APD Solutions Review Neighborhoods 5 – Year Plan Southern Compass, Shifting the Narrative to Growth on the Southside.
Pastors Supporting Facility No-Show at Town Hall Meeting with Residents
The November 17th meeting at Danforth School was originally called to bring attention to the Crouse/Sears project, since the announcement was made to the general public, there’s been a sense of foreboding in the air, reminiscent of past projects. Some said it’s inevitable, the Crouse/Sears Project will move forward. Nothing could have been further from the truth.
The plan to transform the former Sears department store, into a facility to provide drug addiction treatment services has been cancelled. Based on reports from the community that the treatment facility was not wanted in that location, there was acknowledgement from Crouse Health that they had not gained support of the Southside community. Therefore, Crouse Health decided to review other locations.
After spending a brief time reviewing what had transpired regarding Crouse Health, the meeting focused on what the Southside TNT had been working on over the last year. Syracuse Common Councilor-at-Large, Khalid Bey provided an update and answered questions. Bey’s assessment of the current situation included information detailing what’s been happening bringing people up to date. Emphasis was placed on community participation being vital as it determines a neighborhoods course of action.
Model Neighborhood Executive Director, Angela Wright presented, A New Model, A New Way; outlining the neighborhoods concerns and where do we go from here. Syracuse Model Neighborhood has provided affordable rental housing for decades. New housing and retail storefronts have been built along the once desolate corridor; residents have participated in meetings, giving stakeholders in the immediate area a voice in determining the future of this maligned section of Syracuse.
The event ended with a full throated discussion about the future. Vaughn Irons, CEO of APD Solutions provided a presentation complete with visuals, providing details. A café with outdoor eating space is planned along with other ideas being introduced to the community by a company led by a man who was raised in Syracuse and has gone on to lead development projects in the Atlanta area and beyond.
Given Irons’ knowledge of the area his company appears to be an excellent choice given the neighborhoods response to the Southside neighborhood 5 year plan entitled, Southern Compass. The Plan is a 144 page document that includes voluminous information on the Southside. Statistics including land use, economic development, and income levels; a true overview of their concerns and challenges, along with an accounting of vast assets each Syracuse community embodies. “Southern Compass” The Five – Year Plan ends with a list of 15 recommendations along with detailed “Tactical Actions” and expected measured outcomes. This plan becomes a catalyst for applying for state, federal and foundation funding in an effort to secure a solid future for South Side residents, businesses and assorted stakeholders. To view the entire plan,“Click” on the following link “Southern Compass” Southside TNT Five Year Plan by APD Solutions. To access the full plan – you must enter your email address and register.
A major neighborhood milestone has been crossed with APD Solutions’ completion and presentation of the Southside 5 Year Neighborhood Plan: Southern Compass-A Plan for the Future.
Prior to the 1990’s the City of Syracuse relied on the Community Development Advisory Committee as its method of gaining input from the city’s neighborhoods. Community planning with resident participation is one of the requirements for cities receiving Community Development Block Grants. Syracuse had a system in place that had some people serving on committees for over a decade. The Federal Government established rules requiring Syracuse to select new way of gauging public sentiment. After some research, the city decided to use Rochester, NY as an example. Rochester already had a system in place with sectors that carved the municipality into manageable pieces. That became the framework for their community participation.
Syracuse adopted a similar approach; however Rochester’s version placed more power in the hands of resident and business stakeholders in a given area.
Many have opined about the Southside and what were their plans. It became clear that there are plans by the neighborhood, for the neighborhood. The following is the opening statement made by Southside TNT as written into the introduction of their 5 year plan.
Tomorrow’s Neighborhoods Today (TNT) Area 3 – Southside 5-Year Neighborhood Plan: Southern Compass
“In 1999, the City of Syracuse established Tomorrow’s Neighborhoods Today (TNT) to facilitate public input to government agencies, community organizations, philanthropic groups and private investors.
Eight Neighborhood Planning Councils that corresponds to the city’s eight planning areas were formed — Downtown, Westside, Southside, Valley, Eastside, Eastwood, Northside, and Lakefront.
TNT’s founding mission was to create a comprehensive process that is accessible to and influenced by neighborhood residents, businesses and local organizations to shape the future of their community. In essence making tomorrow’s neighborhoods possible because of the decisions being made today. This approach to planning helps direct the city’s resources into priority areas in the most cost-effective way.
One of the main functions of each TNT sector is to create a five-year plan that would include a comprehensive vision for the diverse neighborhoods within the area, five-year goals and objectives, prioritized action steps, budgets, recommendations to operating city departments and timelines for completion.
Each of the city’s operating departments is supposed to take these plans into consideration as they create annual work plans and capital budgets. Although some believe these plans just collect dust, many neighborhoods are now updating their plans and crossing off things that were accomplished as a result of their long-term planning.
Unfortunately, that’s not the case for the Southside. TNT Area-3 – Southside is the only TNT sector that does not have a five-year neighborhood plan on record. Each community with a plan has experienced a noticeable improvement. This assessment project was commissioned to help the Southside get on the right track and experience similar progress as other areas of this city.”
The Five year plan was completed by the people, for the people, workshops were conducted throughout the year for community participation and feedback. The Five Year plan was voted on and adopted by TNT Southside Community. The three quality of life issues that TNT Southside voted on as a community were:
1.a) Economic Development; jobs, developing the S. Salina Street Corridor with Commercial businesses and services and work force development
2. b) Safe and Vibrant neighborhoods; Community policing, police hubs throughout the Southside, Improved lighting, establishing neighborhood watch
3. c) Quality and safe Education for our children; Innovative programs and curriculum, safety.
The plan to place Crouse Health’s drug treatment facility on the Southside ignited a sea of passions. It has been noted that Syracuse’s Southside is the only neighborhood where people and interests from outside the geographic area appear to have so much power over residents’ lives.
As most of their churches are clustered on the Southside; Pastoral groups such as the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance met with Crouse/Sears representatives were briefed and then openly supporting a project that was not vetted by resident stakeholders. None of the pastors who registered their support for the project were present at the TNT Town Hall. This meeting was originally scheduled to discuss the project, along with unveiling Southside plans for neighborhood revitalization.
Rev. E. Brian Eure, an ardent supporter of the project, took to social media in a Facebook post stating, “I pray that for those who claim to have a plan for the South Side of Syracuse. I pray that the 5 year plan comes to fruition. I hope I can help. I am just not sure when the 5 year clock is either going to start or has started.” He continues, “FOR THE RECORD, the notion that you have to be born and raised in a neighborhood to care about that neighborhood is “ridiculous” I personally never been to South Africa, but I am glad they ended Apartheid & elected Nelson Mandela. Time will tell who is really helping our city.”
It has also been noted that E. Brian Eure resides outside the city of Syracuse, as does the church he pastors, The Promised Land Church.
Saying residents were infuriated would be an understatement. Backing the assertion that outside players are allowed to have a say on Syracuse’s Southside, “they’d never go to any other neighborhood in Syracuse and try that”, stated one angry resident who doesn’t want to be identified. African Americans have such a relationship with the traditional “Black” church that many congregants are actually afraid of their own pastors. Perhaps their collective absence says volumes about how committed they were, to a project that they refused to defend in a Town Hall setting. Once the list of meetings and participants was disclosed and their support was made public, some Crouse/Sears Project backers ran like roaches on a dark summer night, when a kitchen light is set aglow.
People who’ve long lived in the area, along with younger residents and entrepreneurs are eager and excited to see an improved neighborhood. A drive down S. Salina Street, just past the Sears building and you enter the Sankofa Business District; the area is not downtrodden, nor drug infested as some would like you to believe.
It appears as though the neighborhood is ready to move forward, beyond the convulsive reaction to the Crouse/Sears plan. Shifting the narrative to growth of the Southside, by backing and utilizing their now completed 5-year plan, it’s becoming clear what Southside residents want… and don’t want, in their neighborhood.
