Update: WAER reached out to the City Auditor’s office and SHA for comment but had not heard back by the original publication. A response from Syracuse Housing Authority Executive Director Bill Simmons was added later.
About 60 Syracusans rallied at the Dunbar Center Friday evening to voice their opposition to recent talks between the Syracuse Housing Authority (SHA) and SUNY Upstate to build an optometry school on land that is currently part of Pioneer Homes.
Syracuse.com broke the story in late January. Community backlash led to a suspension of negotiations. Until now, the public plan had been to renovate the housing units as part of the demolition of the I-81 viaduct.
The Southside Community Coalition organized the event in collaboration with groups like the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU). A six-speaker panel moderated the event. It lasted two hours and was often emotional, with both some of the speakers and many in the audience expressing their distrust.
Lanessa Owens-Chaplin is a lawyer for the NYCLU and was one of the event’s organizers. She said the emotions expressed were a sign that some residents are fed up.
“It’s been something we’ve been fighting really hard to prevent," Owens-Chaplin said. "So, I think how easily this came out, a slip of the tongue, ‘Hey, we’re doing this major $25 million project and we’re gonna just move 92 affordable housing units across the street.’ I think it was jarring for many people."
Owens-Chaplin grew up in Syracuse. She says the city and the NYCLU have had a productive working relationship, but it’s become strained as redevelopment plans inch closer to reality. Owens-Chaplin hopes the SHA and city keep the larger goal of housing in mind.
“We need them to uphold their promise and provide affordable housing,” she said. “And we need to see that plan in writing because this project will happen over the next 10 years.”
Deka Dancil also works for the NYCLU. Dancil grew up in low-income and SHA housing. She said she hopes the government becomes more transparent. She said residents and the city are speaking two different languages right now.
“To me, I just feel like this whole time, we’ve been looking at an apple, and we keep being told, ‘No, no, no. That’s an orange,’” she said.
SHA Executive Director Bill Simmons said that concerns like those expressed Friday night have an historical basis. The development of I-81 led to neighborhoods being torn down, he said. Simmons also said SHA has held 54 planning meetings, open to both SHA residents and the public, about redevelopment of this area over approximately the past four years. He said the conversations with SUNY Upstate were part of that process.
“You have to have some conversations before you bring something to the community,” he said.
He described the conversations as exploratory. He said SHA is applying for a $50 million federal grant though the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Choice Neighborhood Initiative. The grant is competitive, so SHA has been considering what could strengthen its application, he said.
He said some Syracusans have been reacting to the headline description of the conversations and not the reality of the situation. He said SHA plans to keep moving forward.
“We got a good project that we’ve been keeping the residents informed of, and if we just proceed forward, nobody has anything to hide,” he said.
