11 comments
Posted by iwasloader
February 10, 2010, 8:43PM
"The district and city need to work together to lobby Albany and Washington for more money, he said."
try paying your OWN way
Posted by Pitapita
February 10, 2010, 8:45PM
Another year the same BS. This superintendent pulls this stunt each and every year. The scare tactic of cutting jobs is getting old, is this the 3rd year or the 4th year that he has tried this stunt? Last year he pulled this knowing that all the job loses he threatened were going to cut by people retiring anyways.
If this idiot can not get his budget under control, replace him. If need be we should worry about Academics, before Athletics.
Posted by livetotell
February 10, 2010, 8:49PM
I'm not going to say anything about the article, but I love that photo! Great capture Frank \
Posted by fooledme
February 10, 2010, 9:19PM
Can I just ask: who is overseeing the lottery funds? I thought the proceeds for those were for schools. I was a child when the program started, so what ever happened with that deal???
Posted by robgetsreal
February 10, 2010, 9:35PM
76 teachers or 20 useless rats from downtown....which will it be Dan?
Posted by crazedmaniac
February 10, 2010, 10:00PM
So the superintendent's budget goes from $352.5 million to $364.9 and is whining about how the budget is $18 million short after cutting all those positions. Aren't there ANY housewives in Syracuse that could take about 15 minutes or so and help Mr. Lowengard sort this out?
Posted by redbruin18
February 10, 2010, 10:24PM
The Union can keep save some of the jobs and minimize the impact on students by foregoing the teacher's raises. They will of course not do this as they will be worried about 'setting a precedent' and will be afraid of 'giving back raises already negotiated. In the end this will lead to loss of jobs --be this sounds all too familiar to the County workers who were laid off after the impasse with the County 'Executive.'
Posted by redbruin18
February 10, 2010, 10:30PM
So.. what is the gap if the District does not give raises to help balance the budget during the current economic crisis?
Posted by busterblazer
As always, the cuts come from the bottom of the staff. There are so many useless Administrators who earn over $100k that sit at the district offices who need to retire or just be let go. Cut the staff that makes less than $20k who works directly with students, or cut the administrative staff with no input to student needs, who make over 100k. How many low end, student contact positions need to be eliminated, when one or two, useless administrators could be elimitinated from the system so that the TA's and such could be retained, would it take. I worked for the city schools for 5 years and my wife has been a teacher for 34 years. Why cut the staff that works and helps the students when Administrators, not working directly with students, keep their jobs? As they say, "Just Sayin.."
Posted by bbur7
February 10, 2010, 11:11PM
It's Erkel!
Posted by tonyb
February 10, 2010, 11:19PM
A lot of issues that are being ignored. How much is it costing the district when Catholic Charities continues to dump refugees into the district so they can cash in on federal handouts. Albany doesn't have extra money and sooner or later Washington will have to stop printing money. Teachers union always gets more, so don't tell us they care about anything but larger pay checks.
Posted by whatever76
February 10, 2010, 11:30PM
What is the purpose of Say YES to Education offering free college to students if there are not the teachers and staff needed to teach the youth? It feels like Say YES is just another after school program that is supposed to 'fix' everything after they are done with school as opposed to fixing the problems with school. If Say YES to Education is so great, maybe they should just run the schools. $5 million is ridiculous
It's official -- Urban Outfitters heads Downtown
Syracuse, NY -- In a watershed move for retail in downtown Syracuse, developers and the city have landed a national retailer for the Armory Square neighborhood that could open the floodgates for an urban retail chain reaction.
Urban Outfitters will retrofit and lease the three-story historic McArthur, Cooney and Wirth Building at 221 Walton St., most recently occupied by Hendricks Photo and The Edge, a clothing store. Urban Outfitters will be the sole tenant in the building, occupying all three levels when it opens in spring or early summer 2010.
“It’s huge,” Syracuse Mayor Matt Driscoll said of Urban Outfitters signing on. “It’s the biggest fish in the sea as far as retail in America goes. We’re very proud of this. They never would have come here if we didn’t have the right business climate. Any market anywhere in America would love to get what we just got.”
Urban Outfitters, based in Philadelphia, was founded in 1970 as the freewheeling ’60s ended, and was originally named The Free People’s Store. Through the decades, it kept its bohemian edge — and its eclectic founder, Richard Hayne — catering mostly to young, urban-dwelling people 18 to 30 identified as “metropolitan hipsters.” The company’s mix of edgy casual clothing, shoes and accessories appeal to those looking for new outfits. Urban Outfitters also carries housewares and goods to furnish and decorate apartments.
The parent company, Urban Outfitters Inc., also has a collection of other stores, Anthropologie, which caters to women ages 30 to 45.
Amanda Nicholson, assistant professor of retail management at Syracuse University’s Whitman School of Management, concurred landing Urban Outfitters is a pivotal moment for Armory Square and downtown Syracuse.
“It’s a miracle, not a ‘Miracle on 34th Street,’ a ‘Miracle on Armory Square’,” said Nicholson. “I have great respect for the company and I think they made a wise decision. There are 20,000 students between Syracuse University and Le Moyne alone who will be interested, and many from New York City and New Jersey who are already great patrons of this chain.”
It’s those college students, plus the roughly 200,000 more in the 12-county region surrounding downtown Syracuse that helped the city and developers bait Urban Outfitters, developers and city officials say.
The rising level of downtown living spaces, condominiums and apartments being built new and retrofitted into older buildings throughout downtown, was also a draw for Urban Outfitter’s apartment-furnishing lines, city officials and developers say.
The growing Armory Square work force also was persuasive, they say. That includes Eric Mower & Associates and other firms moving into the new Jefferson Clinton Commons, the coming of engineering firm O’Brien & Gere into a new building now under construction near Armory Square, the opening of the Upstate Golisano Children’s Hospital and the expansion of St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center.
Syracuse University’s Connective Corridor and its footprint in Armory Square with The Warehouse is also a plus.
“Those are a lot of mostly young people looking for something to do, who will hang around Armory Square after work and who will be looking to buy items for their apartments,” Driscoll said. “They’ll do a helluva business in hip, upscale furnishings.”
The developers of the project include the Yeoman family, which purchased the building in the late 1980s and redeveloped it as an office space on the upper floors and retail on the first floor. That was recently vacated by Hendricks Photo and The Edge.
The redevelopers must obtain city and county site plan approvals, which Brookline Development expects to acquire in the coming weeks. Then renovations to the building will begin. They expect to turn over the space to Urban Outfitters in February so it can begin its interior work. A targeted opening is spring or early summer. Kilmartin said the agencies who have helped Brookline persuade Urban Outfitters to land in downtown Syracuse have worked tirelessly.
“They’ve worked hand-in-glove, coordinated and communicated to really help fast-track the process,” said Kilmartin, who is related to the Yeomans through marriage.
It was William Yeomans Sr. who bought into the Armory Square redevelopment idea in the late 1980s when he purchased the Cooney Building, Kilmartin said.
“There were literally chickens running through it still,” said Kilmartin of the area that was once home to butcher shops and the like.
Some four months ago, the Brookline group met with Urban Outfitters advance teams, who researched the history of the building, the dynamics of downtown Syracuse and the history of Armory Square.
“They sent one of their representatives to do due diligence on the building and he camped here for four days, taking pictures of everything, inside and out,” Kilmartin said. “They have a unique site development process. They clearly are well-versed in historic architecture, modern and post-modern. They were interested in the fit. This is a beautiful, old, three-story brick building with exposed beams and wood-plank floors.”
Urban Outfitters retrofitted a similar building in New Haven, Conn., Kilmartin said.
The company went a bit more modern for its store in Ithaca, which opened recently. The spare concrete floor and exposed beam ceilings sandwich a shop stuffed with hip clothing and throwback items such as record turntables and Polaroid film. Books, trinkets, jewelry and more are for sale. But it’s smaller with less focus on apartment furnishings than the Armory Square store is to have.
Urban Outfitters would not comment for this story. Developers who have done business with them say that’s they’re style; they keep a low profile and concentrate on getting the store built and opened.
The development teams said the deal is sealed, with a signed lease.
SU’s Nicholson said the landing of Urban Outfitters “exponentially increases” the chances of other national retailers coming to the Armory Square area.
“It’s like getting people onto the dance floor after a wedding,” said Nicholson. “Once the first couple goes, the rest usually follow.
“This is the most exciting news to happen in retail in this area in a long time, not just because it’s a new store. but because it’s this store.”
Retailers in Armory Square are already getting set, and many are thrilled about Urban Outfitters coming to downtown Syracuse.
Joel Shapiro, who already had three retail shops in Armory Square, started a fourth, Bounce, recently, partly to spin off the clientele expected for Urban Outfitters, and he notes Urban Outfitters will only increase traffic for all the stores and restaurants in the business district.
Kellie Misita, who has operated the Showoffs boutique in the Center Armory for five years, said scoring Urban Outfitters, whose buyers have been scouting the stores in the area for weeks, is a win-win.
“It’s awesome for the area to get a big name,” Misita said. “They’re not so commercialized. They have that rustic feel about them, and that will really blend with the rest of us. It’s all good.”
Kathie Hartnagle, owner of Mallard Tobacconist at 208 Walton St. near the site where Urban Outfitters is landing, said it’s a good move.
“I think it’s great another retailer is coming in, though I hate the fact two other retailers are moving out,” Hartnagle said. “Years ago, we didn’t want chains in here. Now, we do, so what are you going to do?”
Irene Callistro, owner of Isadora, a boutique specializing in women’s lingerie and foundations at 191 Walton St., said the move is nothing but positive for downtown Syracuse.
“Oh, I think it’s fabulous,” said Callistro. “It’s downtown, it’s Armory Square, we need the majors down here. That’s the only way to go. It reminds me of the store I had in Burlington, Vt. We had an Urban Outfitters, Borders, of course Banana Republic, the Gap. These weren’t even in the mall part of downtown Burlington. If they can do it, we can do it, and we need it. People want vibrant downtowns all over the country. We’re very, very happy.”
Marilyn Ringwood, owner of Armory Square’s Elsbeth Rose Boutique on West Jefferson Street, said Urban Outfitters will likely draw more college students and young people from the suburbs — many with their parents.
“It’s going to be fantastic,” said Ringwood. “We love that we have a lot of locally owned businesses, but when there is a nationally recognized name, it just brings more people. There will be an upswing in business, and the more, the merrier.
Going to the Central New York Brewfest Saturday? Print out a map and vendor list here.
January 31, 2010, 8:00AM
New Orleans meets Indianapolis in the Super Bowl Sunday, but on Saturday Central New Yorkers have a chance to meet their favorite beer vendors.
The annual Central New York Brewfest, rolls into the state fairgrounds, as always on the the day before the Super Bowl.
The 14th annual event, produced by the team of Bill Newman and Mick Wysochanski, hits the Horticulture Building in two separately ticketed sessions: 1 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 9 p.m. There are at least 60 breweries scheduled to attend and pour beers. There's food available for purchase and a live band.
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