The City of Syracuse will soon begin converting South Clinton Street to a two-way road from Jefferson south to Tallman. Common Councilors Monday approved $300,000 in bonds to defray the cost of re-striping the road, adding bike lanes, and adjusting parking layouts. DPW transportation planner Neil Burke says they studied the road’s capacity and traffic volume.
"We wanted to make sure this was feasibile. In the '50s and '60s, we converted a lot of our two-ways in a lot of our business corridors with the idea you want to get cars in and cars out. We've come full circle here, understanding that we want to have two-way traffic. We want people to park, linger, patronize the shops."
Burke says they’ve heard plenty from the community about re-configuring Clinton Street. He anticipates a net-increase in 6 to 7 parking spots when they replace the reverse-in angle parking in the 500 block with traditional parallel parking on both sides of the street. Burke says the Clinton Street project is part of a larger transition of the city’s one-way streets where feasible.
COUNCIL OUTLINES LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES
Syracuse common councilors are hoping to take a lead role in advancing their own legislation on a number of issues this year. We told you last week about some of them, and today, we’re exploring two more. Councilor-at-large Khalid Bey says being able to retain an outside attorney for the council could remove one barrier to putting legislation on the agenda.
"As it stands right now, our charter only allows someone from the law department to vet legislation to be put on the agenda. There's been quite the debate over the years, but when I read it, that's what it says. Even if we contracted with an outside attorney, our corporation counsel still has to vet it to put it on. That' s problematic because, during the previous administration, it took year and a half for me to get a piece of legislation on the agenda."
Bey says every other level of government has independent legislative counsel. Another issue has deeper implications…people using embalming fluid to get high. It contains formaldehyde, which can cause serious mental health issues. Bey recalls convening a meeting with state delegates over eight years ago to no avail.
"When we did that meeting, C-PEP from St. Joseph's hospital was there, and argued vigorously that this needed to be taken care of way back then. If you speak to police officers, they'll tell you that often times it takes 4 to 5 officers to control one person that might have been under the influence of embalming fluid."
Bey suggests there’s been little action on this matter, versus the opioid epidemic, because the embalming fluid problem primarily affects people of color. They want to send a resolution to Congress to make recreational use of embalming fluid unlawful by making it a Schedule-A narcotic when possessed by unlicensed individuals.
