Coronavirus, the Sidewalks, and Race - The coronavirus has disproportionately hospitalized black people in Onondaga County. The County’s population is 76.5% white, but only 54% of people hospitalized for coronavirus are white. The County’s population is 11.5% black, but 27% of people hositalized for coronavirus are black. Looking for a possible explanation, the County Executive “speculated that the trend might be … Continue reading Coronavirus, the Sidewalks, and Race →
What if they had put the trains in the Erie Canal bed in 1925? - Early in the twentieth century, Syracuse was facing two huge shifts in transportation. The Erie Canal became obsolete after New York State built the Barge Canal in the Seneca River north of Onondaga Lake, and railroad traffic through Downtown had gotten so bad (158 trains a day) that the tracks had to be moved off … Continue reading What if they had put the trains in the Erie Canal bed in 1925? →
Coronavirus, the Digital Divide, and Public Libraries - Social distancing has moved so much of our work, learning, and social interaction online, but we’re leaving too many people behind. Only about ¾ of Syracuse households have internet access. That leaves 13,000 families where the parents simply cannot telecommute and the kids simply cannot participate in a virtual classroom. In more normal times, these … Continue reading Coronavirus, the Digital Divide, and Public Libraries →
Coronavirus and the Bus - Crises reveal what really matters. Work that used to be forgotten is now understood to be essential. Workers who used to be taken for granted are now recognized as heroes—fighting on the frontlines against this global pandemic—the hospitals, the nursing homes, the garbage routes, the checkout counters. Renewed appreciation for these people and the work … Continue reading Coronavirus and the Bus →
What if Liverpool had merged with Salina and Syracuse in 1848? - In 1848 the villages of Salina (the area around Washington Square) and Syracuse (the area around Clinton Square) merged to form the City of Syracuse. According to Dennis Connor’s book Crossroads in Time, local leaders also considered including the villages of Geddes and Liverpool in the new city. Geddes (the area around St Mark’s Square … Continue reading What if Liverpool had merged with Salina and Syracuse in 1848? →
Big Demographic Trends, part 3 - Big demographic trends are bringing equally big changes to Onondaga County and the City of Syracuse. Two weeks ago we looked at where those changes are happening. Last week we tried to figure out who is driving them. This week we’re asking why we should care. The Old Growth The dominant demographic trend in Onondaga … Continue reading Big Demographic Trends, part 3 →
Big Demographic Trends, part 2 - From 2000 to 2016, the different neighborhoods, villages, and towns that make up the City of Syracuse and Onondaga County saw huge swings in population while the County and City as a whole held steady. Those neighborhood fluctuations reveal big demographic trends that point to a very different future for the City and County. Last … Continue reading Big Demographic Trends, part 2 →
Big Demographic Trends, part 1 - After decades of massive gains and losses, the populations of both the City of Syracuse and Onondaga County have held steady in the 21st century. But that broad stability masks huge changes in the neighborhoods, villages, and towns that make up the City and County. Look at them more closely, and those neighborhood fluctuations reveal … Continue reading Big Demographic Trends, part 1 →
The Very Idea of a New Neighborhood - Tired of taking on Syracuse’s seemingly intractable problems, a lot of people in positions of power throw their hands up and say ‘let’s just start over.’ Segregation, poverty, and exclusion are all so systemic in so much of the City, and depopulation and deindustrialization have combined to leave so much cheap empty land, that it … Continue reading The Very Idea of a New Neighborhood →
The Promise of the 20-Minute City - Ask some people, and they’ll tell you that the best thing about Syracuse is that it’s a ‘20-Minute City.’ They mean that you can get between any two points in Onondaga County—from Fayetteville to Fairmount, from Liverpool to Lafayette—in 20 minutes or less. This was part of Syracuse’s pitch to get Amazon’s HQ2, it’s part … Continue reading The Promise of the 20-Minute City →
The Canal in the City - The Erie Canal is maybe the most important thing that ever happened to Syracuse, but there’s hardly any trace of it left in the City. That’s bad—it makes it harder for people to tell their City’s story, and that makes it harder for them to place themselves within that story. Anything that restores the canal’s place … Continue reading The Canal in the City →
A Former Refugee Will Sit on the Common Council - Chol Majok’s victory in Tuesday’s Democratic primary marked both the beginning of a new era and the continuation of a long tradition in Syracuse’s politics. This City has welcomed more than 10,000 refugees and immigrants in the past two decades. They’ve come to Syracuse from places like Somalia, Burma, and Bhutan. Majok himself is from … Continue reading A Former Refugee Will Sit on the Common Council →
The Promise of a Premier High School in the Heart of Syracuse - When in 2017 the Consensus Commission recommended that the City of Syracuse merge with Onondaga County, no one took the idea very seriously because no one could agree on what to do about the schools. Coordinated snow plowing, consolidated procurement, a single water board? Fine. That all was easy, any hint that city and suburban … Continue reading The Promise of a Premier High School in the Heart of Syracuse →
Blueprint 15 Needs More Affordable Housing - Blueprint 15 is a plan to remake the highly visible collection of public housing complexes just south of Downtown Syracuse. It’s a collaboration between Syracuse City Hall, the Syracuse Housing Authority, the Allyn Family Foundation, and Purpose Built Communities—a non-profit that has built similar projects in 21 other cities. The plan focuses on the neighborhood … Continue reading Blueprint 15 Needs More Affordable Housing →
Two Views of Syracuse’s Future - 2019 will see two policy announcements that will shape Syracuse for decades to come. New York State plans to let us all know what it’ll do to replace I81’s downtown viaduct, and Syracuse City Hall plans to adopt its first new zoning ordinance since 1922. With each of these the community has the choice to … Continue reading Two Views of Syracuse’s Future →
What’s a Winning Season Require of the City? - On November 18, the Post-Standard published an opinion piece about the economic impact of NCAA football. It argued that Syracuse University’s successful season could add $91 million to the local economy, and that “SU and the region can leverage” that success “and reinvest it back into the economy and the team for years to come.” … Continue reading What’s a Winning Season Require of the City? →
Pushing Parolees out of Public Housing - After a twelve year old boy was shot and killed on the Northside, Mayor Ben Walsh and Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that state troopers would start patrolling Syracuse’s streets alongside city police officers. That surge in law enforcement is supposed to make the City safer, but it’s going to restrict people’s access to housing, perpetuating … Continue reading Pushing Parolees out of Public Housing →
Policing Won’t Eliminate Poverty - Five young people have been killed violently in Syracuse this year. After the most recent killing on October 11, the community and its leaders are calling for action to stop the violence and to address its root causes. New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo responded to that call by sending State Troopers to patrol “high-crime areas” … Continue reading Policing Won’t Eliminate Poverty →
Variety Makes the City - On October 13, the Post-Standard published a list of the cities, towns, villages, hamlets, and census designated places with the highest median monthly rent in each of Upstate’s fifty-three counties. Westvale was tops in Onondaga. The median rent there is $1,025 a month. That’s a lot higher than the $737 a month that the median … Continue reading Variety Makes the City →
Isolated and Systematic Cruelty - On September 30, Shakeen Robbins, an employee at the Dunkin Donuts on N Salina Street, poured cold water on Jeremy Dufresne, a homeless man who was in the donut shop to charge his phone. A video of that cruel act got international attention, the Post-Standard published a new story about it every day for seven … Continue reading Isolated and Systematic Cruelty →

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