Hi all,
Thanks for a great April meeting of the Syracuse Urbanism Club! We continue to grow and make change, and we surpassed 175 members on Tuesday!
We focused during this meeting on coalition building and hosting a CNU NY state chapter event. During our breakout groups, you all shared lots of great ideas! Our goal is to build a coalition of many like-minded organizations in the Syracuse area to create stronger advocacy campaigns with broader support around shared goals. If you’d like to join the coalition-building / chapter event group, email syracuseurbanismclub@gmail.com with the subject “Team Coalition”. Or, if your organization would like to discuss the possibility of building a coalition together, please let us know, too.
We also shared some upcoming events, all also available on our website at syracuseurbanism.org/calendar:
- Wednesday May 15th @ 6pm: Joint event! Creekwalk Tour and group discussion about shared goals and potential areas of collaboration with PACNY (Preservation Association of Central New York) (flyer above)
- May 15th-18th: CNU 32, Cincinnati https://www.cnu.org/cnu32
- At next month’s general meeting, 6pm on May 28: A conversation with Thomas Bardenett & Meghan Vitale of the Syracuse Metropolitan Transportation Council (SMTC). They’ll gather our feedback on their Metropolitan Transportation Plan (MTP), among other topics of conversation.
- Saturday June 15, 10am-2pm: SWAG (Syracuse Women’s and Gender Nonconforming Peoples’) Bike Fest. Learn more at syracuseurbanism.org/swag-bike-fest
- May 9th: Syracuse Housing Strategy Open House at Beauchamp Branch Library, 2111 S. Salina St, 5:30-7pm. I highly encourage everyone to go to this or read the housing strategy online and provide feedback at syracusehousingstudy.com. If you can’t make it, There will be presentations and/or discussions on this study at the additional events below:
- Thursday 5/2 – Dale St Neighborhood Watch, Gethsemane Church (corner of Butternut & Harold), 7pm
- Monday 5/6 – Southside TNT, Southside Innovation Center (2610 S Salina St), 6:00pm
- Tuesday 5/7 – Washington Square Task Force, Destiny Christian Center (514 Turtle St), 6:30pm
- Wednesday 5/8 – Valley TNT, Cecile Community Center (174 W Seneca Tpk), 6:30pm
- Thursday 5/9 – Public Open House #2 (Beauchamp Public Library 2111 S Salina St, 5:30-7)
- Tuesday, 5/14 – Eastside TNT, 6:30 pm (virtual via zoom)
- Tuesday, 5/21 – SIDA Board of Directors, Council Chambers, 8am
- The Mini Meadows project team is planning on hosting an event on May 18 or 19 in Loguen Park, followed by a separate field trip to the City’s greenhouse. Stay tuned for updates!
This month, we had plenty of exciting project updates!
- The Creekwalk Wayfinding Project secured a $3,000 grant! Additionally, the team is seeking additional funding through the Syracuse Parks Conservancy and plans to expand the project further into the Southside. This team will need volunteers, especially those with any sort of design skills, those willing to implement wayfinding signage on the trail once we’re ready to move forward, and more.
- The SWAG Bike Fest has lined up speakers, is planning a bike ride at the end of the event, and secured breakfast and lunch sponsored by Wegman’s! They’re waiting to hear back from other potential sponsors and funding sources. A schedule for the bike fest is coming soon!
- The M. Lemp Park Project has confirmed that the Syracuse Industrial Development Agency will be finalizing a contract this month to enable the Syracuse Urbanism Club to make minor improvements and host community-building events in the park! We’ll likely begin by hosting a movie night. Look out for more details soon.
- The Mini Meadows team has been in touch with the Syracuse Parks Department and is looking for volunteers to help make improvements to Loguen Park.
- The I-81 Viaduct Project Recommendations continue to move forward as we had a chance to advocate for the adoption of some of our project recommendations as part of Syracuse’s $180 million Reconnecting Communities grant from the federal government from our representation on the city’s “Community Grid Cooperative” committee.
- The Safe Bike / Pedestrian Infrastructure team is planning to survey the communities affected by our proposed protected bike lane network, understand alternate routes and types of infrastructure that they might like to prioritize, incorporate their ideas into revised plans, and build a coalition to support safe bicycle infrastructure advocacy.
If you’d like to join any of these projects, visit the project pages at syracuseurbanism.org/our-projects. Each project page has instructions for how to reach out and get involved!
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Regards,
Baxter Hankin
Chair of the Syracuse Urbanism Club
