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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 . . . → Read More: Urban myths about Walkable Eastwood Dave and I just got back from a visit to Buffalo, another much-maligned city in upstate New York that has, nevertheless, managed to move forward in its thinking about sustainable urban development. While the addition of one more national chain in Eastwood has caused much furor, Buffalo’s Elmwood Village is just a step or three ahead . . . → Read More: Other cities series: Buffalo’s Elmwood Village When it comes to approaching the Planning Commission about waiver requests, we hear a lot of conflicting messages about the role and power of the residents:
Anyone crazy enough to read all these posts knows I grew up in Manlius, so walkability was normal for me. My dear ol’ dad was a member of the Village Board for quite some time and I recall fights back in the ’60’s when he and others were trying to prevent the village from tearing down its historic buildings. For the most part, they were successful. And if you walk around Manlius today, you’ll see that there’s still a “there” there. You’ll know, from the quaintly mid-century Sno-Top to the Swan Pond to the ancient Masonic Temple and the early 19th-century homes near the gazebo, that you are in no other place than Manlius, NY. Don’t it always seem to go I’ve been reading a lot about upstate New York lately, in particular Carl Carmer’s books. But I recently got a different kind of book from the library: Dispatches . . . → Read More: They paved paradise Sean Kirst recently wrote an article, The Dinosaur: More success by design, citing one of his previous articles, The Dinosaur, by design, that reinforces that idea that we have a prime example in our town of a business that works, despite all the ways people think it should not work. And that’s the Dinosaur, now the . . . → Read More: A last-century response to a current problem Any of this sound familiar? From debates heard in the United Kingdom’s House of Commons:
If we do a reading of the numerous ways in which Mayor Driscoll has supported the concept of design guidelines, which are necessary to sustainable development, then we get one picture: Continue reading Mayor does/doesn’t support design guidelines
(See notification of complete meeting HERE.) Look familiar? Continue reading Planning Commission meeting re: sign waiver It’s important to understand where we’ve come from to have a better grasp on where we’re going. The James Street Overlay District Guidelines have become very important because of the many challenges we face in maintaining their enforcement. Understanding the process that went into their creation and their adoption as an ordinance in the City of Syracuse may shed some light on why they are so important. Here I reproduce the words from this brief description of the ESF study that got things rolling (bolding mine). For many years, Kathleen Joy has supported smart, sustainable development in Eastwood. She has been a tireless researcher, an effective communicator, and a source of information that might otherwise have been difficult for the average resident. Some time ago, she started her own blog. As is her habit, when she has something of import to let . . . → Read More: Post by Councilor Kathleen Joy What is a sign? What is an animated sign? What is an “indoors” sign? And what is an “outdoors” sign? When I look at the kinds of signs the planning commission will be deciding on this coming Monday, I have to wonder if they’re going to have to figure out what the meaning of “is” is. Syracuse, we are not alone in our fight to maintain a sense of place in our neighborhoods. While Eastwood compromised its unique neighborhood feel to end up with another national chain in its business district, it is still fighting to keep that store from overwhelming the gateway to our community. We are not Walgreens. We are Eastwood. Our overlay district guidelines were put in place to protect the one thing we can sell to potential investors in our neighborhood: a unique place called Eastwood. The look and feel of our neighborhood is our identity, it’s our “brand.” Fill James Street with national chains and we lose that identity. If 100 people in Eastwood were to read this through – it takes less time than watching just the ads in “Dancing With the Stars” – and if each were to educate just one other person about the effect on Eastwood of the proposed Walgreens sign, then we’d have a great turn-out at the April 6 Planning Commission meeting. That’s when a decision will be made about what they want: a 10-foot LED stand-alone ground sign. It violates the overlay district guidelines in four ways: sign square footage, total number of signs, prohibition against ground signs, and prohibition against animated signs. But here’s what you want to read first, an email reprinted here with permission from our neighbor and retired professor of architecture, Sig Snyder: 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 . . . → Read More: Syracuse Brownfield Opportunity Area Folks, I don’t like to post twice in one day, but I just can’t help it this time. I just caught the headlines at syracuse.com: Wal-Mart calls it quits on Liverpool site Continue reading A tremendous win for sustainable development Updated 12/27/2006 4:22 AM ET “…Slowly, old American cities that have been in a downward population spiral for a half-century or more are reinventing themselves as, well, smaller cities. They’re starting to adopt — many, like Richmond, do it unknowingly — tenets of the burgeoning, European-born “Shrinking Cities” movement. The idea: If . . . → Read More: As older cities shrink, some reinvent themselves |
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