There’s no question that improvements can and should be made to cultivate a more valuable Syracuse community. But Mayor Ben Walsh’s plans to improve residents’ “quality of life” ignore the real causes of deterioration in the city.

In the first two months of his term, Walsh’s administration has made efforts reflecting its campaign promise to create a Quality of Life Commission. The group which would be tasked with “inclusive, neighborhood-based planning to address issues including, but not limited to, beautification, ordinance enforcement, and nuisance crimes,” according to a recommendations report from Walsh’s transition team.

But measures like picking up trash and increasing accessibility to amenities are short-term fixes for a greater city problem, which stems from development in the suburbs.

Arthur Paris, an associate professor of sociology at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, said the city’s development of suburbs outside Syracuse has largely contributed to deterioration in the city. Paris said previous mayors have allowed developments like Destiny USA and Western Lights Shopping Center to be financed by tax expenditures on their behalf, adding that this created jobs on the outskirts of town and “cannibalized the old downtowns.”

“So the folks who have gone to the suburbs no longer have to come into town to shop, but the jobs and the development and the infrastructure that was put in place to support that downtown development over the years basically is wasted,” Paris said.

This speaks to the fundamental problem facing the quality of life in the urban center of Syracuse. The Quality of Life Commission seems to only serve as a facelift for deterioration caused by previous mayoral administrations’ attempts to bring economic hubs to the area. These plans have resulted in little gain for the city itself, while economic centers constrict financial development within Syracuse by controlling the area economy in the suburbs.

This isn’t to understate the importance of certain social improvement programs and what they can do for a city. Speed bumps can certainly make neighborhoods quieter and safer, and a bike-share program with new bike lanes could definitely be a nice addition.

Walsh’s administration is taking measures to improve economic opportunity within the city, which is important, too. But the commission shouldn’t ignore the financial aspect of quality of life, and as long as the economic resources remain on the outside and draw people out of downtown, Walsh’s measures to beautify the city will prove futile and a waste of city funds.

While Syracuse faces an uphill battle in the city’s development, a combination of economic and social factors is a much more substantial solution to boosting the quality of life for local residents. Tangible change requires a change in focus.

Daniel Loftus is a freshman broadcast and digital journalism major. His column appears biweekly. He can be reached at dploftus@syr.edu and followed on Twitter @danielploftus.

Published on February 27, 2018 at 10:03 pm