By Lonnie, on March 17th, 2010%
This article was posted exactly one year ago. Do we understand any better now the monetary and quality-of-life impact that design and development, good or bad, have on our neighborhood? It’s time we got very clear about what we want and do not want in Eastwood.
Word on the street has it that in a meeting last night of the Common Council, the idea of demolishing the old Steak & Sundae building at the corner of James and Midler was brought up. Please correct me if I’m wrong (go ahead! down below, in the comments section), but I thought the owner of this property already asked for this and it was turned down because he had no plan for building something else there.
[Editor's note: corrections will be found in comment section.]
Why is this week any different from that week? And why would anyone want to reward this person with what he asked for back then? The owner of this property has allowed his building to blight our neighborhood and owes back taxes on it (what happens to you when you owe thousands in back taxes?). He’s been approached a number of times by Stephen Skinner, owner of the Eastwood Plaza, with offers to buy and fix up.
Continue reading Wittigs a.k.a. Steak & Sundae
By Lonnie, on March 20th, 2009%
There’s some confusion about the sign that the Planning Commission will be voting on come April 6. Here is my understanding of it (corrections, as always, are welcome in the comment section), as reported by a concerned citizen who visited the zoning office:
The overall dimensions of the proposed ground sign, including the two piers, is about 10 ft. high, by about 13 ft. wide, by 2.5 ft. deep. The piers are 2.5 ft. square, and 10 ft. high. The space between the piers is about 9 ft. wide, where there will be, I believe, a “Walgreens” sign, and the changeable electronic sign of about 8 ft. width.
Just how big is this, really? According to Common Councilor Kathleen Joy, “The entire sign would be about 100 sq ft. …The architect told me that it needs to be big enough to be seen over cars and the Veterans monument. ”
Continue reading The sign they’ll be voting on April 6
By Lonnie, on March 9th, 2009%
Although we were assured in 2005 that there would be no scrolling LED sign at the Walgreens that now graces the gateway to our “village,” this type of sign is likely to rear its ugly head again. If you care about what kind of “look and feel” our traditional village streetscape has, you may want to attend the public hearing (details below).
Continue reading What kind of signage do WE want?
By Lonnie, on July 19th, 2008%
I have been incensed ever since a lopsided vote in the Common Council allowed the Kingsley-True House to be slated for demolition, despite the overwhelming public and professional support for preservation. How could this have happened?
This was all explained to us in March in this Post-Standard article. Remember? Six of the Common Councilors voted for historic designation while only three, Michael Heagerty, Patrick Hogan and Ryan McMahon, voted against it. But in our broken system, the resolution required 7 “yes” votes to pass. I have to ask, what was our dear Mike Heagerty thinking? He, of all people, as owner of Eastwood’s beloved Palace Theater, should understand the importance of historic buildings to their communities.
It is vitally important that the perception of an either-or situation be turned around. It is patently false that this city must choose between caring for sick kids and protecting its history. Albany didn’t have to make that choice. Philadelphia didn’t have to make that choice. What is it about Syracuse that leaves us vulnerable to three people who somehow ended up with this much power?
“…(T)he votes of city officials on the Landmark Preservation Board (9-0); the Syracuse Planning Commission (5-0); and the Syracuse Common Council (6-3), the votes of city officials were overwhelmingly in favor of historic designation (20-3).” (Post-Standard article) Continue reading Kingsley-True: it’s not a done deal. Action needed immediately!
By Lonnie, on April 27th, 2008%
We’re avid readers of Anthony Bourdain’s books. Two of them have impacted our family somewhat dramatically. The first was Kitchen Confidential. Aside from being just a great read, it was also the third book our then-early-adolescent son read. He read it cover to cover, but it was at the third chapter that he came running to announce that he wanted to be a chef. Why? He pointed to the title of Chapter 3: “Food is Sex”. That did it. A couple culinary degrees under his belt, he’s now in charge of the mignardises in a restaurant in New York.
But the book that continues to inspire me is A Cook’s Tour, and specifically the chapter, “Where Food Comes From“. Read it, and you’ll understand why he says that where our food comes from is not always pretty. But it’s the larger concept behind that chapter that makes me think a lot and sometimes do strange things.
Strange thing #1: I make coffee in a 70-year-old vacuum coffee pot.
Continue reading Where food comes from
By Lonnie, on March 31st, 2007%
I watched a pretty shocking “20/20″ segment this evening. It showed the results of an error made by a teenage “pharmacy assistant” in a Walgreens in Florida. A mother of three was given ten times the amount of medication she should have had which resulted in a stroke and and end to her chemotherapy. . . . → Read More: Who will fill your prescription at Walgreens?
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