How will Syracuse stimulate itself?

During the Great Depression, Syracuse saw major changes made possible through federal and state funding; will stimulus money be history repeating?


How? Not slowly, as two words came down from Washington D.C. through the state to city hall: “shovel ready.”
Ken Mokrzycki, director of administration for the city of Syracuse, came before the Common Council this week to present the beginning of a plan. He said it is not only shovel ready, but also within a 120-day start. Washington wants to get this money into the economy fast.
And the money isn’t just going to government, but also to private institutions such as SU, he said. And if we aren’t ready, it will go to another state with projects ready to go.
According to City Hall these are the two transportation projects that are ready to go:

Dorwin Avenue Bridge over Onondaga Creek: This project involves the rehabilitation/replacement of the bridge superstructure (deck and supporting steel girder replacement). During construction, traffic will be maintained at the site by rehabilitating the bridge in stages allowing one-way traffic across the other portion of the bridge. Traffic flow will be controlled by temporary traffic signals. A city-owned water main and a National Grid gas main will also be replaced across the bridge. Total Stimulus Project cost is $1,415,000.

Creekwalk: Armory Square to Onondaga Lake: The goal of this project is to connect Armory Square to Onondaga Lake via a pedestrian and bicycle path along Onondaga Creek. A portion of the creekwalk exists in the Franklin Square area, and this project will complete the creekwalk between W. Jefferson Street and Onondaga Lake. Total Stimulus Project cost is $6,300,000.

Councilor Ryan McMahon asked if we had other projects shovel ready if other states don’t meet the demands. City engineer Mary Robison said, “We do, its just the 120 days might be hard to meet.”
“I would like to keep ourselves open to working with other municipalities, especially the county,” said Councilor Bea Gonzales.
She said these are the worst of times and the best of times.

Let’s step back in time
What the stimulus package is to our 21st Century economic crisis, Public Works Money was to the Great Depression. In the interest of using history to our advantage, maybe it would benefit Syracusans to remember how public money was spent the last time around.
One major difference in this new century, though: New Yorkers don’t have a Governor-turned-President whose progressive policies could fund public projects in the Syracuse area and create jobs for hurting CNY workers.
According to Dennis Connors, curator of History at the Onondaga Historical Association, that’s just what we had going for us in the late 1920s, when Franklin D. Roosevelt was Governor of New York. It was our gain that Roosevelt was compelled to test run what would later become the WPA, under the name Emergency Recovery Act in New York State.
Through the program, the Emergency Work Bureau was created in Onondaga County, which was charged with rooting out shovel-ready projects and putting people to work on the state’s dime.
The result were two of Syracuse’s most recognizable icons: Onondaga Lake Park and Route 690.
“Those were things that obviously put a fair number of people to work and really had long lasting, transformative impact on the community,” Connors said.

Onondaga Lake Parkway
Picture an Onondaga Lake gutted by the salt industry and horribly polluted by local factories, but also bare of public recreation space. That is the Onondaga Lake of the 1930s, a prime target for development through state aid.
The creation of the park itself, along with the Salt Museum, marina and picnic areas, and the Onondaga Lake Parkway on top of the abandoned Oswego Canal were all made possible through state funding. Later, when federal money came through in the form of WPA dollars, the boathouse was erected.
“This was really reclaiming the waterfront community for public recreation activities,” Connors said. “Even though the lake obviously continued to be polluted, and became more polluted, it sort of gave the community a stake in the lake.”
Connors pointed out that in the 1920s and 30s, projects were able to gain momentum quickly, as far fewer regulations, (like environmental impact laws), were in place.
Though even now, 80 years later, it may not be wise to swim in the lake, the park provides year-round recreation in a variety of settings, and the parkway is arguably one of the most scenic routes into the city.

Off the ground
Ever get stuck at a red light trying to cross Washington Street? Better than waiting for a train to pass.
A railroad once ran straight through downtown on what is now Washington Street, and as the city grew up it was clear that arrangement was not going to work.
Not directly an ERA or WPA project, the railroad problem was solved jointly with state aid and private railroad dollars.
One railway was moved outward to the West Side, while the other was elevated above the city and eventually replaced with Route 690 – hence the railway station-themed mural on the side of the Time Warner building.
“The Depression had arrived by time the plans were done, but the money, design and commitment were there,” Connors said. “So in the middle of the Depression in the 1930s, this huge public works project was going on.”
As the upcoming mayoral and council elections continue to spark debate around the fate of Route 81, an interesting parallel lies in the solution Syracuse implemented to remove a major transportation vein from cutting through the city in the 1930s.
It also raises the question, how we ended up trying to fix the same problem 80 years later. Back then, they put it overhead; these days, we question the possibility of going underground.

That’s not all, folks
Other WPA-funded projects included landscaping in public parks, updating the city’s sewer system and paving roads, Connors said.
In 1937 and then again in 1941, as part of a Republican mayoral campaign, two publications were circulated touting the accomplishments of the previous administration – pure propaganda, but a useful tool for looking back on how Syracuse made use of state and federal money.
And for imagining what sort of a publication the next city administration will be able to publish, once the stimulus money becomes available. We are pretty sure that bridge will be fixed in the Valley section and a creekwalk from Armory Square to Onondaga Lake could really make a huge impact.
But will Syracuse boast a high-speed rail? Or even reinstate the rail from the University to the Carousel Center? An underground Interstate? City school renovations (more to report on this next week), a swimmable lake, renovated homes currently empty and in disrepair?
Connors pointed out that no matter how the money is spent, it will take time. “When this money got approved for Onondaga Lake Park and the parkway, within a couple of months they had things going. That was an era without ‘environmental impact.’ … It will be interesting to see how fast these projects get started [now],” he said.
Well, according to city hall time is the one thing we don’t have for a change.

CATEGORY: Development & Growth
TAGS: Creekwalk, Onondaga Lake Parkway, Washington Street, Onondaga Lake Park, Onondaga Lake Parkway, WPA, ERA, FDR, stimulus, economy
EDITION: Syracuse City Eagle

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