A high-ranking Biden Administration official said he’s inspired by what he’s seeing in Syracuse. Tom Perez, Director of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, headed up a roundtable Tuesday in the shadow of the doomed road at a Southside community center.
The federal government is heavily invested in the Interstate 81 project in Syracuse. It’s
more than just the $2.25 billion teardown of a downtown viaduct and creation of a new business loop. The federal government is deeply involved in the reimagining of a Black neighborhood destroyed when the highway was built more than 60 years ago.
“That's both a metaphorical and a literal statement," Perez said. We want out of the shadow of I-81. We want out of the shadow of engagement. We want to make sure we're in the sunshine. And that's exactly what's happening."
The reimagining of the Southside neighborhood will happen with the help of a $180 million federal Reconnecting Communities Grant. Deputy Mayor Sharon Owens said it’ll be split between state and city governments.
"We're trying to connect the East and West streets for pedestrian safety, for lighting, for green space so we just don't have a concrete jungle of roads," Owens said. "So this funding will make that possible for us. The city's portion of it is going to create the connectivity from this side to the other side through the linear part, through all of the initiatives going on along there, Children Rising Center the development there, so this money is absolutely critical."
Among those taking part in the roundtable, longtime resident Tara Harris, finding it hard to describe just how life-changing the new neighborhood will be.
"I don't even know the word for it," Harris said. "It's going to be awesome. It's going to be awesome. It's going to change a lot of lives."
