324456" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="font-size: small;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.9686683151437954" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">As Syracuse approaches the 75th anniversary of the elevation of the railroad tracks, this blog will revisit the history leading up to this most divisive decision. Call it <a href="http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/disunion/">(Dis)Union</a> Station, if you will.</span></span><br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-kWU2T6IU6GE/TWwSVAAZWEI/AAAAAAAACog/81gmEdqZH8E/s1600/crossovertrackswashst.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="260" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-kWU2T6IU6GE/TWwSVAAZWEI/AAAAAAAACog/81gmEdqZH8E/s320/crossovertrackswashst.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Corner of Salina and East Washington Street, October 1909</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span id="internal-source-marker_0.9573040308324456" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In the first decade of the twentieth century, under <a href="http://syracuseb4.blogspot.com/2009/07/july-8-1910.html%20">Mayor Fobes</a>, Syracuse bought the land for Kirk Park, opened the Frazer playground and started work on Lincoln Park. At the time, there was a movement nationwide for increased development of open spaces for recreation, as cities became more crowded and congested. In Syracuse, of course, this meant parks that provided an escape from the noise and pollution associated with the New York Central Railroad running down Washington Street.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In 1910, another young Mayor took over City Hall. Although attorney Edward Schoeneck and former mayor <a href="http://syracuseb4.blogspot.com/2011/02/february-1901.html">James McGuire</a> exchanged a war of words during the campaign (Schoeneck viewed his opponent, George Driscoll, as “a creature of McGuire” <span style="font-size: xx-small;">(Post-Standard, November 1, 1909)</span>; McGuire considered Schoeneck “weak clay in the hands of his political maker and his candidacy an affont to the citizens” <span style="font-size: xx-small;">(Syracuse Herald, October 20, 1909)<span style="font-size: small;"></span></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">)</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, once elected, Schoeneck picked up the grade crossing elimination battle where McGuire had left off almost a decade earlier:</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<blockquote><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Mayor Edward Schoeneck yesterday took up the serious consideration of ways and means by which the removal of the New York Central tracks from Washington Street may be effected and a plan worked out by which scores of railroad crossings at grade may be abolished in Syracuse.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Mr. Schoeneck has had the matter under advisement for some time, according to statements made yesterday by members of his administration with whom he has discussed the question. He is said to have agreed with the declaration of Judge Irving G. Vann at the Chamber of Commerce banquet Saturday evening that the time is at hand when definite steps should be taken to secure the removal of the railroad tracks from the business center of Syracuse. (Post-Standard, March 22, 1910). </span></blockquote><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Not much had changed regarding grade crossing elimination since McGuire’s time: the grade crossing act required the railroad to pay for fifty percent of the solution, with the state and city covering the remaining half evenly. Of course, the cost of project had been revised, with the estimate increased to $4 million. Mayor Schoeneck felt “as much as Syracuse desired the removal of steam railway traffic from its streets, the city was neither able nor willing to assume a bonded debt of $1,000,000 to bring about the results” (Post-Standard, July 30, 1910). </span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-oW5__dT7ioU/TWvma1T_01I/AAAAAAAACoQ/PHG07LvJ3g4/s1600/psmay151907.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-oW5__dT7ioU/TWvma1T_01I/AAAAAAAACoQ/PHG07LvJ3g4/s1600/psmay151907.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Post-Standard, May 15, 1907</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Another difference since McGuire’s time were the scores of additional injuries and deaths that continued to be caused by grade crossings. Although the New York Central Railroad had earlier insisted they were not contractually obligated to take any action on the Washington Street tracks until 1917, repeated headlines about amputated fingers and crushed legs could be considered as bad for the corporate brand. When Schoeneck met with New York Central President W.C. Brown in April 1910, he found the railroad chief to be more “liberal” towards the grade crossing situation:</span><br />
<blockquote><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> “President Brown showed a disposition to treat the matter in a broad and liberal spirit,” said the Mayor yesterday. “From his attitude I feel confident that we will be able to solve the grade crossing problem satisfactorily without recourse to the grade crossing act.” (Mayor Schoeneck, quoted in Post-Standard, April 4, 1910).</span></blockquote><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Brown and Schoeneck discussed alternative means of reimbursement for Syracuse’s share of expenses, including allowing the New York Central to buy a franchise of streetcars which would operate on East Washington Street, absolution of any costs incurred by the city associated with street closings during construction, and “the remission to the New York Central of taxes which would accrue to Syracuse as a result of the increased taxable valuation of its property here, incidental to the construction of a new station, the elevation of its tracks and other betterments and improvements.” (Post-Standard, July 30, 1910).</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">But it wasn’t only the expense of the project that caused unease for the Syracuse city leaders:</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<blockquote><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">It was learned that the construction of an elevated structure by the West Shore route was the basis of discussion. City Engineer [Henry] Allen, it was ascertained later, impressed upon President Brown that the street crossings, particularly at North Salina Street, must be built to mar the street as little as possible and to avoid damaging adjacent property. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">It was pointed out that in the case of recent elimination of grade crossings in Schenectady, that State Street, the city’s main thoroughfare, had suffered severely in its most important part. There, the heavy, closely built elevated structure practically shuts off all overhead light from the underlying street. These points, it is understood, were made note of by Mr. Brown, who gave his assurance that the cross streets would be marred in no way by the change. (Post-Standard, April 2, 1910).</span></blockquote><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Almost a year after Mayor Schoeneck first met with the New York Central, the city announced that two plans that had been submitted to the railroad for consideration</span>—<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">essentially the same two plans that been considered twelve years earlier. The Post-Standard expected the possibility of elevated tracks might cause a “warm controversy”:</span><br />
<blockquote><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">A decision on the two plans to be offered will be reached only after a warm controversy. Opposition to the elevation of the West Shore tracks has already been voiced by the First and Second Wards Citizen Improvement Association and the North Side Citizens Association. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">...</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Residents of the North Side have taken the position that elevated tracks along the West Shore route would be unsightly, and that they would form a wall dividing the city into two parts more effectually than does the Erie canal. The division, they contend, being farther to the north than the canal, would be detrimental to the development of the North Side. (Post-Standard, February 17, 1911).</span></blockquote><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-JZIUhCUQvm8/TWvtdSmupPI/AAAAAAAACoU/EbJbUg3x98Y/s1600/house_willow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-JZIUhCUQvm8/TWvtdSmupPI/AAAAAAAACoU/EbJbUg3x98Y/s200/house_willow.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">former Schoeneck residence, <a href="http://www.pfs500.com/">500 North McBride Street </a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://www.pfs500.com/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"><br />
</span></a></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The issue may have been particularly sensitive to Schoeneck, a resident of North McBride Street. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Endorsement of elevation would not only alienate constituents, but his own neighbors. As the election year continued (at the time, mayors served 2-year terms), grade crossing elimination had become the most unique of political issues: while the progress Schoeneck had made with the New York Central railroad had been the most substantial in twenty years, any public support of the West Shore Elevation plan could lose potential voters. Schoeneck, perhaps sensing this precarious position, asked the Common Council to approve the creation of a Grade Crossing Commission:</span><br />
<blockquote><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The five men who form the Grade Crossing Commission, which the Common Council authorized Mayor Schoeneck to appoint, are Alan C. Fobes, former mayor of the city; Henry H.S. Handy, president of the Chamber of Commerce; Alexander T. Brown, manufacturer, capitalist and inventor; Albert J. Will, manufacturer, and John T. O’Brien, labor representative. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The commission, under the ordinance that the Common Council adopted, authorizing its appointment by the mayor, is directed to investigate not only the physical plan of doing away with the crossings at grade, but also to take into consideration the question of the financing of the project. The commission has no authority under the ordinance to bind the city, but is directed to investigate and make report of its investigations to the Common Council (Syracuse Herald, October 18, 1911).</span></blockquote><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-pRfOrUEAvc0/TWwLwjR1YEI/AAAAAAAACoY/8i3N4fVOCQw/s1600/syrherald10311911.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-pRfOrUEAvc0/TWwLwjR1YEI/AAAAAAAACoY/8i3N4fVOCQw/s320/syrherald10311911.jpg" width="294" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">from Schoeneck campaign ad, Syracuse Herald, October 31, 1911</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Democratic Aldermen in the Common Council voted against the ordinance to create the commission, as the Schoeneck-named commission could be in place for years. However, Alderman Patrick Cawley of the First Ward (residing at 617 Bear Street) had his own reasons for voting no:</span><br />
<blockquote><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“It is said that it is an absolute fact,” Cawley declared, “that Mayor Schoeneck and the New York Central have entered into an agreement by which the tracks of the West Shore railroad will be elevated and will in consequence, greatly damage the principal streets of the city.”</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">He said he understood that the plan that had been agreed on would damage James and Salina street and would cut the city in two. He referred to the elevation in Rochester as an argument against the same procedure in the city. “I am against any ordinance that is going to damage Syracuse and divide the North and the South side. We want a united city. We don’t want an elevated road over the main streets.” (Syracuse Herald, October 10, 1911)</span></blockquote><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-55F8o9jw7HM/TWwLwguxbmI/AAAAAAAACoc/G6nIMfVZZss/s1600/11021911syrherald.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-55F8o9jw7HM/TWwLwguxbmI/AAAAAAAACoc/G6nIMfVZZss/s320/11021911syrherald.jpg" width="237" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">From Ludington campaign ad, Syracuse Herald, November 2, 1911</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Democratic mayoral challenger James Ludington contended that the Commission was a political maneuver to avoid a public statement on the elevation issue:</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<blockquote><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“If it is true that the plans for the elimination of the grade crossings have been practically agreed on, as they say they have, you have a right to know now before election what the plans are. If he has a plan that will divide the North side and the South side you have a right to know.” (Ludington, at an speech at Hoffman Hall, 303 North Salina Street, quoted in Syracuse Herald, November 1, 1911)</span></blockquote><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Schoeneck won re-election, serving a second term as mayor until 1913 (and later as lieutenant governor of New York from 1915-1919). By the time of the election for Syracuse’s next mayor, the issue of grade crossing elimination</span>—<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">more specifically, track elevation</span>—<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">had progressed from a “warm controversy” to “the hottest municipal row in the history of Syracuse” (Syracuse Herald, March 11, 1914) . And not only would the next mayor state his opinion on the matter for the public record, he would turn the cause into a battle for Syracuse’s future. </span>Syracuse B4http://www.blogger.com/profile/04953423821970292832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170446985864385441.post-24139806887586625602011-02-17T11:38:00.000-08:002011-03-01T10:41:11.475-08:00February 1901<span style="font-size: small;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.9686683151437954" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">As Syracuse approaches the 75th anniversary of the elevation of the railroad tracks, this blog will revisit the history leading up to this most divisive decision. Call it <a href="http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/disunion/">(Dis)Union</a> Station, if you will.</span><br />
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</span><br />
<blockquote><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.9686683151437954" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In all my trip</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.9686683151437954" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> in the West</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.9686683151437954" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> I saw no city situated as is Syracuse is in the matter of railroads. The railroads invariably along the line of the Southern Pacific, where the towns are new and the railroad controls the town, either did not go into the heart of the city or were raised or depressed. (Mayor James McGuire, quoted in Post-Standard, May 6, 1901)</span></span></span></blockquote><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-d8mtT1pnHIc/TV1XZc33jhI/AAAAAAAACoA/_8U5BDxhn38/s1600/4231899gradecrossingrochester.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-d8mtT1pnHIc/TV1XZc33jhI/AAAAAAAACoA/_8U5BDxhn38/s320/4231899gradecrossingrochester.jpg" width="225" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Grade Crossing Elimination in Rochester, Sunday Herald, April 23, 1899</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-d8mtT1pnHIc/TV1XZc33jhI/AAAAAAAACoA/_8U5BDxhn38/s1600/4231899gradecrossingrochester.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">While Syracuse has been known for having some <a href="http://syracuseb4.blogspot.com/2009/01/january-12-1963january-12-1976.html">staggeringly</a> <a href="http://www.syracuse.com/kirst/index.ssf/2011/01/post_115.html">long</a> <a href="http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2011/02/post_375.html">lead</a> <a href="http://syracuseb4.blogspot.com/2010/10/october-15-1987.html">times</a> for its municipal projects, perhaps none quite matches grade crossing elimination. By 1900, Syracuse had managed to build miles of sewers and paved roads, but could not remove grade crossings in the city, most notably on Washington Street. As pictures and <a href="http://syracusethenandnow.org/Dwntwn/Vanderbilt/VanderbiltSqr.htm">postcards</a> of the era captured, the New York Central Railroad ran down the center of Washington Street, sharing the road over the years with streetcars, horses, wagons, buses, autos and pedestrians. Syracuse wasn't alone as a city with dangerous grade crossings, but some of these other upstate cities, such as Rochester, </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">had elevated their rail tracks by the turn of the century. Mayor James McGuire, referred to as "The Boy Mayor" due to being only 27 years old at the time of his election in 1896, made grade crossing elimination a priority. In 1899, the city hired a renowned engineer, Henry B. Seaman, to propose a solution to the city's grade crossing problem. In April 1899, the Evening Herald announced the news that Seaman had arrived at a solution for the abolition of grade crossings:</span><br />
<br />
</span><br />
<blockquote><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Engineer Seaman has proposed two plans after the exhaustive study of the conditions. One of these, which he regards as the most desirable, is known as the West Shore plan, because, while it sends no freight trains through the city, it contemplates the elevation of the West Shore tracks for the use of the passenger trains of the Central, the West Shore and the Chenango Valley roads. The other plan, which is based on the suggestion of William R. Hill, Chief Engineer and Superintendent of the Water Department, contemplates the bringing of the passenger trains of these roads, like those of the Rome, Watertown and Ogdensburgh road, into the city, from the north and the northwest by means of a loop from tracks north of the city, the West Shore tracks, as well as the Central tracks in Washington Street, being abandoned. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-w7IcuKcUhs8/TV1aPb9AHII/AAAAAAAACoE/7s5M9xG4rhY/s1600/41099+elevate+west+shore+tracks+with+drawing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="226" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-w7IcuKcUhs8/TV1aPb9AHII/AAAAAAAACoE/7s5M9xG4rhY/s320/41099+elevate+west+shore+tracks+with+drawing.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">drawing from Henry B. Seaman's plan, Evening Herald, April 10, 1899</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Granted, this would be no small undertaking:</span></span><br />
<br />
<blockquote><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The plans presented provide for a stupendous public improvement, and the accompanying estimates show the cost will be two and a half millions of dollars [sic]. According to the State law, one half of the expense of abolishing grade crossings is borne by the railroad companies, one-fourth by the State, and one-fourth by the city. (Evening Herald, April 10, 1899)</span></span></blockquote><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Although Mayor McGuire mentioned the elimination of grade crossings in his speech accepting the Democratic nomination for re-election six months later, by 1901, not only had no progress been made, but the state proclaimed that it only had $100,000 to contribute to Syracuse for such a project:</span><br />
<br />
</span><br />
<blockquote><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The words of the annual report of the Board of Railroad Commissioners of New York State, as made public yesterday, are important in the grade crossing discussion. Referring to Syracuse, the report says:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The subject of the abolishment of grade crossings of the railroads in the city of Syracuse has been under consideration in that city. The board has had some correspondence with the city on this subject, and has had filed with it a general plan for the work.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">It is evident, however, that the cost will be so great that the appropriation made by the State [$100,000], even though it were entirely apportioned to the city of Syracuse, would not be sufficient in any one year to pay the State’s proportion of the expenses. (Post-Standard, January 16, 1901)</span></span></blockquote><span style="font-size: small;"> <br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">One week later, when a Post-Standard reporter asked Edgar Van Etten, Superintendent of the New York Central Railroad, about the railroad’s assistance in grade crossing elimination in Syracuse, Van Etten asked why the railroad should even consider such a question:</span><br />
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</span><br />
<blockquote><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“In the first place,” said Mr. Van Etten, “there is little reason why we should take active steps in this matter and spend millions of dollars as long as we have the right of way through Washington Street for nearly twenty-five years more. It will be remembered that not many years ago the New York Central paved and reconstructed its tracks from Pine Street to the station at Franklin Street. In round numbers this work cost about $150,000 and the new station which was constructed about the same time cost not less than $270,000.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I know of no corporation that is fond of spending this amount of money and then do the work all over again in the course of a few years at a still greater expense. When we placed the street in its present condition there was a contract drawn up giving us the right of way for twenty-five years.” (Post-Standard, January 24, 1901)</span></span></blockquote><span style="font-size: small;"> <br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Mayor McGuire appeared undaunted by this revelation, still hoping to enlist the assistance of the New York Central in the grade crossing elimination project. This brief one-sentence news item appeared in the Feb. 3, 1901 edition of the Post-Standard:</span><br />
</span><br />
<blockquote><span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Mayor Inquires About Grade Crossings</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Mayor has again written to S.R. Callaway of the New York Central to see if the Central is going to act in the matter of abolishing grade crossings. </span></span></blockquote><span style="font-size: small;"> <br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> One week later, the Mayor received his reply:</span><br />
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</span><br />
<blockquote><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">New York, Februrary 7, 1901</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Honorable James K. McGuire, Mayor of Syracuse, N.Y.:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Dear Sir</span></span>—<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I am in receipt of your favor of the 31st ultimo, with reference to grade crossings in your city. My absence from the city has prevented an earlier reply. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">This company is extremely anxious to abolish all dangerous grade crossings as rapidly as possible and is constantly spending large sums of money for that purpose. The plans of the Board of Railroad Commissioners have uniformly had our approval and active-cooperation. We have also gladly united with municipalities for the same purpose in any improvement which could be made on fair terms, as in the case of Albany, to which you refer. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I have every reason to believe that the directors would authorize a similar course in Syracuse, but the expense would be so large as to constitute a considerable burden upon the city as well as a much larger one upon the company. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I therefore asked you, at the conference which I had with yourself and other representatives of Syracuse, to advise me what share of the cost, in your city, the city would consent to bear. I understand that you expected to take this inquiry under consideration and give me an answer, but I have not yet received one. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The answer to this inquiry is especially pertinent and important because the company has so recently incurred a large expense in satisfying what it believed to be the wishes of the people of your city.</span></span></blockquote><span style="font-size: small;"> <br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Callaway continues on, explaining the right-of-way contract that had never been mentioned at the time of the 1899 Seaman plans, despite being signed only seven years earlier:</span><br />
<br />
</span><br />
<blockquote><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">As you are aware, the right to use Washington Street was granted to the predecessors of this company many years ago. The meaning of some expressions in the grant was at times the subject of some contention between the city and the company, and as lately as 1892, when the city was desirous of having Washington Street repaved and the freight facilities of the company increased and a new passenger station built, the city and company, after much deliberation, entered into an agreement under which it paved Washington Street with first class stone pavement on a concrete foundation, according to the plans of your City Engineer, laid a new rail in the same street and agreed in the future to remove all snow and ice from its tracks so that the street should not be obstructed. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">It also agreed to enlarge its freight facilities and within two years to construct a new passenger station suitable to the needs of the city. It has carried out this agreement in good faith and your people expressed their approval of the plans of the station which was soon after completed. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In consideration of this action on the part of the company, the rights of the company in the street were confirmed and continued and it was relieved from all obligation in reference to paving for the ensuing twenty-five years.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In these circumstances, if we consent, after a lapse of less than nine of the twenty-five years, to take up the question of eliminating the grade crossings, the expense of the change should be divided between the public and the company upon some fair terms, and I shall be glad to have you indicate what portion of the cost the city would be willing to bear. You are, of course, aware that under the State law, the company bears one-half, the municipality one-quarter and the state one-quarter.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">As a matter of fact, the accidents on Washington Street have been very few, and are confined almost wholly to cases where people have attempted to jump on the trains. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Yours truly, </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">S.R. Callaway</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">(Post-Standard, Feb. 10, 1901)</span></span></blockquote><span style="font-size: small;"> <br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The situation proved to be quite baffling. Had Syracuse really entered into such a contract in 1892, a full decade after Rochester had eliminated their grade crossings by elevation? Would Syracuse be stuck with a train running through the center of its city until 1917, at the earliest? Mayor Jacob Amos, who had entered the contract with the railroad, wrote an article for the Post-Standard one month later on March 17, 1901, explaining how the deal came to be:</span><br />
<br />
</span><br />
<blockquote><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">It has been customary for the different city administrations for a good many years to antagonize the New York Central Railroad Company and try to compel it to do certain things in a way that did not bring good results. They tried, even, to have the company plank between its tracks east of State Street, which it absolutely refused to do.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">…</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I discovered that we could not compel the company to make any improvements, as under its franchise we could only compel it to keep the street in proper repair. The phase “proper repair” is a misnomer and means practically nothing. That is a construction that was given to it in the high courts. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">…</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Mr. Vanderbilt and Dr. Depew came here on a special train to see me and I asked them not only to pave Washington Street to State Street, but to do so for the entire length of the street, also to erect a new station and make improvements in their freight yard and in their freight house.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">After consulting with them a number of times, they agreed to comply with all these requests if we would release them from further paving the street for a term of twenty years, they to repair any part of the pavement that they might destroy. This I considered a good contract since we could not compel them to pave the street. </span></span></blockquote><span style="font-size: small;"> <br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">While Mayor Amos had accomplished much during his two terms as mayor, including completing the municipal water system (started under Mayor Kirk) and introducing a new sewer system into the city, his negotiating power could never have matched <a href="http://www.amazon.com/First-Tycoon-Epic-Cornelius-Vanderbilt/dp/0375415424">the first tycoon</a>, Cornelius Vanderbilt. Yet this may very well have been a good contract in Mayor Amos’ view, as his main concern was paving Washington street, and not grade crossing elimination:</span><br />
<br />
</span><br />
<blockquote><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In relation to eliminating the crossings in the central part of the city, I do not think at this time there is any very great demand from the citizens of Syracuse to do away with the tracks and also with the new station. Attention has been called to that improvement, and I have no doubt in time it will be done, but how soon I cannot say. </span></span></blockquote><span style="font-size: small;"> <br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">He also, perhaps, did not want to be the mayor associated with elevation:</span><br />
<br />
</span><br />
<blockquote><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">There is quite a question in my mind if the citizens of Syracuse would like an overhead structure over James Street that would last us practically during this whole generation. They might want to have that changed again in ten or fifteen years. </span></span></blockquote><span style="font-size: small;"> <br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Mayor Amos concluded his editorial by informing the citizens of Syracuse that they were essentially powerless in the face of the relatively new entities of corporations:</span><br />
<br />
</span><br />
<blockquote><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I have come in contact in the past few years with very large corporations, and it has been my observation that little is to be gained by trying to force these large companies when the matter is beyond your control, as is the case with the New York Central.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">As a citizen I take just as much interest in any improvements for Syracuse as I did when I had more authority. To use a homely expression, “You can catch more flies with molasses than you can with vinegar.” In this case, the New York Central cannot be compelled to do away with its grade crossings unless the city and state carry out their part as laid down by law.</span></span></blockquote><span style="font-size: small;"> <br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The idea that the city could “catch more flies with molasses” led to slippery slope between acceptance and accommodation, as this editorial by <a href="http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F5071FFF3B5F1A738DDDAF0A94DD405B8385F0D3"> Milton H. Northrup</a>, former Syracuse postmaster and editor of the Syracuse Courier, clearly demonstrates:</span></span><br />
<br />
<blockquote><span id="internal-source-marker_0.9686683151437954" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> The Central-Hudson Railroad owes much to Syracuse, it is true; but what does the city owe to the railroads which center here? What built up Syracuse to a city of an eighth of a million inhabitants at the close of its first half century? Was it the Erie Canal? If so, why do our citizens look with such complacency to the proposition to deprive us of the canal altogether, moving its line miles to the north?...Was it the salt works? They, too, were important factors but they have ceased to be regarded as essential to the city’s life and growth. Take them away altogether, along with the canal, and Syracuse would go on just the same. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">But suppose the cities were to be stripped of its railroads: Suppose we had but one within ten miles, where would Syracuse be then? The railroads were the pioneers of our civilization and progress. They are the pillars on which our growth and prosperity rest. We can no more afford to antagonize them than could the members of the body, as described by Esop of old, afford to rebel against the stomach. The obligations are reciprocal, and no horseplay to the galleries should be permitted to array the two in hostility.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">…</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Some will ask what all this has to do with the change of grade of the Central-Hudson tracks, by elevation or depression. Nothing, I grant. That is a question sooner or later to be met</span>—<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">grade crossings must be abolished. But this will not be brought about by a policy of bulldozing or bluff. Whatever right to our streets comes by priority of possession belongs to the railroad corporation and not to the city. The railroad came first, and when the city came later it found the tracks already down and trains running over them. Under such conditions the Mayor’s policy of coercion seems unlikely to win. An appeal to the company’s sense of justice and good will might bring better results. </span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">(Post Standard,March 3, 1901)</span></span></blockquote><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VKOlXYyXATE/TV1eRxP7ZvI/AAAAAAAACoI/UaStCt6cGRI/s1600/sept41935.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">While Mr. Northrup argued for the importance of railroads based on the obsolescence of earlier markers of Syracuse history, he failed to comprehend the same could be true for railroads in the future. If the corporate railroads were the pillars of Syracuse, once they disappeared, Syracuse would be left with, well, <a href="http://twitpic.com/40sl3p">pillars</a>. (Or, in a related scenario, concrete bunkers attached to malls.)</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">***</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Shortly after Mayor McGuire received his reply from the New York Central Railroad, he took a two-month leave of absence due to his health:</span><br />
<br />
</span><br />
<blockquote><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Mayor McGuire said last night that he would probably leave Sunday for<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=48UUAAAAYAAJ&ots=0qqy-6ws0T&dq=las%20vegas%20hot%20springs%20new%20mexico&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false"> Las Vegas hot springs, New Mexico</a> where he will remain two months for his health. The trip is being taken by the advice of his physician. The Mayor says he has never fully recovered from the illness he contracted while he was in the South. (Post Standard, February 22, 1901)</span></span></blockquote><span style="font-size: small;"> <br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">McGuire returned nine and a half weeks later (during which time, the president of the common council, Martin Yann, acted as interim mayor) and completed his term, but lost a re-election campaign to Jay Kline. Sadly, the “Boy Mayor” died unexpectedly of a heart attack in 1923, with grade crossing elimination still more than a decade away. </span></span>Syracuse B4http://www.blogger.com/profile/04953423821970292832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170446985864385441.post-21884140492029626312011-01-26T10:18:00.000-08:002011-01-26T10:18:03.625-08:00January 16, 1922<i></i><br />
<div style="text-align: left;"><i>"Syracuse is one, division lines are done!"</i>—<i>Official Proclamation, October 23, 1924</i></div><br />
The recent passing of former <a href="http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2011/01/william_walsh_former_syracuse.html">Mayor William Walsh</a> once again brings up a defining issue of post-WWII Syracuse: <a href="http://syracuseb4.blogspot.com/2009/11/november-2009.html">urban renewal</a>. While the history of that time period will forever be subject to interpretation (and now even more so, as many of the figures responsible for the decisions made during these years are no longer with us), one truth is certain: Syracuse has been a city divided since Walsh's time as mayor.<br />
<br />
Of course, Syracuse had also been a divided city under Mayor Henninger: the elevated railroad (later I-690) had been bisecting the city during his leadership, as well as the Mead, Corcoran, Kennedy and Marvin administrations. Mayors Baldwin, Leavenworth, Hovey <a href="http://media.syracuse.com/news/other/syracusemayors010110.swf">et al.</a> also governed a split community, with the Erie Canal separating north and south at the heart of the city. Since its founding to present, Syracuse has been a "city united" only under two mayors, over almost ninety years ago. And much like the roaring twenties themselves, the celebration would be over by decade's end.<br />
<br />
<blockquote>Official application will be filed with the State Department of Public Works at once by George E. Scherrer, commissioner of public works, for the abandonment of the Erie Canal through this city.<br />
<br />
One of the first things Commissioner Scherrer will endeavor to accomplish will be the establishment of an automobile parking station in the bed of the abandoned canal through a section of the heart of the city. (<i>Syracuse Herald</i>, January 16, 1922)</blockquote><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/S1ezrNzZtEI/AAAAAAAACXc/SGo1QQO21wc/s1600/4a31815uErieCanalAtSalinaStreet%252CSyracuse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br />
</a></div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/TTnNrA13luI/AAAAAAAACmE/kHHy_kOdXdk/s1600/pic+of+clinton+square+how+it+will+look.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/TTnNrA13luI/AAAAAAAACmE/kHHy_kOdXdk/s1600/pic+of+clinton+square+how+it+will+look.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="93" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/TTnNrA13luI/AAAAAAAACmE/kHHy_kOdXdk/s200/pic+of+clinton+square+how+it+will+look.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">from Syracuse Herald, April 16, 1923</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>As recently unearthed canals are now the <a href="http://www.waterfire.org/">focal point of activity </a>in some communities, planning a week-long jubilee to commemorate the removal of a city's centerpiece in favor of a parking lot is disheartening from a current perspective. But for a city that was expanding rapidly—not to mention with a train running straight through the center—road and pavement held far more promise for the future growth of Syracuse than an abandoned waterway. Far from picturesque, the unused portion of canal became a frequent site of drownings and health hazards:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>The Erie Canal between Salina and Clinton streets appears to be a favorite gathering place for scum and refuse. The wind sweeps papers, boxes, pieces of wood and other rubbish into this cove and leaves it there. The wind tends to clear the main channel of the canal of such rubbish, but does not affect such secluded places.<br />
<br />
Weeds from the bottom of the canal have grown to the surface and add to the general unsightly collection. They gather the other refuse and aid in giving the canal the general appearance of a dumping place. Tuesday morning there was such a heap of rubbish just east of the Salina Street bridge that the railing was crowded with spectators.<br />
<br />
The refuse remains—a menace to public health. (<i>Syracuse Herald</i>, July 13, 1921)</blockquote><br />
The canal also acted as a physical and psychological barrier to downtown shoppers. Dispelling the notion that streetcar era pedestrians were more inclined to walk a few blocks than today's drivers, merchants located in the 100 and 200 blocks of North Salina Street had to create a marketing campaign to lure potential customers from South Salina Street to their stores on the other side of the canal bridge:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>"Shop on the North Side."<br />
<br />
This will be the slogan of a campaign to be started immediately by the North Side merchants who have a definite project in mind to make the North Side as much of a business district as that south of the Erie Canal.</blockquote><br />
The North Salina Street businesses made what might have been the first specific appeal to suburban shoppers to come downtown:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>Particular efforts will be made to attract buyers from the rural districts north of the city and adjacent suburban villages. Special inducements will be made to shoppers from Liverpool, Baldwinsville, Cicero, North Syracuse, Kirkville and other nearby places not to cross the canal on their shopping trips in Syracuse. (<i>Syracuse Herald</i>, July 28, 1921)</blockquote><br />
Though the villages of Salina and Syracuse had merged in 1848 to form the City of Syracuse, the canal remained a dividing line between north and south. Therefore, when the first handful of dirt was thrown into the abandoned Erie Canal on June 23, 1923, residents came together to witness "a day that will have a place among the important dates in the community's history":<br />
<br />
<blockquote>A few pounds of earth, shoveled into the historical canal basin at Clinton Square by Dr. Frederick W. Betts, representing the South Side, and John Gang, representing the North Side, served to mark the high spot in the crowded afternoon's program. It symbolized, as Mayor John H. Walrath pointed out, "the erasure of a line that has divided the community and hindered its progress almost from the beginning."<br />
<br />
"This," he said, "is an historic moment. The city has at last secured the possession of the old Erie Canal which has split the city in two so harmfully.<br />
<br />
"We are today erasing a dividing line, imaginary as though it may be, which has impeded and obstructed the growth and cooperation of the community for many, many years. Today, on our municipal holiday, we hold it fitting to call upon a representative of the South Side and of the North Side to begin the work of blotting out this line.<br />
<br />
"They are beginning an improvement which I promise you will progress as rapidly as is humanly possible." (<i>Syracuse Herald</i>, June 24, 1923)</blockquote><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/TTnQrg_XheI/AAAAAAAACmI/44rQhgZDj9c/s1600/charterofthewonderfulclub.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/TTnQrg_XheI/AAAAAAAACmI/44rQhgZDj9c/s320/charterofthewonderfulclub.jpg" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Syracuse Herald, October 28, 1924</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
As the filling of the canal neared completion, the 100-200 block North Salina Street Merchants once again banded together in an advertising campaign:<br />
<blockquote><br />
The Wonderful Club is organized. It is composed of merchants and others doing business in the 100 and 200 blocks of North Salina Street and its tributaries.<br />
<br />
<br />
The idea originated when a group of these merchants met the other day for luncheon. Nicholas M. Peters was elected chairman, George T. Schieder, vice-chairman, Wesley Markson, secretary, and W.W. Plumb, treasurer. <i>(Syracuse Herald, </i>October 24, 1924)</blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/TTnQrg_XheI/AAAAAAAACmI/44rQhgZDj9c/s1600/charterofthewonderfulclub.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br />
</a></div><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/TTnvMDmEOAI/AAAAAAAACmQ/8FsKQd40ia8/s1600/pic+of+bridge+removal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="199" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/TTnvMDmEOAI/AAAAAAAACmQ/8FsKQd40ia8/s200/pic+of+bridge+removal.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Syracuse Herald, May 11, 1924</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>The final step towards unification came on October 28, 1924, when the Salina Street bridge was removed. The historic occasion merited a mayoral proclamation:<br />
<blockquote><br />
WHEREAS, To show their appreciation for the filling of the canal, the removal of the historic Salina Street bridge over the canal, the installation of the new street lighting system, and particularly the passing of the old line of demarcation between the North and South Sides of our city, merchants of North Salina Street plan a notable observance of the week of October 27 to November 1; and<br />
WHEREAS, They have adopted as their slogan, "Salina Street is now complete" and "Syracuse is One, Division Lines are Done"—two rallying cries of undoubted appeal in view of the realization of the dreams of years; and<br />
WHEREAS, they seek by elaborate decorations, receptions in their stores and a commemoratory parade on Tuesday evening, Oct. 28, to make the celebration all it should be—a demonstration that the city is in fact "One and Division Lines are Done"; and<br />
WHEREAS, The event is one of even more than city-wide importance in which the co-operating business men, with a fine civic pride, want the entire community to participate; therefore,<br />
I, John Walrath, as Mayor of Syracuse, officially proclaim the week of Oct. 27 to Nov. 1 as "All-Syracuse-for-One-Syracuse Week," and urge all our people to join fully and enthusiastically in the demonstration to mark this epoch in our city's progress. (<i>Syracuse Herald</i>, October 26, 1924)</blockquote><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/TTnt-m0zpOI/AAAAAAAACmM/KO_x2CewUNk/s1600/celebrating+destruction+of+bridge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/TTnt-m0zpOI/AAAAAAAACmM/KO_x2CewUNk/s200/celebrating+destruction+of+bridge.jpg" width="171" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Syracuse Herald, October 28, 1924</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>and a week-long celebration and parade, organized by the Wonderful Club: <br />
<br />
<blockquote>It's gone forever.<br />
<br />
The gash that severed the heart of Syracuse for 100 years is healed.<br />
<br />
Even the bandage has been removed.<br />
<br />
North and south are one.<br />
<br />
Tonight, Syracuse merchants, north and south of what was once the Erie Canal join in celebrating the unification of a city divided psychologically by a ditch that brought prosperity, then natural barriers.<br />
<br />
Nobody regrets the digging of the canal. Everybody rejoices at its passing. (Nicholas M. Peters, <i>Syracuse Herald</i>, October 28, 1924)</blockquote><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/TT3VI1tuczI/AAAAAAAACno/--saysrKtcY/s1600/itsgoneforeveredition.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/TT3VI1tuczI/AAAAAAAACno/--saysrKtcY/s200/itsgoneforeveredition.jpg" width="140" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Syracuse Herald, October 28, 1924</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
Yet even while the city celebrated the canal being "gone forever," community members knew the unification between north and south could be short-lived, as discussions were already underway about building an elevated railroad through the city:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>CONSIDER THIS, SYRACUSANS<br />
<br />
Today, for the second time, THE HERALD expresses its satisfaction over the disappearance of the ancient canal boundary between the North and South Sides of Syracuse, which will be signalized by a big celebration and parade tonight.<br />
<br />
In the course of our article on the subject in Saturday's issue we said:<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Reflection on the situation which has been brought about by this improvement will bring a better realization of the present benefit and an estimate of that which accrues through ensuing years. With what might be termed a physical barrier eliminated there will come a rapid knitting together of what were essentially parts of the municipality. The process of unification, political, social and commercial, will be advanced naturally as the people of the city gradually adopt the new thought of unity.</span><br />
<br />
We repeat these earnest words for the purpose of pointing a moral.<br />
<br />
It seems incredible, but it is nevertheless a fact, that while our people are preparing for a carnival of jubilation over the reunion of North and South Syracuse, through the refilling of the canal and the removal of its bridges, certain citizens, led by the Grade Crossing Commission and the local attorney of the New York Central Railroad, are planning for another dividing city barrier far more formidable and forbidding than the old waterway.<br />
<br />
Then we should have not only a North Syracuse and a South Syracuse, but also an East Syracuse and a West Syracuse, separated, one from the other, by a monstrous railroad barrier which would outlive the youngest of our inhabitants.<br />
<br />
And this is the third decade of the Twentieth Century!<br />
<br />
Just imagine what the people of other sane cities will think of Syracuse when they realize that we are actually debating the question of substituting a monumental and permanent nuisance and encumbrance for a lesser one from which we have now been happily delivered.<br />
<br />
The public of our threatened city is informed that the matter will actually be submitted to the Syracuse Common Council at an early day. That it can ever go through is unbelievable, unless a majority of the Aldermen have gone daft. Heaven help the officials of our municipality who have anything to do with the appalling proposal! (<i>Syracuse Herald</i> editorial, October 28, 1924)</blockquote><br />
The Wonderful Club saw that their mission was not over:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>The Wonderful Club is now a permanent organization. Hereafter it is to be considered whenever anything comes up that affects the interests of the merchants and businessmen in the district immediately north of where the Salina Street bridge formerly spanned the old canal.<br />
<br />
The club objects to the elevation of railroad tracks through the heart of Syracuse. Its members voted at the organization meeting in Turn Hall last night that elevation of the tracks would be worse than the bridge that is now gone forever.<br />
<br />
Nothing is to be retained that will indicate the existence of a "North Side" or a "South Side," if the Wonderful Club can prevent it. (<i>Syracuse Herald</i>, November 11, 1924)</blockquote><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/TTx1EyI5G_I/AAAAAAAACnY/2rI9n6M8t74/s1600/wonderful+club+cartoon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/TTx1EyI5G_I/AAAAAAAACnY/2rI9n6M8t74/s200/wonderful+club+cartoon.jpg" width="157" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Syracuse Herald, November 11, 1924</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Some individuals in Wonderful Club became also became the force behind the Future Syracuse Committee, a group that advocated for the <a href="http://syracuseb4.blogspot.com/2009/09/september-24-26-1936.html">"northern route" </a>for the railroad, which would avoid elevated structures in the city. When Mayor Charles Hanna (who defeated John Walrath in 1926 by 887 votes) called for the matter to be put to a public vote in 1927, the two sides debated each other in a series of newspaper editorials and advertisements, with the fight for elevation being taken up by the former mayor who three years earlier had "set fire to an improvised barrier [to] signify the passing of the city's demarcation forever" <span style="font-size: x-small;">(<i>Syracuse Herald</i>, October 28, 1924)</span>, John Walrath.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<i>"I feel and I think a vast majority of the people feel with me, that the construction of an elevated route through the heart of Syracuse would be a calamity</i>—<i>a calamity that would only be fully understood in the years to come."</i> —Mayor Harry H. Farmer, <i>Syracuse Herald</i>, December 7, 1920<br />
<br />
In discussions about the current I-81 controversy, the focus is often on post-WWII Syracuse development: the flight to the suburbs, urban renewal projects such as Upstate Medical and Presidential Plaza, the destruction of the 15th Ward. While these events provide relevant background for I-81 specifically, perhaps the more significant history to discuss in regards to an elevated highway is this: a divided city landscape has been an issue in Syracuse for 163 years. Elevated structures have been part of the conversation for nearly a century. The debate should be as much a part of Syracuse's collective psyche as snow. Yet what has slipped our memory are the leaders who were among the first to speak of these dividing barriers as not only the political matter of the day, but as a defining issue of Syracuse's future. Perhaps this is because these early 20th-century mayors passed away just as the city began to confront the post-war planning issues that led in part to the construction of the elevated I-81. Upon his death in 1957, Mayor Farmer's obituary barely made mention of his time as mayor, focusing instead on his military service and post-mayor career as Syracuse's first Traffic Court judge. But his words about elevated structures could not have been more prescient, as evidenced by a headline just a few inches below his death notice:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/TTx8drQK0EI/AAAAAAAACnc/3NrfiWndfss/s1600/harryfarmerlosehomes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/TTx8drQK0EI/AAAAAAAACnc/3NrfiWndfss/s320/harryfarmerlosehomes.jpg" width="249" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Post-Standard, May 2, 1957</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
***<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/TUBjnYpC0fI/AAAAAAAACns/UBuK_PThSfU/s1600/blast.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/TUBjnYpC0fI/AAAAAAAACns/UBuK_PThSfU/s200/blast.jpg" width="120" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Syracuse Herald-American, August 17, 1975</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: right;"></div>Oddly enough, just as the North Salina Street merchants formed a committee to save their businesses as downtown retailers would do <a href="http://syracuseb4.blogspot.com/2008/12/december-13-1959.html">thirty-five years later</a>, they were also the first to experience urban renewal-like devastation. At the same time the monorail ran through Edwards, providing children with lasting memories that are <a href="http://videos.syracuse.com/post-standard/2010/12/centered_on_syracuse_a_return.html">now turned to</a> as some sort of guiding force for downtown revitalization, the shops located in the 100-200 block of North Salina Street stared at a fenced-in, empty lot. The Empire House fire wiped out the west side of the 100 block in 1942, resulting in a vacant site until the Atlantic Building opened in 1950 (and then demolished in late 1960s to make way for the Syracuse Newspapers building). Many of the founders of the Wonderful Club had died by this time as well, with their stores going out of business or change of ownership shortly thereafter (although <a href="http://www.lempjewelers.com/home.html">one original Wonderful Club merchant</a> has survived both the Empire House fire and family generations, albeit now in a different location). In the early 1970s, two separate fires ravaged several of the remaining buildings in the 100-block. And in August 1975, an explosion and fire leveled the entire 200-block on North Salina & East Willow Street. The blast occurred the same week as the first <a href="http://syracuseb4.blogspot.com/2008/08/august-18-1975.html">SyracUSA festival</a>, a week-long celebration that aimed to bring shoppers to South Salina Street. However, many of the attendees were drawn northward, to view the smoldering remains of the North Salina stores that had planned a similar event for their side of the street nearly fifty years earlier.<br />
<br />
When it comes to historical dividing lines, we seem to think of downtown Syracuse as either the fabled glory days of yesteryear or the more recent decades characterized by misguided attempts to recapture that former magic. But we rarely revisit this unique period in Syracuse history: a time when downtown Syracuse was most unified, and yet most divided about its future. The lessons they offer are probably among the most relevant in Syracuse's history, as the city center stood at a crossroads while the (streetcar) suburbs expanded rapidly (with <a href="http://www.twitpic.com/3ssja8">their promises </a>to be located "away from confusion, noise and congestion of the city"), and a decision about an elevated structure that both sides knew would alter the landscape and the city's entire future.Syracuse B4http://www.blogger.com/profile/04953423821970292832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170446985864385441.post-71110067400731392002011-01-02T10:18:00.000-08:002011-01-02T10:18:27.148-08:00January 1, 1882In late 1880, the <i>Sunday Herald</i> began a series entitled "The Roads of the City of Syracuse." Written by "A Veteran Syracusan," the weekly column shared—in great detail—the history of all matters related to the Syracuse streets:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>STREET SIGN BOARDS.<br />
In the month of April 1839, an order was passed directing that the names of the several streets in the village should be placed on the corners, and this order was soon afterward executed. If present complaints are well founded, a supplementary order of this kind is now greatly needed, not only by strangers, but citizens also. (No. 17 in series, <i>Sunday Herald</i>, February 6, 1881). </blockquote><br />
In the young, growing city, the "Roads of Syracuse" may as well have been the <a href="http://www.nypost.com/pagesix">Page Six</a> of its day, naming the who's who of Syracuse in matters both "<strike>concrete</strike>" "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macadam">macadam</a>":<br />
<br />
<blockquote>The last assessment ordered by the trustees [in 1847] for work done on the streets of the village, was that for paving Salina Street between Church Street and the Oswego Canal. The parties assessed were Joseph Bouielle, Thomas George, Henry S. Green, Grove Lawrence, <a href="http://twitpic.com/3mekcj">Cornelius Lynch</a>, <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=-SgVAAAAYAAJ&lpg=PA104&ots=RjP8UgoN57&dq=alexander%20mckinstry%20syracuse&pg=PA104#v=onepage&q=alexander%20mckinstry%20syracuse&f=false">Alexander McKinstry</a>, <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=nkEtAAAAYAAJ&lpg=PA74&ots=NGTPcywD0C&dq=james%20mcbride%20syracuse&pg=PA74#v=onepage&q=james%20mcbride%20syracuse&f=false">James McBride</a>, <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=ZdiBONHPnJcC&lpg=PA260&ots=qWetkpOdtr&dq=sidney%20stanton%20syracuse&pg=PA260#v=onepage&q=sidney%20stanton%20syracuse&f=false">Sidney Stanton</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Townsend_%28Mayor%29">John Townsend</a>, <a href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:5yS0LoOmo8EJ:www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/%7Enyononda/hotels/empirehouse.html+john+tomlinson+syracuse&cd=4&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us">John H. Tomlinson</a>, George B. Walter, Doctor <a href="http://www.schenectadyhistory.org/resources/yates/gen-yates.html">Yates</a>, Congdon & Cary, the County of Onondaga, and the village of Syracuse—the latter for a lot occupied by a hook and ladder house. (No. 18 in series, <i>Sunday Herald</i>, February 13, 1881)</blockquote>and fanciful:<br />
<blockquote>A REVOLT AVERTED<br />
On April 27th, 1846, the trustees passed an ordinance on petition of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wilkinson_%28Syracuse_pioneer%29">John Wilkinson</a> and others, designating that part of Salina Street south of the Erie Canal as Main Street, and all that part of Genesee Street lying north of the canal as "Broadway," and also giving name to Butternut Street. The passage of this ordinance, so far as it related to Salina and Genesee Streets, created much feeling, and was derided as an act of folly, and at the end of two weeks the ordinance was rescinded, and a revolt averted. (<i>Sunday Herald</i>, February 13, 1881)</blockquote><br />
By early 1882, the "Veteran" had turned his attention to the history of the names of the streets themselves. On January 1, 1882, the 64th column in the series began to relate the stories behind the well-traveled streets in Syracuse. For the next several weeks, the author shared his knowledge of the Syracuse map, providing newcomers with a sense of place, and perhaps for the other "veteran Syracusans," nostalgia. Yet even as he detailed the shifting boundaries and markers of the city—a city that, in many ways, would become unrecognizable in another fifty years' time—the Veteran realized the permanence of the street names:<br />
<blockquote><br />
While the ancient name [of Delhi and Delphi Streets] [have been] applied to modern towns and hamlets, this fact affords no warrant for their introduction into street nomenclature here or elsewhere. It is a serious question whether in such cases as this the Council should not interfere and correct the errors of individuals who persist in giving to streets names that have neither significance or beauty. (<i>Sunday Herald</i>, February 5, 1882).</blockquote>These streets have gone through many transformations in the 129 years since the publication of this series, but the names bestowed upon them provide lasting reminders of the history of Syracuse.<br />
<br />
Click on the Google Map below to read the histories of the streets of Syracuse, as offered by the "Veteran Syracusan" in the <i>Sunday Herald</i>, January-February, 1882.<br />
<iframe width="425" height="350" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=213391585832986872194.0004974c30e669209163c&ll=43.046813,-76.14315&spn=0.043907,0.072956&z=13&output=embed"></iframe><br />
<small>View <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=213391585832986872194.0004974c30e669209163c&ll=43.046813,-76.14315&spn=0.043907,0.072956&z=13&source=embed" style="color:#0000FF;text-align:left">The Streets of Syracuse</a> in a larger map</small><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(All information from Syracuse <i>Sunday Herald</i>: January 1, 1882, January 15, 1882, January 22, 1882, January 29, 1882, February 5, 1882, February 12, 1882, February 19, 1882)</span>Syracuse B4http://www.blogger.com/profile/04953423821970292832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170446985864385441.post-8035107146551101832010-10-18T09:54:00.000-07:002010-10-18T09:54:37.486-07:00October 15, 1987As well <a href="http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2010/10/carousel_centers_20th_annivers.html">reported</a> and <a href="http://events.visitsyracuse.org/events/detail/20101011/31/25/4/0/0/5683">celebrated</a>, twenty years ago, on October 15, 1990, Carousel Center opened its doors and changed the shopping landscape of Syracuse forever. Not surprising, another <a href="http://syracuseb4.blogspot.com/2008/08/july-31-1985.html">landscape-altering mall</a>'s October 15 birthday passed with no fanfare, much like it has for the past 23 years.<br />
<br />
<object width="6400" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/T2ILzJnACDU?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/T2ILzJnACDU?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="400" height="385"></embed></object>Syracuse B4http://www.blogger.com/profile/04953423821970292832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170446985864385441.post-54136665906915336852010-09-12T15:26:00.000-07:002010-09-12T15:26:44.680-07:00August 30, 2010<i>(Continued from <a href="http://syracuseb4.blogspot.com/2010/08/august-14-1945.html">Part 1</a></i>)<br />
<blockquote><i>"</i><i>Some years ago the center of the city, namely Clinton Square, was devoted to the parking of cars and the appearance of the city at that place where it should look best to the person driving through was a mess. Now after creating a thing of beauty there to eliminate that horrible mess, our elected officials again want to mess up that spot just to park a measly 60 cars. How thrilling! Just think, all of sixty cars; not a drop in the bucket. It shows a great deal of advancement. Actually, it shows the thinking of small children." (</i>excerpt from a letter to the editor written by Merritt G. Curtis, Syracuse, Syracuse Herald-Journal, June 20, 1950)</blockquote><br />
In the late 1940s, the Parking Authority made small gains in their parking mission. In 1949, municipal parking lots opened on the northern and southern edges of downtown, at the corner of Oswego Boulevard and North Salina Street and Oneida and West Adams Streets. Each lot offered approximately 200 spaces. But as the Post-Standard had predicted several years earlier, the number of cars on the streets of Syracuse was increasing exponentially. Furthermore, building materials were no longer in short supply as they had been in the years immediately following WWII, resulting in a burst of suburban home and business construction. Yet despite this rapid growth, the Parking Authority's 1950 proposed parking site was decidedly retro:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/TIkEOA2TSvI/AAAAAAAACkc/CAuboIy7Mf4/s1600/newspaper+clinton+forman+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="70" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/TIkEOA2TSvI/AAAAAAAACkc/CAuboIy7Mf4/s400/newspaper+clinton+forman+1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Despite being shot down for a similar proposal two years earlier, the Parking Authority resurrected their wish to use Clinton Square for parking, though this time around they added Forman Park to the mix as well. According to a June 21, 1950 Post-Standard article, the authority had "abandoned all thoughts suggested last year of double- and triple-decker parking facilities preferring to use street level accommodations solely." In other words, perhaps in an effort to mimic the suburban parking lots, the parking authority sought open land where there was none. As the Post-Standard realized, "Fayette and Columbus parks and other similar spots of green in the community appear in danger of elimination to serve as space for cars."<br />
<br />
Granted, Syracusans may have loved their cars, but they didn't want "the sight of 62 cars, even though all are of the latest model" taking over the downtown parks (from letter to the editor, Post-Standard, June 20, 1950). Residents took up their pens in protest:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>To the Herald Journal:<br />
<br />
A characteristic nibble at the edge of a big problem is the plan to turn Clinton Square into a parking lot. Syracuse is still trying to run a big city on a country village level.<br />
<br />
The Square, which is not only a welcome spot of beauty in a rushing downtown section, but is supposed to have some memorial significance, will park a few cars, true. But it will certainly not improve the beauty of our city, which the planners praise about, when it is turned into a car lot.<br />
<br />
Syracuse is still living down the reputation as the town where "the trains run through the streets." Now it can build up another as the city which uses its Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Square for a parking lot. (from a letter signed Cross-Town Pedestrian, June 20, 1950)</blockquote><br />
<blockquote>To the editor of the Post-Standard:<br />
<br />
The following is a letter I have sent to Mayor Corcoran:<br />
<br />
As a descendant of two of the pioneers of Syracuse, I wish to add my protest to the many others you have received, against the destroying of two of the few remaining beauty spots now left in downtown Syracuse: namely, the fountain in Clinton Square and Forman Park, established in honor of another of the founders of our city.<br />
<br />
My ancestor, Oliver Teall, was one of the engineers instrumental in building the Erie Canal through this area.<br />
<br />
My father, Timothy H. Teall, exhibited the first electric light in Syracuse.<br />
<br />
It will take a lot of parking revenue to reimburse the taxpayers for the cost of the Clinton Square fountain, as was reported in this week's paper. Then, too, we will not have a little place for our municipal Christmas tree, which is one of the pleasant items in a cold winter. Don't sacrifice everything for a little more money. <br />
<br />
Also, have you the legal right to destroy our property?<br />
<br />
(from a letter signed H.L. Teall, Post-Standard, June 27, 1950 - also printed in Syracuse Herald-Journal, June 28, 1950)</blockquote><br />
<br />
Letters appeared daily on the editorial pages, as well as editorials from both the Post-Standard and Herald-Journal condemning the decision. Initially, even in the face of this opposition, Mayor Thomas Corcoran "sided with the authority, declaring parking space is more necessary than beauty, especially when it will produce revenue from parking meters." (Post-Standard, June 22, 1950). But exactly one week after the triumphant headlines, the Sunday paper carried far different news: <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/TIkMWUZGEWI/AAAAAAAACkg/fse2uYkbANw/s1600/abandonedonJune25.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/TIkMWUZGEWI/AAAAAAAACkg/fse2uYkbANw/s1600/abandonedonJune25.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From Syracuse Herald-American, June 25, 1950</td></tr>
</tbody></table>The following week, the paper once again confirmed the news, stating that "the Parking Authority will meet Thursday to reject the proposal for converting Clinton Square and Forman Park into municipal parking lots" (Syracuse Herald-American, July 2, 1950). When you consider this swift reconsideration by the city after the overwhelming protest by Syracuse residents, you can't help but wonder if the razing of buildings that occurred during the urban renewal years would have had a different outcome had there been similar unified outrage. Unfortunately, the answer can be found within the same letters and editorials:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>The city has broached the idea of turning Forman Park and part of Clinton Square into parking areas.<br />
<br />
It is simply an admission of defeat.<br />
<br />
There are plenty of ramshackle old buildings that could be torn down in congested areas and the sites turned into parking spaces, without turning to the few bits of nature that Syracuse owns. (from Post-Standard editorial, June 20, 1950)</blockquote><br />
<blockquote>To the editor of the Post-Standard:<br />
<br />
I wish to protest against the plans of the city to use part of Clinton Square and Forman Park for parking lots. Why couldn't some of the old unsightly buildings in the downtown area be condemned and torn down and the land used for parking areas, thereby improving the community. (from letter signed J.B., Post-Standard, June 25, 1950)</blockquote><br />
<blockquote>To the Herald-Journal:<br />
<br />
Why don't we tear down some of the ramshackle old buildings around town and build a real building for parking of cars instead of making an ugly blot out of that little beauty spot and putting us back in the horse and buggy era. (from a letter signed Isha, Herald-Journal, June 24, 1950)</blockquote><br />
<br />
***<br />
<br />
By 1953, the downtown parking situation had become so dire that a 15-part (yes, <i>fifteen </i>part) series about the problem was published in the Post-Standard. In Part 1, reporter Luther Bliven summarized the problem quite succinctly:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>The average driver is an eternal optimist, certain that if he keeps circling long enough he will find a parking space reasonably near where he wants to go. If parking is completely prohibited in the area of his destination, he may have a passenger go in and do his errand. Meanwhile he circles the block until the errand is completed. Both maneuvers produce more traffic congestion.</blockquote><blockquote>...</blockquote><blockquote>Unless the people can enter and leave the central business district without being unduly delayed by traffic congestion, and can find a place to park reasonably near their destination, they will purchase merchandise and commercial and professional services elsewhere, usually in suburban shopping centers. (Post-Standard, April 19, 1953)</blockquote><br />
<br />
Unfortuntately for Mr. Bliven and the Post-Standard, the next 14 articles in the series weren't devoted to reimagining downtown as an alternative to the suburbs, but rather, the hopeless cause of trying to compete with suburban parking. Certainly, Bliven engaged in an extensive amount of research:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>During his preparation of the series, Mr. Bliven compared the Syracuse situation with that of 15 other cities from coast to coast; analyzed reports on the problem prepared by Syracuse and other cities; held personal interviews with more than 30 Syracusans closely acquainted with the parking and traffic needs of the city.<br />
<br />
He also consulted at length with two nationally-recognized authorities on the subject; interviewed 23 persons in Allentown and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; corresponded with municipal, chamber of commerce and merchants' parking group authorities in 12 other cities; studied articles dealing with the subject in such magazines as Architectural Forum, Life, Collier's and other publications; conferred with many persons who have called in with suggestions since the series started. (Post-Standard, May 3, 1953)</blockquote><br />
Bliven's final recommendation? "Private individuals—investors, bankers or real estate men—should promote construction of one or two ramp garages to accommodate 800 cars." (Post-Standard, May 3, 1953) 15 articles and countless hours of interviews and research, and Bliven thought the problem could be solved with an 800-car garage? Six months earlier, an A&P had opened at the new Valley Plaza, highlighting its 800-car parking lot:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/TIpM8qCxvAI/AAAAAAAACko/KQakuWKxgCk/s1600/ap800carsad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="330" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/TIpM8qCxvAI/AAAAAAAACko/KQakuWKxgCk/s400/ap800carsad.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Post-Standard, December 3, 1952</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />
Suburban supermarkets and shopping centers routinely advertised the availability of free parking, almost mocking the downtown situation:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/TIpcrvmN01I/AAAAAAAACkw/UhrPPp4I4o8/s1600/parkingforall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="75" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/TIpcrvmN01I/AAAAAAAACkw/UhrPPp4I4o8/s400/parkingforall.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">from A&P ad, Post-Standard, December 3, 1952</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
Granted, 800 cars probably never parked at Valley Plaza, and an 800-car garage downtown would have gone a long way to alleviating the parking shortage for shoppers and workers. But drivers weren't relating to numbers, but promises:<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/TIpdmzAgmfI/AAAAAAAACk0/16nYP-mp2cg/s1600/parkingspotforeverypatron.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="308" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/TIpdmzAgmfI/AAAAAAAACk0/16nYP-mp2cg/s400/parkingspotforeverypatron.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Syracuse Herald-Journal, February 14, 1951</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<br />
800 or 8,000 car garage: the numbers made no difference. Downtown could never guarantee a parking spot steps from the store as the suburbs could. Bliven concluded as much in Part 2:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>The city's parking shortage and traffic congestion problems are compounded by the fact that 70 percent of more than 30,000 drivers who enter the main business area daily insist on parking at the curb where only about one-seventh of the total downtown parking space is available. <br />
<br />
Many who would gloss over the knotty problem maintain, "the parker must learn to walk a few blocks farther." Extensive studies in Syracuse, and many other cities, show he is not inclined." (Post-Standard, April 20, 1953)</blockquote><br />
The knotty problem still remains, as "lack of parking" continues as a reason to avoid downtown to this day, despite the fact that no one has ever seemed to skip a concert or celebrating in Armory Square for lack of a parking spot (except perhaps the 30 O'Brien & Gere employees who <a href="http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2010/08/obrien_gere_moves_to_syracuse.html">had never been downtown</a>, who really need a 15-part series of their own). Yet now as downtown starts to show new signs of life, the parking excuse may start to hold some truth.<br />
<br />
Although one of O'Brien & Gere's "downtown orientation sessions" focused on Centro and bike commuting, one would surmise that the majority of the 350 employees of O'Brien & Gere will drive downtown. Winter snow and ice would sideline all but the most experienced bike riders, and Centro—like most city bus systems—limits its riders to schedule and routes. Similarly, one would assume that the majority—if not all—of the condo dwellers downtown also own cars, as the act of buying groceries seems difficult otherwise. As more buildings are converted to condos, and more businesses move downtown, how will this be sustainable? With no convenient alternative means of transportation to and from downtown, how is this any different than sixty years ago?<br />
<br />
The recent <a href="http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2010/08/obrien_gere_moves_to_syracuse.html">Post-Standard article</a> about the new O'Brien & Gere downtown office offers walkability as a motive for relocation:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>A new generation of employees wants something else, said Dot Hall, a senior manager. Surveying college graduates who declined O’Brien & Gere job offers, Hall learned they wanted to work in cities where they can walk to restaurants, shops and entertainment.</blockquote><br />
What is unclear, however, is where this walkability begins and ends. Should Downtown merely be a driving destination that is walkable? Or should it be more reflective of its heyday, when downtown was the crossroads of a city connected by<a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-08-30-streetcars30_ST_N.htm"> streetcar lines</a>? While there seems to be great excitement into turning Downtown into a full-fledged neighborhood (complete with proposed grocery store in the old Dey's building), how would a Downtown dweller travel to any other neighborhood in the Syracuse area without his/her car? Should the "50 to 70 [O'Brien & Gere] visitors a day — customers and out-of-town employees" be required to rent cars or take taxis? And in these respects, how would a revived downtown be any different than a thriving suburb? <br />
<br />
***<br />
<br />
In the years immediately following WWII, Syracuse couldn't consider city planning without cars as the central focus, as doing so would be a step away from a culture fixated on the future. Technology had won the war; how could it not solve a simple problem like parking? Thus the Strand Theater demolition for a mechanical parking garage, never giving thought to the simple problem that if everyone left an event at the same time, waiting for <a href="http://twitpic.com/2n2ij6/full">your car to arrive via elevator</a> might be inconvenient. When the elevated portion of the "modern expressway" finally materialized, city leaders seemed more enamored with the <a href="http://twitpic.com/2n417b/full">availability of parking underneath</a>. And in the throwback to the war years, when factories were converted for use towards the war effort, a 1974 proposal to build a new library to house a parking garage:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/TIvTzg445qI/AAAAAAAACk4/M-GOar8KwO8/s1600/librarygarage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="230" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/TIvTzg445qI/AAAAAAAACk4/M-GOar8KwO8/s320/librarygarage.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<br />
The math has never worked on downtown parking because cars were never meant to be part of the downtown equation. Downtowns have tried to adapt, with parking garages and lots, but what results is a confused hybrid of suburban shopping center and downtown, or more appropriately, <a href="http://syracuseb4.blogspot.com/2010/01/january-15-1976january-14-2010.html">a city that can't pinpoint its soul.</a> After suffering from this stigma for decades, downtown is now considered "poised" for a comeback. But for all the new development, if the answer to this one old piece of business isn't thoroughly discussed, that <a href="http://www.syracuse.com/kirst/index.ssf/2010/08/post_79.html">little park at Fayette and West street</a> might become "a gathering point" for a revitalized city center...as downtown's newest parking lot.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Syracuse B4http://www.blogger.com/profile/04953423821970292832noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170446985864385441.post-81836203826243776982010-08-23T11:45:00.000-07:002010-08-23T11:45:11.114-07:00August 14, 1945"You've lost. You just don't know it."<br />
"<i>I've</i> lost? Look at the board."<br />
"I have."<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><span id="main" style="visibility: visible;"><span id="search" style="visibility: visible;">—</span></span>scene from the film <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKm66IcuZyg"><i>Searching for Bobby Fischer</i></a> <br />
<br />
On August 14, 1945, upon the news of Japan's surrender in World War II, "crowds of persons streamed downtown as if pushed by an avalanche":<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/TG6iG5tA0YI/AAAAAAAACj8/ZDfWrkZKOJ0/s1600/picofdowntownendwwII.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/TG6iG5tA0YI/AAAAAAAACj8/ZDfWrkZKOJ0/s320/picofdowntownendwwII.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Post-Standard, August 15, 1945</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
Downtown Syracuse was the centerpiece of a celebration, not only of the end of the war but of the prosperity to follow: one year earlier, General Electric announced the construction of Electronics Park, the main manufacturing center of the General Electric electronics department. The 10 million dollar project covering 155 acres and 1 million square feet of floor space was so massive that "nothing in Syracuse [could] touch it for size and modernity." (Syracuse Herald-American, September 23, 1945). On June 23, 1945, a Syracuse Herald-Journal editorial addressed the "bright days ahead for our city":<br />
<br />
<blockquote>Remarks of District Manager Mason of the War Production Board in his address before the Advertising Club are profoundly encouraging from the standpoint of all citizens interested in postwar prosperity for Syracuse.<br />
...<br />
Not only are some of our largest industries planning broad expansion but new industries promise beneficent results from the standpoint of the community as a whole. For example, the General Electric Electronics Park development, which promises to become the world center of the electronics industry, will mean employment for thousands in postwar years.<br />
<br />
These are bright days ahead for Syracuse.</blockquote><br />
Yet on the very same page, one column to the right, another Herald-Journal editorial glimpsed a possible shadow on this glowing future:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>In planning for the postwar progress and prosperity of Syracuse, thoughtful consideration must be given to the problem of providing more adequate parking facilities in or near the business heart of the city. <br />
...<br />
The parking situation undoubtedly will grow progressively worse as more gasoline becomes available and new cars come into the market. <br />
<br />
In its report covering the Central District of Syracuse, the Syracuse-Onondaga Postwar Planning Council remarked that "assurance of ample parking facilities is a matter of public responsibility. It does not make sense to provide public highways and streets for moving vehicles and make no provision for them at rest..."<br />
...<br />
We are aware, of course, that the parking problem is present in exaggerated form in practically every American city. Syracuse is not unique in that respect: it is in the same class as the majority of American municipalities.<br />
<br />
But if we <i>could</i> solve this problem, it would be a momentous development from the standpoint of the city's future. Then we would be unique among American cities.</blockquote><br />
They most certainly <i>would</i> be unique among American cities, as they would be achieving the impossible: fitting thousands of cars within steps-only walking distance of every downtown shop, while still trying to maintain the existence of downtown. By the mid-1940s, editorial writers realized that that even the high-tech innovations of Electronics Park couldn't solve the low-tech issue of downtown parking: <br />
<br />
<blockquote>There is not much use in trying to find more parking space at curbs in the business section of the city. There are five cars now for every space (at 45-minute intervals) and before long there will be 10 of them. </blockquote><br />
They also glimpsed what the success and growth of post-WWII Syracuse could mean for downtown:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>The traffic laws are badly misused. But we should realize, too, that it is largely a result of desperation. There are many more cars than there are parking spaces.<br />
<br />
If we do not solve the problem, we'll have stores scattering to different parts of the city. We'll lose heavily. (Post-Standard editorial, February 20, 1946) </blockquote><br />
In the years and decades ahead, downtown would experience that loss: loss of business, loss of buildings, loss of the very institutions<span id="main" style="visibility: visible;"><span id="search" style="visibility: visible;">—</span></span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMip2HWCKCw">the grand movie palaces and theaters</a><span id="main" style="visibility: visible;"><span id="search" style="visibility: visible;">—</span></span>that could have offered the city center a competitive edge over the suburbs. Indeed, when we think of what could have been, it's easy to imagine touring Broadway shows at RKO Keith's or the Strand Theater, drawing <a href="http://syracuseb4.blogspot.com/2010/01/january-15-1976january-14-2010.html">Wicked</a>-sized crowds to Downtown on a monthly basis. But just think: there may also have been no <a href="http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2010/06/traffic_study_shows_problems_w.html">Connective Corridor </a>or <a href="http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2010/05/clinton_square_fountain_is_not.html">Clinton Square fountain</a> use to debate; no Urban Outfitters or O'Brien & Gere grand openings to gush over. Not because downtown would have been such a glittering jewel that we wouldn't need <a href="http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2010/08/obrien_gere_moves_to_syracuse.html">year-long orientation sessions</a> for its newest employees, but rather, had certain Syracuse citizens not been victorious in their own personal battles for downtown, Forman Park, Clinton Square and Armory Square today would be supersized parking lots.<br />
<br />
***<br />
<br />
<blockquote>On nearly every street in the business section of Syracuse there are vacant lots once occupied by business blocks that are now torn down. These are mostly used as parking lots.<br />
...<br />
All over the city the same condition prevails. At the rate business buildings are being torn down, it will not be long before the entire downtown district will be one vast parking lot. (from a letter to the editor, Syracuse Herald-Journal, May 5, 1944)</blockquote><br />
<br />
In 1947, Mayor Frank Costello named a five-member commission (Charles Chappell, Henry Menopace, president of the Syracuse Real Estate Board, Frederick Norton, secretary of the Chamber of Commerce, Jerome Rusterholtz, automobile dealer, and G. Frank Wallace, businessman and former state senator) to solve the city's parking problem. The announcement of the new authority came in conjunction with the release of a report of an off-street parking program prepared by the City Planning Commission, which made several suggestions for permanent parking facilities:<br />
<br />
<iframe frameborder="0" height="350" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=102413452994281190149.00048de0300881631016f&ll=43.047957,-76.152077&spn=0.013078,0.007896&output=embed" width="425"></iframe><br />
<small>View <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=102413452994281190149.00048de0300881631016f&ll=43.047957,-76.152077&spn=0.013078,0.007896&source=embed" style="color: blue; text-align: left;">1947 Parking Solutions</a> in a larger map</small><br />
<br />
Although subterranean parking lots were then being constructed in other cities, the report declared the proposal of building garages under streets or parks downtown "impractical." Yet, really, none of the suggestions in the report could be considered practical, as the city had neither means nor method for advancing this plan. After a year of much talk and no action, perhaps the Syracuse Herald-American could be forgiven for not believing the Authority's announcement of a new potential solution as particularly newsworthy:<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/TG6vCAQzXqI/AAAAAAAACkA/eGVrv50eLXE/s1600/buried1948annoucement.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/TG6vCAQzXqI/AAAAAAAACkA/eGVrv50eLXE/s320/buried1948annoucement.jpg" width="259" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Parking may replace park." January 18, 1948</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<br />
Clinton Square had once before been used solely for parking, in the years immediately following the paving-over of the Erie Canal. In 1933, the city embarked upon the "beautification of Clinton Square," based on plans submitted by <a href="http://syracusethenandnow.org/Architects/Baum/dwight_james_baum.htm">architect Dwight Baum</a>: <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/TG6xJw8Mq2I/AAAAAAAACkE/U83cHNqpxbM/s1600/1933pic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="254" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/TG6xJw8Mq2I/AAAAAAAACkE/U83cHNqpxbM/s320/1933pic.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<br />
Perhaps it is easier to understand how the Strand Theater and similar historic landmarks could be sacrificed in the 1950s when you read that a mere decade after this landscaping makeover, Clinton Square was offered up for an 62-car parking lot. Sensing a battle, neighborhood garden clubs immediately voiced their disapproval:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>To the Editor of the Post-Standard:<br />
<br />
Enclosed is a letter sent to Mayor Costello.<br />
<br />
Alan F. Burgess (President, Garden Center Association)<br />
<br />
Recently some publicity has been given to a proposal to convert the southern half of Clinton Square to a parking lot, as a partial solution to the need for off-the-street parking.<br />
<br />
I wish to inform you that at its regular monthly meeting today, the Garden Center Association, which represents 27 Garden Clubs in Syracuse and Central New York, voted unanimously to go on record as opposing this proposal, and to inform you of its action.<br />
<br />
While we realize the need for increased parking space in downtown Syracuse, we believe that the proposed change in Clinton Square would actually provide space for a mere handful of cars, while detracting considerably from the appearance of this park, in the heart of our city.<br />
<br />
There are already too many unattractive areas in Syracuse, without creating one more where thousands of tourists pass through annually.<br />
<br />
(Post-Standard, January 25, 1948)</blockquote><br />
The Syracuse Society of Architects protested the proposal, declaring the scheme "inadequate and would only serve to increase the traffic problem downtown and destroy one of the most prominent aesthetic areas of the city." (Post-Standard, January 30, 1948) Even a Post-Standard editorial decried the plan:<br />
<blockquote><br />
The garden clubs of Syracuse are right in fighting a proposal to give Clinton Square over to off-street parking.<br />
<br />
We can't afford to give away any beauty.<br />
<br />
Such a proposal is an admission of defeat. There are, or ought to be, plenty of other places to park cars. It is a question of going ahead and doing the thing right. (Post-Standard, January 22, 1948)</blockquote><br />
Within six months, the Parking Authority seemed to lose interest in Clinton Square, as they had arrived at at new possibility: razing a full city block to build a giant parking garage:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>The new Syracuse Parking Authority is seriously considering purchase of the block bounded by S. Clinton, S. Franklin, Walton and W. Jefferson Streets as a parking lot.<br />
<br />
The authority met yesterday afternoon and afterward (authority chairman) G. Frank Wallace said that if this plan proves successful a building of several stories to provide parking may be erected on the lot. The proposal would involve razing all buildings in the block excepting the Jefferson-Clinton Hotel. (Syracuse Herald-Journal, June 19, 1948).</blockquote><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/TG7EtEQBDMI/AAAAAAAACkQ/EKHeC1yEFeI/s1600/bldgstoberazed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="172" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/TG7EtEQBDMI/AAAAAAAACkQ/EKHeC1yEFeI/s320/bldgstoberazed.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Post-Standard, June 21, 1948</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
While the Jefferson-Clinton Hotel would be spared, other buildings<span id="main" style="visibility: visible;"><span id="search" style="visibility: visible;">—</span></span>occupied with tenants<span id="main" style="visibility: visible;"><span id="search" style="visibility: visible;">—</span></span>would be condemned and demolished for the structure, which offered the promise of being one block away South Salina Street:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>The proposal was termed "ridiculous" by Charles H. Kaletzki, Syracuse advertising man and owner of the Bohanon Company, an occupant of Wood's building.<br />
<br />
Kaletzki said the frontage was valuable and questioned the advisability of ripping out a revenue-producing building for the comparatively small revenue that would be produced by a parking lot. (Post-Standard, June 21, 1948)</blockquote><br />
On July 8, the Syracuse Parking Authority stated that in "about two weeks" they would take "concrete action to acquire the property and demolish buildings." (Post-Standard, July 8, 1948). One week later, the property formerly housing the St. Vincent Orphanage at Madison and Montgomery Streets, was offered to the city for purchase for a parking lot. Thus ended the plan to bulldoze this particular block, though once again the news was buried on the inside pages:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/TG65KsdtauI/AAAAAAAACkI/-9oHllVXX1Y/s1600/buriedjeffersonsite.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/TG65KsdtauI/AAAAAAAACkI/-9oHllVXX1Y/s320/buriedjeffersonsite.jpg" width="244" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />
<br />
<br />
But when the Parking Authority announced their next proposed site, the plan sounded so audacious<span id="main" style="visibility: visible;"><span id="search" style="visibility: visible;">—</span></span>or inept<span id="main" style="visibility: visible;"><span id="search" style="visibility: visible;">—</span></span>that headlines would be splashed across the front page of the Sunday paper.<br />
<br />
Coming soon: Part 2<br />
The Post-WWII Emerald City: Razing parks but recycling ideas!Syracuse B4http://www.blogger.com/profile/04953423821970292832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170446985864385441.post-30476681519358278402010-07-25T11:58:00.000-07:002010-07-25T11:58:15.967-07:00July 7, 1940<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span id="py-q" style="font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: black;">Yes, the blog has been on a bit of a summer break. I haven't taken any major summer vacations myself, although earlier this month I did travel to Syracuse for a weekend for the <a href="http://www.ocs.cnyric.org/slideshows.cfm?newSlideID=554">75th Anniversary Celebration</a> of my alma mater school district. While I always anticipate a visit to Wegmans on a return trip home, it seems Syracuse is currently enamored with the business just across the Fairmount Wegmans parking lot: Five Guys.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: black;">I am not in the Five Guys target market (neither having lived in Syracuse nor eaten a hamburger for almost two decades), but I nevertheless read the Store Front blog <a href="http://search.syracuse.com/five+guys?date_range=m10">extensive coverage</a> of Five Guys recent opening with great fascination. </span></span><span style="font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: black;">Even more astonishing were the <a href="http://www.cnycentral.com/news/story.aspx?id=475711">pictures of Black Friday-length lines</a> for the opening of Cici's Pizza in DeWitt. Although some of the fastest-growing franchises choosing Syracuse <a href="http://www.cnycentral.com/news/story.aspx?id=485219">suggests confidence in the area</a> as a consumer market, <span style="font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: black;">what does it mean when the area's landscape is chained to establishments that can be</span></span> found in </span></span>any city in the country? <br />
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: black;">Certainly, a Faimount-based Five Guys is convenient if you live in the area and have a hunger for a <a href="http://www.fiveguys.net/files/files/NutritionalInfo_2009.pdf">920-calorie bacon cheeseburger.</a> But celebrating</span></span></span><span id="main" style="visibility: visible;"><span id="search" style="visibility: visible;">—</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: black;">even <a href="http://blog.syracuse.com/storefront/2010/03/syracuse_has_long_been_on_the.html">championing</a></span></span></span><span id="main" style="visibility: visible;"><span id="search" style="visibility: visible;">—</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: black;">the arrival of a chain restaurant operating 250 locations in 19 states also seems somewhat reminiscent of the Herald-Journal’s 1940 search for Syracuse’s most typical family:</span></span><br />
</span><br />
<blockquote><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: black;">Will you help us find the most typical family in Central New York?</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: black;">Maybe it is yours?</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: black;">At any rate once this family is discovered, the father, mother and two children will be treated to the finest vacation you could possibly imagine</span></span></span><span id="main" style="visibility: visible;"><span id="search" style="visibility: visible;">—</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: black;">and the entire trip will not cost them one penny.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: black;">The opportunity for entrance in this unique contest will be over at midnight next Saturday so if you have a family that you think is average in this section of the state, enter it today! (Syracuse Herald-Journal, June 22, 1940). </span></span></span></blockquote><span style="font-size: small;"> <br />
<span style="font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: black;">Ninety-five families wrote letters to the paper in this competition of commonplace. A panel of five judges, including <a href="http://www.scsd.us/%7ELevy/levyindex.htm">T. Aaron Levy</a>, Reverends Walter D. Cavert and J. James Bannon, Welfare Department Commissioner Leon Abbott and Syracuse University professor Dr. Frances Markey Dwyer, sought to find the most ordinary, conventional family to represent Syracuse in a national competition of "the All-American Family," to be held at the 1939-40 World’s Fair in New York:</span></span><br />
</span><br />
<blockquote><span style="font-size: small;"> No one knows exactly what an average Central New York family should be. That will be the duty of the committee to decide. But if a family far from average in one or two respects and near average in all their other qualifications, the sum total of all their qualities would approximate the normal living standard of this section of the State and they might be chosen as the winning family.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> Don't forget that the family that comes closest to what the judges believe is normal for this section of the State will be awarded the free trip to the fair. (Syracuse Herald-Journal, June 26, 1940)</span></blockquote><span style="font-size: small;"> <br />
Thirty-one families were chosen via similar newspaper contests around the country, and all winners were treated to a prize vacation:</span><br />
<blockquote><span style="font-size: small;"> As soon as the lucky family has been named by the contest committee plans will be made for a glorious week's vacation free at the World's Fair for the typical Central New York family.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> A new Ford car and chauffeur will roll up to their doorstep a week from tomorrow and transport them leisurely to New York City and their FHA home residence on the fairgrounds.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> The family will be the guests of the Ford Motor Company to and from the fair and will be guests of the exhibition management during their week's stay.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> Early next week they will be taken to Sears Roebuck Company where they will be allowed to select $100 worth of clothing for their vacation. Sears Roebuck furnished the model home in which the family will reside at the Fair, and the local retail store will supply the typical family with vacation clothing.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> Every penny of expense on the entire trip will be paid so the family will be able to enjoy a grand vacation free from any money worries.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> At the Fair the family will be free to choose its own amusements and plan its own itinerary. No stiff luncheons or formal dinners are slated for the typical Central New York family who will enjoy themselves as they would on any private vacation jaunt. (Syracuse Herald-Journal, July 6, 1940)</span></blockquote><span style="font-size: small;"> <br />
Being as families have humiliated themselves on reality shows in recent years and not won prizes this substantial, one can only imagine how valuable this opportunity sounded to Central New York families at the end of the Depression. <span style="font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: black;">So the Cramer family of 302 Dewitt Road strove to sound as simple as can be:</span></span><br />
</span><br />
<blockquote><span style="font-size: small;"> "A quiet evening at home with the family grouped about the fireplace, the children playing on the floor with their dog, Freckles, Dad reading his favorite magazine, mother sewing, each of us with a dish of popcorn and the radio playing in the background is our idea of the perfect winter evening. We also like to play a family game of Chinese checkers, parcheesi or rummy. Once a week we try to go to a good movie. Sundays, after church and Sunday school, we plan a picnic or an outing in the family car, perhaps to grandma's or the airport, which the children enjoy.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> As we are buying our home, there isn't much extra money for luxuries and expensive entertainment, so we have built our life around our home and each other and as parents, hope we can always share the confidence and companionship of our children." (excerpt from letter written by Alice Cramer, in Syracuse Herald-American, July 7, 1940)</span></blockquote>Seventy years later, Alice Cramer's words seem to reflect the enduring image of families from that era. While they may have been considered most typical at the time, the winning Cramer family was far from ordinary: Husband Kenneth Cramer co-owned a turkey farm in Baldwinsville, where wife Alice managed the bookkeeping. Kenneth's brother Leonard was a well-known pilot who, in August 1940, traveled to Britain "to train youthful British fliers for the anticipated German blitzkrieg upon England" (Syracuse Herald-Journal, August 7, 1940). Uncle Peter Cramer "passed nine years and six days in [a] trip around the globe traveling principally as a fireman or oiler on freighters...ranched in Australia and the West, been in the crew of fishing vessels off the Russian Arctic coast months at a stretch out of sight of land, seen Hawaii, England, Ireland, Italy, France, Germany, Russia, Mexico and [had] a new home under construction in California having lost his last in a flood" (Syracuse Herald-American, September 15, 1940). But for the World's Fair, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1939_New_York_World%27s_Fair#Planning"> conceived in part</a> as an opportunity for corporations to present domestic-related products to a specific audience, individual achievements mattered less than ideal consumers. For fair sponsors, who wished to sell cars and washing machines to a newly emerging <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/middleton_family_worlds_fair_1939">middle class</a>, the "typical families" of the United States all looked exactly the same:<br />
<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/TEheFwxiyEI/AAAAAAAACjc/m8jvHJhhsJs/s1600/bigspringtexas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/TEheFwxiyEI/AAAAAAAACjc/m8jvHJhhsJs/s320/bigspringtexas.jpg" width="182" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Winning West Texas family, from Big Spring Daily Herald, May 13, 1940</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/TEheavMkNJI/AAAAAAAACjg/cb6WLyPB2aY/s1600/typ+family+pic+of+florida.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/TEheavMkNJI/AAAAAAAACjg/cb6WLyPB2aY/s320/typ+family+pic+of+florida.jpg" width="216" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Winning Florida family, from Syracuse Herald-Journal, June 20, 1940</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/TEhes7w3jDI/AAAAAAAACjk/ArU-DekrYjE/s1600/typical+family+winners+front+page.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="297" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/TEhes7w3jDI/AAAAAAAACjk/ArU-DekrYjE/s320/typical+family+winners+front+page.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Cramer family, from Syracuse Herald-Journal, July 7, 1940</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: black;"><br />
<span style="font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: black;">Not unlike, say, chain restaurants.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: black;">***</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: black;">While home in Syracuse, I saw a commercial for the <a href="http://www.creativecoreny.com/">Creative Core</a> air repeatedly on local stations. After each viewing, I found myself more confused as to the point of the ad. Initially I thought the ad was promoting tourism and/or relocation, but if so, why the repeat local airings? Or is it solely a local ad, presenting a new outlook/brand for the region to those who already live there?</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: black;">Perhaps my confusion is the same when I read the store front blog with its frequent excitement for chain restaurants locating in the Syracuse area. Is this enthusiasm simply about eliminating a road trip to get that chain's signature meal? Or is there the hope that tourists and new residents will now flock to Syracuse? <span style="font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: black;">And if they do, what will they see when they arrive? </span></span>In the week prior to my visit to Syracuse, I took day trips to Foxborough, Massachusetts and New York City, where I also spotted Five Guys locations. Walk out of Five Guys on Bleecker Street and find yourself in the West Village; Five Guys in Patriot Place is steps away from Gillette Stadium. Exit the Creative Core Five Guys and enjoy...the <a href="http://search.syracuse.com/panera+bread/1/?date_range=all">equally-celebrated</a> chain Panera Bread?</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: black;">But where else would Five Guys be in the Syracuse area? Not downtown, with Five Guys <a href="http://www.fiveguys.com/files/files/real_estate_packet.pdf">real estate requirements </a>of "minimum 35 dedicated parking spaces (if not a high pedestrian area)" and avoidance of co-tenants such as "low-volume retail and businesses that close on the evenings and weekends." <a href="https://www.darden.com/pdf/about/Olive_Garden_eBrochure_2010.pdf">Olive Garden</a>? 7,500 – 8,500 building square footage, 1.7-2.4 acres of land, and 125-145 parking spaces. <a href="https://www.darden.com/pdf/about/Longhorn-eBrochure-2010.pdf">Longhorn Steakhouse</a> and <a href="https://www.darden.com/pdf/about/Bahama_Breeze_eBrochure_2010.pdf">Bahama Breeze</a>, two restaurants on syracuse.com <a href="http://blog.syracuse.com/storefront/2010/07/new_restaurant_to_replace_hoot/952/comments.html">commenters' wishlist</a> to replace the vacant Hooters space at Carousel Center? 5550 building square footage, 1.38+ acres, 116+ parking spaces and 7000 building square footage, 1.9 acres and 140-160 parking spaces, respectively. And <a href="http://www.panerabread.com/pdf/franchise-info.pdf">Panera Bread</a>?<br />
<br />
• 3,500– 4,500 square feet of mostly rectangular vanilla box <br />
space plus patio area for 35 + seats </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: black;">• Proximity to morning, afternoon and evening traffic generators <br />
• Prefer high visibility in-line or end cap locations in shopping centers or malls, free standing or pad site locations <br />
• Traffic count of 20,000 cars per day <br />
• 10,000 people within one mile ring <br />
• 30,000 people within two mile ring <br />
• 40 feet of visible store frontage </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: black;">• 50,000 people within three mile ring <br />
• One parking space per 3 chairs, a minimum of 70 spaces <br />
• Minimum of 110 seats <br />
• 70% of population within one and two mile rings within the top 1/3 Prizm clusters <br />
• Ten year primary term with three five year options <br />
• Convenient ingress and egress <br />
• Business employment count of 10,000 within one-mile ring and 20,000 within two mile ring <br />
• Visibility from all directions </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: black;">• Median household income of $ 50,000 <br />
<br />
<br />
Celebrating the arrival of more chain restaurants in the Syracuse region may confirm that the area has the population and median income requirements</span></span></span></span></span></span><span id="main" style="visibility: visible;"><span id="search" style="visibility: visible;">—</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: black;">a worthy distinction</span></span></span></span></span></span><span id="main" style="visibility: visible;"><span id="search" style="visibility: visible;">—</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: black;">but also perpetuates the pattern of suburban growth presented at the World's Fair seven decades ago.<br />
<br />
<object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/74cO9X4NMb4&hl=en_US&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/74cO9X4NMb4&hl=en_US&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br />
</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: black;">When this future(ama) came to pass, city centers (in Syracuse and elsewhere) attempted</span></span></span></span></span></span> <span id="main" style="visibility: visible;"><span id="search" style="visibility: visible;">to recreate themselves in the pattern of suburbs. Now, as Downtown Syracuse continues its revitalization efforts from this mistake, it too has seen a <a href="http://www.9wsyr.com/mostpopular/story/City-of-Syracuse-adds-nearly-a-dozen-restaurants/Zo8NOEnqW0OId6bhbTHWpw.cspx">recent spate of restaurant openings</a>. However, in a step away from suburban development, the new downtown restaurants are independently owned. </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: black;"> These establishments, as well as the many other non-chain restaurants in <a href="http://pulledintosyracuse.blogspot.com/">Syracuse</a> and <a href="http://unchainedrestaurants.wordpress.com/">surrounding areas</a>, are the unique institutions that must come to typically define Syracuse.</span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: black;">Just some locally-grown food for thought. </span></span></span></span></span></span></div>Syracuse B4http://www.blogger.com/profile/04953423821970292832noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170446985864385441.post-61256283490436796382010-06-22T09:14:00.000-07:002010-06-22T09:14:27.512-07:00May 25, 1974<i>Continued from <a href="http://syracuseb4.blogspot.com/2010/05/may-15-1923.html">Part One</a></i><br />
<br />
By the 1960s, the city of Syracuse had dismantled much of what had been built in the 1920s: Strand Theater, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/51111765@N03/4717619635/">RKO Keith's</a>, and the <a href="http://syracuseb4.blogspot.com/2010/05/may-15-1923.html">May 15, 1923</a> Syracuse Herald editorial declaration of the "hope that the city has now heard the last proposal from any source for the erection on our park lands of structures that have no place there." (In 1961, city leaders and residents debated building the new Southwest High School (Corcoran) in Onondaga or Kirk Park.) By the 1970s, the city of Syracuse had dismantled much of what had been built in the 1960s: Strand Parking Garage, every memory of the Corcoran/Onondaga Park controversy (in 1971, the Syracuse Board of Education declared Burnet Park an ideal site for Fowler High School), and the Texture Program. <br />
<br />
The Texture Program, which suggested focusing on "small-in-themselves" projects for downtown Syracuse, soon became a major component of 1960s city planning. In July 1963, Texture committee members traveled to Ottawa with Mayor Walsh and city council members to view the Sparks Street Mall (Post-Standard, July 28, 1963). At the height of the protests regarding the 15th Ward destruction in October 1963, the Texture Committee tagged along with Mayor Walsh (in a travel party totaling "33 strong") on a "town-planning fact-finding mission to Europe" (Post-Standard, October 11, 1963). It's not quite clear what texture the Texture Committee added to the city during the decade, other than "MDA Texture Committee chairman Winston Rodormer's progress report point[ing] to tree planting and placing of seats in Vanderbilt Square between S. Salina and S. Warren Streets and construction of a courtyard and park of the northeast corner of the Hotel Syracuse" (Post-Standard, December 28, 1963) and hard feelings. <br />
<br />
Mentions of the Texture Committee disappeared from newspapers by late 1960s, much like the shoppers in downtown Syracuse itself. After spending a decade in rebuilding mode only to end up in further decline, the city found itself in full-blown <a href="http://syracuseb4.blogspot.com/2010/04/april-23-28-1973.html">panic mode</a>. As their veteran players left to join up the suburban competition, the next quick-fix plan seemed obvious:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>In the late 1950s, then-Mayor Anthony Henninger...recommended Salina Street be turned into a mall, with grass and trees and walkways. </blockquote><blockquote>Merchants were chilly to the idea. "No grass or trees on Salina Street" was their near-unanimous response.<br />
<br />
Lacking excitement, the street slowly decayed<span id="main" style="visibility: visible;"><span id="search" style="visibility: visible;">—</span></span>and with it, the city.<br />
...<br />
And then a few years ago, Salina Street merchants awoke one morning and saw rusty nails being driven into the coffin that was their street.<br />
...<br />
Now downtown merchants don't object to trees or grass being planted on Salina Street. Many are proponents of the mall Mayor Henninger proposed in the 1950s.<br />
<br />
"If that mall won't be in our future, we'll be in trouble," argued [Malcolm] Sutton. </blockquote><blockquote>(Post-Standard, April 26, 1973)</blockquote><br />
The mall Mayor Henninger proposed in the 1950s sounds very much like a replica of the then-brand new Fairmount Fair mall:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/TBUPCrhSCgI/AAAAAAAACco/L_QW2Uxb2so/s1600/ff.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="205" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/TBUPCrhSCgI/AAAAAAAACco/L_QW2Uxb2so/s320/ff.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">via <a href="http://www.twentyfour01.com/nyco/">NYCO</a></td></tr>
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By 1973, Fairmount Fair barely resembled this photograph, as it had been fully enclosed. One year later, an enclosed Fayetteville Mall was preparing for its August 1974 grand opening, and Shoppingtown would soon become an "air-conditioned garden mall with live trees and live flowers." (Syracuse Herald-American, August 31, 1975) <a href="http://syracuseb4.blogspot.com/2010/05/may-15-1923.html">True to their suburban copycat schedule</a>, by advocating an outdoor pedestrian mall with trees and grass, downtown leaders and merchants were pursuing a shopping mall model outdated by twenty-five years. Granted, in some respects, the outdoor mall could also have been considered visionary, as the open-air <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2005/01/11/news/fortune500/retail_lifestylecenter/">"lifestyle center"</a> would rise to popularity in another 25 years. But city leaders had neither the time nor the funds to create the pedestrian mall experience they had seen in Ottawa a decade earlier:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/TBUchSqOO3I/AAAAAAAACcs/0MEQJ-xZKh4/s1600/4308751707_5815b32cde.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="214" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/TBUchSqOO3I/AAAAAAAACcs/0MEQJ-xZKh4/s320/4308751707_5815b32cde.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Sparks Street Mall, Ottawa in the 1960s," via <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/25708317@N07/4308751707/">reinap on flickr</a></td></tr>
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What they decided upon was perhaps the most unabashed<span id="main" style="visibility: visible;"><span id="search" style="visibility: visible;">—</span></span>and unsuccessful<span id="main" style="visibility: visible;"><span id="search" style="visibility: visible;">—</span></span>quick-fix solutions in downtown Syracuse history: a DIY pedestrian mall.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/TBU_rTmNKDI/AAAAAAAACcw/OkUEoubiYH0/s1600/psmay2574.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="228" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/TBU_rTmNKDI/AAAAAAAACcw/OkUEoubiYH0/s320/psmay2574.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">from Post-Standard, May 25, 1974 (notes added)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/TBU_sHWnSJI/AAAAAAAACc0/VMC7Ub3Fzcs/s1600/psjuly1674.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/TBU_sHWnSJI/AAAAAAAACc0/VMC7Ub3Fzcs/s320/psjuly1674.jpg" width="286" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">from Post-Standard, July 16, 1974</td></tr>
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<blockquote>In downtown Syracuse federal and state urban renewal funds are being utilized to install "planters" containing trees and bushes in South Salina Street<span id="main" style="visibility: visible;"><span id="search" style="visibility: visible;">—</span></span>making it narrower and posing potential driving hazards.<br />
<br />
Costing about $52,000, the project is under the direction of Commissioner of Urban Improvement David S. Michel.<br />
<br />
It involves placing 44 "planters" ranging in size from four feet square, upwards, and of varying height, right in the street proper. The "planters" are filled with trees and bushes.<br />
<br />
The objective, he said, is to beautify Downtown Syracuse in the hope of attracting more people downtown. The project was approved on a 60-day trial basis by the Common Council, Michel asserted.<br />
<br />
Multiple planters of varying sizes are grouped together in clusters, and placed in the curb on both sides of the street. This effectively reduces the driving area in the streets by two lanes. <br />
...<br />
Michel said each planter costs about $1,000, and the trees used in them $150 each. That produces, he said, a total cost of about $52,000, which, he stated, is all federal and state money, with no city funds involved. The trees used in the planters, he said, are mainly crab apple and hawthorn and juniper bushes. (Post-Standard, May 25, 1974)</blockquote><br />
<br />
The real shame of this "famous failure" (as so noted in an August 17, 1987 Post-Standard article) was not that City Council member Ronald Monsour was actually in the minority opinion (only 2 voted against) when he stated "I don't think trees should be placed in the streets" (Post-Standard, May 7, 1974), not that a city plagued by litter problems would add 44 new receptacles to "become a catch-all for cigarette butts and debris" <span style="font-size: small;">(Councilman-at-large James Tormey, Jr.</span><span id="main" style="font-size: small; visibility: visible;"><span id="search" style="visibility: visible;">—</span></span><span style="font-size: small;">the other dissenting vote</span><span id="main" style="font-size: small; visibility: visible;"><span id="search" style="visibility: visible;">—</span></span><span style="font-size: small;">quoted in Post-Standard, July 4, 1974)</span>, not that the planters were installed in bus lanes, "effectively prohibit[ing] extensive bus use of the curb traffic lanes," (Post-Standard, May 25, 1974), not David Michel stating "he does not regard the planters<span id="main" style="visibility: visible;"><span id="search" style="visibility: visible;">—</span></span>even though they are in the street<span id="main" style="visibility: visible;"><span id="search" style="visibility: visible;">—</span></span>as a traffic hazard...the only real danger, as Michel sees it, is someone, who has had too much to drink, driving down South Salina Street in in the predawn hours and not seeing the planters" (Post-Standard, May 25, 1974), not that Dan Sutton, president of Sutton Real Estate, acknowledged "the controversy of the planters, if nothing else, has brought many people into downtown to observe them and business has benefited" (Post-Standard, July 16, 1974), not that city council voted 5-4 to keep the planters after an initial 60-day trial period, not that seven blue-domed kiosks for posters and flyers (i.e. sources of additional litter) were installed on the sidewalk to join the planters in a "street furniture" program, despite "no one is sure who will take care of them" (Post-Standard, June 12, 1974), not that the Downtown Promotion Committee requested that during the holiday season, the planters be moved from the sides of South Salina Street and lined up down the center of the street, "with evergreens and decorated appropriately for the Christmas season" (Post-Standard, October 12, 1974), not that the City Council had to be told by Fire Chief Thomas O'Hanlon that doing so would be a fire hazard, not that they were hauled to "urban renewal-owned land at South Salina Street and West Onondaga Streets" shortly thereafter, never to be heard of again, but that the core idea behind the project was absolutely correct: Syracuse needed a beautification project. <br />
<br />
Forget the litter or landscaping, the beautification that Syracuse required then<span id="main" style="font-size: small; visibility: visible;"><span id="search" style="visibility: visible;">—</span></span>as now<span id="main" style="font-size: small; visibility: visible;"><span id="search" style="visibility: visible;">—</span></span>involves a massive closet cleaning of the quick-fix plans and outdated ideas that have been hoarded for decades. Thirty years after skybridges failed to revitalize downtown, why are some <a href="http://syracuseb4.blogspot.com/2010/05/may-15-1923.html">still considering</a> pairing "an enclosed glass walkway above the sidewalk" with the convention center or a (potentially) restored Hotel Syracuse? Have we held on to the 1970s skybridge plan because we think it will come back into style? Look great on Syracuse once downtown gets in shape? When the skybridge project was first announced back in early 1976, the Post-Standard editorial board admitted skepticism, but figured it couldn't be worse than the previous downtown innovation:<br />
<blockquote><span id="main" style="font-size: small; visibility: visible;"><span id="search" style="visibility: visible;">The Post-Standard is all in favor of making the central business district the most attractive shopping center in Central New York. The latest plan is far better than the flower planters which once obstructed traffic and much more attractive than than the ugly concrete cones now smeared with aging posters flapping in the wind. (April 2, 1976) </span></span></blockquote>Based on the tone of this editorial, skybridges sound as if they were purchased off the final clearance rack of one of the downtown department stores fleeing for the suburbs. If we are going to dig out advice from the '70s collection to try on for size, how about this Syracuse Herald-American column by Mario Rossi from December 18, 1977?<br />
<blockquote>Somewhere along the line maybe it will begin to dawn on some of our city fathers and civic leaders that if downtown Syracuse is really to be fully revitalized, the principal ingredient of many that will be needed in the formula will be imagination.<br />
<br />
Or creativity, if you will.<br />
<br />
The old hackneyed ideas no longer will work. The stop gap measures won't either. And the half-way approaches will prove as useless as they have in the past. <br />
<br />
We need something dramatic, far-reaching, exciting<span id="main" style="font-size: small; visibility: visible;"><span id="search" style="visibility: visible;">—</span></span>something that will literally captivate shoppers and tourists and make them want to come to downtown<span id="main" style="font-size: small; visibility: visible;"><span id="search" style="visibility: visible;">—</span></span>in droves.</blockquote>Unfortunately, this commentary from the year of leisure suits is still current today. But one hopes that with over three decades to contemplate the problem, the answer will never again come in the form of a quick-fix solution.Syracuse B4http://www.blogger.com/profile/04953423821970292832noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170446985864385441.post-10670391636316151912010-05-25T09:37:00.000-07:002010-05-25T09:37:17.281-07:00May 15, 1923<i>"One of the strangest of all strange things is the unwillingness of some people to learn anything from the lessons of experience."<span id="main" style="visibility: visible;"><span id="search" style="visibility: visible;">—</span></span>from a Syracuse Herald editorial, May 15, 1923</i><br />
<br />
Earlier this month, Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney said she wished to revisit the possibility of renovating the Hotel Syracuse and using the downtown landmark as the convention center hotel.<br />
<br />
The first comment in reply to Sean Kirst's <a href="http://www.syracuse.com/kirst/index.ssf/2010/05/post_48.html">related column</a> about the topic (and as noted by <a href="http://www.twentyfour01.com/nyco/">NYCO</a> in this blog's <a href="https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2170446985864385441&postID=5048273950834592772">comments</a>): "The best way to make the Hotel Syracuse the convention center's hotel, is to build an enclosed glass walkway above the sidewalk." <br />
<br />
In other words, a <a href="http://syracuseb4.blogspot.com/2010/03/march-9-1976.html">skybridge</a>! <br />
<br />
Not that this is surprising: skybridges and convention center are more married in the Syracuse public mind than <a href="http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2010/05/mda_and_chamber_announce_their.html">CenterState CEO</a>, who in their single days had been promoting skybridges since the '70s. Perhaps those who reintroduce skybridges to the conversation are not so much recycling a three-decade old proposition, but rather exploring an idea that they feel has never been pursued to its fullest potential. After all, the skybridges of the '70s connected the defunct Syracuse Mall to a parking garage, not a fully restored Hotel Syracuse to the Convention Center! <br />
<br />
Or is "skybridge" just the answer that is most quick and convenient, the very two post-WWII buzzwords that contributed to the downfall of downtown in the first place? <br />
<br />
****<br />
<br />
As a recent Dick Case column reminds us, the Hotel Syracuse had its <a href="http://blog.syracuse.com/opinion/2010/04/from_day_one_hotel_syracuse_ha.html">share of difficulties</a> prior to and during its construction. The hotel was <a href="http://syracuseb4.blogspot.com/2009/09/september-24-26-1936.html"> not the only</a> city project stuck in a holding pattern at the time. Along with the railroad, another particularly contentious dispute had the movers and shakers of 1920s Syracuse choosing sides. The fight regarding the construction of Nottingham Junior High School pitted Percy Hughes, Superintendent of Syracuse schools, against two mayoral administrations, prominent citizens, and the Syracuse Herald. While all parties agreed upon the necessity of a new school for the rapidly-growing city, only Hughes and the Syracuse Board of Education advocated locating the building in Thornden Park:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>When Mayor Farmer, Superintendent Hughes, City Engineer Allen, Charles W. Tooke, president of the Board of Education, and Harry J. Clark, member of the board, viewed possible sites a few weeks ago, only two presented themselves as in any way feasible. One of these was in the eastern corner of Thornden, the other on Fellows Ave. Superintendent Hughes strongly recommended the Thornden site. <br />
<br />
Superintendent Hughes is certain that the Thornden site is the best that has been proposed. Not only is the location ideal, he says, but the fact that the land is city property will make it unnecessary for the city to make further expenditure for a site. The many paths leading through the park make the proposed location easier of access than almost any other in the city, says Mr. Hughes. (Syracuse Herald, March 31, 1921)</blockquote><br />
<br />
Mayor Farmer immediately voiced his opposition, stating "I do not believe parks should be sacrificed in this way." (Syracuse Herald, May 11, 1921). Joining Farmer in the outrage were city aldermen:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>"I am against any school on a site in Thornden Park<i><span id="main" style="visibility: visible;"><span id="search" style="visibility: visible;">—</span></span></i>no matter how small<i><span id="main" style="visibility: visible;"><span id="search" style="visibility: visible;">—</span></span></i>and they never will get my consent," declared Alderman Cady. "You cannot make that too strong for me. There are plenty of good sites and the city can afford to buy one outside one outside the park." (Syracuse Herald, May 11, 1921)</blockquote><br />
A.E. Nettleton:<br />
<blockquote>"I am not very familiar with the physical conditions of the park but from what I know I would think it better to put the school building some other place. The beauty of the park necessarily would be harmed by using part of it for such a purpose. The park was acquired in the first place, of course, for the purpose of having therein the city reservoir, and it would seem improper to use it for school purposes, as it is a public recreation ground and generally looked upon as such." (Syracuse Herald, May 11, 1921)</blockquote><br />
Salem Hyde:<br />
<blockquote>"I have no particular objection to having a reservoir on the hill in Thornden park, but I see no particular reason for having the school there. The reservoir would not mar the natural beauty of the landscape, but the school certainly would. (Syracuse Herald, May 11, 1921)</blockquote><br />
Donald Dey:<br />
<blockquote>"This is a sudden question and I am reluctant to come to a hasty decision. At first it seemed to me Thornden is a place for a school. After more consideration, I believe that there are more suitable sites, where equal altitude can be had. Thornden is a scene of such natural beauty that generations could not duplicate it if it once were spoiled. In its wild nature there might exist such distractions for students as to defeat the purpose of a school. Combining that with the destruction of the park, there is sufficient argument against a school there to call for a hearing." (Syracuse Herald, May 11, 1921).</blockquote>A number of citizens of the community also disagreed with the proposal to locate the school in the park.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/S_lnJl9Ai5I/AAAAAAAACcY/qM5dLvJqPzc/s1600/thornden+inquiring+reporter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/S_lnJl9Ai5I/AAAAAAAACcY/qM5dLvJqPzc/s320/thornden+inquiring+reporter.jpg" width="195" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Syracuse Herald, May 12, 1921</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<br />
Syracuse Herald publisher Edward H. O'Hara saw the conflict in terms of one that would come to haunt Syracuse for years to come: the quick-fix versus long-term planning solution.<br />
<br />
<blockquote>The proposal to put a school in Thornden I am against. Park lands should be held inviolate forever as property of the people for their recreation. Thornden has such a dower of beauty from nature that it would be vandalism to build there. It is a heritage from the past for the future. No consideration of short-sighted economy should lead to the costly mistake of despoiling future generations of beauty that money can't buy. Other cities less fortunate than Syracuse in passing years have had to amend such mistakes by going far and paying high for parks that can never equal Thornden. (Syracuse Herald. May 11, 1921)</blockquote><br />
Mayor John Walrath, who came to office in 1922, also took a stand against building the school in Thornden Park, insisting instead that it be located on the corner of Fellows Ave and Harvard Place. Walrath made "appeals to the effect that he was 25 years ahead of his time" (Syracuse Herald, April 15, 1923), a point echoed by the Syracuse Herald editorial page:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>...we are uncompromisingly opposed to the location of the new school structure in Thornden Park, for reasons that we have stated and amplified, over and over again, for the past three years.<br />
<br />
It should be needless to explain that The Herald has not, and could not possibly have, any selfish motive in the premises. Its objection is based solely on public grounds. A park is a park, and not a school playground. In insisting that our parks should not be diverted from the well understood purposes for which they are reserved, The Herald is defending the cause of the citizenship of today and of coming generations. The more the city grows, the more precious its park possessions become. The way to preserve them is to resist uncompromisingly every attempt to encroach upon them. (Syracuse Herald editorial, May 15, 1923)</blockquote><br />
Faced with a stalemate as the city's schoolchildren population continued to grow, Superintendent Hughes and the Board of Education relented, never endorsing the Fellows Place site, but simply agreeing to turn decision over to the mayor. Upon declaring the final location for the school, Mayor Walrath again reiterated his visionary outlook:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>Mayor Walrath announced today that he hoped to see ground broken for William Nottingham School in the Seventeenth Ward before July 1.<br />
<br />
"The specifications provide that the school will be located at Fellows Avenue and Harvard Place and the contractors will bid on that basis," said the mayor. <br />
<br />
"Our experts told us that in a few years, the Fellows Avenue-Harvard Place site would be at the center of the population needing this junior high school...the Fellows-Harvard Place site is the one to satisfy future needs; therefore, we will build for the future." (Syracuse Herald, May 17, 1923)</blockquote>***<br />
<br />
Little did Mayor Walrath know that 25 years after making this statement about being 25 years ahead of his time, Syracuse would be at the would be at the start of the post-WWII suburban housing boom. In the two years of the school location dispute, the city added more residents, thus requiring the school in the first place (although the city versus suburbs debate had already started, demonstrated by this side-by-side pair of advertisements):<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/S_vvF6v_f6I/AAAAAAAACck/akxwWzVqafs/s1600/june2822.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/S_vvF6v_f6I/AAAAAAAACck/akxwWzVqafs/s400/june2822.jpg" width="255" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Syracuse Herald, June 28, 1922</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>In the two years it took City of Syracuse to <a href="http://syracuseb4.blogspot.com/2009/03/march-7-1946.html">decide the location</a> of <a href="http://syracuseb4.blogspot.com/2009/04/april-6-2009.html">one public housing apartment building</a> in the late 1940s, the developers of Levittown, New York were building single family homes at a <a href="http://us.history.wisc.edu/hist102/readings/Jackson_BabyBoom.pdf">rate of thirty a day</a>. By the time similar post-war communities <a href="http://syracuseb4.blogspot.com/2008/09/september-14-1952.html">sprung up</a> outside of Syracuse, along with companion shopping centers, supermarkets, etc., city leaders who wished to "build for the future" felt as if they had to catch up with the suburbs, going so far as to declare the city center itself irrelevant for residential living: <br />
<br />
<blockquote>[Executive Secretary of the Syracuse Housing Authority] Sergei N. Grimm, speaking on "The Changing Face of Syracuse," said, in part:<br />
<br />
"In considering various possible future uses of land in the area that ought to be cleared because of its obsolescence, it is necessary to keep in mind that the completion of the arterial routes definitely proposed will open large new areas for residential development on the fringe of the existing residential suburbs. Much good land will become available for home sites within easy reach of places of employment. <br />
<br />
There is no justification for continuing the congestion of the people now living in existing obsolete areas. In fact there is no need for a good many of them to live in the heart of the city with with so much better sections for raising families available elsewhere<i><span id="main" style="visibility: visible;"><span id="search" style="visibility: visible;">—</span></span></i>either in the existing residential areas or in new developments." (Post-Standard, October 21, 1954)</blockquote><br />
Just as a park is a park, a downtown is a downtown. But by city leaders declaring their downtown essentially obsolete, any "building for the future" automatically became a mimicry of the suburbs. How could the city ever again be 25 years ahead of its time when it was already 25 years behind the model of what it aspired to be? Thus, by the early 1960s, the Metropolitan Development Association suggested that the future of downtown might be shaped by a series of quick-fix solutions:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>"Improvements in the center city need not await a master plan...there is something that can be done now," read a Business Post column on August 13 this year. The author of this column was Kenneth G. Bartlett who was graciously "guesting" for vacationing us.<br />
<br />
The Metropolitan Development Association president called for a "Texture" program<i><span id="main" style="visibility: visible;"><span id="search" style="visibility: visible;">—</span></span></i>a series of "small-in-themselves" projects which he declared could cumulatively within a year sparkle the central business district with a crisp new look, pending more elaborate and major master planning.<br />
<br />
The August 13 post was a ball of fire."</blockquote><br />
One might think the post was a ball of fire because you don't suggest redecorating the house while it is burning to the ground. But, rather, quite the opposite:<br />
<br />
<blockquote><ul><li>The Mayor saw it and he was intrigued with "little" possibilities that could add up.</li>
</ul><ul><li>Members of the Syracuse Society of Architects read it<i><span id="main" style="visibility: visible;"><span id="search" style="visibility: visible;">—</span></span></i>and the Society worked out a "Texture Program"</li>
</ul><ul><li>The City Planning Commission read it<i><span id="main" style="visibility: visible;"><span id="search" style="visibility: visible;">—</span></span></i>and paused briefly to shift their planning focus from "the forest" to a few trees.</li>
</ul> ("The Business Post" column by Bernard Newer, Post-Standard, October 1, 1961)</blockquote><br />
The "texture" theory, according to Bartlett, "may be defined as bit-by-bit reactions that add up to an overall on the part of an individual." (Post-Standard, August 13, 1961). Bartlett suggested "possibly identifying the location of broken sidewalks that ought to be repaired and curbs that should be replaced...more <a href="http://syracuseb4.blogspot.com/2009/12/december-12-1963.html">attention-getting waste containers</a>, consideration should be given to the use of trees or hedges to beautify off-street parking areas." Of course, texture can also be created by lumping together a patchwork of projects, creating unbalance:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>The Architects say extra-wide Washington Street between Salina and Warren would benefit from "interesting paved areas with benches" and a few "vision-affording trees" ("not evergreens"). And a ring of planting around the State Tower would perk things up texture-wise, it is suggested.<br />
<br />
Another suggestion is to make the Columbus Circle pool just a bit smaller so there is more room for walkways and benches plus a dot of planting. And so it goes<i><span id="main" style="visibility: visible;"><span id="search" style="visibility: visible;">—</span></span></i>a tree here, a cleaned-up building there, here a bench, there a flower box." (Post-Standard, October 1, 1961).</blockquote><br />
These "interesting paved areas" here and "walkways and benches" there were not only adding "texture," but, as Bartlett himself stated, "bit by bit" altering individual parts of an "overall" landscape. Texture is an element of design, not the design itself. How do you know when to stop adding texture, if you have no vision for the finished product?<br />
<br />
Perhaps when the texture is declared a safety hazard by the fire marshal and hauled away.<br />
<br />
<i>To be continued...</i><br />
<br />
Coming soon:<br />
May 15, 1974<br />
"I don't think trees should be placed in the street."Syracuse B4http://www.blogger.com/profile/04953423821970292832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170446985864385441.post-50482739508345927722010-04-29T10:26:00.000-07:002010-04-29T12:59:09.665-07:00April 23-28, 1973<object height="300" width="400"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=11332687&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=00ADEF&fullscreen=1"><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=11332687&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=00ADEF&fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" height="300" width="400"></embed></object>Syracuse B4http://www.blogger.com/profile/04953423821970292832noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170446985864385441.post-66853342471412252172010-04-11T12:10:00.000-07:002010-04-11T17:58:01.094-07:00March Madness, 2010The road to the NCAA championship can be a tough one, as Syracuse demonstrated last month. Not the team, though SU's Sweet Sixteen loss was certainly disappointing, but the city itself, with its untimely closure of 81 just weeks before the NCAA Regional fans were due to arrive in town. Not only did this episode drive an abutment into the dreams of removing the elevated highway, but also to Syracuse's publicity campaign as the "future green capital of America":<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/S8H9yws5mvI/AAAAAAAACaI/u8JelxPModA/s1600/futuregreencapital.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 190px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/S8H9yws5mvI/AAAAAAAACaI/u8JelxPModA/s200/futuregreencapital.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5458923271858264818" border="0" /></a><br />Cities that claim to be at the center of pursuing an environmentally sustainable way of living really shouldn't be entering <a href="http://topics.syracuse.com/tag/Interstate-81/index.html">various stages of meltdown</a> because a stretch of interstate is shut down for two and a half weeks. Inconvenient? Well, so are unshoveled<span style="visibility: visible;" id="main"><span style="visibility: visible;" id="search">—</span></span>or non-existent<span style="visibility: visible;" id="main"><span style="visibility: visible;" id="search">—</span></span>sidewalks, the pedestrian equivalent of a closed-down highway, but Syracusans have been complaining about this problem to city hall every winter for at least <a href="http://www.twitpic.com/1ewc85">44 years</a> to no avail.<br /><br />Truth be told, I don't care much for March Madness, but I took interest in this year's contest, if only because I've lived in two of the regional tournament cities and currently reside in a third. Sure, several Rhode Island towns recently flooded due in part to <a href="http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/04/05/paved_surfaces_even_driveways_may_have_added_to_regions_flood_woes/">sprawl</a> and <a href="http://www.gcpvd.org/2010/03/31/seeking-a-solution/">dead malls</a>, but during the first round of the tournament, fans of the eight schools in the matchups could walk to the mall, restaurants, hotels and a special lighting of <a href="http://blog.syracuse.com/cny-speaks/2010/03/what_would_waterfire_look_like.html">Waterfire</a> from the Dunkin' Donuts Center in downtown Providence. Salt Lake City's gridded blocks are longer walks than they appear on a map, but there is light rail available downtown to transport fans from the arena to the bars (yes, there are bars in Salt Lake City). Save for a taxi or shuttle ride from the airport, you could easily spend two or three days in each city without having to rent a car. Could the same be done in Syracuse?<br /><br />Click on the <a href="http://www.visitsyracuse.org/gettingaround/">"Getting Around" tab</a> of the Syracuse Convention and Visitor Bureau website, and you'll only find a list of rental car companies and taxis:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/S8IEmlJmL7I/AAAAAAAACaQ/nchH0PY2wZ8/s1600/gettingaround.png"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 146px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/S8IEmlJmL7I/AAAAAAAACaQ/nchH0PY2wZ8/s200/gettingaround.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5458930759180365746" border="0" /></a><br />In their <a href="http://shopping.syracuse.com/SS/Page.aspx?sstarg=&facing=true&secid=78888&pagenum=1">Spring Visitors Guide</a>, with special NCAA tournament section, only two of the six suggested attractions could potentially be reached by foot from the SU campus, and the other four aren't even within walking distance of each other:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/S8IE_XN_cNI/AAAAAAAACaY/tNFxUZZXNyM/s1600/attrractions.png"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 180px; height: 200px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/S8IE_XN_cNI/AAAAAAAACaY/tNFxUZZXNyM/s200/attrractions.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5458931184937431250" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The <a href="http://shopping.syracuse.com/SS/Page.aspx?sstarg=&facing=true&secid=78888&pagenum=40">"Getting Around" section</a> in the booklet? More driving directions:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/S8IFzGmdiaI/AAAAAAAACag/tDYApZ5d4Z8/s1600/howtogettohotel.png"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 126px; height: 200px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/S8IFzGmdiaI/AAAAAAAACag/tDYApZ5d4Z8/s200/howtogettohotel.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5458932073829861794" border="0" /></a><br />The guide assumes you must have a car, as only driving directions are provided for Armory Square:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/S8IGjyEYQFI/AAAAAAAACao/yHcqH6LRGus/s1600/howtogettoarmorysq.png"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 198px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/S8IGjyEYQFI/AAAAAAAACao/yHcqH6LRGus/s200/howtogettoarmorysq.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5458932910131789906" border="0" /></a><br />Granted, unlike Providence, Salt Lake City, or many of the host stadiums in other regional cities, the Carrier Dome is first and foremost the home of Syracuse University basketball and football, so it is appropriate that it is located within walking distance for students. At the time of the Dome's construction, Armory Square was, apparently, nothing more than a <a href="http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2010/04/2010_post-standard_achievement_5.html">"hangout for muggers and prostitutes" </a> (even though the Discovery Center opened in November 1981, a Glen Miller Orchestra concert held at the New York State Armory in the same month sold out, and <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=ZdiBONHPnJcC&pg=PA49&lpg=PA49&dq=edward+butler+armory+square&source=bl&ots=qWcqeqKjAv&sig=l2Ry50xwZR0iRHMfKw-CGrPiTNU&hl=en&ei=DZK3S4vDI42oswOstuDoDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CAsQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=edward%20butler%20armory%20square&f=false">Edward Butler</a>, the original pioneer of Armory Square who opened the Packing House Row Cafe in the <a href="http://syracusethenandnow.org/Dwntwn/ArmorySq/ArmorySqr.htm">Hall-McChesney Building</a> in 1973, spoke on behalf of the 50-member Armory Square Business District Association at the time stating that the claim that the district is a "jungle" is "a myth."<span style="visibility: visible;" id="main"><span style="visibility: visible;" id="search">—</span></span>Syracuse Herald-American, November 8, 1981). That the city's most notable nightlife area developed outside of a walkable distance from the Dome cannot be criticized, given the independent histories of each. Still, while other cities advertise their walking proximity to other attractions, the only non-automobile option to get from the Dome to Armory Square at this time is the Connective Corridor bus, with a route with enough turns that it looks like the NCAA bracket itself:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/S8IIulAhzuI/AAAAAAAACaw/0Ig6FTiGTJ4/s1600/Picture+4.png"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 130px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/S8IIulAhzuI/AAAAAAAACaw/0Ig6FTiGTJ4/s200/Picture+4.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5458935294627794658" border="0" /></a> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/S8IJkXYKDKI/AAAAAAAACbA/OAVDs_t5pk4/s1600/10mens_bracket.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 154px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/S8IJkXYKDKI/AAAAAAAACbA/OAVDs_t5pk4/s200/10mens_bracket.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5458936218681740450" border="0" /></a><br />Yet the situation could have been even more dire, had the Dome been built at its original suggested location. Imagine tailgating with engineers in the Lockheed Martin parking lot:<br /><br /><blockquote>The consultants making the study...along with county planners, looked at several sites and came up with the Salina site as an ideal example of a location for the stadium.<br /><br />Reasoning for this selection...was based on the site being near a Thruway exchange, the county owns the land and has designated it solely for recreational use, it would be near General Electric's parking lot, which could be used by stadium-goers during non-working hours, and also the construction of the stadium would improve drainage problems in the area. (Syracuse Herald-Journal, May 12, 1976)</blockquote><br />At the same time the MDA was promoting <a href="http://syracuseb4.blogspot.com/2010/03/march-9-1976.html">skybridges</a> downtown in order to give the area "a shot in the arm," MDA President John Searles commissioned a study regarding "facility requirements for mass spectator events in Syracuse and Onondaga County." (Syracuse Herald-American, March 7, 1976). Though it was understood that the main use of the stadium would be for the SU football team, which had been threatened with lower status games if did not replace the 70-year old Archbold Stadium, the university "[did] not appear overly concerned about the stadium situation" at the time of the MDA's announcement (Post-Standard, March 23, 1976). Searles hired the Arena Group, which had been involved in the planning of Rich Stadium in Buffalo, Cincinnati Riverfront Coliseum, and Schaeffer Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts. Both the county and planners envisioned a 50,000-seat outdoor stadium, similar to the one Arena Group had designed for Iowa State University:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/S8IUt8KkeeI/AAAAAAAACbQ/Ob9IXlEohos/s1600/iowastadium.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 168px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/S8IUt8KkeeI/AAAAAAAACbQ/Ob9IXlEohos/s200/iowastadium.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5458948477803592162" border="0" /></a><br />As the consultants worked on the study, speculation abounded where the new stadium could be built. The frontrunnner appeared to be...Allied Wastebeds :<br /><br /><blockquote><br />A 45,000 to 55,000 seat Syracuse University football stadium on large portions of reclaimed Allied Chemical wastebeds between Onondaga Lake and State Fairgrounds is being seriously considered.<br /><br />Such a development would mean a major improvement of a now undesirable area, which is not used except for parking at State Fair time. (Post-Standard editorial, April 7, 1976).</blockquote><br />Wait, <a href="http://onondagalake.org/Sitedescription/Non-superfund/SolvayWastebeds1-8/index.htm">these</a> wastebeds? The ones for which a human health risk assessment indicated "a probability of developing cancer as a result of exposure to Site contaminants is at the upper end of, but does not exceed, EPA’s target risk range for acceptable exposures and that the non-cancer health hazard is slightly above EPA’s threshold, meaning that non-cancer health effects are possible, primarily from inhalation of manganese in dust" for those engaged in ATV riding or other off-trail activities on a recent proposed bike trail on the site? What sort of dust would construction of a 50,000 seat stadium kick up?<br /><br />Or <a href="http://onondagalake.org/Sitedescription/Non-superfund/SolvayWastebeds9-15/index.htm">these</a> wastebeds?<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/S8IWRTneUQI/AAAAAAAACbY/f40BBSqj0-M/s1600/Picture+5.png"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 121px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/S8IWRTneUQI/AAAAAAAACbY/f40BBSqj0-M/s200/Picture+5.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5458950184905888002" border="0" /></a><br /><blockquote>Representatives of The Arena Group described one of the...sites as "a natural" for a stadium, according to M. James Campbell of Allied Chemical Corp., who is also president of the Manufacturers Association of Syracuse.<br /><br />The site is three former wastebeds, just northwest of the New York State Fairgrounds at the border of the towns of Camillus and Geddes. Campbell said the beds<span style="visibility: visible;" id="main"><span style="visibility: visible;" id="search">—</span></span>68 acres on one side and and 51 acres on the other<span style="visibility: visible;" id="main"><span style="visibility: visible;" id="search">— </span></span>flank a flat area that could be the playing field. Grandstands could be built into the existing slopes by driving piles through the beds to the earth below.<br /><br />Campbell said representatives from The Arena Group explained "it was always better to have a stadium half buried so you could come in the middle and go down or up (to your seat)." (Post-Standard, May 15, 1976)</blockquote>A stadium half buried in "mounded lagoons consist[ing] of calcium carbonate and chlorides which were generated during the manufacture of soda ash using the 'Solvay Process'...wastes from the Bridge Street Chlor-alkali plant and chlorinated benzene from the Willis Avenue plant...consist[ing] of mercury, asbestos, lead, wash water, and wastes generated at the chlorinated benzene plant....fly ash and bottom ash from the manufacturing plants, sewage sludge from the Onondaga County wastewater treatment plant, brewery sludge from the Anheuser Bush brewery in Baldwinsville and brine purification mud from the Allied plant"? One can only imagine the lasting impression this would leave with visiting fans.<br /><br />Fortunately, The Arena Group found more appealing what so many other Syracusans did at the time: the residential suburbs.<br /><br /><blockquote>The subject of controversy is one page of the 54-page Phase I Feasibility Study by the Arena Group of Atlanta, Georgia.<br /><br />What that one page says is that four sites were "considered" and one, near the corner of Hopkins Road and Seventh North Street in the Town of Salina, "seems to be the best."<br />...<br />The site review which has so excited the county, said Searles, consisted of one day in which the consultants, representatives of the Syracuse and Onondaga County Planning Agency and the MDA drove to five sites in the county selected by local people, not the Arena Group.<br /><br />There have been no soil samples, no surveys, and no plans drawn. The group did not even get out of the car at two of the locations. (Post-Standard, May 15, 1976)</blockquote><br />Oot Meadows had developed on the promise of custom-built homes in the 1960s<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/S8IXnR8Yy4I/AAAAAAAACbg/ptrGEeCy76c/s1600/ootad2.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 188px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/S8IXnR8Yy4I/AAAAAAAACbg/ptrGEeCy76c/s200/ootad2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5458951661925485442" border="0" /></a>but certainly had never planned for a 50,000 seat stadium to be custom-built across the street a decade later:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/S8IYnxZkIPI/AAAAAAAACbo/g6gff8UNoIc/s1600/mappicofstadium.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 97px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/S8IYnxZkIPI/AAAAAAAACbo/g6gff8UNoIc/s200/mappicofstadium.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5458952769880989938" border="0" /></a><br /><blockquote>"The concept of placing a stadium in a residential community of about 1,000 homes is pure arrogance," said an angry Councilman John Stevens.<br /><br />Stevens, who said he was collecting petitions of residents who oppose the stadium, said John Searles, executive vice-president of the MDA, should be ashamed for supporting such an idea.<br /><br />"Such arrogance by Mr. Searles and the MDA is unforgivable," he said. (Post-Standard, May 11, 1976)</blockquote><br />After the uproar, the MDA formed a Municipal Stadium Committee, with its 15 members drawn from the city, county and business community, but no representatives from the university (Syracuse Herald-Journal, June 7, 1976). By October 1976, over 30 sites were under consideration. When Harlan Swift, banker and chairman of the Greater Buffalo Development Foundation, spoke at an MDA luncheon that month, he offered the group some advice:<br /><blockquote><br />Swift said a study done before [Rich] stadium was built "pointed to a considerable economic impact if it was located downtown." But, he said, "we did it wrong and built it in the suburbs."<br /><br />He said, "We put it outside, and it just sits there. The Bills have nine or 10 games a year, and there's one or two rock concerts." (Syracuse Herald-Journal, October 13, 1976)</blockquote>The following week, Mayor Lee Alexander suggested a downtown location for the new stadium:<br /><blockquote><br />Eager to rid the city of the former Sears store property, 1300 South Salina Street, ownership of which was never wanted in the first place, Mayor Lee Alexander yesterday revealed he has offered the 8.57 acres as a site for a municipal stadium.<br />...<br />The mayor saw construction of the stadium in the area occupied by the empty former Sears store as "contributing enormously to restoring lost vitality and serving as a boon to downtown."<br /><br />"The $15 million construction activity would itself be an economic catalyst for downtown Syracuse<span style="visibility: visible;" id="main"><span style="visibility: visible;" id="search">—</span></span>that would have a multiplier effect on the entire community," the mayor wrote [John] McAuliffe [stadium committee chair].<br /><br />He saw another advantage of stimulated commercial activity accruing from stadium operations.<br /><br />Alexander recognized that while the 8.57 acres might be sufficient for the stadium, additional space would be needed for parking.<br /><br />He appeared optimistic that acquiring some of the area's abandoned property for parking would help eliminate blights that now "plague the section." (Post-Standard, October 23, 1976)</blockquote><br />Days later, the Stadium Committee announced their choice for the ideal site for the new stadium:<br /><br /><blockquote>An 80-acre site near Baldwinsville, in the town of Van Buren, was revealed today as the site for a proposed 50,000-seat sports stadium for Onondaga County. (Syracuse Herald-Journal, October 26, 1976)<br /></blockquote><br />Granted, activity had left downtown for suburbs in late 70s, but Van Buren? How exactly would a sports stadium reinvigorate the city if built in Van Buren? And why exactly would SU football be played in Van Buren?<br /><blockquote><br />Here we go again.<br /><br />A contractor<span style="visibility: visible;" id="main"><span style="visibility: visible;" id="search">—</span></span>Santaro-Taronson, Inc.<span style="visibility: visible;" id="main"><span style="visibility: visible;" id="search">—</span></span>with 80 acres of land for which he no longer has any use offers it for "free" as a site for a proposed 50,000-seat football stadium.<br /><br />The committee which is spearheading the drive to involve the county in financing the project<span style="visibility: visible;" id="main"><span style="visibility: visible;" id="search">—</span></span>the Metropolitan Development Association, most especially<span style="visibility: visible;" id="main"><span style="visibility: visible;" id="search">—</span></span>virtually trips over itself to grab it.<br /><br />Never mind that the land is located in the Town of Van Buren, away from any significant population center.<br /><br />Never mind that there's no easy or cheap public transportation to it.<br /><br />Never mind that there's no network of roads to handle the kind of traffic 50,000 football fans would generate on game day (assuming that there are that many fans in the area, which is doubtful).<br /><br />It's free and that's all that seems to matter.<br /><br />"Free"<span style="visibility: visible;" id="main"><span style="visibility: visible;" id="search">—</span></span>our foot!<br />...<br />The cost of access roads and sewers [for Community General Hospital, also built on donated land] made the "free" site far more expensive than a number of center city sites that had been proposed...<br /><br />The same kind of something-for-nothing thinking put Onondaga Community College on a "free" site on Onondaga Hill instead of downtown Syracuse, where it should have gone to serve the students of limited means who most needed a college of this type.<br />...<br />It's ironic that the very people who wring their hands about the plight of downtown Syracuse should be in the forefront of the drive to take the stadium<span style="visibility: visible;" id="main"><span style="visibility: visible;" id="search">—</span></span>if one is ever built<span style="visibility: visible;" id="main"><span style="visibility: visible;" id="search">—</span></span>away from downtown.<br /><br />This is especially so in view of Mayor Lee Alexander's offer of approximately 17.5 acres [on the former Sears site]. And he offers it without cost, too!<br /><br />Cities throughout the country have begun to build their new stadiums downtown<span style="visibility: visible;" id="main"><span style="visibility: visible;" id="search">—</span></span>not in remote and hard-to-reach rural areas.<br /><br />New Orleans put its vast Superdome about a Johnny Bench home run drive from the intersection of its main business streets.<br /><br />St. Louis Busch Stadium, Cincinnati's Riverfront Stadium, Pittsburgh's Three Rivers Stadium, among others, have been built downtown and the people like them; they patronize them by the scores of thousands.<br /><br />There seems to be a fixation among Syracuse stadium committee members that each seat in a stadium must be accompanied by a parking spot.<br /><br />Yet Tiger Stadium in Detroit and Yankee Stadium in the Bronx<span style="visibility: visible;" id="main"><span style="visibility: visible;" id="search">—</span></span>downtown and each on a fraction of 80 acres with a minimum of adjacent parking space<span style="visibility: visible;" id="main"><span style="visibility: visible;" id="search">—</span></span>draw capacity crowds up to 55,000 in Detroit and the Bronx many times during a baseball season.<br /><br />A downtown site in Syracuse<span style="visibility: visible;" id="main"><span style="visibility: visible;" id="search">—</span></span>the Sears site, specifically<span style="visibility: visible;" id="main"><span style="visibility: visible;" id="search">—</span></span>can be easily reached by buses from all parts of the city and county.<br /><br />What's more, football games generally are played on Saturday afternoons when most of the business offices are closed. The thousands of spaces used by employees of the State Tower, City Hall, the Federal, State and County office buildings, Mony and Carrier Towers, Lincoln One are all available for football fans.<br />...<br />The Stadium Committee, in releasing its projections on how the stadium could be financed, indicated that, as in Buffalo, the name of the stadium could be sold for $1,000,000.<br /><br />The Santaro-Taroson of the 80-acre site in Van Buren has one little proviso in it<span style="visibility: visible;" id="main"><span style="visibility: visible;" id="search">—</span></span>that the stadium be named Santaro Field (or Stadium) after Mr. Santaro's father.<br /><br />A "free" site, eh? About a million dollars worth, that's all.<br /><br />(Syracuse Herald-Journal editorial, October 27, 1976)</blockquote><br />And thus the game was on. Van Buren rejected the proposed stadium as well, with homeowners in the area sharing the same concerns as Salina residents had six months earlier. Although the suburbs wanted nothing to do with a 50,000-seat stadium in their backyard, the Stadium Committee wanted everything to do with suburbs. This map highlights the various sites given serious consideration at the time:<br /><br /><iframe marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=102413452994281190149.000483924052837365021&ll=43.058736,-76.17111&spn=0.108681,0.249725&output=embed" frameborder="0" height="350" scrolling="no" width="425"></iframe><br /><small>View <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=102413452994281190149.000483924052837365021&ll=43.058736,-76.17111&spn=0.108681,0.249725&source=embed" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255); text-align: left;">Potential "Community Stadium" Sites, 1976-1978</a> in a larger map</small><br /><br /><br /><br />Meanwhile, when city residents gathered to openly welcome the stadium in their neighborhood, the Stadium Committee didn't bother to show up:<br /><br /><blockquote>City residents and city councilors met last night to cheer a proposal to locate a stadium inside the city, but nobody was listening.<br /><br />John R. Searles, Jr., executive director of the Metropolitan Development Association and spokesman for the stadium committee, said last night the City Commissioner of Community Development David S. Michel had told him earlier in the day that the hearing on the two city sites would be called off.<br /><br /><br />Michel didn't mention that when he told the city councilors that he would convey to the committee their dismay at the fact that nobody from the stadium committee was at the hearing.</blockquote><br />Surprisingly, Michel also didn't mention that he had a <a href="http://syracuseb4.blogspot.com/2010/03/march-9-1976.html">"football-field sized hole"</a> of his own on South Salina Street to find a developer for at the time. Alas, Searles had probably already informed him of the impossibility of a downtown stadium:<br /><blockquote><br />Searles said later that he was disappointed that no one from his committee was there to explain why the city sites offered couldn't be used. "No one was there who knows anything about stadiums," said Searles.<br /><br />He said the least expensive type of stadium<span style="visibility: visible;" id="main"><span style="visibility: visible;" id="search">—</span></span>a bowl excavated out of the earth<span style="visibility: visible;" id="main"><span style="visibility: visible;" id="search">—</span></span>requires a significant amount of real estate and good sub-surface soil.<br /><br />"The only good site anywhere near downtown," said Searles, "is the existing Archbold Stadium." (Post-Standard, November 24, 1976)</blockquote><br />And after three more years of blocks and tackles by the suburbs (as well as various political playcalling), the stadium did end up on the Archbold site, albeit with an added dome on top. Thousands of fans have ventured in from Salina, Van Buren, DeWitt and other residential communities to the Dome in the three decades since, minus the promise of a 10,000-12,000 parking lot on the premises.<br /><br />***<br /><br />Thirty years ago, the push to build a new stadium came from the threat of the football program losing its legendary status. Archbold, once considered the "finest stadium and athletic field in the country," had become a <a href="http://vimeo.com/6471911"> relic</a>, as competing universities built 50,000-100,000 seat stadiums. Coaches insisted a large, modern stadium was necessary to recruit top players:<br /><blockquote><br />"We just don't have a stadium to compete with the major schools," said Russ Wickerham, an offensive line coach. "If a kid goes to Michigan, he sees a stadium with 100,000 seats, or if he goes to Ohio State, there's 80,000. I'm scared to show some of my recruits our stadium."<br /><br />"Everyone uses Archbold against us," head coach Frank Maloney admits. "When I was at Michigan, a high priority part of a recruit's visit was seeing the stadium. Here, we show it if the kids want to see it but certainly not to sell the beauty of it. We can't hide it, either. Every prospect has some idea of where they're going to be playing." (Post-Standard, February 25, 1976)</blockquote>And, for that matter, <a href="http://www.syracusenewtimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4050&Itemid=147">top college coaches</a>:<br /><blockquote>The reason why I was so attracted to the Syracuse job was there was no better way they could show a commitment to football than erecting the Carrier Dome. So it was visible that they wanted to be successful. And the thing that I loved about the character of our chancellor, Mel Eggers, was that he said this to the student body: “The further away from the campus that a football stadium is built, the further away football will be from academia.” And I think we’ve stressed the point all across the nation, that right in the middle of campus, is the Carrier Dome. It’s great for the students, because they all walk by it all the time, and it was the perfect situation and I think that it gave us all the things we needed to be successful, and we were. </blockquote><br />Support for a new stadium certainly wasn't unanimous. Concerned residents expressed their outrage that the county would be funding a stadium, when budgets were being cut for education, parks and other community services. Many argued that if Archbold couldn't even sell out 27,000 seats (the final season promised a number of promotions and giveaways to ticketholders, including the raffle of a new car), how could they fill 50,000?<br /><br />There were many divisive issues surrounding the location, financing, use and necessity of the "Municipal Stadium," but there seemed to be a general understanding that the nature of the football program would change if it continued to play in Archbold in its then-condition. As the money, media and business surrounding NCAA football increased with every passing year (which is its own controversy), how long could the historic Archbold lasted? Might have it become Syracuse's own version of Fenway Park, with a similar list of additions and renovations added on to both preserve the past and acknowledge the seating and technological demands of the present? Or, more realistically, would it have met its fate a year or two later than it did, as it became clear that the institution couldn't maintain a high caliber program amidst an aging infrastructure from a different era that gave top flight talent the impression that the place looked liked it was unaware<span style="visibility: visible;" id="main"><span style="visibility: visible;" id="search">—</span></span>or simply didn't care<span style="visibility: visible;" id="main"><span style="visibility: visible;" id="search">—</span></span>about the future of the game?<br /><br />So why is it that when the area is faced with a similar relic of a mass transit system, with bus-only public transportation since 1941, there is no similar outcry about modernization? Is Syracuse not interested in recruiting the young people who are drawn to walk- and bike-friendly cities? The tourists who may want to leave their car at home? Yes, just as with the stadium, there are a host of concerns and arguments surrounding this one issue, and multiple physical, political and financial barriers. Thirty years ago, a formal study into the project began before any of these questions had been addressed, which unfortunately got the community riled up. On a more positive note, the community got riled up: articles and letters to the editor about the new stadium dominated the newspaper almost every day for two years. Is there any formal discussion about mass transit in Syracuse at this time, other than the "Community Planning and Transportation Public Survey" (<a href="http://www.ongov.net/planning/plan/survey.html">linked</a> on front page of City of Syracuse website), a paltry six-question <a href="http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=tr2IwKPcXu26ONW%2f73MwWDMjtM6xz3vFByxzc6ly8Zk%3d&">survey</a> that barely mentions transportation? Or this recent Centro headline, which couldn't be more ironically placed? (from Syracuse.com, February 27, 2010)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/S8JpEZAXOtI/AAAAAAAACbw/eSutq42alBQ/s1600/satfrontpg.png"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 123px; height: 200px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/S8JpEZAXOtI/AAAAAAAACbw/eSutq42alBQ/s200/satfrontpg.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5459041222479264466" border="0" /></a><br /><br />***<br /><br />Interestingly enough, one of the next sporting events in Syracuse to draw athletes and fans from nationwide will involve the ultimate champions of pedestrian paths and bike trails: <a href="http://www.ironmansyracuse.com/">Ironman triathletes</a>. For one fall Sunday morning and afternoon (eight hours, to be exact), approximately 3,000 runners and cyclists <a href="http://syracuseb4.blogspot.com/2009/05/may-14-1982.html">will have priority</a> on the Syracuse city and suburban streets. The final leg will take the athletes from Jamesville through downtown to their final destination at the Inner Harbor, a journey that city leaders have been claiming they want Syracusans to make with every development initiative and downtown condo conversion. If the streets were made welcome for cyclists and pedestrians for more than eight hours a year, maybe this plan could finally become a winner.Syracuse B4http://www.blogger.com/profile/04953423821970292832noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170446985864385441.post-87263387279561054482010-03-13T12:32:00.000-08:002010-03-13T16:29:21.191-08:00March 9, 1976<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/S5vBC0VohCI/AAAAAAAACZw/OLkZmMHDUqI/s1600-h/deysskybridge.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 170px; height: 145px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/S5vBC0VohCI/AAAAAAAACZw/OLkZmMHDUqI/s200/deysskybridge.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5448160428388025378" border="0" /></a><br /><br />On the first day of the bicentennial year (and 2 weeks before the grand opening of the <a href="http://syracuseb4.blogspot.com/2010/01/january-15-1976january-14-2010.html">Civic Center</a>), Community Development Commissioner David Michel announced the construction of two pedestrian bridges to cross South Salina Street, one spanning the 400 block to connect Flah's and Dey's with Sibley's; the other crossing the 100 block between the Syracuse Mall and Vanderbilt Parking Garage. At a cost of $150,000 to $200,000 per bridge, Michel stated that urban renewal funds would be used to build the two city-owned skybridges. City councilors approved the project on March 9, 1976.<br /><br />The inevitable accolades:<br /><blockquote style="font-style: italic;">"If anything can attract shoppers downtown to revive South Salina Street, the two proposed pedestrian bridges will do the trick."—Donald O. Coverdell, president of Dey Brothers (quoted in Post-Standard, April 2, 1976)</blockquote><blockquote><span style="font-style: italic;">"The bridges, providing easy access from one store to another and to parking garages, were considered by the councilors to be a step forward in updating downtown." </span>(Post-Standard, March 22, 1976)</blockquote><blockquote><span style="font-style: italic;">"The councilors voted unanimously on [the] projects, hailing especially the bridge construction plans as a 'shot in the arm' that downtown needs to put it back on its feet."</span> (Post-Standard, March 9, 1976)</blockquote><br />This, I suppose, is the history that some feel is best left forgotten, believing that revisiting this past somehow hinders the progress of Syracuse. And where would that leave us? Seeing the skybridge as one more urban renewal idea gone bad? Save for the giddy quotes above, it's not quite clear who ever thought the bridges were a good idea. Not the residents:<br /><br /><br /><blockquote>To the editor:<br /><br />With the city administration begging for funds to reinforce our police and fire protection, now at their lowest efficiency, our Common Council gives its approval to bridges to Nowhere, across Salina Street. Regardless of this major boondoggle being financed by state or federal funding, it will rate with the Albany Mall and the Tower of Babel.<br /><br />Having spent funds for tree planters, now extinct, and produced a <a href="http://syracuseb4.blogspot.com/2008/08/august-18-1975.html">Carnival on South Salina Street</a>, poorly attended, both total losses, one wonders about the sanity of those proposing these Bridges of Sighs.<br />—John Gabor, Syracuse (Post-Standard, March 13, 1976)<br /><br /></blockquote><br />Nor the Post-Standard editorial board:<br /><br /><blockquote>But we can't help wondering, belatedly, just how two 8-feet-wide bridges pedestrian bridges over South Salina Street are going to boost the downtown economy.<br /><br />Who needs the "north bridge" between the Syracuse Mall and the Vanderbilt parking garage at South Salina and East Washington Streets?<br /><br />And how much will it help stores on either side of the 400 block of South Salina to have the "south bridge" connecting the Sibley city-owned garage with Dey's and Flah's stores?<br /><br />There is such a span already over East Jefferson Street between the Marine Midland garage and Dey's, and we have been unable to learn it produces plus-business at either end. (Post-Standard, March 10, 1976)</blockquote><br />Not even the mayor:<br /><br /><blockquote>A $4,500 study of Syracuse's downtown, concentrating on methods of tying together stores, the Hotel Syracuse, and MONY plaza complex, was disclosed today by Mayor Lee Alexander.<br /><br />Alexander revealed the new study to the Herald-Journal after ceremonies opening the new "Skybridge" connecting the Onondaga Savings Bank and Syracuse Mall buildings.<br />...<br />Mayor Alexander also indicated that such other pedestrian bridges may come for the downtown area. He said later that there are no definite plans for others, but that the Lebensold study will seek ways to tie together the business-hotel complex in the south end of the downtown area. (Syracuse Herald-Journal, October 15, 1976)</blockquote><br />Fred Lebensold, architect of the Civic Center, had first been hired by the city four years earlier for SyracUSA plan, a $100,000 study commissioned by the Metropolitan Development Association aimed to revitalize Syracuse. The irony that Syracuse needed a plan to get out of ten years and tens of millions of dollars of renewal plans gone wrong was not lost on anyone, starting with Lebensold himself:<br /><br /><blockquote>Lebensold, who helped in the rebuilding of European cities after World War II, pointed out, "Syracuse is the first city we know to have self-inflicted destruction. European cities rebuilt on the same patterns as before because Europeans are more conscious of traditions." He asked, "What do you do about preserving tradition?" Then he added, "Syracuse has more parking lots than I've seen in many cities. I'm not against cars, I drive one myself, but I walk to work." (Post-Standard, December 2, 1972)</blockquote><br />Lebensold must have realized a city addicted to cars couldn't give up driving cold turkey, so he created a downtown plan that eased Syracusans into walking, with suggestions for a "pedestrian-oriented minibus" for all six blocks of downtown Salina Street, and to "favor the pedestrian by breakthroughs between adjacent stores and attractive weatherproof underground or overhead walks." (<a href="http://syracuseb4.blogspot.com/2008/08/august-18-1975.html">1972 SyracUSA plan</a>). "Weatherproofing" the pedestrian experience seemed an appropriate step to take for a city that thought its residents had abandoned downtown in favor of suburban malls, and not because, say, these shoppers wished to avoid the sidewalk hazards alluded to by David Michel just twelve days after his skybridge construction announcement:<br /><br /><blockquote>The dilemma: a temporary use for the football-sized field hole at the corner of Washington and South Salina Streets downtown.<br /><br />For three years the property has sat sleeping while the city has tried to find a commercial developer for the site.<br />...<br />David Michel, Commissioner of Commercial Development, of Syracuse, said talks are going on with the crater's next door neighbor, Syracuse Mall, to see if Mall developers might be interested in the spot either as a parking lot or landscaped park.<br /><br />"To make the mall more accessible to the rest of downtown," Michel said.<br /><br />The New York State Urban Development Corp. was originally contracted to find a developer for the site. The corporation went into default in February of 1974 and the city has been unable to locate a suitable developer since then, he explained.<br /><br />Hopes for retail and office complex on the property have dimmed since "there's little demand for that right now," he said.<br /><br />Even a single temporary site, such as a park, poses problems, he added.<br /><br />"Who's going to maintain it? And what about security?" Michel said. (Syracuse Herald-Journal, January 12, 1976)<br /><br /></blockquote>But move the pedestrians up from the sidewalk—away from the wooden fence in questionable condition ("Erwin Schultz, vice-president of the Chamber of Commerce, admitted he hadn't been to the site in a while...he wondered aloud about the condition of the wooden fence surrounding the South Salina Street side of the property. 'Maybe some art students could paint the fence,' he said.")—and that giant hole in the ground could become Syracuse's own Grand Canyon! Or, at least, not a literal death pit.<br /><br />Which may explain why four years later, after more <a href="http://www.twitpic.com/17ravs">department store closings</a> and <a href="http://www.twitpic.com/17raqp">suburban mall openings</a>, the Downtown Syracuse Committee promoted the "forthcoming" skybridge system as a tourist and conventioneer attraction, encouraging visitors to explore Syracuse via habitrail:<br /><br /><blockquote>We give high priority to the expansion of the skyway system, knowing that pedestrianization is an important key to renewed downtown vitality. Within the next few years, the five blocks of South Salina Street from the Syracuse Mall to Hotel Syracuse will be linked by interior skyways and pedestrian bridges across streets. The network will continue through the MONY office complex to the county Civic Center.<br /><br />The bridges are an important element in the Hotel Syracuse expansion, which is scheduled to take place this year. The expansion will make Syracuse an even more attractive locale for conventions and tourism, which are so important to the local economy.—Raymond Hackbarth, chairman of the Downtown Syracuse Committee (Post-Standard, February 4, 1980)</blockquote><br />Fifty years earlier, when streets were arguably far more hazardous for the pedestrian in downtown Syracuse—newspapers from the time abound with stories of men, women and children hit by trains, cars, streetcars, horses and wagons—the city of Syracuse <a href="http://syracusethenandnow.org/History/SyrConventionCity1926.pdf">promoted itself</a> as a convention town due to its location at "the center of one of the most beautiful scenic areas in the United States." Visitors were encouraged to explore the area:<br /><br /><blockquote>The trees line the streets in every direction. Practically every residential and a number of business streets are shaded by the most beautiful elms to be found on this continent. The vista down some of the residential streets, such as James, West Onondaga, East and West Genesee Streets and University Avenue is framed by an almost perfect Gothic Arch formed by the interlaced branches of ancient elms.<br /><br />Beautiful parks are one of the greatest assets which a city may possess and Syracuse need not fear comparison with any other city in America. In addition to their natural beauty, these parks contain every feature for the recreation of the people, both winter and summer. Swimming pools, skating rinks, tennis courts, baseball diamonds, zoo and every other recreational facility are to be found amidst surroundings of great beauty. A trip through the park system of Syracuse will well repay the visitor.<br /><br />Syracuse is provided with all the varied types of amusement features to be found in any large city. The Wieting is the legitimate playhouse and here will be found the same high-grade of those of any of the other larger cities. B.F. Keith's Theatre is one of the finest vaudeville theatres in the Keith chain, and the Temple Theatre plays vaudeville and burlesque. The principal downtown motion picture theatres are the Strand, Empire and Robbins-Eckel, which present first-run photo plays of the finest quality.</blockquote><br />By 1981, the theaters had been razed for Sibley's and parking garages, dutch elm disease had reduced the number of elms in the city from 20,000 to 320 (Syracuse Herald-Journal, May 30, 1980) and the "six interurban electric lines radiating from Syracuse" were no longer available to take visitors to the parks located in neighborhoods that themselves had changed due to urban renewal. However, Downtown now had the Everson Museum, the Civic Center and a soon-to-be expanded Hotel Syracuse, prompting Mayor Lee Alexander to announce a new direction for downtown Syracuse:<br /><br /><blockquote>Downtown, the mayor said, is in a transition period from a shopping and retail center to a banking, insurance, cultural and entertainment center. "There's no prime office space downtown," he said in explaining the changing climate downtown. He said empty store fronts downtown are the sign of a transitional phase of converting downtown from a shopping center into a center providing a variety of services. (Syracuse Herald-Journal, May 6, 1981)</blockquote>A moment of clarity: Syracuse realized that downtown could not compete with the suburbs, and decided to focus on its new and remaining cultural resources (the Landmark Theater had also recently reopened, thanks to volunteer efforts to save the former Loews). But before the summer fashions left the stores, the city reverted to its <a href="http://www.twitpic.com/17xic6">retail dreams</a> a mere three months later when the developers for the Galleries came to town. However, in 1983, in line with Alexander's earlier declaration, an insurance company—Hartford Insurance—expressed an interest in moving into the former Syracuse Mall building (which closed in January 1982). The relocation became contingent upon the closure of the skybridge:<br /><br /><blockquote>The firm plans to occupy 25,000 square feet of the floor, and the path of skybridge users through the floor to the stairway would bisect the office space. That creates a security problem, Atrium owners said.</blockquote><br /><br />At the time, the Galleries was nothing more than <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/carlsoldphotos/2195165658/in/pool-syracusesigns">"Coming Soon" signs</a>, and every month brought more <a href="http://www.twitpic.com/17rcwx">retail</a> <a href="http://www.twitpic.com/17rd3z">closings</a>. Yet when faced with a corporate business wanting to lease downtown office space, city councilors had but one concern on their mind:<br /><br /><blockquote>Councilor-at-large Bernard Mahoney wondered if the city is completely abandoning the six-year old, $109,000 bridge, or if it can compel the Atrium to reopen it after a certain period of time.<br /><br />"There is nothing in the agreement discussed with the corporation counsel that would mandate the reopening of the bridge," said attorney Raymond Hackbarth, representing the buildng's owners.</blockquote><br />As Mr. Hackbarth had predicted three years earlier, skybridges <span style="font-style: italic;">had</span> become central to the future of Syracuse, just not the way he had hoped. Except even he could not fully accept that this future growth of a business downtown meant permanent closure of the skybridge:<br /><br /><blockquote>Conditions may change, and the firm may want the bridge open, Hackbarth said. In addition, he said, he has the idea the bridge could be moved. (Syracuse Herald-Journal, September 20, 1983)</blockquote><br />And so it continued: the addition of a 20-25 story office tower to the Galleries project became "largely [dependent] on market conditions and the progress of the city's skybridge system." (Post-Standard, March 28, 1986). The original Convention Center envisioned "thousands of convention goers circulating among a ground of major downtown buildings connected by aesthetically pleasing, climate-controlled skybridges." (Syracuse Herald-Journal, October 4, 1989) In 1995, then-MDA Executive Vice President Irwin Davis—who had also been with the MDA at the time of the commissioned SyracUSA plan that promoted skybridges—stated "the Salt City would get a big boost from a coordinated skyway system":<br /><br /><blockquote>"I've always been a proponent of them," he said. "They've been very, very successful in climates similar to our own. I only wish there was a way to link more of them." (Syracuse Herald-American, December 10, 1995)</blockquote><br />How could a city dotted with closed and unused skybridges still contend that skybridges would be a "big boost" to downtown? Perhaps the same reason why Syracuse believed building the largest shopping mall in the country could change its destiny: Minneapolis.<br /><blockquote><br />But even the thin-blooded can make themselves warm and happy in Minneapolis. Over the last 44 years, the city has tried to counter its five months of soul-numbing cold by erecting a game of architectural hopscotch that allows one to skip through town without risking even a wind-burned nose. Glass and metal bridges form "skyways" that allow pedestrians to traverse downtown in their T-shirts, if they so choose. The first skyway was built in 1962, across Sixth Street and Nicollet, with one end at the IDS Center, a shopping and office tower. Today, 63 bridges crisscross 72 blocks of downtown Minneapolis, making it the largest skyway system in the world, larger even than its counterpart in Calgary, Alberta, which covers 64 blocks. Businesses connected by the skyways co-own them, and most try for some originality in appearance, using multicolored glass and metal designs. (You can even go from the opera to the symphony and on to the Target Center without venturing outside.)<br /><br />The skyways, which are either 12 feet wide by 12 feet high or 16 feet by 16 feet, link grand hotels, restaurants, high-end department stores, a Saturn dealership (at Marquette Avenue), businesses ranging from banks to baseball card and coin boutiques, and even the Hennepin County criminal courts (at Fourth Street). Inside, this Jetsons-like setting creates the surreal illusion of living — no matter the time of day or the wind chill — in a pleasant bubble equipped for almost all of life's exigencies. (New York Times, February 12, 2006)</blockquote><br />In the 1990s, the Herald-American featured an article questioning why Syracuse couldn't replicate the Minneapolis skyway system:<br /><br /><blockquote>The five-mile-long skyway systems of Minneapolis and St. Paul have changed Minnesotans' way of life by creating bustling, mall-like concourses that dominate that dominate the downtown culture.<br /><br />And they're the envy of some Syracuse planners. (December 10, 1995)</blockquote><br />Much as they had been the envy of 1970s-era Syracuse planners:<br /><br /><blockquote>A trip a Syracuse delegation made a year or two ago to Minneapolis, which has pedestrian bridges, was said to have inspired the thought, "Why not Syracuse, too?" (Post-Standard, February 17, 1976)</blockquote><br />Why not Syracuse too? Well, to begin with, the Minneapolis and St. Paul area has a population of approximately 2.8 million people. Minneapolis hosts professional football, basketball and baseball teams, not to mention over thirty downtown hotels, numerous retailers and light rail. A comparison of maps:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/S5kZloA5KhI/AAAAAAAACYs/_sGaKUnVDQw/s1600-h/am-1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 309px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/S5kZloA5KhI/AAAAAAAACYs/_sGaKUnVDQw/s400/am-1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5447413358468344338" border="0" /></a> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/S5kafpygdWI/AAAAAAAACY8/YZGWBTlsNhQ/s1600-h/pedestrianbrmap.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 122px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_u8jK2eHDTGk/S5kafpygdWI/AAAAAAAACY8/YZGWBTlsNhQ/s400/pedestrianbrmap.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5447414355377288546" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br />Simply put, Minneapolis and Syracuse are not the same size, nor in same competitive market for conventions or tourists. Unless, of course, Syracuse took a page from its 1926 convention booklet, and the city "most fortunate in being the center of one of the most beautiful scenic areas in the United States, an area which is devoted to year-round recreation" could rival the "land of 10,000 lakes" for outdoor enthusiasts. All of whom, I'm sure, would shake their head at this:<br /><blockquote><br />When Lynn Seppman moved to Minneapolis in 1973 and skyways were sparse, life was tough. In the winter, the computer consultant would eat lunch at his desk and try to bundle all his personal business on one day to limit his contact with the cold.<br /><br />Twenty-two years later, a brilliantly sunny, autumn day with the temperature hovering around 50 degrees was "not quite nice enough to go out," admitted a shirtsleeved Seppman. (Syracuse Herald-American, December 10, 1995)</blockquote><br /><br />***<br />The downtown skybridges seem not so much a failed symbol of urban renewal or downtown revitalization, but rather, a living testament to Syracuse's confused relationship with the pedestrian. Placing a maze of bridges through a city seems to suggest that walking is drudgery, a necessity to get from one location to another in the few instances that you can't do so in the enclosed comfort of a car. They stand almost as an apology: "Sorry you have to walk; we'll make the environment as close to your car interior as possible." This isn't just Syracuse, but every American city that makes its civic and infrastructure decisions with its car-owning residents as the priority. What became of the idea of walking as discovery? Are the nostalgic memories that so often appear in the Post-Standard and Syracuse.com of places that skybridges and tunnels led, or of neighborhoods explored by a person's own two feet? How does one wander off the beaten path, when the path is an enclosure 8 feet wide and 14 feet above the ground?<br /><br />Or, given their conspicuous start date during the ravaged days following urban renewal, might this have been the point? During the height of the urban renewal period, the city was not portrayed as a place where one would want to roam:<br /><blockquote><br />Putting himself in the shoes of a city employee, this Herald-Journal reporter went out looking at conditions in the city.<br /><br />He expected to find the usual after-winter litter but he was amazed at the magnitude of the mess.<br /><br />Much of the dirt is due to the many construction projects under way. Machines and trucks churn up tons of dirt every day, especially along Rte. 690 and 81 jobs.<br /><br />But mud and dirt aren't the only offenders. I found literally tons of rubbish strewn on city streets ranging from scraps of paper to bottles and tree limbs.<br /><br />West Street appeared to be a dumping ground of hundreds of beer cans, broken liquor bottles and tons of paper and dirt. (Syracuse Herald-Journal, March 31, 1967)<br /></blockquote><blockquote><br />[One] disappointment is that the scarred area between the Public Safety building and the monstrous steam station must remain vacant, blighting the center of the so-called "urban renewal" area. Surely, some productive use of this parcel can be envisioned by the imaginative dreamers who demolished 100 acres of downtown with no real plan for replacement. At least they could plant some grass in the interim so that we native Syracusans need not turn our heads in disgust each time we pass this visual ruin.—Rudy Norman, Syracuse (letter to the editor, Post-Standard, July 6, 1967)</blockquote><br /><br />A decade later —and one month after the skybridge announcement—conditions didn't seem much improved, or at least not in the eyes of one 12-year old girl:<br /><blockquote><br />Dear city, and I mean the whole city,<br /><br />My name is Joyce and I'm twelve years old. If I sound pretty tough in this letter, it's because I'm very concerned about our city and its future...<br /><br />So I ask you to put this on the front page. I'm not just talking for us kids, but for the grownups too. Now you may have heard people saying downtown is going to the dumps, or how come everybody shops in the suburbs, says the downtown store owners.<br /><br />Well, it's my turn to talk, and I say first of all to think about rehabilitating some of the dumpy looking buildings. People are always saying 'those were the good old days,' so why don't we fix up Loew's State Theater instead of building a new one and spending more money...<br /><br />And fix up the old Chappell's store as bowling alleys with snack bars. And what about when people talk about air, water and land pollution, well did you ever hear of store pollution.<br /><br />Well if you go downtown and look at some of those stores, they look like the city dump instead of a department store. But I admit they have done some good things to downtown. The only trouble is you have to go halfway through downtown to get to the good part. Some people might see the first part and turn back. I would...<br /><br />Well if somebody with a lot of money cared about our city and used some of my ideas I think the people who live in the city would much rather go downtown to enjoy themselves than go to the suburbs.<br />...<br />Sincerely,<br />Joyce Pollastro, Syracuse<br />(from Syracuse Herald-American (front page of Metro section), February 8, 1976)</blockquote><br /><br />Did skybridges seem appealing not because of climate control, but aesthetic control? Did city leaders believe the carpeted floors and regulated environment of the mall could be replicated downtown via the enclosed walkways? The 2006 New York Times article about Minneapolis skyways certainly dispels this notion:<br /><br /><blockquote>The skyways are not antiseptic. In winter, mangy street singers become mangy skyway singers, and police tell beggars to move along a block above street level.<br /></blockquote><br />Regardless the motivation, the truth remains that multiple times over the past three decades, when downtown Syracuse found itself at a crossroads, city planners sought a solution in skybridges spanning across streets. The lack of a sidewalk entrance to the built bridges suggests that these bridges were never constructed for safe crossing reasons; rather, they supposed that pedestrians would never be on the sidewalk in the first place. This effectively eliminated a staple of downtown retail vitality: window shopping.<br /><br />So instead of <a href="http://www.syracuse.com/kirst/index.ssf/2010/03/post_32.html">shoveling the sidewalks</a> and operating as though snow and cold were characteristic— and not flaws—of a walk through Syracuse, city leaders turned away from the one asset downtown still possessed—walkable density—and made a lazy attempt to mimic a city whose five miles of skyways would be the equivalent walking distance from downtown Syracuse to Barnes & Noble on Erie Boulevard in DeWitt. Granted, if you walked that distance in the snow and cold, along a route that Google Maps warns "may be missing sidewalks or pedestrian paths," you would be understood for wanting to make the return trip via enclosed comfort. Unfortunately, if you took the bus, you would have to cross Erie Boulevard, much like Syracuse University Professor Emeritus Joel Kidder did in December, 2009 when he was hit and killed by a car. An intersection where a pedestrian could really use a skybridge.Syracuse B4http://www.blogger.com/profile/04953423821970292832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170446985864385441.post-11076809434515530312010-02-20T18:09:00.001-08:002010-02-21T13:23:23.833-08:00February 20-28, 1955<blockquote><span style="font-style: italic;">Syracusans in 1999 will look back on the Syracuse of 1955 as a drab community with a superabundance of bars and television antennae in an era when a handful of citizens annoyed by the lack of it discussed the "need" for culture.</span>—Post-Standard, February 20, 1955</blockquote><blockquote><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Charles Walker says he sometimes sits around in South Florida, where he lives, and thinks about “the Syracuse that I grew up in...I can’t help feeling bad about the current sorry state of what was once one of the finest cities in the Northeast,” Charles writes. Then he savors his memories of Syracuse in the 1940s and 1950s in the Strathmore neighborhood where he lived.</span>—Post-Standard, <a href="http://blog.syracuse.com/opinion/2010/01/what_are_your_top_memories_of.html">January 21, 2010</a> (and related, <a href="http://blog.syracuse.com/opinion/2010/02/memories_of_growing_up_in_cny.html">February 2, 2010</a> , <a href="http://blog.syracuse.com/opinion/2010/02/memories_of_the_way_we_were_ce.html">February 18, 2010</a>)</blockquote><br /><br />What continues to fascinate me is the <a href="http://www.syracuse.com/kirst/index.ssf/2009/04/elmwood_iii_on_toward_3000.html">continual praise</a> for 1950s Syracuse by those who lived there at the time. Is this just childhood nostalgia? Or were the fifties that fabulous? If 1950's Syracuse was "one of the finest cities in the Northeast," then why the need for the complete overhaul by decade's end? Were city leaders simply attempting to improve upon a masterpiece? Did their projects go terribly awry due to the political, economic and social uncertainties of the turbulent sixties?<br /><br />Or did everything go exactly as planned?<br /><br /><br /><object height="300" width="400"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=9532213&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1"><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=9532213&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" height="300" width="400"></embed><a class="oaqgiwmbyosogruziopl" href="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=9532213&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1"></a><a class="oaqgiwmbyosogruziopl" href="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=9532213&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1"></a><a class="oaqgiwmbyosogruziopl" href="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=9532213&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1"></a><a class="oaqgiwmbyosogruziopl" href="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=9532213&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1"></a><a class="oaqgiwmbyosogruziopl" href="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=9532213&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1"></a><a class="oaqgiwmbyosogruziopl" href="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=9532213&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1"></a></object>Syracuse B4http://www.blogger.com/profile/04953423821970292832noreply@blogger.com2