There are several myths floating out there in Syracuse that somehow mistakenly are taken as “fact” concerning the Walkable Eastwood group of neighbors:

Myth: Redevelopment at the northeast corner of James and Midler (the former location of Steak & Sundae ) is being prevented by the Walkable Eastwood group.

Fact: The . . . → Read More: Urban myths about Walkable Eastwood]]> Written by Maureen Harding, published with her permission:

There are several myths floating out there in Syracuse that somehow mistakenly are taken as “fact” concerning the Walkable Eastwood group of neighbors:

Myth: Redevelopment at the northeast corner of James and Midler (the former location of Steak & Sundae ) is being prevented by the Walkable Eastwood group.

Fact: The owner of the building at that location, Mike Muraco, has a vacant building because he had doubled the former restaurant’s rent.  The restaurant owner decided to leave and build his own restaurant on Teall Ave.   There were no other tenants even though there was vacant space. After that, Mr. Muraco submitted a request to the Planning Commission to have the building demolished (this falls under the City Zoning Code and NOT the James Street Overlay District).  The Planning Commission denied the request because, under the City of Syracuse Zoning Code, you must have a site re-development plan in place before you can demolish.  The owner did not have a plan.  The owner retaliated against the Planning Commission with a law suit and he lost.  The owner has yet to bring a site plan application under the James Street Overlay District standards to the Planning Commission.  Therefore, the Walkable Eastwood group is absolutely not at fault since they had no control over what the owner does with his property, including failure to upkeep the property, failure to pay taxes on the property, or failure to lease the property (which would ONLY fall under the guidelines if there was any rehabilitation and new use in the old building).

Myth: The Walkable Eastwood group is responsible for the tattoo parlors, bars, salons, and pawn shops.

Fact: These land uses are permitted as-of-right under the City of Syracuse Zoning Code regardless of the Overlay District Design Standards.  Therefore, the Walkable Eastwood group is absolutely powerless over what or who decides to open a business on James Street.

Myth: The Walkable Eastwood group is against development of any kind on James Street.

Fact: There has been one development application for site plan review on James Street that falls under the James Street Overlay District Design Standards (other than those by Mr. Pomphrey of Pomco) who generally complies with the spirit and the intent of the standards), and that is Walgreens (Five Points Development formerly HDL).  The developer of Walgreens, Guy Hart, Jr.,  was on his own schedule and failed to submit a sign plan with his original site plan back in 2005 (the sign plan was NOT approved before).  Therefore, the Walkable Eastwood group simply made sure that the design standards were complied with when he did submit his sign plan four years later. The hold-up was entirely self-created by the developer as he requested 11 waivers from the design standards.  Had he complied (as Mr. Pomphrey does) he would have been through the process in a matter of weeks (as Mr. Pomphrey is).

Myth: The Walkable Eastwood group is responsible for that “hole in the ground that used to be the Bowling Alley” (the southwest corner of James and Midler).

Fact: The owner of that property, Tino Marcoccia, had worked with the original James Street Overlay District Review Board back in the early 2000 period (prior to the review board being dissolved by the City) on a site plan.  The funding for Mr. Marcoccia’s project fell through and he did not return with a site plan.  Therefore, he never went through the review process to have it denied or granted.  The owner was approached with purchase offers, the owner refused to sell.

The Walkable Eastwood group is simply a grassroots volunteer organization of neighbors who value pedestrian-oriented development. This type of development is what is revitalizing Syracuse’s downtown as well as many other cities and towns in the country. It is 21st century-style development. Unfortunately for Mr. Hart, the Walgreens development was the antithesis of a mixed-use, pedestrian-oriented, traditional neighborhood Main Street design of which the Overlay District Standards require.

Some of the Eastwood residents are willing to settle for less…or are desperate (which is not a requirement under the Eastwood Overlay Design Standards).  The Walkable Eastwood group is willing to hold out for something better because it knows that it’s possible to develop something uniquely Eastwood that looks and is cohesive, pleasing to explore, and diverse in its businesses. The group, comprised of people from a wide variety of backgrounds, includes professional urban planners, civil engineers, landscape architects, architects, and college professors who know by their training, education and expertise that the alternative, design centered on automobiles, is no longer acceptable. Auto-centric design is unhealthy, unsustainable and bad for property values. Thus they are protecting their own property values as well as those of their neighbors by using the tools and resources available to them. Nothing more, nothing less.

For the last few days I’ve been staring at this sign on the Steak and Sundae, trying to understand what’s really being said.  Mr. Kimatian is a Republican and a former broadcast executive at Chanel 3 TV.  At the primary mayoral . . . → Read More: The city isn’t just a business]]> Sent to the Walkable Eastwood email group and reposted here with the permission of the author:

For the last few days I’ve been staring at this sign on the Steak and Sundae, trying to understand what’s really being said.  Mr. Kimatian is a Republican and a former broadcast executive at Chanel 3 TV.  At the primary mayoral debate, in part sponsored by Walkable Eastwood, Mr. Kimatian made it clear he would run the City as a business.  I think that is an important point and I definitively agree.  Over the 30 plus years I’ve called Syracuse my home the City of Syracuse has been operated as a disconnected series of fiefdoms with one part of the City not caring about the others.  The political system has always promoted one part of the City at the expense of the others.

Unfortunately, Eastwood has always been left out of City-wide considerations for one overriding political consideration: with one exception, Eastwood has never had it’s own representation.  Eastwood is split down the middle by the 1st and 5th Council Districts.  The power base of the 1st District is located on the City northside (the N. Salina area).  The 5 th District has it’s power base in the 17th Ward (the Salt Springs area).  While the 4 Councilor-at Large positions are supposed to represent the entire City, the reality is they represent particular constituencies.  For instance, Van Robinson has make it clear to me, personally, he represents “his people”, by which he meant African-Americans.

Over the past couple of years, Kathleen Joy has assisted Eastwood in defending ourselves against the onslaught of Walgreens and mindless development.  For this I am immensely grateful.

Kimatian proclamations that he will run the City as a business leave me cold.  Yes, the City is a half billion dollar business, BUT it’s more than just that.  This City is a community of PEOPLE that rely on politicians to remember that they exist.  We the people, need the politicians to understand that we are a series of communities that are bound together to form this City.  Yes, we are a City, but we are communities and neighborhoods and individuals who stand together to form this City.  Not just customer to serve the welfare of a capitalistic system.

And, therein is the rub with Mr. Kimatian’s proclamation “This will be a thriving business when …”  He hasn’t asked us, the people who live here, the people who own this neighborhood.  This is OUR turf and you only DO with our permission.

We have just seen the results of 8 years of national laissez-faire politics and it has brought this nation close to economic collapse.  Lets not let it happen to our neighborhood.

Chuck Lochner

PUBLIC NOTICE CITY OF SYRACUSE CITY PLANNING COMMISSION

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN, that a public hearing will be held Monday, April 27, 2009, at 6:00 p.m. in the Common Council Chambers, City Hall, Syracuse, New York to consider in full or in part the following applications: . . . . . . 7) Application No. AS-08-33, . . . → Read More: Planning Commission meeting re: sign waiver]]>

FOR PUBLICATION FRIDAY, APRIL 17, 2009

PUBLIC NOTICE
CITY OF SYRACUSE
CITY PLANNING COMMISSION

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN, that a public hearing will be held Monday, April 27, 2009, at 6:00 p.m. in the Common Council Chambers, City Hall, Syracuse, New York to consider in full or in part the following applications:
. . . . . .
7) Application No. AS-08-33, for a Sign Waiver of area, type, and number, on property situated at 2327 James Street, owned by Five Point Development Grant, zoned Local Business, Class A, pursuant to Part C, Section X, of the City of Syracuse Zoning Rules and Regulations, as amended.

(See notification of complete meeting HERE.)

Look familiar?

Yep, we just went to the same meeting on April 6. What happened in that meeting? No decision was made. After three years of not communicating with the community and only one whole business day before the April 6 planning commission meeting, the developer requested and was granted the opportunity to meet with community members before a decision would be rendered. So he didn’t show up or even send a representative to the April 6 meeting where one person, Minch Lewis, spoke in favor of the waiver, one person offered a compromise (and was told this was not the meeting in which to do that), and over a dozen people spoke against it.

So what are we to do now?

Let me quote Frank Coon here. Frank, owner of CareFree Realty, grew up in Eastwood and has been responsible for the design, permitting and development of more than 120,000 acres, more than 18,000 homes being sold and/or built, and several million square feet of all types of commercial properties in New York, Texas and Florida. He knows the developer game. Frank says:

If their requirements are reasonable, a good developer knows that they will be able to attract quality businesses and tenants. These will last for years.

Especially in today’s economy, and some of these do this even in good times, there are the “vultures” out there who will do or say anything to get things their way – and all “on the cheap”. Nothing is left unturned to accomplish their goals – political manipulation, bullying tactics toward the residents and other business people, etc. Sound familiar ?? That type of “cheap” development may work for a couple of years, but will not last.

This is primarily due to the fact that this type developer ends up with a similar class of tenants who run their business “on the cheap”, end up running them into the ground and leave owing all kinds of money. Then the community is left with buildings that not only do not fit with the rest of the community, but will not and do not stand up to the elements – and good quality tenants turn their noses up at that type property – and it can turn them off to the community. That’s because that type development tells them a lot about the quality of the community and their prospective customers.

The “birds of a feather” thing does apply.

Frank

Eastwood is full of people who do not have the experience with developers that Frank has. They haven’t had to think like a developer to get their work done, so they cannot necessarily conceive of the game that’s being played with this last-minute meeting and the offer of one more “compromise” when in fact we’ve already been compromised to death. Too bad we have to be that cynical just to protect ourselves from the type of developers whose  deeds on James St., present or future, would contribute to the kind of destruction of the social fabric that has taken place at Salina and Ballantyne streets.

Streetscape design includes lighting, sidewalks, where buildings are placed and how transparent they are to the street. If streetscape design were not beneficial, the City of Syracuse would not have invested over three hundred thousand dollars in the sidewalk improvements we’ve gotten in the past three years. Yet all this can be overshadowed by poor building design. In other words, if we allow the guidelines to be disregarded, we have essentially thrown away all the money spent on sidewalks and other beautification.

The unraveling of the fabric of our community starts by allowing one hole in the enforcement of the guidelines. Strong guidelines attract good developers.

No ground signs.  Period.

Frank would concur. And so would the public.

So far, forty-six people have voted in the public survey about the sign waiver (top right sidebar). The results:

• 79.55% chose the following options :
  • Absolutely not. The signs on their walls are more than enough.
  • No, that kind of sign shouldn’t be there.

The remaining 20.45% was evenly divided between “I like it”, “It’s okay”, and “I don’t care either way.”

What do you think?

Syracuse Brownfield Opportunity Area

Steve Skinner, owner of the Eastwood Plaza, brought it to my attention. The big question is: opportunity for whom?  And:

What impact will it . . . → Read More: Syracuse Brownfield Opportunity Area]]> I’m sure there has been mention of this in the press, and perhaps some members of the reading public have been to meetings about it, but I completely missed this one:

Syracuse Brownfield Opportunity Area

Steve Skinner, owner of the Eastwood Plaza, brought it to my attention. The big question is: opportunity for whom?  And:

What impact will it have on existing businesses on James Street?

What makes it so different from everything else that’s been tried on Erie Blvd?