Byrne Square Can Dance Back From the Grave

Over the past 10-15 years, Downtown Syracuse has seen a number of its architectural treasures preserved, renovated, and reoccupied, bringing more life back to the city’s center. One outlier of this trend is the Byrne Square on West Genesee Street and Franklin Street. While its basement is occupied by Studio 54, the rest of the building remains vacant, with remnants of its dance studio past evident all around; large mirror walls, barres, wooden floors, and a large billboard on top advertising “License to Dance - Arthur Murray.”

Some would argue that this building suffers from a lack of parking, with most street spots already taken up by Dinosaur BBQ and Apizza customers, but in many ways the availability of this parking is what hinders this space. West Willow Street, which borders the triangular building to the north, is rarely used for traffic, and the little traffic that does come through is often drivers looking for a shortcut, leading to high speeds and little awareness of their surroundings. Parked cars often back up to the corners, even with parking restrictions in place, causing poor visibility for people on foot. The western intersection, over 100 feet wide, has no crosswalk and any traffic turning onto the street often picks up speed to avoid oncoming traffic. 

Here, there are a few solutions to improve the appeal of this location and make it safer to access. 

The first, and probably less controversial option, extend the sidewalk and have West Willow Street square off with West Genesee Street. This would require drivers turning onto the street to slow down to make the turn instead of continuing on at the same speed. This would also provide shorter distances for people to walk across, making walks from the nearby Creek Walk more pleasant and appealing, as well as provide extra sidewalk space for outdoor dining opportunities. Utilizing bump outs at each corner would also prevent cars from blocking crosswalks and sight lines, making it safer to cross.

The second option is to make West Willow Street into a one-way street heading west and squared off as discussed above. This alone prevents some of the faster moving vehicles from turning onto the street from West Genesee, while also providing opportunities to expand the sidewalk, add in bike facilities, and create a more welcoming place to walk to hang out.

The third, more ambitious option, is to close West Willow Street off from traffic. Remake the street as a pedestrian plaza and allow a new building tenant to control the space, creating significant outdoor dining opportunities, as well as performance spaces. The plaza space should continue down into the Franklin-Willow intersection, functioning as a raised intersection, a significant traffic calming measure that would fit perfectly in a space surrounded by popular bars and restaurants.

All of these options options should be paired with expanded sidewalks around Dinosaur BBQ, a place that consistently has lines outside the door on a narrow strip on concrete, and Apizza, which currently forces people to walk around cars parked in the space a sidewalk should be. It may also be worth exploring partnering with the parking lot that makes up the fourth corner of this intersection. The lot sees heavy use during traditional work hours Monday thru Friday, but very little use at night and on the weekends. Using this as a share space for the restaurants’ customers at night would help lower the competition for on-street parking and allow that space to be used for other things.

Finally, time to consider what type of business make work well in this space. With Dinosaur BBQ, Apizza, Press Room Pub, and Trexx Night Club within an easy walking distance, Byrne Square could become the third major dining/nightlife spot in Downtown Syracuse. Hanover and Armory Squares benefit from the close proximity of multiple bars and restaurants with relatively slow vehicle traffic. Part of this is thanks to narrowed streets and some street closures. Byrne Square could be the missing piece that uplifts this entire district.

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Considering the uniqueness of the building, and its history as a dance studio, Byrne Square has the potential to become a unique bar/restaurant experience where each floor has its own theme and vibe. This is similar to the concept of Tequila Cowboy in Pittsburgh, which is home to four different bars that are interconnected (country, karaoke, modern, and casual). Part of the first floor, where the dance studio used to be, should be turned back into a dance floor and named “Licensed to Dance” to honor the former occupant. The top floor can be used as a casual lounge with views of the city. The basement, currently occupied by Studio 54, could be reinvented as a speak easy or a wine cellar, catering to a more upscale clientele. During the afternoon and early evening, lunch and dinner can be served indoors on the dance floor and out on the newly expanded sidewalk/plaza area, while dining can continue at night on the top floor with snacks provided in the speak easy/wine cellar in the basement.

With or without following my suggestion on how to bring the Byrne Square building back to life, the improvements on the street will give the building a real chance at reinvention while lifting up the surrounding buildings as well. Reclaiming space for people instead of cars is how you build a stronger Downtown and Byrne Square is some of the lowest hanging fruit in the Syracuse area.

A Friendlier Entrance into Downtown Syracuse

Downtown Syracuse is surrounded by a ring of highways and a sea of parking lots, separating it from the urban neighborhoods that surround it and prioritizing accessibility from the suburbs. Walking or riding a bike into Downtown is unappealing and can be dangerous. First you’re forced onto narrow sidewalks next to speeding traffic squeezed beneath low highway bridges. You emerge into large expanses of asphalt used for car storage with frequent curb cuts forcing you to interact with cars entering and exiting. Once you’re into the Downtown core, walking becomes a more pleasant experience, with mostly human scale architecture and a mixture of uses that encourage people to interact. If you’re coming or going at night, the walk into Downtown is even worse with the poor lighting conditions under the overpasses.

For Downtown Syracuse to truly thrive, we need to improve the experience of arriving on foot and reconnect it with the rest of the city. A good place to start is North Salina Street.

With a right-of-way over 100 feet wide, North Salina Street is daunting to cross at times. The wide travel lanes encourage vehicles entering the city off of the highway, or just further up the street, to speed into the center of the city, especially when the lights line up in a “green wave.” In order to create a safer, more accessible entrance to the city you must start by taking away space from cars, and I do believe there is plenty of space to take away without impeding traffic.

Removing one travel lane, converting the third lane to an alternating turn lane, and narrowing each of the remaining lanes to 10 feet would provide ample room for increased pedestrian and bike facilities. A pedestrian refuge island, filled with trees and grass, would not only shorten the distance people need to cross all at once, but it would also force drivers into wider, safer turning movements. In addition, the greenery placed in the pedestrian island would function as a placemaking tool, alerting drivers that they are now entering a space where they are a guest. This can be reinforced by utilizing raised crosswalks along the entire street, slowing traffic and providing increased visibility and mobility to people walking.

You also end up with enough space for a protected two-way bike lane, ideally on the western side of the street due to the presence of fewer curb cuts and intersecting streets. Salina Street is one of the flattest roadways in the entire city and runs its entire length. While a bike lane the entire length may not be feasible, or desirable, providing a safe entrance into Downtown Syracuse from the Northside of the city on bike is needed. North Salina Street connects to some of the densest neighborhoods in the city as well as thriving business districts, a prime location for this sort of connection.

Once we narrow the roadway and provide additional space for people on bikes and foot, we need to look at reusing an abundance of asphalt in the area. As you enter Downtown from North Salina Street you are greeted with one of the best murals in the city, showcasing a night scene of the Erie Canal, yet you only get to appreciate it as you pass by or park your car beneath it. Instead, this space should be transformed into a simple park with trees and benches. Beside the park we should look to add a three-to-four story building with commercial space on the first floor and apartments above. Currently, two historical buildings have been renovated in this area with similar layouts, but continue to struggle to attract commercial tenants. One of the biggest issues they have is that they’re not part of a place. They’re stranded in a sea of parking that no one wants to cross. If a bar or restaurant opened here they would struggle to attract customers because they’re removed from the foot traffic of nearby Hanover Square. To benefit these buildings, and connect this part of Downtown with Hanover Square and Little Italy, some infill development is needed. Creating a cohesive street wall invites people to walk in this area. Coupled with the park and mural, this space becomes attractive to visitors and doesn’t feel secluded anymore.

One more piece of the puzzle in this area is the old Post Standard building. While there are plans to redevelop the building, a large portion that contains the printing press and loading dock will remain. This portion of the building, with its bland tan brick walls and tiny windows, creates a drab experience when walking near it. At the same time, it provides an opportunity to tie it into the history of the neighborhood. A simple way to improve this experience is to paint a complimentary mural along the facade. As a personal preference, I feel a mural depicting the 1950s hustle-and-bustle of Downtown Syracuse, especially along Salina Street, would help show the progress of the city over the years and how we continue to evolve. The new mural would surround people with art and history, making the new park a prime location for anyone looking to relax and enjoy the surroundings. 

Combined, these changes would be a game-changer for this area. These few blocks would no longer be dedicated to the movement and storage of cars, but instead be refocused on people. Walking and biking would now be invited and encouraged. Extra lighting from the new infill buildings, improved lighting up and down the street, and the eventual removal of some of the overpasses through the I-81 project would make the space more accessible at all hours of the day.  We end up with a friendlier entrance for Downtown Syracuse; an entrance it deserves. 

Downtown Is Still Built For Cars and Minor Ways to Begin Shifting the Balance of Power

Downtown Syracuse, like so many other downtowns across the country, is considered one of the most walkable places in the community. Wide sidewalks, frequent crossings, stores, restaurants and bars, and varied architecture throughout help make it an inviting place to walk around and enjoy the day. Even with so many of these factors favoring walkability, it is impossible to ignore that cars remain dominant within the neighborhood.

First, let’s begin with the obvious - Downtown Syracuse is an island surrounded by parking. Chapter 5 of the Preliminary Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the I-81 construction project showcased the map below which identifies all of the parking structures in and around Downtown Syracuse.

Parking infrastructure map from the I-81 PDEIS

Looking at this map it quickly becomes apparent that the vast majority of space in the Downtown area is devoted to the storage of vehicles. Some will argue that this parking is needed for all of the workers, residents, and visitors that the area attracts, yet we don’t seem to have the same interest in providing this sort of access for people traveling on bike or on foot. In fact, if you look at the most recent Bike Suitability Map from SMTC you’ll notice that there are very few ways to enter Downtown safely on a bike. Crossing under highways and railroad bridges, competing with off ramps where drivers maintain their highway speeds, it is often dangerous getting into this central area. Just recently a cyclist was hit near a highway on-ramp and was sent to the hospital in critical condition.

Screenshot of the Interactive Bike Suitability Map from SMTC

There has been movement to improve access to Downtown Syracuse on bike, with the Empire State Trail and the Creek Walk both improving navigation and safety for riders and pedestrians, but there is room for improvement. Some of the infrastructure that has been built is extremely high quality, including a protected bike lane on the service road of West Street and in one direction on Water Street (although winter upkeep still needs improvement), while others leave plenty to be desired. Sharrows through Clinton Square lead to a path that’s blocked off for nearly half of the year due to the ice skating rink, while a bike path just west of the square is up on the sidewalk, forcing pedestrians and cyclists to share in already limited space. The roadway west of Clinton Square could’ve removed some parking spaces creating enough room for a protected bike path in both directions.

Improving upkeep in the winter and adding additional painted lanes around known yearly obstructions would help increase the usefulness of this trail, both to visitors and, more importantly, residents. Still, these lanes are major improvements and begin to give back some space to non-car uses.

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Protected Bike Lane on Water Street

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Snowed In Protected Bike Lane

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Blocked Bike Lane in Clinton Square

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Sidewalk Bike Lane

While bike infrastructure is slowly improving, pedestrian infrastructure should not be overlooked. Downtown Syracuse has wide sidewalks that make it enjoyable to walk around with friends, with people rarely having to walk in a line behind one another as you go. Even then, there are still signs that pedestrians aren’t in control of this space.

At times sidewalks must be blocked off for various purposes, due to damage or construction, with barriers put up to prevent people from using them. Often these occur in the middle of a block, far from an intersection. Some people will cross the street quickly, or just walk in the street for a bit, which puts their well being at risk. On the other hand, disabled individuals are not provided a way to make either of those decisions. In other cities orange barriers are often rolled out to carve out a pedestrian path, allowing pedestrians to stay on the same side of the road safely, while also building temporary ramps to assist those with disabilities. Simply requiring construction crews or building owners to provide this path can help keep pedestrians safer by preventing darting across the street.

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But let’s get back to parking for a moment. While parking lots dominate the downtown area, and will be discussed in more depth in a later post, parking garages serve up their own issues for pedestrians. Garages by nature utilize very compact designs, attempting to squeeze ramps and entrances in where they can while providing the most parking as possible. Due to some of these designs, sight lines when entering and exiting a garage can be reduced significantly. Some garages work to slow drivers down before they exit by placing their automatic arms closer to the opening, ensuring that the vehicles stop and have time to see. Others have no such barrier near their exits, allowing cars to quickly rush out. While most garages make use of fish-eyed mirrors to help with bad sight lines, they are only useful if the driver is moving slow enough to take in what they are showing.

One particularly bad garage is located on Warren Street (above). The garage makes use of a singular ramp for both entering and exiting, with a green light near the exit to warn incoming vehicles. As Warren Street is a one-way street, the light only faces in one direction, making it essentially useless for pedestrians coming in the other direction. The ramp’s tight fit makes it difficult to see into, and makes use of no devices to slow drivers down as they exit. Due to this, driver’s rarely have time to see whether a pedestrian is coming or not, and the pedestrian has little time to see the car approaching.

One approach that should be taken whenever a car is meant to enter a pedestrian space, such as a sidewalk, is the raise it up. Too often we make use of curb cuts, lowering the sidewalk down to meet the roadway, instead of forcing cars to come up into the pedestrian space. By forcing cars to make that movement, their speed decreases and alerts them to the fact that this is not a space meant for them. The YouTube Channel Not just Bikes has produced an excellent video on this topic (below).

Now there is much more we can do to change this dynamic. Throughout the spring I will be writing about more dramatic ideas of how to change our use of streets in Downtown Syracuse. To create change we need to stop considering how our streets and sidewalks are currently used, but instead think of what we would like to see. The minor changes discussed in this post are to help improve things immediately, along with some of my other pet peeves, but we should also think more radically about what the future should be.

Winter Is No Time To Retreat

Year after year we find ourselves retreating to our homes as soon as winter sets in. The cold brings us indoors, often with friends and family close together, and we hear constant complaints about the weather. This year, in 2020, we need to fight this urge to do the same. This year we need to reacquaint ourselves with winter and embrace it in order to protect ourselves and to help our communities thrive.

Syracuse, like many cities in the Northeast and Midwest, is looking to embrace outdoor dining and activities in winter like never before. Recently the Onondaga County Executive stated his intent in helping restaurants maintain their outdoor spaces to help reduce the transmission of Covid-19 throughout the community. While this pandemic has increased the importance of this move, we shouldn’t be looking at this as a one-off experience this winter. Instead we should look at this winter as a chance to experiment and build a new relationship with the season that defines Syracuse.

Let’s take a look at Armory Square where the city has successfully implemented an open streets program on the weekends for the last few months. Shutting down these streets have helped restaurants expand their seating to more than make up for the reduced indoor capacity caused by state health mandates. Weekends on these blocks have become more lively than normal and have the atmosphere of a festival at times, showcasing the demand for new open spaces in our urban core. There’s little reason that this program should not be continued throughout the winter with some modifications to help keep people warm.

Heat lamps and coverings can go a long way in creating comfortable spaces for diners to enjoy. Simple barriers, perhaps tents with a couple walls down to block the wind, can create intimate spaces. You can look to New York where many of the curbside dining options that have sprung up have already utilized barriers and coverings to extend their usage through poor weather. Some as simple as plastic walls under tents, or all the way up to intricately themed booths that extend the indoor experience seamlessly outdoors. 

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Outdoor dining options around New York City

Currently the only parklet dining options in Syracuse do not make use of any coverings and feel temporary. Adding solid roofs, planters, wood decking, etc., can go a long way in making the dining experience in these parklets feel more cohesive and less vulnerable to the traffic around them. This should be employed on the open streets as well. But while these booths can help extend the dining experience, we should also look to make use of the entire street, keeping it closed to traffic long term.

Sidewalk Labs explored the idea of using a modern version of STOA in our urban environments to help protect people in our cities during inclement weather. STOA is a traditional architectural feature of covered walkways, like those in many older Italian and Spanish cities. These walkways make it possible to actively participate in city life without running to our cars for protection. A simplified version of this could be utilized to connect these new dining booths with the buildings, reducing the amount rain or snow reaching the sidewalk while still permitting air flow onto the streets.

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Classical STOA

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Modern STOA from Sidewalk Labs

Outside of the dining booths, and in the middle of the street, should be gathering places. Fire pits, Adirondack chairs, tables with heated blankets (as showcased in this City Lab article) surrounded by lights could help create an inviting atmosphere. Combating our desires to retreat inside in winter not only requires us to provide outdoor heat but also to amp up the lighting. Along with these gathering spaces we need to permanently end the ban on unsealed containers in certain areas. Allowing visitors and residents to walk freely between restaurants and bars in specific locations will help keep any one space from becoming overcrowded as patrons feel free to move around instead of laying claim to a single spot. 

These ideas shouldn’t just be kept to Armory Square, but should be used throughout the city. Some restaurants have invested in bubbles around tables, while others, in some European countries, have created mini greenhouses around tables adding to the visual aesthetic of the area. Perhaps its time for Syracuse to open up a permanent rooftop bar and mimic the lighted igloos that have become popular Instagram spots in New York.

For a city that continually wins the title of “Snowiest City in the Country” we should be leading the country on how to embrace winter during this pandemic and beyond. Simple changes and bold decisions can reshape how we feel about this season. Perhaps even turn what many see as a reason to leave the area into one that attracts others to it.

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Hudson River in Winter

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Onondaga Lake in Winter

Minor Pet Peeves and Easy Fixes

While I often write about big picture ideas and how to reshape neighborhoods, many times the small details that affect our daily lives get overlooked. These details may not affect everyone, and many may not even notice them, but they are simple issues to fix and its time our cities work to get the small things right before moving on to big picture items. Although these issues will be specifically about Syracuse, NY, many of these issues can be found in cities across the country.

Pedestrians in all directions told not to walk at the corner of Park St. and Butternut St. on the Northside of Syracuse, NY

Sync Up Pedestrian Signals with Traffic Lights

As a pedestrian you’re at your most vulnerable as you cross the street. You must trust cars taking turns will see you and that drivers will obey the traffic signal above. The issue comes when you don’t know when it is safe to cross. You’re told to wait for the walking sign, so you hit the beg button and wait your turn that may or may not come. After a while you’re forced to risk crossing without the signal and run to the other side. I hate when I see people running across the street when they have the right-of-way, but they still feel as though they are the ones doing something wrong and so they run.

This is all too common of an occurrence and can be simply fixed by syncing the pedestrian signals with the lights. You should never have to push the beg button to get across the street, and you should never see the “Do Not Walk” sign while traffic moving in your same direction has a green light. Moving to a system that is timed properly, and where the solid “Do Not Walk” sign does not appear until the traffic light are at yellow, will reduce confusion for pedestrians and drastically increase their safety.

It will also make drivers feel safer. When you’re stopped at a traffic light and someone approaches the corner, with the current signal system you don’t know what decision they are going to make. They may decide to cross because they don’t know how much longer the green light will last. With properly timed signals they know if there’s enough time to cross or not, cutting down on those mad dashes across the street and making everyone feel safer in the process.

Bus stop along Grant Blvd. on the Northside of Syracuse, NY without any sidewalk nearby, yet still labeled as Handicap Accessible

Not All Bus Stops are Handicap Accessible

Every single bus stop sign in Syracuse has a Handicap Accessible logo on it. Perhaps this is because our buses kneel and can accommodate people with walking disabilities, but it’s also a lie. Yes, the bus can accommodate those with special needs, but where those riders must wait and how they get there cannot.

One perfect example is Grant Blvd. near Woodlawn Cemetery. There are no sidewalks along the cemetery and no concrete waiting spaces for people to stand. Centro has labeled these stops as Handicap Accessible even though no one in a wheelchair or has trouble walking can feasibly get there, especially not in the winter time where you must wait in snow mounds or in the road.

While Grant Blvd. is a prime example of poor planning for stops, other stops have smaller issues that reduce their accessibility to those with disabilities. Again, wheelchairs do best on hard surfaces, yet most of our stops require riders to walk on grass (or snow in winter) to get on the bus. Every bus stop, should it be labeled Handicap Accessible, should have an extended sidewalk that goes to the curbside, allowing for easier access for those in need.

No crosswalks at a busy intersection just a few blocks from Lemoyne Elementary School in Syracuse, NY

Crosswalks at Every Stop Light and Every School

Paint is the cheapest tool a department can use when reshaping streets, and it is all that is needed in order to make intersections safer for pedestrians. High visibility crosswalks should be present at every traffic signal in the city and at every corner directly connected to a school. These are the places that pedestrians, many of them children, must cross, and yet we do a poor job of visually providing them safe spaces to cross. Every corner that touches the block a school is located on should have crosswalks in order to signal to drivers that students have the priority in this space. Traffic signals should also require crosswalks as they are the only opportunities for pedestrians to cross safely without moving vehicles to dodge. Without the crosswalk markings pedestrians are treated as unwelcome nuisances to drivers. (A big picture idea is that we need to reshape our streets so that cars are unwelcome and pedestrians own the space).

A poorly kept sidewalk on the Westside of Syracuse, NY. Not an uncommon site throughout the city, often forcing people into the streets to walk.

Sidewalks Wide Enough for Three People

In all honesty I’d prefer even wider sidewalks, but I’ll say wide enough for three people should be the bare minimum. One of the things that makes walking downtown or in cities like New York and D.C. pleasurable is the fact that you can comfortably walk next to someone and not constantly rearrange to allow someone to pass. You can maintain a conversation and be fully engaged in the moment, instead of looking ahead and knowing you’re going to shift or be uncomfortably close to someone passing by.

Some will argue that those areas need the wider sidewalks due to commercial entities and higher traffic volumes, which are both correct. But there are plenty of people who walk around their neighborhoods, or would like to do so more often, but are eventually forced into the street due to poorly maintained, narrow sidewalks. If you want people to walk more, or you yourself want to walk more, providing comfortable sidewalks is the easiest way to achieve that.

Yes, we need to change our zoning laws and allow for mix-use development, but since this is a piece about pet peeves and more small scale fixes I’ll let you read more about that in my previous piece.