University Wire
10-24-2001
(Daily Orange) (U-WIRE) SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- A major reason the city of Syracuse, N.Y., has lost 38.1 percent of its population during the past 50 years is its failure to keep young people in the city.
Many lifelong residents move away in search of better jobs and Syracuse University students go back home after graduation, City Auditor Minch Lewis said.
A focal point of Lewis' failed bid for mayor this year was the need for new programs to keep young people in the city. He was raised in Syracuse and graduated from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. But the current state of Syracuse makes many SU students want to leave after graduation.
"They would have to pay me like $200,000 a year for me to stay here," said Aaron Mendes, a senior entrepreneurship and emerging enterprises major. "This place is so boring, no one is attractive, it's freezing and after six straight months of winter you forget there's a sun in the sky. It's easy to get depressed in a place like that."
SU administration lists the city's foul weather as a major reason people transfer out of the university. But since local politicians cannot pass legislation to warm up the area, many have introduced economic and urban revitalization programs. The problem is not many jobs in Syracuse can offer six-figure salaries to young employees.
Sen. Hillary Clinton introduced seven bills to Congress in March aimed at creating "New Jobs for New York." The laws give tax incentives to smaller businesses and funds local companies that want to modernize their systems through upgrades such as high-speed Internet access.
Gov. George E. Pataki has tried several initiatives to combat this exodus. His administration has adjusted Bundy Aid funding -- direct aid to private institutions based on the amount of degrees offered -- to try to entice students from other states to study in New York schools and hopefully stay in the state after graduation.
Rep. James T. Walsh (R-Syracuse) brought the NASA-funded Space Alliance Technology Outreach Program to Syracuse in March. The program allows local businesses to work with new technology. He also sponsored the Syracuse Neighborhood Initiative, which provides money to improve the quality of life in the city's residential areas.
Though the city needs economic stimulation, Lewis said young people will not stay in Syracuse unless its neighborhoods become closer communities.
"We've failed to produce neighborhoods where young families can sink their roots," Lewis said.
"(My wife and I) were connected to everyone around the neighborhood," he said. "There was tremendous parent involvement, all the parents knew each other's kids."
The city should focus on keeping the residents it still has rather than trying to attract new ones, said Jeffrey Stonecash, professor of political science at SU. Cities in the Northeast and especially in Upstate New York have been in economic decline for decades.
The expansion of the Carousel Mall and the refurbishing of Clinton Square may attract tourists but will not get people to move to Syracuse, Lewis said. But the added tourists might help the local economy, Stonecash said.
The city does have the ability to retain young people, said Lia Miller, a first-year graduate student who also graduated from SU.
"If a good job was available, I would stay, but only because I've been here for four years," Miller said. "I'd be less likely to venture out here if I didn't know the city."
Students do not give the city a chance, said Sara Scarson, a sophomore public relations major. They should consider staying in the area if they can, she said.
"Syracuse is a great place to live and raise a family," she said. "Some people in the university might not think so because we don't live in the nicest area of the city. But I live closer to downtown and I really like it."
(C) 2001 Daily Orange via U-WIRE
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