The Market Commons at the CNY Regional Market.

A Healthy Future for the Regional Market

November 6, 2024

Since 1938, the CNY Regional Market has called the City’s Northside home. Nestled between Park St and Hiawatha Blvd, the Regional Market has easy access to I-81 (soon to be Business Loop 81) and the Parkway, yet feels disconnected from the City neighborhoods that surround it. Traditionally an industrialized neighborhood, many of the industrial buildings that remain along Hiawatha Blvd are either underutilized or vacant and act as a barrier between the nearby residential neighborhoods. But it remains an essential anchor within the neighborhood and a regional attraction.

In 2023, the Regional Market released a $90 million plan aimed at addressing many of their long time maintenance needs as well as investing in new infrastructure that would help bring the facility into the modern era. While these repairs and investments are sorely needed, they were soon overshadowed by a State audit that revealed questionable financial practices by the individuals running the Market that have greatly jeopardized its future stability. As there is renewed focus on the Regional Market and concern for its future, let’s dig in to what what that future could look like.

Market Commons

Market Diner

Commission Houses

Market Commons

The approximately 50 acres controlled by the Regional Market includes five “sheds” where vendors sell produce on Thursdays and Saturdays, as well as run a flea market on Sundays. Three larger warehouses, known as the Commission Houses, sit between the sheds and Hiawatha Blvd, while a strip of commercial buildings, the Market Commons, line Park St. The Commons includes Market Diner, an M&T Bank office, and a Wendy’s, with large vacant spaces currently available for lease. Additionally, the Market controls a vacant warehouse across Tex Simone Dr that sits just outside of the NBT Bank Stadium parking lot.

Surrounding all of these structures is asphalt. Acres and acres of asphalt with few dedicated spaces for pedestrians. In fact, the only sidewalks within the Market area line roughly 1,300 ft of Park St near the commercial buildings. Otherwise, pedestrians intermingle with vehicles as they circle the sheds either looking for a place to store their car, dropping/picking someone up, or picking up large purchases they may have made that day. For individuals who may have parked further afield, a shuttle provides an easy, accessible way into the Market, making stops outside of each shed.

The mural within the Market Diner illustrates an idealized walk from the Market to NBT Bank Stadium. Currently visitors are fenced in within the Market with poor pedestrian connections to the stadium area.

Lining the perimeter of the Market is a dilapidated chain link fence, further severing the grounds from its neighbors. And the Market has a lot of neighbors. The Regional Transportation Center (RTC), NBT Bank Stadium, Destiny USA, as well as one of the denser neighborhoods of the City of Syracuse all lie across the street from the Market, yet feel completely disconnected from it.

So what can we do to reconnect the Market with its neighbors and set it on a course for a healthier, livelier future?

First, let’s start by tearing down that fence. While there is a desire to control the space within the Market grounds, the existing fence fails to enclose the entirety of the property and sends a visual signal of disinterest in its neighbors. This is not to say a fence should not be part of the property, but only where absolutely necessary and it must be thoughtfully designed. Instead, it is encouraged to expand the Market’s facilities to include buildings that line Hiawatha Blvd and NBT Bank Pkwy, creating a barrier between the heart of the Market and the street, but in a way that welcomes visitors.

Now, these structures do not need to be market specific, but can bring in other uses that compliment the mission of the Market, including housing. New York State is in the midst of a housing crisis, as is the Greater Syracuse Area. With historic growth coming to Central New York as a result of the Micron investment, Syracuse is in need of more quality affordable housing. As a State sanctioned authority, the CNY Regional Market should be tapped as a resource to address this crisis. Not only would this address a need in our community, but it would also be good for the Market itself. Developing a mix of affordable and market rate apartments would provide a reliable source of income for the market as well as create a captive audience for their vendors to sell to. Food deserts are often discussed extensively in planning circles, and yet the Regional Market offers an opportunity for fresh food and produce oriented development (maybe not as catchy as transit oriented development, but still providing direct access to needed resources).

Gateway entrance to NBT Bank Stadium and the Regional Market at the corner of Hiawatha Blvd and Tex Simone Dr, as shown in the Hiawatha - Lodi Brownfield Opportunity Area plan.

The cornerstone of these new structures should be the vacant warehouse across Tex Simone Dr. Back in 2012, the brownfield opportunity area plan for Hiawatha Blvd saw this corner as an opportunity to create an appealing entrance to the market / ballpark district, including a large welcome sign that straddles Tex Simone Drive, announcing your entrance into a true destination. I support this vision, and I believe anchoring that corner with a large, mixed-use building, provides the best opportunity to truly transform how we view the entire district. Building off the success of the Hiawatha Heights Apartments next-door, which converted an old industrial building into residential lofts, the construction of a new, mixed-use building can help solidify the transition of the neighborhood away from its industrial past and into a modern, urban center.

In addition to the new mixed-use buildings lining the Market, improved pedestrian and bicycle connections will be sorely needed. Currently, the only sidewalk available on Hiawatha Blvd sits outside of the new CubeSmart self storage facility (not my favorite commercial property use, but better than a vacant building). Tex Simone Dr has no sidewalks to speak of. And NBT Bank Pkwy only has a sidewalk along its northern curb from Tex Simone Dr to the RTC. Pedestrian connections into the Market area are non-existent, while crossing any of the surrounding streets is a dangerous task. The first step to addressing these gaps is to fill them. Every curb should be lined with sidewalks, providing easy pedestrian access to all of the key anchor destinations in this area. Next, we must address the lack of safe crossing opportunities. In 2019, SMTC conducted a mobility study of the Market area that highlighted potential opportunities to narrow some of the surrounding roadways and improve crossings.This includes adding pedestrian islands at the Park St / Hiawatha Blvd intersection and bike lanes along Hiawatha Blvd. It’s encouraging to note that many of these changes are being pursued by the City of Syracuse in the coming years.

One thing the SMTC study does not address is the potential narrowing of NBT Bank Pkwy. The street, from curb to curb, has a typical width of around 50 ft with 4 travel lanes. With around 3,500 vehicles per day, this street is extremely overbuilt and encourages drivers to travel over the speed limit regularly. While turning lanes are needed at the Park St intersection, the majority of the street’s length can and should be reduced to one lane in each direction, with a turning lane into the RTC to assist the movement of buses. With this extra space, on-street parking can be implemented along with wider sidewalks and street trees. A mid-block crossing, with curb extensions, from the Market to the RTC should be implemented to improve connections for transit riders and travelers alike while slowing drivers through squeezing the roadway.

Now that we have addressed access around the Market, we should turn our attention to its interior and focus on improving the mobility of visitors along with the overall experience. This begins by restricting vehicle movements and expanding pedestrian spaces. First, we must remove the parking lanes that directly line the Market sheds. These spaces are highly coveted due to their close proximity to the vendors, but also encourage drivers to circle close to where most people are walking, creating conflicts and spewing exhaust right where people are mingling. Instead, these spaces should be converted to green spaces with sidewalks and trees. Some vehicle access will need to be maintained to allow vendors to access their stalls and for the Market shuttle to drop visitors off. Minimal access should be provided for customers. Some additional parking can be added in the far northeast corner, but a better option would be to utilize the parking lot at NBT Bank Stadium, while expanding the shuttle service for visitors in those lots. Syracuse Mets games typically start at 6:35pm, with gates open at 5:35pm. With the Market closing at 2pm, there should be no overlap in the use of the parking lots. The fewer parking spaces within the Market property, the more land that can be repurposed as park space.

One type of parking that should be included within the Market property is bike parking. Currently, the only bike parking available sits at the corner of Farmers Market Pl and Park St, a truly unpleasant place to be let alone leave your bike. Instead, the Market should consider providing indoor bike parking / lockers, as well as a large bike corral directly behind the Market Commons building that sits along Park St. It’s imperative to provide convenient, safe bike parking if you hope to encourage more people to ride to the Market.

As we look at the uses inside the Market grounds, we should take some inspiration from the revitalization plans that were released last year (and are currently removed from their website). The plans called for the redevelopment of the Commission Houses into a food hall, similar to the Salt City Market in Downtown Syracuse. While this is an intriguing idea, a food hall may be better positioned at a location along the edge of the property, providing easier access throughout the week. This could occupy one of the larger empty spaces in the Market Commons building, or even the first floor of any new development at the vacant warehouse on Tex Simone Dr.

Market Commons would benefit from more dining options, and potentially a sports bar that ties itself into the local sports history of the ballpark down the street. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, there are no good dining and drinking options near the ballpark, which prevents fans from lingering in the neighborhood before or after a ballgame. Finding ways to tie the ballpark closer to the Regional Market is key to the future of the district. This may include working with the Syracuse Mets to hold more afternoon games, perhaps even calling them Market Days, to tie into the energy of both community anchors.

Market Commons vacancy with windows.jpeg

At its heart, we must improve the areas used by vendors, including providing more space for refrigeration and electrical hookups. These are functional items that vendors have expressed a need for and that more modern markets are providing. If this requires the demolition of some of the older structures, we should be open to that, as long as their replacements offer the better amenities and functionality. We should preserve as much of the historic structures as possible, but we should not let their histories prevent us from creating a more functional market space for vendors and visitors.

The Market area, and the greater Northside neighborhood in which it sits, has a lot of potential. From the Market and the RTC to the ballpark and Destiny USA, so many of our regional assets sit close together, yet feel completely disconnected from one another. As we have discussions surrounding the future of the Market, it’s the perfect time to dream big and create a true destination on the Northside.

An active market day, despite the rain in May.

The Valley of the Sun - A Land of (Sub)Urban Extremes

March 21, 2024

The desert - a place we often associate with vast, seemingly empty space. Where animals are often nocturnal to avoid the daytime heat and cacti have adapted to live off the minimal amounts of rain that comes each year. It's more associated with surviving than thriving. And yet, one of the United States’ fastest growing cities has sprung from the desert.

Phoenix, Arizona is sometimes derided as a suburban hellscape. Just an endless sea of sprawl that reaches for miles in all directions, sucking up the few resources that surround it, resulting in never ending conversations around drought and water supply. Yet, while it receives harsh critiques, many of which are warranted, there are signs that things are changing and a more sustainable version of the Valley may be on its way.

As I like to do when I visit different urban environments across the country, let’s take a look at what’s working, what’s not working, and some of the promising changes greater Phoenix is experiencing. While you’ll be hard pressed to find a city more different than Syracuse in terms of climate, that does not mean there aren’t things we can learn from it. It is also important to remember that these are really only first impressions, as no amount of short visits can tell the lived experience of the region.

With that in mind, let’s start with the bad - Lanes, lanes, and more lanes.

Los Angeles, often considered a car centric city with its wide highways cutting through the Hollywood Hills and its bumper to bumper traffic, is nearly 3x as densely populated (8,304 people/sq mile) as Phoenix (3,104 people/sq mile) when just looking at the central cities. Daily transit usage is roughly 8x higher in Los Angeles while the metropolitan area is home to roughly 2.5x more people. As a result, Phoenix amplifies these roadway issues as nearly everyone drives. Many neighborhoods are bordered by major arterials with 5-7 travel lanes and vehicles moving at 40+ mph. Add on top of that the incredible amount of highways that criss cross their way across the region. Traveling across the Valley, you run into multiple highway expansion projects, a signal that the region is doubling down on car infrastructure, enshrining personal vehicles as its primary mode of transportation into the future.

Not only are the streets and roadways built for ever increasing car traffic, your destinations are increasingly oriented around never leaving your car as well. Drive-thru salads, cafes, and even liquor stores line many of the main streets outside of the city center. Cars queueing up to wait 10-30 minutes wind their way onto side streets, backing up traffic and block crosswalks. In many ways, suburban Phoenix shows what suburban Syracuse is approaching if changes aren’t made soon. Tully’s has proposed a drive-thru version of its restaurant and Chick-fil-as are sprouting up with increasing frequency throughout our suburbs.

As a result of these development patterns, it should come as no surprise that Phoenix and its neighbor, Mesa, are considered two of the 10 most dangerous cities to drive in, ranking 6th and 8th respectively. In my short time in the metro area, multiple car crashes blocked intersections and rerouted traffic. Fast moving cars, weaving across multiple lanes are simply a recipe for disaster.

On top of the dangers for drivers, Arizona is ranked as one of the deadliest states in the country for people walking. As dangerous as it is for drivers to traverse multiple lanes in order to turn, the extremely wide intersections leave people on foot and on bikes exposed to danger for longer. Multiple turning lanes also make it difficult for people walking to be confident that all cars are stopped, reducing the feeling of safety. Ultimately, when you do not feel safe walking, you work to find another way to get around, often in a car, leaving the streets more dangerous for those without any other option. Most people in Syracuse would choose to avoid walking on Erie Blvd E or Genesee St in Fayetteville or Rt 31 in Clay. But when your neighborhood is encircled by roadways of that scale, it is hard to avoid.

While sidewalks are almost always present, providing a dedicated space for people to walk, bike lanes are still expanding their reach. Where they do exist, the quality ranges dramatically. For every wide, protected lane, there are multiple skinny lanes pushed into the gutter that drop out suddenly before reappearing hundreds of feet further down the road. This is not just a problem around Phoenix, Mesa, and Tempe, but across the country. This problem is especially acute on the multi-lane arterials where drivers are racing, leaving people riding bikes vulnerable whether they are riding in a painted lane or on the side of the road. In Tempe, which has a Vision Zero program, at least one of its Safety Corridors, W University Dr, does not do much to prioritize safe movements of vehicles and includes very little room for its bike lane. I’ll come back to this area again later in the piece as there are some really positive things happening nearby.

And the final piece of bad news before we start looking at the positives - never ending seas of car storage.

As a metropolitan area that is dedicated to the personal vehicle, there’s an overwhelming need for car storage at all destinations. Angled street parking was a common sight around Mesa, but often that parking simply lined the curb outside of a parking lot. Even the roomy parking-protected bike lane primarily ran next to businesses surrounded by their own parking lot, reducing the likelihood of cars acting as a barrier between riders and moving vehicles. To give you a sense of the problem, there is an estimated 2.4 million cars register in the State of Arizona, but there are over 12 million parking spaces in just the Phoenix metropolitan area. All of that asphalt not only makes it unpleasant to walk in most parts of the metro area, but it also intensifies the incredible heat the area experiences during the summer months. Anyone who has ever walked through a parking lot in the summer knows just how hot it can be, but now imagine that walk when its 115 degrees out and there are no trees to shade you. The heated asphalt can even result in severe burns to those unfortunate enough to touch it with their bare skin.

But this is where we start to see some positives, and it comes from an historic form of architecture - the stoa.

Mesa - Covered walkways

Tempe Marketplace

Stoa are covered walkways often found in ancient architecture in Greece, Rome, and Spain. Downtown Mesa, which exudes traditional southwest charm in its architecture, employs stoa throughout. The coverings create pleasantly shaded paths and often include both public benches and outdoor dining opportunities. While the stoa are used to help combat the intense sunshine and heat the Phoenix area experiences, the same technique can and should be used in our colder, wetter climates to provide people walking with cover from rain and snow. In New York City, sidewalk sheds, while intended to be temporary, often provide this benefit during storms. Downtown Syracuse has lost many of its awnings and coverings over time, which becomes apparent when you see historical photos and paintings of the area.

While stoa offer up much needed shade, they also help to expand outdoor dining opportunities for bars and restaurants. As a city that enjoys sunshine nearly all year round, outdoor dining and drinking is a common occurrence - on sidewalks out front, patios in the back, and roof tops. While northern cities like Syracuse can’t as easily provide this level of outdoor activation, we can do more than people often think. By including more covered spaces, outdoor patios and rooftops can be activated for most of the year, especially if heating lamps are strategically placed throughout. Unlike Phoenix, whose residents are spoiled with sunny days, our northern cities see all available outdoor spaces filled from the first sunny day in spring to the last grasp of warmth in the fall. We should identify ways to make these spaces work in all weather.

Sticking to this desire to be outside in social settings, suburban Phoenix has increasingly embraced outdoor malls with pedestrian centers. Tempe Marketplace, while surrounded by a moat of car storage, provides a dense, walkable environment for visitors. Yes, at its core it is simply a mall, primarily occupied by national chains and privately controlled, but it offers the possibility of becoming more than just a mall. As the need for housing expands, the large parking lots that surround the shopping center can easily be developed into housing, allowing residents to live within easy walking distance to many of their daily needs. Enclosed malls can also see some of this infill and conversion, but the focus on interior access makes redevelopment more difficult.

Now I may have been harsh on mobility across the Valley, and rightfully so, but there are some bright spots that deserve some attention.

Let’s start back with that parking protected bike lane mentioned earlier. This concept is not new and has been used extensively throughout New York City and other cities across the country. But I want to highlight the use of this technique in Phoenix, one of the most car obsessed metro areas in the country, in contrast to Syracuse’s reluctance to explore their use after neighbors caused an uproar over one near Syracuse University over a decade ago. While the execution of that bike lane was less than desirable, it is beyond time to revisit their use as a low-cost and effective way to protect bike lanes throughout the city.

In Tempe, some neighborhood streets are utilizing raised intersections to slow vehicles, making it safer for people to ride bikes and walk across the street. By spreading these intersections along a street, cars are never able to pick up speed before they need to slow down once again, reinforcing safer speeds. Similar techniques have been used closer to Syracuse, with a high profile example in Philadelphia’s City Center neighborhood. Concerns will always be raised about maintenance, especially regarding impacts on plowing, but those concerns are truly unfounded. Similar to raised intersections, the City of Syracuse has been piloting speed cushions on neighborhood streets throughout the city. After 2 years, there has been no documented evidence of issues with plowing. If anything, a fully raised intersection may be even easier to navigate for plows as they should be moving through intersections at slower speeds to begin with.

Tempe - Raised intersection

Tempe - Scooter drop zone

Mesa - Valley Metro Rail station

Valley Metro Rail

Beyond improving the movements on our streets, Tempe is setting an example of how to handle dockless scooters. In spring 2022, social media around Syracuse was lighting up with complaints over where the new e-scooters were being left - blocking sidewalks, in parking spaces, on front lawns, etc. Since then, there has been little movement on providing better spaces for scooters to be left when they’re no longer in use. In contrast, Tempe has taken action in its downtown core by creating simple drop zones near intersections. These drop zones are painted spaces with a scooter symbol in areas already signed for no parking. As a result, they act as an additional reinforcement to daylighting regulations, where cars are prohibited to park in order to enhance visibility within an intersection. Similar techniques have been used with great success in Hoboken, NJ, which has not seen a traffic death in over 7 years. To encourage the use of these new drop zones, Tempe has worked with the e-scooter providers to enact fees and penalties for not leaving their scooters within the designated areas. Syracuse, and other cities with micro mobility options, should explore similar policies once drop zones are implemented and widely spread across neighborhoods.

All of this begins to add up to some of the more promising projects occurring around the region, all of which are building off the investment the region made in light rail. While Valley Metro Rail is fairly limited in scope, dense development has followed in its wake.

Five and six story residential buildings are popping up across the Valley within easy walking distance of the light rail corridor. While they are primarily residential only, some mixed-use development is popping up as well, with many buildings facing the main corridor while placing whatever parking they do provide in less visible locations.

Culdesac interior street

Culdesac bar / restaurant

Culdesac secure bike parking

Other housing construction near Culdesac

As a sign of what may be possible in the near future, a much talked about new development, Culdesac, is aiming to show that even in this car dominated region, you can live car free. This development, located directly at a light rail station, emphasizes car-free living, providing secure bike parking throughout, narrow pedestrian only streets, small courtyards, and commercial/retail outlets sprinkled along the first floor of many buildings. While the development was in soft launch mode while we walked around in early March 2024, you could get a sense of what the place was aiming to be - a fully integrated community. The small shops are meant to serve not only residents of Culdesac, but also the hundreds of apartments popping up nearby. A bar/restaurant sits at the entrance to the development as you cross from the light rail station, with outdoor seating lining the sidewalk. This choice emphasizes the need for social third places for neighbors to come together.

Now this type of development may not be possible everywhere, but its staking out a claim in a region that has been hostile to pedestrian and transit oriented developments. As the Syracuse region eyes significant growth for the first time in decades, we should look to ambitious developments like Culdesac for ideas on how to increase walkability even in more suburban environments. Locate your developments where transit investments are occurring, emphasize access to daily needs, and create spaces that are human scale.

Even though the Valley of the Sun mostly remains a cautionary tale in terms of urban development, there are plenty of lessons we can learn, both good and bad, from its growth. Let’s make sure we learn the right ones.

The Walk: To Middle Ages

October 31, 2023

The Walk is a series of blog posts dedicated to documenting the current experience of walking between Downtown Syracuse and its surrounding neighborhoods. The purpose of these pieces is to highlight the importance of connections between neighborhoods. Small pockets of walkable spaces exist throughout the City, but there are large gaps between each. Building out safe, pleasant, and convenient routes between the City center and nearby neighborhoods is a great place to start.

To many people, the Middle Ages Brewing Company is already in Downtown Syracuse, and they may be right. It is located right near the heart of the City, just over half a mile from Clinton Square. In years past, plenty of National Grid employees, with its headquarters located just a few blocks away, would line the street with their cars during the day as the closest place to store them for free.

But, according to the City of Syracuse, it lies within the Park Ave neighborhood on the City’s westside. And there are clear barriers between the Park Ave neighborhood and Downtown Syracuse that you notice when you’re on foot. Barriers that only require a little thinking to overcome and stitch these neighborhoods together as they should be.

Clinton Square

As with all walks in this series, we begin in Clinton Square. As I wrote years ago, Clinton Square, in its current form, does not provide the feeling of a human scale space. The Square’s wide open layout leaves people without good spaces to cluster. The short buildings along three of the four edges adds to this effect. Historically, the Square was surrounded by a dense wall of architecturally ornate buildings, which helped frame the public space and provided visual interest to those wandering by, spending time in the smaller public park, or coming through along the Erie Canal. You can see this vividly in the historic photos above from the Library of Congress compared to more recent photos.

Today, the low slung former home of the Post Standard, now named The Post, and the bland wall of brown brick that is the Atrium, offer poor substitutes.While the buildings themselves do little to enliven the walk around the Square, the renovation of the Post has led to new investments in sidewalks and street trees which do make the walk more pleasant, if not more interesting.

As you walk through along the Square towards Erie Blvd W, you pass by the old Clinton Exchange, a former post office turned headquarters to the mall developer, Pyramid Group. The building opens up beautifully to the Square, but its small plaza is often blocked by parked cars belonging to employees or closed off during festivals to keep the general public at bay. Its a very insular life for a building that began as a vital public building.

As we reach Erie Blvd W, the architecture of the Erie Canal era is apparent. When the Canal ran through the City, building facades facing the canal were utilitarian at best, while their facades on Water St were ornate and welcoming. Canal barges needed easy access to loading areas, so narrow sidewalks lined by flat, brick finished buildings were the norm. The Amos building is one of the finest examples of this dichotomy. The Clinton Exchange, with its main entrance of Clinton St, also de-emphasizes its facade along Erie Blvd W, with maintenance doors opening up to the street. At the same time, a wider sidewalk, lined with street trees helps to keep the street welcoming and pleasant to be on as you approach possibly the most iconic building in the City of Syracuse.

Past an Art Deco Icon

Sitting at the corner of Erie Blvd W and Franklin St, the former Niagara Mohawk (NiMo) headquarters, now the regional headquarters for National Grid, makes its presence known. Chrome and lights cover the structure, making a striking sight no matter what time of day you wander past. The building is often cited as one of the best examples of art deco architecture in the country, often mentioned alongside the likes of the Chrysler Building and Empire State Building. At the same time, its iconic crown is only a small part of the larger building complex. As you pass the main entrance, with its ornate marquee, you are greeted by the bulk of the building - an uninspired tan brick wall with black stripes. The building no longer concerns itself with the street level and instead focuses on efficiency, which leads to a deadened streetwall.

NiMo’s neighbor to the south offers little help. While the corner at Erie Blvd W and Franklin St is activated by a Cafe Kubal, Guadalajara Mexican cantina, and Talking Cursive Brewing Company, the bulk of the building, known as Creekwalk Commons, does little to address the street. The building’s design in some ways mimics the back end of the NiMo building, with stripes of alternating colors (red and tan) and lack of pedestrian oriented design.

When we look at the street as a whole, you get the sense that people should not be walking here. The street, four lanes wide, is lined with cobra style street lights, more common place on highways and major arterials in suburban areas. Minimal street trees are present along the block and the ones that do exist are evergreens pushed right up against Creekwalk commons. These trees provide minimal shade to people as they walk and offer zero protection from vehicles, both visual protection and physical, as true street trees help to visually narrow the roadway and slow drivers down.

The built environment along this corridor is screaming that it's meant for cars, but there is room for improvement if we’re willing to chip away at the space dedicated to cars.

First thing’s first, we need proper street trees. While the existing sidewalks are already wide, there is plenty of space to widen them further and provide ample room for street trees and benches. Additional road space should be given over to people on bikes. While Erie Blvd E is home to the Empire State Trail, there is no equivalent facility connecting the west side of the City. A protected, two-way cycle track would help bring cyclists from west side neighborhoods into Downtown and connect them to the regional trail network. This would leave space for one travel lane in each direction for vehicles, along with on-street parking.

West St

Just past the NiMo building and Creekwalk Commons you reach the bridge across West St. As discussed in The Walk: To Tipperary Hill, West St acts as a mini highway through the heart of the City, creating an unpleasant barrier to cross. While Erie Blvd W does not directly intersect with West St, it is home to two on-ramps and an off-ramp. As with most on- and off-ramps, cars looking to use them are often only on the lookout for other cars, with all other people on the street entering their mental blindspot.

The I-81 - Community Grid plan leaves this interchange largely unchanged, as West St will continue to run beneath Erie Blvd. Narrowing the roadway and providing additional, protected spaces for other road users would help improve a person’s ability to safely cross these on-ramps, but the bridge, with its overgrown brush in spots, will always make the Park Ave neighborhood feel separate from Downtown. Widening the sidewalks and adding pedestrian scale, ornamental lighting would go a long way to make the space more comfortable for people on foot, but the view of West St will never have the same feeling as crossing a body of water or green landscape. One way to address this issue is to have a visual anchor on the other side of the bridge to draw you in. Lucky for us, there’s a large vacant building that is ready for replacement.

Vacant and Underused Spaces

A large, red warehouse sits just west of Downtown Syracuse. It has been vacant for as long as I can remember. Vacant buildings of this scale can deaden spaces as they loom over any neighboring buildings. They also present opportunities.

If the building is structurally sound, its redevelopment into a mixed-use building, including a modern expansion into the vacant lot next door, would help visually connect the two neighborhoods while also adding residents within a quick walking distance. The commercial spaces on the first floor could also play off the nearby bars and restaurants in Creekwalk Commons and Middle Ages. One of the reasons Armory Square and Hanover Square are so lively is the concentration of uses. Being able to comfortably and quickly walk between different bars and restaurants invites more people into the neighborhood. Give people options and they will take them.

If the building is not structurally sound, a full teardown may be in order, but the same design considerations should be maintained. Fill the full block, with the building’s facade coming up straight to the street.

Unfortunately, many of the spaces further west down Erie Blvd W are built in a suburban style, set back from the road with parking prominent out front. While this walk does not take you in this direction, the development of a strong anchor in this location may encourage further redevelopment in a more urban style. 538 Erie and the Dietz Lofts, which both occupy former industrial buildings, already exemplify this type of development. With another larger addition, the neighborhood will continue to approach a critical mass in terms of demand.

The Final Stretch

Once past the vacant land, you experience both good and bad examples of urban design.

On the positive side, the neighborhood benefits from the use of small, urban parks. Leavenworth Park, which is further west of Middle Ages, is the perfect scale park for our urban neighborhoods, filled with flowers, trees, grassy open spaces, and a playground. Directly in front of Middle Ages, a small extension of the park offers half court basketball and more tree cover. These small parks give people easy access to public green spaces that welcome impromptu interactions between neighbors and visitors alike.

On the negative side, we have a confusing intersection and car storage occupying space ideally set aside for walking.

First the intersection. The Plum St / Tracy Street / Wilkinson St intersection lacks predictability with its wide open lanes and lack of pedestrian infrastructure. Squaring off the eastbound Tracy St approach and forcing drivers to turn right and then left to go down Wilkinson St would help make movements more predictable while also shortening crossing distances.

While the small park and Middle Ages both have sidewalks, all other surrounding properties do not, forcing people to either walk in the street or on uneven ground. If we truly want a walkable neighborhood, we need to provide spaces for people to walk. Building out the sidewalk network, through existing car storage areas, is key to improving these connections. We cannot let pedestrian infrastructure be afterthoughts, but instead prioritize investments in it.

As you arrive at Middle Ages, you’re greeted by outdoor picnic tables where visitors can sit and enjoy the sun on a nice day, or watch the many outdoor concerts they hold throughout the warmer months of the year. This is exactly what breweries and restaurants should be doing to engage with their neighborhoods, and we’re lucky to have such a place just a short walk from Downtown.

The Walk: To the Ballpark

September 7, 2023

Back in the early 1990s, the City of Syracuse and Onondaga County were faced with the serious probability of losing their minor league baseball team, the Syracuse Chiefs, if they did not replace their six decade old stadium, MacArthur Stadium. The search for where to put a new ballpark came down to two locations - Downtown Syracuse behind Armory Square or in the parking lot of the old stadium. Downtown Syracuse of the 1990s was a far cry from the neighborhood it is today, and the City was still in full suburbanization mode, emphasizing easy access for those who chose to leave the City instead of focusing on those who decided to stay. As a result, the new ballpark began rising in the parking lot of MacArthur Stadium, with the old field destined to be paved over for car storage.

Today, NBT Bank Stadium recently underwent a $25 million renovation in 2020, as a way to keep the team, now the Syracuse Mets, in town for another 25 years. Now, towards the end of my 5th season as a weekend season ticket holder, I am off to the ballpark for Sunday brunch. While this walk is a bit outside the two-mile limit I had originally set out (roughly 2.4 miles), I think we should see how the decisions made nearly 30 years ago impact our ability to experience the City on a day out at the ballpark.

While you could take the Onondaga Creekwalk most of the way to the ballpark, I feel the more interesting, and more important, walk will take us north on N Salina St, cutting through Little Italy and the Northside. But, as always, we will begin from Downtown.

Downtown - Under I-81

From Clinton Square you begin by heading north along N Salina St. The roadway deserves its place as Syracuse’s Main Street. Extra wide sidewalks line each side of the street with freshly painted buffered bike lanes along the curb. The bike lanes have allowed the City to reduce the roadway from four lanes to three, with a full bus shelter on the northwest corner of the N Salina / James St intersection.

The old Post Standard building, now known as the Post, recently went through a renovation that helps to clean up this corner, while the eastern side is fronted by an historic bank building, which has been around since the days of the Erie Canal.

This is generally where the positives end.

As I noted in a previous post, as you head north towards I-81, the buildings quickly fall away and you’re surrounded by parking lots and the hulking mass of the Post Standard’s former printing press and loading docks. While the parking lot on the eastern side is lined with trees and flowers, it does little to enliven the area.

As you approach the I-81 bridge, only a small mural under the roadway brings color to the space. An old industrial building, currently under renovation to become apartments, sits between the I-81 and I-690 bridges. The removal of I-81 will help free this building and improve residential access to the nearby businesses. The highway removal will also improve pedestrian access on the western sidewalk, which currently forces people across an off-ramp with bad sight-lines, creating a dangerous crossing situation.

Little Italy (I-81 to Lodi St)

Once you’re out from beneath the highway, you’ve entered what has traditionally been known as Little Italy. While this moniker is still used today, the neighborhood has continued to diversify far beyond its Italian roots. The Northside is billed as “Home to generations from many nations,” and the current experience along N Salina St exemplifies that sentiment. Shops that cater to dozens of different cultures and backgrounds can be found throughout the neighborhood, including many with African and Middle Eastern roots. Some Italian, or Italian style, businesses still exist, including Francesca’s and Biscotti’s, but they are no longer surrounded by similar establishments as they once used to be.

If any neighborhood was ripe for growth, it is Little Italy. The older building stock, with many structures built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, lends itself to apartment conversions and walkable stores and restaurants. Even some of the newer buildings, like the Dunkin’, mimic this classic style. But any redevelopment should take care to preserve the local businesses that currently call this street home. The incredible diversity of cultures found on the City’s Northside should find themselves welcome on this street, and visitors should come to appreciate what it has to offer.

Throughout Little Italy the wide sidewalks found Downtown continue. Often these sidewalks are 25 ft wide, providing ample space for outdoor dining or sidewalk sales. The buildings that line the street are pedestrian oriented with commercial spaces on the ground floor and apartments above. While many are currently in use, several prominent buildings sit vacant or underutilized, including a vacant grocery store, which could serve both the Northside and Downtown residents. One thing this street is missing is a tree canopy. Beyond small pocket parks, the street is nearly devoid of street trees, which makes walking along the corridor on a hot day far less enjoyable than it could be.

While the built environment lends itself to walking and experiencing it on foot, the Butternut St / State St / N Salina St intersection acts as a sharp divide.

Forming the shape of a triangle, the intersection does little to help anyone get through easily. As a driver, lights often don’t line up, catching you in the middle of the multi-step intersection. As someone on foot, its tough to determine who is turning where, when. Add to that the thoroughly overbuilt State St, with four wide lanes that welcome speeding cars.

Minimal changes will occur to this intersection as a result of the I-81 project, namely a slight realignment of the Butternut St bridge and a removal of the on-ramp to the highway. But we should go further. In fact, we should remove and reshape large portions of this intersection to make it friendlier to people on foot.

Closing State St from Butternut to N Salina would allow for the expansion of the existing grassy median into a full fledged park. It would also slow drivers through forcing turns. On the remaining legs of State St, we should look to narrow the roadways and right-size our streets for the fairly low-level of traffic they actually receive. If done correctly, this intersection could become a place to be instead of a place to pass through,

Past the Butternut intersection, the wide sidewalks continue alongside historic architecture until you reach the most prominent landmark of the neighborhood, Assumption Church.

The two bell towers define the Northside’s skyline and its campus of buildings anchor the area around Catawba St. The old school has been transformed into apartments over the last ten years, with its gym now serving as an indoor soccer pitch for youth leagues. The parish’s food pantry also serves as a vital community asset for those in need. As a result, walks near the church are often accompanied by people of all walks of life. Those volunteering at the pantry, those needing its services due to recent hardships, and those who have come to rely on it for near daily necessities. It is the most visible example of the church adhering to its stated mission, and yet, many find it uncomfortable to walk by.

As I noted in my walk to Tipperary Hill, these spaces reinforce the need for robust housing and relief programs that go far beyond walkability. But these are important issues to note and find ways to address. This may be through an abundant housing strategy, drug rehabilitation programs, job training, and readjustments to our social safety net programs. As noted before, I highly recommend a conversation on a recent episode of the Ezra Klein Show as a starting point on addressing these issues. There is also positive movement from the Syracuse Police Department in changing their approach to addressing the needs of individuals in these difficult positions.

Lodi Intersection

While the Butternut St / State St/ N Salina St intersection is complex, the intersection with Lodi St is far more complicated in terms of navigation. Similar to the previous intersection, six street legs converge at the same location, but this time there is no island helping to define the movements.

The southbound approach of Lodi St reaches the intersection has vehicles stopping over 160 ft back from the center of the intersection and is bordered by a parking lot that pushes cars into the intersection as they exit.

Hills on the westbound approach of Kirkpatrick St and the northbound approach of Lodi St reduce visibility of people on foot, and also force them to walk up and down stairs if they are to use cross the streets legally.

Again, this is an intersection in need of some trimming.

Southbound Lodi should see its movements blocked before the intersection, creating either a dead-end street or pushing drivers to turn on N Salina St before the traffic signal.

This should be paired with a narrowing of the other approaches. Currently, the northbound approach of N Salina St measures over 70 ft in width for only three lanes of traffic. The southbound approach isn’t much better at over 50 ft wide. These roadways have plenty of space to repurpose as curb extensions or bus lanes. Adding in painted bump outs would be an ideal approach as it would provide the flexibility to adjust for future transit improvements in the near future.

Lodi St to Wolf St

Once you are past Lodi, N Salina St loses much of its historic architecture in favor of auto oriented services, like car washes, convenience stores, and light industrial uses.

A small, well kept green space occupies the block between Danforth St and Court St and offers the only true shade and tree cover in the last half mile of N Salina St. Beyond this neighborhood park, the sidewalks are fairly barren.

Across Court St, you continue past the Pastime Athletic Club, an athletic club that was founded in 1892, one of the longest running organizations in the City of Syracuse. While the organization has a long history, its impact on the streetscape is minimal. Its former front door is no longer in use, instead pushing members to its back parking lot to enter.

One short block away, you stumble upon the first of many, far too many, strip clubs in this part of the Northside, Lookers. While the business is less than desirable, it is an example of something found throughout Syracuse, and throughout the remainder of this walk - homes turned into commercial spaces. Further down N Salina St you come across an abandoned bookstore and music shop that were both housed on the ground floors of their respective homes. In some circles these types of businesses are referred to as “front yard businesses.” When the housing was dense and most people walked for their daily needs, these businesses thrived. Then, in the 1960s, we began making it harder for these types of businesses to develop, and we instead shifted our focus to national retailers in car oriented plazas on the edges of our urban area.

Wolf St (N Salina to Carbon St)

As we approach Wolf St, we re-enter a more historic architectural space, anchored by the Syracuse Antiques Exchange and the former H.A. Moyer carriage factory, which is in the process of being renovated into apartments. Due to the car oriented developments leading up to this intersection, the former warehouses and factories seem to spring out of nowhere. Today, the intersection is filling in, with Cuse Catch occupying a former bank and the gradual redevelopment occurring around it. At the same time, strip clubs and bars also fill the space. But Wolf St has the potential to be a true neighborhood center that other neighborhoods in the City could only dream of, and it is thanks to the historical industrial bones it is built on.

I have written previously about the potential of this area, including promoting the idea of the old industrial buildings being repurposed as a brewery center. Since then, new construction has begun, with several of the older buildings being converted into residential units, including units for individuals with disabilities and a broad range of affordability. Developers aim to fill the ground floor with commercial spaces, which can be an opportunity to not only serve the immediate community but also can become a destination if properly connected well to the nearby Regional Market, NBT Bank Stadium and Destiny USA.

The wide sidewalks lend themselves to pedestrian activity, including sidewalk cafes and outdoor dining, yet some of the remaining industrial uses, namely Roma Tile & Marble, currently use the space to load in and out of their facilities. We should encourage this activity to continue, but it may be worth looking at restricting freight movements to morning hours, freeing up the sidewalks during the busier afternoon and evening hours.

Wolf St (Carbon St to Grant Blvd)

Beyond Carbon St, the sidewalk narrows with dense housing close to the street, setback only a few feet from the sidewalk. Mixed in with the housing is a variety of commercial spaces, primarily convenience stores that use the sidewalk, or really just the space where a sidewalk should go, as pull-in parking. While it is great that these commercial spaces exist, they are often being used in duplicative ways. While the area may not need a full on grocery store with Regional Market only a block away, a plethora of convenience stores make less desirable goods, like alcohol and cigarettes, much easier to access than the healthy food only available two times per week at the market.

Further down Wolf St, a vacant storefront, previously a Dollar Tree, could be a prime location for a neighborhood grocery. But we should look to do more with this space, and all neighborhood grocery stores. We should look to add housing on top of these facilities, ensuring easy access to fresh food, and promoting the ability to get daily needs without a car. As noted in the SMTC’s RTC / Market Area Mobility Study, over 38 percent of households do not currently have access to a car and we should be focusing our efforts on bringing in development that promotes access to those on foot.

While that study does not focus on Wolf St, many of the same observations hold true. The sidewalks are busy by Syracuse standards, with many others on bikes. This is not a car dependent neighborhood, yet we have not built spaces that are comfortable to walk on. Sidewalks are narrow, street trees are rare, and traffic is primarily passing through instead of heading to the neighborhood.

Further north, on the way to the ballpark, sits the former site of the Easy Cafe. Prior to the bar burning down, it was already a missed opportunity. As one of the only bars within easy walking distance of NBT Bank Stadium, it could have been, and should have been, a great place to grab a drink or bite to eat before a game. Instead, it did not open itself up as a welcoming space to many. Part of the reason may be its neighbors. Two small car dealerships and a gas station occupy the other corner locations. Such auto-oriented commercial spaces deaden the space and make it unpleasant to walk as you must navigate between cars parked up to the curb and watch for drivers pulling in and out. Due to these constraints, rebuilding the bar and making it a gameday destination will require an owner to go big. A dream of mine would be to see a wiffle ball bar open up near the ballpark, similar to Rookies in Wisconsin. By making the bar its own destination, it may be able to overcome its difficult neighbors and help bring baseball further into the neighborhood. As I have mentioned many times, baseball is an urban sport, and we should find ways to connect the team into the neighborhood as often as possible.

Into the Ballpark

Building these connections must also include Hiawatha Blvd. While for this trip I took the route down Wolf St, most often I find myself walking down Hiawatha on my way to a game. Hiawatha experiences many of the same issues as Wolf St: narrow sidewalks (where they exist), industrial and auto oriented uses that create conflicts, and a lack of tree coverage.

One highlight of Hiawatha Blvd is the Hiawatha Heights Apartments, which converted an old industrial building into apartments within the last decade. The building helps to bring life to a beautiful old building while offering views of the ballpark. It is an example of what should line this entire corridor, and ideally stretch towards the ballpark itself. In 2012, the Hiawatha - Lodi Brownfield Opportunity Area (BOA) Plan identified a need to develop Hiawatha into a mixture of industrial, commercial, and medium to high density residential to create an active neighborhood on a year-round basis. This includes improving pedestrian facilities and crossings, where currently none exist.

And this goes beyond Hiawatha and into the ballpark grounds.

In 2020, Onondaga County renovated NBT Bank Stadium, including paving the large parking lot that separates the ballpark from its nearest neighbors. I have long advocated that the County should open up this land for redevelopment, which is now even less likely after this round of asphalt investment. While I will continue to advocate for these changes, a short-term improvement that can be made is the installation of pedestrian facilities through the parking lot. Currently, only one painted pedestrian path exists off the N 2nd St entrance. Building out a sidewalk network, mimicking city blocks, would be a step in defining future blocks for development while immediately improving walking access to the ballpark.

While this series is focused on walking and improving access for those of us on foot, I do think it is important to call out the sheer lack of bicycle parking facilities. As a County park that is located in an urban neighborhood, there is no excuse for not providing bike corals and other secure bike parking facilities at multiple locations outside the ballpark. The City of Syracuse recently installed buffered bike lanes that lead directly into the ballpark from Grant Blvd, yet cyclists are left to chain their bikes up to lights in the parking lot or to gates surrounding the stadium. To better improve this accessibility, we need to offer people safe places to store their bikes, much as we provide excessive amounts of storage for cars.

And as you make it across the final asphalt sea, you approach a true beautiful minor league ballpark. For all the faults of the location, and its lack of pedestrian access, the ballpark itself is a true gem for Syracuse. It is time for us to bring the ballpark into the City by bringing the City to it. Encourage fans to walk, bike, or take transit when possible. Give fans places to hang out before and after games that keep them in the neighborhood. And build up the neighborhood around the park and strengthen its connections to the team.

The Walk: To Tipperary Hill

August 14, 2023

Every July, St. Patrick’s Church holds its annual Irish Festival. Filled with music, food, and, of course, Irish beer, the festival is a great place to spend a few hours on a warm summer weekend. Who doesn’t love to hang out and have a few drinks with friends? And yet, many of us choose to drive to get there. During its busiest hours, cars line the neighborhood streets for blocks around the church. Should everyone who just spent a few hours drinking really get behind the wheel to head home? Ubers and Lyfts are options. The bus can be too, if you’re there during service hours.

But why not walk?

From Downtown Syracuse, the walk is just under two miles and nearly a straight line down W Fayette St. So, on a sunny Saturday afternoon, we took a walk.

The Downtown Walk

Fayette St through Downtown Syracuse is typically filled with activity. Bars and restaurants line the street from S Salina St west to West St. Wide sidewalks provide ample space to walk alongside outdoor dining setups. The Downtown Committee hangs flower pots from the pedestrian sized street lighting each summer, bringing color and nature to an urbanized space.

When you walk down the street, the architecture that forms the street wall is built with pedestrian movements in mind. Large windows opening to first floor businesses, with three to four floors of residential or office spaces above, provide visual interest as you walk by. Generally speaking, Downtown streets are fairly narrow with pedestrian signals that line up with the traffic signals, ensuring safe crossings in the busiest pedestrian areas. At W Fayette St and Franklin St, people on foot are given a dedicated crossing time, stopping all cars to make crossing easier and safer.

But the Downtown experience is limited. As I have mentioned in previous pieces, Downtown has been retrofitted for cars over the last several decades, with many parking lots surrounding the more walkable center. As you head westward, buildings fade away and car storage reigns supreme, before you encounter a mini highway that cuts straight through the heart of the City.

Crossing West Street

West St, which forms the western border of Downtown Syracuse, is a six lane roadway with on ramps to I-690 on its northern end. While the road is signed for 35 mph traffic, often cars travel upwards of 45 or 50 mph, speeding through at near highway level speeds. According to a 2015 article from the Post Standard, West St was originally built in the 1960s to form an “inner loop” highway, similar to the one recently filled in over in Rochester, NY. Over 100 buildings were demolished to make way for this overly wide roadway that was never ultimately completed as originally envisioned. So today, we are stuck with a high speed stretch of road that is unpleasant for all users.

In 2019, Wunderbar, one of the few queer bars in Syracuse, opened up in the former Redhouse Theater space. The bar is sandwiched between the north and southbound lanes of West St, placing it at an uncomfortable crossing point that has certainly prevented some bar hoppers from choosing to include it in their nights out.

So what makes this crossing so uncomfortable?

Car speeds are one of the biggest issues. From the south, cars come whipping around a corner under a railroad bridge. From the north, vehicles traveling at even higher speed coming off I-690 come racing up the depressed roadway from under Erie Blvd, trying to make the light, or rushing through shortly after it turns red.

Some of these issues will be addressed in the upcoming I-81 viaduct project. West St will see its connection to I-690 adjusted, bringing cars to a stop at W Genesee St, two blocks north of W Fayette St, helping to slow down vehicles. This adjustment does little to address speedy vehicles from the south. Ultimately, reducing lanes, adding street trees, and narrowing the intersections would help reduce speeds further, but are currently not within the plans.

Due to the existing features, and the lack of future improvements, few people choose to cross this intersection. Due to this lack of pedestrian activity, drivers are often not looking for people outside of vehicles, adding to the unsafe feeling for those who do look to cross.

Once you’re across both legs of West St, vacant lots welcome you before you pass under a railroad bridge. Sidewalks are only available on the southern side of the street, but they are at least decently wide. Panhandlers do frequent this corner. There’s a larger conversation that must be had in terms of homelessness, panhandling, and drug use in our community. This piece is not the space to dig in at this time, but it is important to note that these complex issues impact all aspects of public life. As a primer for a broader conversation, I highly recommend a recent episode of the Ezra Klein Show podcast and a piece in the Atlantic by his guest, Jerusalem Demsas. For now, we continue our walk and consider the physical infrastructure we have in place.

W Fayette Street - West to Geddes

On the other side of the railroad bridge, the experience is a mixed bag. The Near Westside has an industrial legacy and, thanks to the Near Westside Initiative, many of the legacy warehouses and factories have been repurposed for the modern age. WCNY, the local PBS station, moved into the neighborhood over ten years ago. Artisan and light industrial businesses have also moved in. And some housing has been added. This neighborhood continues to experience concentrated poverty, and recently announced housing projects look to improve the quality of housing available, although it does not fully address the need for more mixed-income housing.

When looking at the walking experience, the legacy architecture does help improve the interest level of the walk. Murals grace the face of several buildings, bringing a pop of color and visual interest as you walk. Even then, many of the buildings are currently underused. Some of this is due to a lack of demand, but that could be shifting as new investments come into the region. These older warehouses can easily become mixed-use centers, providing housing and maker spaces for hundreds of residents. The Gear Factory, further down W Fayette St, is a perfect example of this approach.There are also plenty of surface parking lots that we can redevelop into the mixed-use neighborhood scale buildings this neighborhood needs.

While the buildings that line the southern side of the street do help with visual interest, the railyard and parking lot on the northern side of the street deaden the activity. Further west, the Lipe Art Park is an excellent start to bringing life and color to the space. What holds the art park back is a lack of connection to the neighborhood across the street.

Without any stop signs or traffic signals between West St and Geddes St, over 3,000 ft, cars often speed down the corridor, traveling far above the 30 mph posted speed limit. At the same time, the lack of sidewalks on the northern side signals that people are not welcome to cross, even if an artistic destination is located there. While some may be reluctant to slow vehicles down on a key commuting corridor, it is vital to creating a welcoming space for residents. If we see our legacy buildings as opportunities to provide housing for hundreds or thousands, then providing easy access to green spaces and artistic endeavors must be considered part of that. This may require adding traffic control devices in key locations, removing the center turn lane to reconfigure the space to include a shared use path or other infrastructure within the curb line, and slowing vehicles down to at least the posted speed limit, if not lower.

We should also recognize that Erie Blvd W, which runs parallel to W Fayette St, could and should become more of a commuter corridor as the roadway is already overbuilt and underused. Moving commuting traffic to the north may allow W Fayette St to be humanized.

Crossing Geddes Street

Geddes St is the second concerning intersection along this trip. In 2021, the SMTC identified the intersection and corridor as a hotspot for fatal and serious injury crashes. When you make your way through the intersection, you begin to understand why.

As mentioned before, drivers on W Fayette St are often traveling far above the 30 mph speed limit, aiming to make the light before it turns red. Adding to this issue is the fact that most westbound traffic is turning left to head south down Geddes St. Left turns are the most dangerous movement in a vehicle, with many drivers looking for other cars but not looking for people on foot. Add to this the right turn lane for northbound traffic on Geddes St and the fairly wide crossing (roughly 70 ft), the end result is people on foot being exposed to drivers who are not looking for their presence.

In 2020, the SMTC explored the option of reducing the number of travel lanes on Geddes St and repurposing space for a two-way shared-use path. This would help reduce the crossing distance and exposure to vehicles, while also improving access to cyclists. One thing this analysis does not fully take into account is the fact that drivers will find the path of least resistance or opt for new modes of travel. If you make the turns and connections to W Fayette St less ideal, many drivers will opt for new paths, including continuing northward onto Erie Blvd W. Reducing the amount of turns at this intersection would help people on foot by reducing the amount of conflicts they have with cars.

Luckily for us, walking on a Saturday meant lower than average car volumes and only two or three cars waiting to turn as we crossed.

W Fayette Street - Under the Railroad

Once you’ve made it to the other side, you’re greeted by the Gear Factory, a true highlight in how to reuse older, legacy industrial buildings. While the building is seeing new life, the public space outside of it is in need of repair. While the City’s sidewalk program will likely improve the sidewalks in the coming years, the street lighting should be reconfigured to emphasize more human scale movements. Currently, the cobra style streetlights are closer to what you see on a highway instead of on a neighborhood commercial strip. Adding accessory lighting fixtures could help address this concern.

Soon, just to the west of the Gear Factory, the Syracuse Police Department (SPD) is eyeing another underused warehouse for a potential upcoming move. This move would not only help shore up a quickly deteriorating building, but also add activity and people to a block in need of them. Bringing public investment into this neighborhood could be the catalyst for other forms of development. Currently, the building the SPD is considering has a less than trustworthy sidewalk shed protecting people as they walk next to it. Unlike the sidewalk sheds in New York City, the ones used in Syracuse are short, narrow, and dark. They add a feeling of being constrained even while you’re out in public.

These sidewalk sheds act almost as an extension of the dark, constrained feelings you experience when walking under the unused railroad bridges at their western end. While the previous SMTC study recommended adding lighting and signage beneath the bridge, the path is littered with trash and drug paraphernalia, which is likely to continue until the area is more well trafficked on foot. Another option is to remove the bridge entirely, opening up the space. While I would love to see the bridge repurposed for riding bikes and walking, it might make more financial sense to remove it and improve the street and sidewalks in its place.

This section of W Fayette St should be seen as the entrance to Tipperary Hill and Skunk City. Just a couple blocks away, as massive new development is taking shape. The former Syracuse Developmental Center is being redeveloped into roughly 500 housing units and a light industrial complex. We must be thinking of ways to improve these connections and encourage residents to walk and bike down this corridor. Adding light, widening sidewalks, and bringing public safety investments to the area are all good ways to start.

W Fayette St - Up to Tipp Hill

Once you’re under the railroad bridge, you’ve mostly made it to Tipperary Hill, just a few more blocks to get to most of the bars. And those blocks mostly lack quality sidewalks. Where sidewalks do exist, they’re broken up and overgrown. Again, many of these issues will be addressed through the City’s new municipal sidewalk program, but will not be addressed is how we treat these spaces. Often cars block the spaces where people are meant to walk, either in driveways or outside of bars. The presence of a new sidewalk could dissuade some of these drivers from storing their cars here, but that won’t last for long. Part of the issue is that we still promote people driving to bars in the first place, often by providing free car storage.

As you make your way up the hill, you arrive at the newest Tip Hill bar, Emerald Cocktail, which is the first rooftop bar in the City. This bar is built in a much more urban style, with no car storage and large windows that open up onto the street. Its a welcome addition to the area and helps fill a gap along the route, providing one more interesting stop to encourage you to walk between.

While the building and business are a welcome addition, the intersection it sits at is not ideal. The main issue here is a slip lane for westbound traffic to continue up Tompkins St. What is odd about this slip lane, and the way this intersection is set up, is that a small garden and seating area are positioned on the far side, across from the Ukrainian church, where no sidewalk exists. So we have pedestrian amenities placed where people are not encouraged to go. I would propose some changes to this area to make it more people friendly. The first major change is closing off the slip lane. Make cars slow down and perform a full turn at the light. This helps make their movements more predictable and easier for people to cross. Second, fill in that closed off slip lane by extending the garden. Make this a place people actually want to congregate. Encourage people to cross over to the church’s garden, where the Celtic cross stands. Give people a chance to sit outside in the shade as they walk through their neighborhood.

This intersection redesign would also help move people down towards Nibsy’s, but there’s need for improvements on that final block. Currently, N Wilbur Ave, between Tompkins St and Ulster St, is a one-way street heading south. While the street is narrow (around 23 ft), it can be narrowed further. If you remove on-street parking, with most homes having off-street space or the ability to store their car in the open lot down the block, you gain more than enough space to fit a full sidewalk down the block.

Speaking of that open lot, the space needs definition and shade. You would be forgiven if you were unsure where the street begins and the empty lot ends. No sidewalks help distinguish this expanse of asphalt from the street, and no formalized entrance points. While I personally would like to see this space developed into housing, along with the wide open field across W Fayette St, we should first start by defining the space. Add sidewalks and line it with shade trees. Then, in the future as housing demand increases, the space is primed for redevelopment into a higher use. But until that time, providing a shaded path across this open space will help to improve walkability for all.

And, at the end of this lot, we finally reach St. Patrick’s Church.

This trip, right around 2 miles in length, and about 40 minutes, takes you through very different built environments with varying levels of success in terms of accessibility on foot. There’s a lot to work with, in terms of repurposing our legacy buildings, slowing traffic, and adding shade, but there are good bones to work from. One of the keys is realizing that we must design spaces for the uses we desire, not for what is there currently. A prime connective corridor like W Fayette St should be oriented towards people on foot, while Erie Blvd W, where the Erie Canal used to run, was never meant for people. Finding ways to shift car trips to that corridor, and reimagining a neighborhood corridor is a good place to start.