Syracuse suburban town –Camillus pictures (Lysander, Baldwinsville: for sale, houses, neighborhood)

[bellafinzi]

My Camillus pictures continued.....

[bellafinzi]

Camillus Middle School





Westshire new housing development

[Easybreezy]

Bellafinzi, I enjoyed your Camillus photos, even though I've lived here my entire life, plus am a 3rd generation native of the area. Why I even live in the house my grandfather built in 1920!

This is my first post on the forum, so if I do something wrong, please be patient with me.

A couple of comments:

There was a question on why Alec Baldwin's mother, Carol, lives here. Well, she does only part of the year. One of her daughters, Beth lives in Camillus. I believe that she splits her time between here and Long Island. Additionally, I think that I read/heard a while back that Carol herself had relatives (a brother maybe) living here as well. Carol also raises a great deal of money for breast cancer research which stays local, and had an event in town today.

For those who have moved out of the area, Camillus Plaza became Camillus Mall around 1980. Camillus Mall fell into disrepair after Carousel Center opened. Today, it has been remodeled and is called Camillus Commons. It's a great addition to the town, although when I drive up that way, I barely recognize the place with all the new businesses. (Thank God for the new Dunkin Donuts!)

Hate to tell you this, but one of your captions for the area off of Route 5/695 stated that a certain area contained homes built 1950-1960. That's my neighborhood, your photo is about 4 blocks from my house. The neighborhood was primarily developed 1920-30's. Just wanted to correct the comment.

Another area that you should consider sharing photos of would be the parks within the Town of Camillus. (I would post these, but no digital camera.)There are 3 of note. First and foremost, Erie Canal Park just outside the Village of Camillus. Beautiful restoration job, great walking trails. Second, Gillie Lake Park, near Camillus Middle School, looks so pastoral. (Not tonite though, that's where the fireworks are.) Third, Shove Park near the Fairmount Fire Station.

[bellafinzi]

Easybreezy, wow... thanks! That's one great first post packed with helpful information!

Sorry about my wrong dates for your neighborhood. I'll correct that. I had no idea homes outside the Village of Camillus had homes older than the 1950s.

Great suggestion about the parks in Camillus. I've only been to the Erie Canal Park, which to tell you the truth, I wasn't impressed with. It looked rustic, over-grown and didn't look well-maintained. Maybe it's changed recently?

I've heard of Gillie Lake Park, but never knew where it was located. I'll have to check it out sometime!

Thanks again for your comments!

(BTW, I still have a few more Camillus pictures to post, I'm waiting until the page turns though, so people don't run into bandwidth problems)

[bellafinzi]

Originally Posted by Easybreezy

There was a question on why Alec Baldwin's mother, Carol, lives here. Well, she does only part of the year. One of her daughters, Beth lives in Camillus. I believe that she splits her time between here and Long Island. Additionally, I think that I read/heard a while back that Carol herself had relatives (a brother maybe) living here as well. Carol also raises a great deal of money for breast cancer research which stays local, and had an event in town today.

Thanks for this info. I never heard the story behind the Baldwin's connection with Camillus. Just maybe the Syracuse area can become a "summer home" hotspot in the future. You know like Florida attracts the "snowbirds", maybe the reverse will start happening. The people in the south will want to get away from the heat and have a summer home up north. You never know.

[bellafinzi]

In case anyone was wondering, Camillus has a neat little website:

Town Of Camillus, New York. Phone: (315) 488-1335

[bellafinzi]

Small part of an article about the Cameron Group's plan for the mixed-use retail development in Camillus....

"The project's concept formed as partners heard people complaining during the development of Camillus Commons about the lack of new retail in the town.
"We heard people ask, 'Why can't you give us something different,' " Eldred said. "Why have we always been the (retail) stepchild?"
Goethe said Camillus has a strong, stable population base that retailers failed to recognize.
"When we talk to retailers, they never thought about this market," he said. "If you look at the numbers, they should have been. This could truly be a regional draw."
Cameron's shopping center will include 300,000 square feet of retail space. Besides restaurants and clothing and general merchandise stores, the retail space also will offer a 12-screen movie theater, Goethe said.
The firm also plans up to a 120-room hotel, 100,000 square feet of office space, 100 apartment or condominium units and up to 40 one-family homes.
Preliminary plans call for tree-lined streets within the development with scattered parking areas rather than one big parking lot."


That comment about Camillus being the "retail stepchild" is so true. For years all the new retailers would open a store in the northern suburbs (Syracuse's largest suburbs in population) and the eastern suburbs (Syracuse's wealthiest suburbs)....but the Western suburbs were ignored.

[bellafinzi]

I posted the following in answering someone's question in the past. I hope everyone from Camillus would agree with me on this....

"West Genesee This school district covers most of the Town of Camillus (population 23,000) and the northwest part of the Town of Onondaga (population 21,000). It's considered a good school district, probably the 4th best in Central New York. There is a mix of subdivisions here. Some built from the 1920s all the way in 1970s, 80s, 90s and new construction in housing developments like Starlight Estates and Timber Hill Estates. It's mostly hilly. Camillus is home to most of the strip malls in the western suburbs with a Super Wal-Mart, Lowe's, Home Depot, and a Target under construction. There is a Lifestyle center planned in Camillus too. Median price of a single family home is about $160,000."

[bellafinzi]

When I think of West Genesee, this is what usually comes to mind.....

“West Genesee is renowned for its marching band and lacrosse programs. The marching band is the most decorated organization in New York State Field Band Conference history, capturing 29 of the last 33 championships, including 15 in a row between 1989 and 2003. The lacrosse team, coached by hall-of-famer Mike Messere, is widely recognized as one of the premier high school lacrosse teams in the United States, finishing the season 1st in the national high school rankings 8 times since 1990. The team has won 14 New York State championships, including four consecutive between 2002 and 2005, and 26 Section III championships.”

West Genesee High School - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[bellafinzi]

Just found this little bit of info....I had no idea.

West Genesee is....-"Recognized as one of Newsweek’s "Best High Schools in America" for 2003, 2005 and 2006

-Recognized as one of the "Best 100 Communities for Music Education in America" for 2005 by the American Music Conference

-Recognized as one of the "100 Finalists for Outstanding Public High School Music Programs" by the Grammy Foundation for 2006"