Northside Urban Partnership

Highland Park will soon be featuring a new playground for kids. The space, on the corner of Douglas Street and Highland Street, will be constructed in collaboration with Housing Visions Unlimited, Inc., KaBOOM!, The Home Depot, the City Department of Parks and Recreation, and various other community members.

Our community youth sat down with playground planners on August 6 to discuss what they wanted to see in the playground. A 3-D rendering of the resulting plans for the playground is seen above. In addition to what is seen here, there will be a set of three swings. Also in the works are plans for a community garden and/or bike paths.

What is needed now are volunteers to help out on construction day, which is September 24, 2009. It is an all-day event. It is not required that volunteers have any special skills or abilities. Children are invited to come as well. Contact Ben Lockwood (blockwood@housingvisions.org) at 315-472-3820 for details, or click the link below:

KaBOOM! Project Site

Also, you can check out the volunteer flyer here:

VOLUNTEER FLYER

If you’ve been traveling around the Northside this summer, you will notice a number of buildings are getting a facelift. Business and property owners are improving their buildings appearance. In some cases, these changes may be as simple as a coat of paint. Other projects are more involved – installing new doors and windows, replacing deteriorated trim, and creating colorful paint schemes. These improvements are enhancing the overall appearance of business corridors on the Northside, allowing passersby to see inside stores, perhaps encouraging them to stop in.

You should check out buildings along Pearl Street and the 300 and 800 blocks of North Salina Street to see the new facade developments. To the left, you can see before and after images of Pavia’s.

Article Taken From Syracuse.com and Written By Michelle Breidenbach / The Post-Standard

Cyprien Mihigo said he often feels helpless when he sees and hears about the harassment of refugees on Syracuse’s North Side.
 
On Saturday, Mihigo found something he could do about it.
“Yes, peace,” he yelled.
“No violence,” hundreds of people shouted back as they walked together in a march for peace.
At least 200 people showed up at the White Branch Library, on Butternut Street, Saturday morning to show their support for peace between the new refugee residents and their neighbors on North side. They learned to say “peace” in five different languages before they set out on a 1.5-mile walk around the block. Organizers thought the number of marchers had doubled by the time the march ended.

CLICK HERE TO READ FULL ARTICLE

If, around 4 o’clock, you smelled something good cooking, it was probably the monster lasagna assembled by the good folks at the Northside Collaboratory. Filled with fresh, local squash and zucchini,  spinach and kale, the meal provided hearty fill for those who came. The ArtWorks Showcase, down at our community gallery, was also a bustling event. The works were vibrant and unique representations of the talent involved in our summer program. If you attended either event, or both, and would like to become involved in the happenings of Our Northside, here are some things we could use your help with: our monthly newsletter, updating the website, and our monthly dinners. These are all areas in which we wish to grow the community, and would love to hear from you. Do you know of other interesting things happening in the neighborhood? Interesting people with interesting stories? Don’t hesitate to let us know. This is also a good time to point out that we are starting to compile material for September’s newsletter.  If you are looking to get your name on something people all over town end up reading, this is an excellent chance. Also, this will be the last day of GreenWorks and ArtWorks. So if you’re in the neighborhood, stop by and say thanks and good work to those hard-workers.  And, don’t forget about tomorrow’s  Peace March, starting at White Branch Library, at 11.

Tomorrow, August 21st, will be the last day of the six week ArtWorks Program on the Northside. ArtWorks is a summer job and a learning opportunity for a group of highschool students, who learn art techniques and skills from Stasya Panova, a graduate of Syracuse University’s Fine Arts program. Northsiders now have the pleasure of enjoying the fruits of the students’ labor; much of their art has been installed in the windows of vacant storefronts along North Salina Street.

I had the chance to ask them a few questions as they took a look back at what they accomplished this summer.

How would you describe your instruction in the program?
“Stasya gives good ideas and good tips. I really liked the ‘exquisite corpse’ exercise. It would be a great party game!” [The results of "exquisite corpse" can be seen in the windows of Walier Lofts, shown in the top image]
-Isabelle Crossman, Henninger High

What is one lesson you have learned about public art?
“The smallest thing, no matter how much work you put into it, can really catch somebody’s attention.”
-Michiko Hill, Henninger High School

What stands out to you about this experience?
“I was able to add new techniques into my arsenal. It was the first job, and the best job, I’ve ever had.”
-Moe Tartt, Nottingham High School

The art will be on display tonight, August 20th, from 5:00pm to 7:30pm during the Community Dinner.

What involves 9 pounds of ricotta cheese, 10 pounds for mozzarella, 6 pounds of pasta, and 10 quarts of spaghetti sauce? 

Lasagna for 100 people. This Thursday, be sure to make your way to the Our Northside Community Dinner, and the Our Northside Gallery Showcase. The nights menu includes vegetarian lasagna, garden salad, watermelon,  and bread. Cookies and drinks will also be on hand to satisfy both your sweet tooth and your thirst. We ask only that you pay as you can, and bring friends and family. There will be activities this month at each table. We want to know what the Northside means to you, and what you want to see here. Also, upon entry, there will be a map of the neighborhood. This map will be a great tool in helping us see where we are coming from, and what areas of the community we can better serve.  After you’ve gotten your fill of dinner, be sure to head over to the gallery, on the 700 block of North Salina Street for the ArtWorks Showcase. They’ve been designing and installing some really exciting public art this summer, and Thursday will be a chance tomeet the artists, and see what else they’ve done.  Their work is already installed in some neighborhood storefrotns. On your way to and from these hot spots, be sure to take a look at the vacant lot next door to Apiero Computers, where GreenWorks has been hard at work, transitiong it from an over-grown, vacant lot, to a well-manicured sort of pocket-park. It should be a festive evening on Our Northside, and it will be an excellent opportunity to catch up with old and new acquaintances about your summer and the coming fall.

There are a number of projects happening this summer on the Northside designed to improve the visual appeal of the neighborhood for residents and visitors alike. While all of these require the support of our many partners, some, like the GreenWorks and ArtWorks programs, came about relatively recently. The Freedom Garden is one project that has taken a couple of years to go from design to reality, a reality that got a little bit closer last week when the contractor broke ground. Although the construction started with little fanfare, you can be sure the ribbon cutting ceremony to dedicate the Northside’s newest community gathering space will recognize the numerous partners and dedicated individuals who helped make the project possible.

You can follow the construction progress here where Collaboratory staff will be uploading photos after each day’s work is completed. This link is also located on the Freedom Garden logo in the sidebar of the Our Northside homepage. If you are out and about on the Northside, swing by the intersection of Lodi, Pond and Townsend streets to check it out in person.

On Saturday, August 22nd, community members and organizations will be meeting at the Whitebranch Library in solidarity to take a stand against violence on the Northside of Syracuse.  For the past year members of different ethnic communities have been meeting at the library on Butternut Street as part of the Community Wide Dialogue to End Racism.  During that time the group has discussed the hard issues effecting the community and how, by learning about the different cultures present, they can all come to live peacefully in the community together.  To show this desire for peace in the community, roughly 300 people will be getting together to march.  The Peace March will begin at 11am at the White Branch Library and will go until 2pm.  There will be sign making, the march, and then a community picnic on the lawn of the library.  We encourage you all to come to support peace on the Northside and to show that violence will not be tolerated in our community.

To See a PDF of the Flyer, CLICK HERE

Article Written By Dick Case of the Post-Standard on August 15th

Barbara Krause says she loves living in Syracuse. She wants to spread the joy.
“I want the city to be a place where families want to come,” she told me the other day. That’s why her and her husband, David, moved back to the city after a spell in the suburbs and she’s involved herself in several community revitalization projects as chair of the Court-Woodlawn Task Force of TNT (Tomorrow’s Neighborhoods Today).
Barbara’s latest good turn is sprucing up the neighborhood around what appears to be the city’s only true traffic circle, Duguid Park, aka “Butternut Circle.” This is on the North Side where Butternut Street wheels into Grant Boulevard. She’s already helped to redo the park; it was rededicated last weekend. This is only the first piece of a bigger plan, according to her.

“The city’s been very cooperative,” she says. “They put up the money to revitalize the park and we’re now asking for a facade program and new sidewalks, curbs and green space. I believe if you put money into a neighborhood, it’s going to work. Anything you put in, you’ll get back.”

To Read The Whole Article, CLICK HERE.

Last night, Thursday August 13th the members of the Northside Community came together to enjoy a night of good weather, great music, and Jazz in the City. The free concert took place on the 400 block of North Salina Street, where Vince Seneri,  Bill Easley and members of the CNY Orchastra filled the streets with their smooth jazz notes. This unique blend of music, neighbors, and local Northside businesses was made possible through the support of several sponsors including the Prospect Hill Initiative.
 

Community members that weren’t tapping their toes to the beat or walking through the neighborhood could be found admiring the artistic display created by the children from the Artworks summer program sponsored by CNY Works. The gallery will be displaying the full exhibit of the Artworks summer program next week Thursday, August 20th during the monthly Northside community dinner.