Development in and Around Syracuse Discussion

[OttoMets]

IF On-Track could make money don't you think it would already be back? Who's re-opening it? I don't buy that there will be enough traffic for the right price point to make it profitable.

It's a public good, it'd never be profitable.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

IF On-Track could make money don't you think it would already be back? Who's re-opening it? I don't buy that there will be enough traffic for the right price point to make it profitable.

It's a dog.

It can't compete with Uber/Lyft, or the free connective corridor shuttles, so it'll sit idle 359 days of the year.

Besides, if you live in Booth/Dellplain, or the Mount, or on Euclid, are you really walking all the way across campus just to get to the station?

 

[shandeezy7]

Good points. My complaints boil down to two or three areas where I think progress can be made:

1) Get OnTrack back. Self-explanatory - one more possibility for people to not bring a car to an area that doesn't have a ton of room for cars? Make it happen!
2) Quit hacking away at the grid. In an area with congestion, let's not further restrict mobility. Closing University Place and College Place put too much burden on surrounding streets, causing more gridlock, that SU and the city haven't worked strategically to reduce. Forcing extra turning movements on all SU's buses on Comstock really gums up the works on game days.
3) Go after low-hanging fruit in terms of parking priority and dynamic pricing. If Campus West residents want a car on campus, they should pay a lot. If they're going to bump decades-long SU tailgaters from lots for this privilege, they should pay even more.

The old GM of OnTrack, Bob Colucci, was my parents' neighbor. I think the real death knell for OnTrack was the bridge connection to the train/bus station never getting built. I think a line connecting the University to the bus/train station to the airport is the only way something like OnTrack could work. It's also too bad that the tracks couldn't somehow get closer to the main campus, as that's the only way it could really be convenient for University folks.

 

[Fly Rodder]

The way I see it, if SU chooses to have a football team, they need fans. To get fans, they need some kind of tailgating culture. And to support tailgating, they need on-site surface parking (which I really don't like in most contexts as well, for the record).

I get it and like tailgating as much as the next guy, but there was one incident at SU that pushed me over the edge and irritated the heck out of me (and continues to do so). I was commuter student and paid my $275/semester parking fee (or whatever it was) and I had to pay another $20 one night to park just so I could go to a physics lab that coincided with a mid-week basketball game. To make money off o their football team they need non-university fans. But it's give and take and they make money, so there is going to be compromise. Having a giant sports arena and many parking lots to fleece a bunch of non-students from the 'burbs isn't the core mission of the university. Like I said, I don't mind waiting in the traffic when I park up there, but I generally park and ride to most games.

IF On-Track could make money don't you think it would already be back? Who's re-opening it? I don't buy that there will be enough traffic for the right price point to make it profitable.

There'll be enough traffic if I demolish all the parking lots around the dome and replace them with buildings. MUAUAHHAHA

Seriously, tho, trains on someone else's tracks are worthless and a giant pain for everyone involved. I work not far from the tracks downtown and would love to be able to hop a train after work to games. But there's a bus from the Hotel Syracuse, too, I think, but that might be limited.

 

[sutomcat]

You might consider following State a little farther than Colvin and go to Brighton. Take Brighton past Ainsley Drive towards the current 481 Interchange which is where the 81 bypass is going to be.

That was my initial plan for getting home after the grid is implemented.

It doesn't sound like there is going to be a way to get to State via the backdoor method I have described any longer. I might be able to get to Renwick from Van Buren and get to Castle/MLK and State from there but to do so, I would have to go through the massive bottleneck everyone from the West lot is going to have to pass through.

If I have to go through that bottleneck, I might as well keep driving north on the boulevard and get on I81 from there. I think the problem is getting from the the lots west of the Dome through Van Buren to Almond/the new boulevard.

Access to the campus from the west has been bad since I81 was built. It looks like removing I81 is actually going to make that access worse. Very disappointed. We have no foresight.

 

[OttoMets]

The old GM of OnTrack, Bob Colucci, was my parents' neighbor. I think the real death knell for OnTrack was the bridge connection to the train/bus station never getting built. I think a line connecting the University to the bus/train station to the airport is the only way something like OnTrack could work. It's also too bad that the tracks couldn't somehow get closer to the main campus, as that's the only way it could really be convenient for University folks.

I do agree that there's a huge challenge for rail in this culture and that Lyft/Uber might pose an insurmountable obstacle, too. Location of the tracks is a problem - on one hand, it's free infrastructure. On the other, in a small town where minutes matter, they might be a little too far from where people want to be.

 

[sufandu]

The way I see it, if SU chooses to have a football team, they need fans. To get fans, they need some kind of tailgating culture. And to support tailgating, they need on-site surface parking (which I really don't like in most contexts as well, for the record).

On the other hand, like 20,000 SU students get by in their walkable urban environment every day without a car, evidence that car ownership -- to say nothing of car availability right near the core of main campus -- is not a necessary part of student life at SU.

So while I agree that students should take priority over visitors in most cases, I don't think their contribution to the institution is as dependent on 8-hour blocks of car storage as the tailgaters' is.

Nah. SU fans need to not be whiners. There are other urban campuses with much bigger stadiums and equally crappy parking that fill their stadiums without fans crying about the tailgaiting situation.

 

[Cuse12]

Nah. SU fans need to not be whiners. There are other urban campuses with much bigger stadiums and equally crappy parking that fill their stadiums without fans crying about the tailgaiting situation.

I’m sure they are crying too. Every fan base does, about something.

 

[sufandu]

I’m sure they are crying too. Every fan base does, about something.

Sure. They haven't been to a conference championship game in forever and lose to Alabama every year. But they don't complain about their tailgaiting and parking situation, and the school I'm referring to, Tennessee, has absolutely no open lots near their stadium. They rely on parking garages and downtown street parking.

SU is an urban campus on a hill. There is no good way to make the parking situation good. There never will be. If we want good parking and easy accesst to tailgaiting we need to root for a school with a rural campus.

 

[TexanMark]

Another hotel coming to Syracuse

It is proposed to be built next to St. Joseph´s Hospital. Ninety extended stay suites and some market rate apartments for the medical workers.

Developer seeks tax deal worth $7M for hotel at St. Joseph’s Hospital

The 90-room extended-stay hotel will connect to the hospital

www.syracuse.com

Now if they can only build something nice in Little Italy where the three buildings burnt down. Hopefully, the grid will help the northern edge of downtown and Little Italy.

 

[wiseman3]

Another hotel coming to Syracuse

It is proposed to be built next to St. Joseph´s Hospital. Ninety extended stay suites and some market rate apartments for the medical workers.

Developer seeks tax deal worth $7M for hotel at St. Joseph’s Hospital

The 90-room extended-stay hotel will connect to the hospital

www.syracuse.com

Now if they can only build something nice in Little Italy where the three buildings burnt down. Hopefully, the grid will help the northern edge of downtown and Little Italy.

As always, the syracuse.com comment section is a war zone. This seems like a good thing. I agree, a vibrant north side is a key to having a greater, growing Syracuse.

 

[Trueblue25]

Anyone who drives east across the city on 690 can see the disturbing difference between the growing vibrance of the city and near westside as opposed to the northside. I gladly invite this hotel.

 

[Qbobby]

As always, the syracuse.com comment section is a war zone. This seems like a good thing. I agree, a vibrant north side is a key to having a greater, growing Syracuse.

Those idiots would bitch if their ice cream was cold.

 

[FrancoPizza]

I long for the days when people could also park on the streets such as Henry St. It’s more of a mess now.

Why did they ever ban street parking? I have fond memories of my family parking at the bottom of University Ave and making the somewhat long trek up University Ave on game day. It never seemed to be an issue.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[Atlcuse44]

Why did they ever ban street parking? I have fond memories of my family parking at the bottom of University Ave and making the somewhat long trek up University Ave on game day. It never seemed to be an issue.

Likewise, I remember doing that with my Dad as a kid back in the early-mid 80s. For basketball games, we were frozen by the time we got to the Dome (but I still have fond memories of it).

 

[TexanMark]

This should make it very easy to make the Thruway toll free from Exits 34A to 39

 

[HtownOrange]

This should make it very easy to make the Thruway toll free from Exits 34A to 39

I agree with you, Mark. However, I don't think we should hold our breath waiting for the State to give up any source of funds.

 

[TexanMark]

I agree with you, Mark. However, I don't think we should hold our breath waiting for the State to give up any source of funds.

If they want to make the grid more successful the State needs to work with the Feds and add Lanes on the Thruway to give commuters an alternative along with no tolls in Syracuse area. Good to hear some ramps will get reworked.

 

[shandeezy7]

Some positive news, regardless of how modest it might be:

City of Syracuse adding jobs and population

"U.S. Census Bureau estimates show Syracuse was the only major city in New York State to gain population in 2017-2018."

 

[Trueblue25]

Would be nice to see more affordable housing spring up on the east or westside to house the working class refugees/locals. The Northside is currently no place to live.

 

[skurey]

Would be nice to see more affordable housing spring up on the east or westside to house the working class refugees/locals. The Northside is currently no place to live.

Yeah there's lots of apartments popping up but they're all so expensive.

 

[Cusefan0307]

I know a few locals that live downtown. I used to be one of them until i got married.

 

[shandeezy7]

Would be nice to see more affordable housing spring up on the east or westside to house the working class refugees/locals. The Northside is currently no place to live.

One just opened in May on the north side actually:

See inside new $18M Syracuse apartments for low-income households (photos)

 

[FrancoPizza]

Some positive news, regardless of how modest it might be:

City of Syracuse adding jobs and population

"U.S. Census Bureau estimates show Syracuse was the only major city in New York State to gain population in 2017-2018."

Feels like most of this can be explained by millenials ending their lease in liverpool and moving downtown. I think the net county +/- would be a better measuring stick.