Can upstate New York, where a 20th century engineering breakthrough in air-conditioning technology may have created the Sunbelt explosion, now reinvent itself around the realities of the 21st century? Can metro Syracuse, losing population and self-confidence, shake off tired thinking about capturing new factories and forge a more entrepreneurial economy? Can the region make itself a showcase of livable villages around a reviving downtown?
The Citistates Group conducted one of its “convergences” in mid-May for Syracuse, NY. These convergences are a sort of civic daredevil artistry — swooping into a community (invited of course) with a panel of grizzled gurus from around the country.
Mary Jo Waits of Arizona State University, Lenneal Henderson of the University of Baltimore, joined Peter Katz, Neal Peirce and Curtis Johnson in three days of total mind immersion in a set of problems that have eluded local leaders’ best efforts — like mercury that can’t be lifted from the floor. Here’s a community groaning with reports over the years over how to improve itself, so organized that people are meeting-weary. They’re interested only in results.
Syracuse and its five-county Central New York region are likely typical of so-called third-tier urban areas, in danger of being left behind as the economy changes lanes at fast speeds. This place where the Erie Canal ran through the city now finds that channels count more than canals. Bytes beat boats. The region’s still home to more colleges than any place but Boston or New York, and a ton of golf courses (useful when it’s not snowing), but this is a region that needs a clear strategy to get its groove back.
On day three the panel gathered its wits and nerve to say what moves would put this region on the right maps, through a presentation that brought plenty of audience reaction at Syracuse Stage (complete with Powerpoint produced on the spot by Katz). Then Peirce and Johnson wrote a series of post-Convergence articles for the Syracuse Post-Standard which ran beginning Sunday, June 30. The Convergence was sponsored by the Community Foundation of Central New York and the Rosamond Gifford Foundation.
(July 22 addition: see the Syracuse and Central New York Citistates Report (PDF), special to the Syracuse Post-Standard, 06/02.)