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It certainly seems that Syracuse would be a lot better without an oversupply of blighted housing, and with (say) a sweeping Onondaga Creek Greenway pulsing through the South Side connecting hip neighborhoods and center city employment centers.
I freely admit I'm years out of the loop, as one of the many economic migrants from CNY. Is this being talked about?
Officials from Flint's Genesee County toured Syracuse last summer to discuss establishing a land bank. According to a Post-Standard article, they felt Syracuse was nowhere near as blighted as Flint and didn't have the same level of urban decay. The concept of shrinking a city is nothing new. The city of Youngstown, OH established this practice several years ago.
Flint and Youngstown have far more in common than Syracuse does with either city, despite all 3 communities once having a large manufacturing base. Both Flint and Youngstown have suffered population losses of approximately 1/2 while Syracuse has lost around 1/3. The economies in both Midwestern cities are more dependent on manufacturing than Syracuse. Further, while some of Syracuse’s older and inner ring suburbs and villages have lost population, most have stayed somewhat stable. The suburban core of Flint and Youngstown’s Mahoning County has experienced rather sizable population losses since 2000. Buffalo, which has shrunk by more than half since recording its highest population, would probably be a better candidate for this practice.
Although I understand the need to reduce blight, density, and costs associated with running a city that is a shadow of its former self (Syracuse would fall under this category), this practice ensures even steeper population losses which will result in less political representation at the county, state, and federal level, a large reduction in federal funding (e.g community development block grants which are based on census numbers) and will almost certainly bump Syracuse's status from a medium sized city to a small one. Not only would this reduce Syracuse's attractiveness as a medium city center in a midsize metropolitan area, it would make this community less competitive for site selection purposes since many companies require a large enough labor force. One also cannot underestimate the psyche of a community that has given up and accepted that it’s on the path to extinction. Although it’s almost certain the city of Syracuse will never be as large as during its population peak in 1950, many of us hope the city will at least stabilize its population losses. Other industrial medium sized cities like Hartford, New Haven, Bridgeport, CT, Springfield, MA, and Providence have started to see their large population losses stabilize and in some cases increase.
Speaking of the Onondaga Creek area and the concept of shrinking, a blighted apartment complex called Shady Willows on Onondaga Creek Blvd was demolished several years ago. There were initially plans to replace this high density, crime ridden apartment complex with housing; however city leaders recently decided to leave the lot permanently undeveloped to preserve green space along the creek. I think this is a good idea and will not in itself lead to a further decline of the city's population
I agree that Syracuse isn't as blighted as Flint. Youngstown, Ohio has been doing this or has suggested something similar to what was described in the article.
As for the Pittsburgh comparison, I think the two cities are similar, because both are or have recreated themselves. Syracuse does have neighborhoods that are easily defined, especially now according to this map:Syracuse Neighborhood Information + Homes For Sale | CNYREALTOR.COM Local companies like Syracuse Research Corporation, Sensis and Anaren are a few examples of places that are doing fine in the area. So, the potential is there for the Syracuse area to evolve.
But Pgh also still has corporate headquarters, which provides a vested interest in skid stopping, plus a skyline that Syracuse never managed to get.
Take away Pittsburgh's skyline and replace it with Syracuse's skyline. Think about it.
If the above was possible, Pittsburgh would probably receive half the respect it does today.
Pittsburgh's skyline, the major league sports teams and national name recognition are why people have such a positive image of Pittsburgh compared to Syracuse.
Last edited by bellafinzi; 05-19-2009 at 11:37 AM..
Not only would this reduce Syracuse's attractiveness as a medium city center in a midsize metropolitan area, it would make this community less competitive for site selection purposes since many companies require a large enough labor force.
I couldn't believe how the local leadership handled Geico touring Syracuse when that company was doing site selection in Upstate NY a few years back!
Geico toured the City of Syracuse and maybe a couple places in DeWitt, then asked our civic leaders where will all the workers would come from if they came here? Stupidly, instead of our leadership driving them out to Clay, Baldwinsville, Camillus and Manlius etc, Syracuse's civic leaders told Geico that the workers would come from surrounding rural counties!
Most outsiders don't realize all the population in the Syracuse area since the most populated suburban areas are all tucked away from the hotels, business centers, highways and main regional destinations.
Geico also toured Buffalo and Rochester. Ultimately, choosing Buffalo.
Last edited by bellafinzi; 05-19-2009 at 11:38 AM..
I couldn't believe how the local leadership handled Geico touring Syracuse when that company was doing site selection in Upstate NY a few years back!
Geico toured the City of Syracuse and maybe a couple places in DeWitt, then asked our civic leaders where will all the workers would come from if they came here? Stupidly, instead of our leadership driving them out to Clay, Baldwinsville, Camillus and Manlius etc, Syracuse's civic leaders told Geico that the workers would come from surrounding rural counties!
Most outsiders don't realize all the population in the Syracuse area since the most populated suburban areas are all tucked away from the hotels, business centers, highways and main regional destinations.
Geico also toured Buffalo and Rochester. Ultimately, choosing Buffalo.
Speaking of Geico and Barfalo, Patterson is courting Yahoo to open a data center in WNY. According to this article wgrz.com | Buffalo, NY | Paterson: Power for WNY Yahoo! Site (http://www.wgrz.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=66637&catid=37&GID=TDK1sudIzi6F p4e+eI4q93rv4vEHqsKyj3uvQqoL8fg%3D - broken link)
Sites in Niagara and Genesee Counties are the likely candidates. The state is offering reduced cost power for yahoo. Meanwhile, none of the incompetent, hick politicians in Syracuse tried to lobby yahoo and Empire State Development on merits of locating the data center in CNY. Once again Syracuse loses while Buffalo gains. The fact that Empire State Development's upstate headquarters with its arsenal of townie Buffalo staff is located in WNY probably had a lot to do with the site location. Patterson probably likes Buffalo since much of the city resembles the grittiest parts of NYC, his hometown. He cannot relate to Syracuse and most of upstate and therefore has seized on Buffalo and Rochester since they are the largest upstate cities and will bring the most predictable democratic votes when he runs for re-election.
Empire State could have issued an RFP to local economic development agencies representing upstate's larger metro areas. After these groups submitted a list of viable locations, the state should have rated them based on merit, not on what influential state politician lives in or represents the area.
Take away Pittsburgh's skyline and replace it with Syracuse's skyline. Think about it.
If the above was possible, Pittsburgh would probably receive half the respect it does today.
Pittsburgh's skyline, the major league sports teams and national name recognition are why people have such a positive image of Pittsburgh compared to Syracuse.
While Pittsburgh's skyline is nice, I think it more than just that. It's location with close proximity to the Midwest the South, while being in the Northeast helps. It's also in the middle of 3 rivers, which could be used to transport things. Pittsburgh also has some good colleges like Pitt, Carnegie Mellon, Duquesne and others.
Then, you have to look at how far out the Pittsburgh metro goes and it does have around 2.5 million people in it.
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