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Message: [QUOTE="Cheriehoop, post: 3061720, member: 127"] The quotes you are using come from 1958. The arguing, like now went on for years. The final decision wasn’t made until November of 1961 and the election of William Walsh, a huge proponent of urban renewal used to revitalize downtown merging the 2 project objectives. [I]‘The irony of ironies is that former Syracuse Mayor William Walsh was a proponent of the urban renewal and his son, Rep. James Walsh, R- Onondaga, is working to reverse some of the problems that urban renewal either caused or did not address. The elder Walsh told the Post-Standard that he was in favor of the renewal because he wanted to revitalize the downtown area in an attempt to encourage residents, some of whom had flocked to the suburbs, to remain in the city. The flight still occurred, and city officials are still trying to get people to return to downtown and the city. ‘[/I] Above italicized quote was from Post Standard ‘s own editorial in 2003 called 40 years later (1963 to 2003). I was just a young kid but I remember the conversations of families we knew who were affected back then and their emotion regarding their houses being torn down , the effect of the incessant construction noise and dirt etc from having their streets impacted from Rte 81 being built , arguments over the loss of neighbors, turning their prior multiple block long streets turned into dead ends etc. in their conversations, they blamed the city, city developers and the mayor for their plight. I think there is some revisionist history as stated going on because of the irony regarding the Walsh’s and the understandable avoidance of publicly tarnishing his long positive legacy years after his death. My point was that this Rte 81 situation wasn’t initiated by the suburbs , in fact much of the original Rte 81 decision was made by the city to try to stem the flight to the suburbs where major employers like GE, Carrier, Pass and Seymour, Solvay Process, GM etc were already located. Shoppingtown was built in 1954, Fairmont Fair in 1959, Bayberry in 1957. The suburbs were expanding well before Rte 81 and many not even targeted for highway access were growing the quickest. (Fayetteville, Manlius, Westvale, Camillus etc). I love the city, born, raised and owned my first home within the city but the fact is that unless you are a government employee, hospital employee, university employee or service employee related to those employers most of the largest city’s employers are within a quarter to a half mile within the city. The only available land and parking for large employers was in the suburbs even back in the 50’s. The people were following the employers to the suburbs and suburban shopping centers followed the people. The city has become the crucial ‘service capital’ for all of Onondaga County for government, hospital and college services. As others have stated, the city needs the suburbs and the suburbs need the city so it would be nice to stop the divisiveness that seems to overwhelm every issue in today’s world and respect and evaluate everyone’s needs into play. [/QUOTE]

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