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Principles of New Urbanism from newurbanism.org

NeighborWorks America  The NeighborWorks® network of community development organizations, supported by NeighborWorks America, makes a difference in nearly 2,700 communities.

New Tools for Community Design and Decision Making
"This presentation is about the planning tools of the next century. New Urbanism and Smart Growth concepts have been widely embraced for redevelopment and new growth areas. Yet the problems faced by the proponents of these approaches are many. They include community opposition to density and the mixing of uses, outdated regulatory practices, and difficulties related to financing. As the tools you see in this presentation move from the testing phase to everyday use, these barriers to building better communities will diminish."

The Death and Life of Great American Cities
by JANE JACOBS "Streets in cities serve many purposes besides carrying vehicles, and city sidewalks - the pedestrian parts of the streets - serve many purposes besides carrying pedestrians..."  A classic must-read for people interested in the health of their city.

Neighborhoods USA
This site has newsletters, information on conferences, an annual contest and a lot of great ideas for ways to improve neighborhoods.  See their Neighborhood Resources page.

Final report of the Syracuse Metropolitan Transportation Council
Scroll down to James St. Corridor Traffic Study
You'll need the Adobe Reader to read it (it's in a .pdf format). 
Or just CLICK HERE to get that report.

James Street Overlay District Zoning Standards
In 2003 the Eastwood Design Review Board was abolished when a city-wide Site Design Review process was adopted and portions of the text relating to the Board have been deleted.  The deleted portions are indicated.

We've been here before
Critics: Building a Bust  (2002)
"Residents on Syracuse's South Side were excited about a new business on a vacant lot at South Salina and Burt streets. But their excitement turned into disappointment when the Family Dollar store started going up in March. Residents say the building looks more like a warehouse or a barn than a store. The store's entrance faces the parking lot and is hidden from the street, while the rear and side walls face the neighborhood."

Onondaga County's New Settlement Plan
 "The Onondaga County Settlement Plan was completed over a two-year period beginning in 1999... the Plan began by acknowledging that the County's greatest strength was its tradition of historic neighborhoods, and then focused on providing the tools that could most effectively reinforce that tradition."

New York: Profiting Through Preservation
"In New York, economic development is a major goal for public officials, unions, and business leaders.  Their quest for new jobs often means building new offices, new convention centers, and new infrastructure.  But New York's most visionary leaders are taking another path that offers a significant competitive advantage.  They are using historic preservation as a central component to long-term economic development, and the strategy is working."

FOCUS Greater Syracuse
"F.O.C.U.S. is a citizen driven organization
that taps the community’s creativity to impact change. F.O.C.U.S. enables citizens and organizations of Central New York to work together to enhance
our quality of life and economic future."

Smart Growth is Good Business
Article by Joseph Montoya published in "Nuestro Pueblo," a New Mexico magazine. In it he says:

"Smart growth is about creating livable communities on a human scale. Smart
growth does not seek to stop or limit growth, but rather to accommodate it in a way that enhances the economy, protects the environment, and generally improves our quality of life. It moves beyond any no-growth versus pro-growth debate to a public discussion of how best to accommodate growth."

Other articles in the above magazine:
Smart Growth: Choices for a Changing Economy
If They Build It, Will They Come?
Rising Transportation Costs Hurt Families
Growth and Water

EPA Smart Growth website
An enormous amount of information, links, news and ideas from the federal government. 

City Comforts - How to Build an Urban Village
"The simple patterns and simple details shown in City Comforts are not any panacea but they provide a framework for judging new construction, for separating the simple but crucial patterns from the trivial matters of style. This simple framework asks us to examine a very few elements of the urban landscape but it will go a long way to improve our cities."

Partners for Livable Communities
"Partners for Livable Communities is a national, nonprofit organization working to restore and renew our communities. Partners has over twenty-five years of experience in solving community problems by providing information, leadership and guidance that help communities help themselves. We welcome the opportunity to bring our experience to your community."

Archives

City panel rejects Walgreens plans
(11/29/05)*

Can planners reach compromise on Walgreens?
(11/28/05) *

Who was that guy?
Robert Doucette spoke eloquently at the last Planning Board meeting.  In part, he said, "If you do not follow the guidelines, the whole thing unravels. ... It starts with just one piece."

So who was that guy?  The following is from the Central New York Regional Planning and Development Board:
"Robert Doucette, a developer with Armory Development and Management, has played a pivotal role in the transformation of Armory Square in downtown Syracuse and in the community’s renewed focus on the opportunities that remain in the region’s central core. He has been directly involved in nearly every catalytic project in Armory Square over the past 20 years, validating the viability of historic rehabilitation, thoughtful planning and the importance of a strong, vibrant urban core. He has been the driving force in transforming Armory Square from a blighted, dangerous part of downtown Syracuse into a point of pride for the entire region."

We really like some developers!

If Manlius can have good design, why can't we?
Lantern Square, due to be built on Fayette St.  The developer worked with the community and got overwhelming support.  We deserve no less.

Excerpt from City Planning Commission Public Notice:

FOR PUBLICATION FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2005

    PUBLIC NOTICE
    CITY OF SYRACUSE
    CITY PLANNING COMMISSION

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN, that a public hearing will be held September 19, 2005, at 6:00 p.m. in the Common Council Chambers, City Hall, Syracuse, New York to consider in full or in part the following applications:
...

September 19, 2005
The planning board meeting has taken place.  Three people spoke in favor of the Walgreens project, twenty spoke against.  The two most important points that were made:

• The curb cut is a substantial health and safety issue and violates the Overlay District Guidelines
• The Guidelines are a plan for development in Eastwood.  If the city doesn't require developers to abide by city plans and guidelines, then there is no reason to have them.  

"When Wal-Mart Stores Inc. began looking around Freehold, N.J., company officials assumed it could just move into town with a standard Supercenter and Sam's Club warehouse store. They were wrong."  
CLICK HERE to read this story by the Associated Press.  It also showed up in the Post-Standard.

More...
" Such adjustments are becoming more commonplace as communities across the country are adopting stricter ordinances dictating size and design of retail outlets. The laws, aimed squarely at curbing behemoth retailers, force them to scale down stores and conform to the local landscape.

The "big-box" retailers are learning to be more flexible to open the new stores they need to meet annual sales growth targets. But local activists argue the designs merely dress up the same old retail sprawl."

Rare Leaves in Eastwood *
Editorial assistant Janet Barone recently spoke with Jim Roberts, owner of Books End.
Thursday, July 7, 2005

Celebrating... Diners - especially those that don't have some danged TV running all the time - inspire folks to get to know each other, to return regularly, to form friendly relations with people whose last names you may never know. We've got some great ones in Syracuse.  They're owned by locals and cater to local tastes. Check out Mother's Cupboard and Sharie's Café on the far eastern end of the James Street business district, on either side of the old cemetary.  And how about Friends Diner and Steak and Sundae?  They're both on James St., too.  These places are where community happens.

Driscoll meets with TNT members *
City on Wednesday released follow-up assessment of neighborhood program.
Thursday, July 14, 2005

One of our members received this letter:

March 17, 2005
"Thank you for your letter regarding the proposed Walgreen development in Eastwood.  Please be assured that I am against this proposal as submitted.

While I am in favor of economic development, in general, it must be compatible with the existing community.  There are many problems with the  Walgreen's project and I will do my best to protect the character and quality of Eastwood."

Sincerely,
Mark A. Stanczyk
County Legislator - 9th District

Pharmacy proposal opposed in Geddes
Supervisor tells developer the town board and residents are against Walgreens.
(02/10/05, Post-Standard*)
"Geddes Supervisor Robert Czaplicki on Tuesday advised a Syracuse developer to stop his efforts to build a Walgreens pharmacy at West Genesee Street and Terry Road." Note: this is the same developer who wants a Walgreens in Eastwood.
 

'A historic evening'
Council approves comprehensive plan
(Tuesday, 01/25/2005, Post-Standard*)
"The Syracuse Common Council Monday unanimously approved the city's first comprehensive plan since 1919."

A letter to the City Planning Board
regarding traffic problems and citing the
Syracuse Metropolitan Traffic Council study
01/27/05

Drugstore discord
(Wednesday, 1/12/2005, Post-Standard*)
By Pam Greene
More than 100 Eastwood residents could not come to an agreement Tuesday with the developer of a proposed Walgreens. 
 

Community wrestles with past, future
Thursday, 1/20/05, Post-Standard*)
By Cailin Brown, ALBANY
(Albany's) "Pine Hills neighborhood has a small commercial block amid hundreds of homes..." (Residents) walk to the grocery, the dry cleaner, the tailor, the bank, the library, the post office and the bagel shop. The idea of a drive-through pharmacy threatened the complexion of Pine Hills.."

Opposition to proposed Walgreens store
From News 10 Now
01/20/05

It's time for city to adopt this plan
(Monday, 1/24/2005, Post-Standard*)
By Sean Kirst
"In Syracuse, as any longtime resident knows, there's plenty of regret over 50 years' worth of often willy-nilly decisions in building up or tearing down. A muscular comprehensive plan, Hawks said, is a much better response to those historical mistakes than bitter fights between developers and residents over every new proposal."
 

Taming the big box: Mega-retailers are forced to think outside the proverbial box to reach new markets
"Communities are calling for big-box retailers to dress up the box with designs that better integrate with the surrounding neighborhood."
By Dave Barista, Associate Editor
Reprinted courtesy of Building Design & Construction, 04/01/2005.

A lot of the comments in this article are very relevant to medium boxes too.  They list what communities want from the retailers, what the developers want from the communities, etc.  An architect in the southwest who does big boxes is quoted as
saying "It's a big mistake not to involve the immediate neighborhood in any big box designs."

 Madison Theater in Albany saved.  A neighborhood much like Eastwood is fighting big-box development and, they, too, have a wonderful old theater as a neighborhood and citywide resource. 

Walgreens & Eastwood Faceoff
By Sarah Stone
Syracuse City Eagle, 04/08/05
"There’s something about the prefix “Wal” that makes residents’ blood boil...."
 

Walgreens gets extension from city for new plans
(Tuesday, 03/22/2005, Post-Standard*)The Syracuse City Planning Commission on Monday approved a one-month extension for Walgreens to complete new designs for a proposed store in Eastwood."  More...

Walgreens drops one store plan, alters other (Monday, 03/21/2005, Post-Standard*) "'The new designs incorporate all the design principles of New Urbanism,' Hart said." 

We say... "Oh?" We look forward to seeing the new design and to comparing it with the Principles of New Urbanism from newurbanism.org such as "Mixed-use within neighborhoods, within blocks, and within buildings....  Human scale architecture... More buildings, residences, shops, and services closer together for ease of walking... (not fewer - Walgreens would wipe out six businesses with a net loss of some 85 jobs)...places that enrich, uplift, and inspire the human spirit." 
 

State of the City highlights neighborhood treasure  In this article from the Scotsman Pennysaver, Mayor Driscoll states emphatically, "The notion that nothing is happening in Syracuse is simply false and only adds to the negative attitudes people perpetuate."
 

Call to Action
Many national organizations are mobilizing against President Bush's proposal to dismantle the Community Development Block
Grant Program.
CLICK HERE to learn what you can do. 

Eastwood Is Worth Preserving
(Tuesday, 02/01/2005, Post-Standard*)
Three letters to the editor:
Don't burden Eastwood with "geography of nowhere"

Walkable neighborhood makes all the difference

Economic diversity imperiled by Wallgreens

Extra effort could go a long way for Walgreens
(Wednesday, 1/12/2005, Post-Standard*)
By Sean Kirst
An open letter to David Bernauer, chairman and chief executive officer of Walgreens in Deerfield, Ill.:

PHOTOS of the Walgreens in Des Moines that Kirst refers to in his letter (above).  Plus more appropriate Walgreens buildings.

Brighton Walgreens hearing draws 40
from Rochester's Democrat & Chronicle.  We're not the only ones concerned with these big-box stores.

A recent letter to the editor*
01/05/05 

Another letter to the editor*
01/04/05 (Scroll all the way to the bottom.)

Walgreens Plan Put On Hold*

An urban planner in Syracuse writes a letter to the editor
This letter has been sent to the Post Standard but has not yet been published.

Syracuse New Times, 12/29/04:
"Bad Week.... . . for the concerned residents of Eastwood, who are right to question the possible construction of a large drug store in their neighborhood. This newspaper first reported on a zoning overlay for the James Street commercial district in an Aug. 30, 2000, cover story. The overlay outlines such design principles as building setbacks from James Street, building alignment and configuration, driveway and parking space placement. As stated by the citizens' group four years ago, they aren't against development, they just want it to fit with the nature of the neighborhood. To be continued. . ."

*Courtesy of the Post-Standard and Syracuse.com