Free Republic

Washington – U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is making a new push to ensure that the transformation of Interstate 81 in Syracuse doesn’t leave behind some of the city’s most disadvantaged residents. Gillibrand, D-N.Y., introduced a bill today in Congress that would require at least 50% of the workers on the $2 billion construction project to be hired locally from Syracuse. The chronically unemployed, ex-offenders, veterans, and others who face barriers to employment would be given priority when it comes to filling hundreds of jobs for the five-year project, one of the largest in Syracuse’s history. At least a third of...

Syracuse, N.Y. -- The state’s $2 billion plans to transform Interstate 81 could prove an archetypal example of how a federal highway project can both solve transportation problems and rebuild city neighborhoods that lost out when the massive roadways were built. That’s the feeling that Mayor Ben Walsh said he had today after meeting for an hour with two members of U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s staff. “Overall it was very encouraging,” Walsh said this evening. “They see I-81 as a prime candidate for a demonstration on how to do federal transportation projects the right way.” The meeting comes as...

Helen Hudson will tell you what the 15th Ward was like when she was a girl. In the 1950s and early ’60s, the Syracuse neighborhood was home to thousands of predominantly black residents who had settled in the growing upstate New York city during and after the Great Migration. Those who remember it, like Hudson, describe it as thriving, self-sufficient community they were proud to call home. “Oh my god, the things we had,” she said recently, her voice softening with the distinct twang of nostalgia. “We had two bowling alleys. We had meat markets.” Charlie Pierce-El will tell you...

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- If a "community grid" is chosen to replace Interstate 81 in downtown Syracuse, what will happen to the land that's now under the aging viaduct's shadow? Whether it will be turned into green space or developed commercially is still an open question, according to city and state officials. A group of local architects is hoping to force the issue. The local chapter of the American Institute of Architects estimated in a recent paper that 18.6 acres of land will be made available if the 1.4-mile elevated highway is taken down. Taking the viaduct down and beefing up...

A rally in support of a replacement option for a stretch of Interstate 81 served as a platform for city mayoral candidates and local politicians to rail against New York state officials Tuesday. The rally, held in Hanover Square, was organized by ReThink81, a local group that supports a $1.3 billion replacement option for the “viaduct,” a raised section of I-81 that bisects Syracuse. At one point during the event, Common Council President Van Robinson hefted a sledgehammer into the air, saying he wanted to tear down the highway: “I hated it from the first time I came to this...