SYRACUSE — With several members of the business community involved, a new group calling itself Save81.org is opposed to any plan that would divert Interstate 81 (I-81) away from the Syracuse metro area, including a “boulevard” option that would re-route I-81 to the east of the downtown area.
Save81.org describes itself as an “advocacy group” of business owners, concerned citizens, elected officials, unions, and community groups.
The group is aimed at “preserving and enhancing” I-81’s current interstate-highway designation and alignment through Central New York, according to a news release.
Save81.org on Aug. 1 held its initial news conference at the new Courtyard and Residence Inn in Armory Square.
The New York State Department of Transportation is in the process of deciding the highway’s future in the Syracuse area.
Syracuse is known as a “20-minute city,” meaning residents and visitors can reach their destination in 20 minutes or less, T-John Goodman, owner of Sweet on Chocolate, at 208 Walton St., said during his remarks.
“For my business, it means customers can easily get to my store and to other stores located in Syracuse and Armory Square,” he said.
Goodman believes the convenience is due “in large part” to I-81’s direct path through the city.
“I believe that the boulevard plan would alter 81’s current path and would be a detriment to small businesses in Syracuse and that’s why I support this mission,” he added.
Jim Bright, owner of Dunk & Bright Furniture Co., Inc., which is located “just 500 feet off of Route 81 at exit 17,” is among the group’s founding members.
The company’s showroom location, at 2648 S. Salina St. in Syracuse, helps it draw customers from around New York and from Canada, Bright said.
Destiny USA’s geographic situation is much like that of Dunk & Bright’s, Bruce Kenan, a partner at Destiny USA and listed as a member of Save81.org, said when a reporter asked for his thoughts.
The Pyramid Companies, the developer of Destiny USA, eliminated a scrap yard, a lot of oil tanks, and cleaned up a lot of polluted land to develop what was the Carousel Center and is now renamed Destiny USA, Kenan said.
“It was the right location because of the highway network,” he said.
Before the expansion, consumers from outside Onondaga County generated about 40 percent of the business at Destiny USA, Kenan said.
“And that’s only grown since … all the stores and restaurants that have opened so far since then,” he says, noting about 25 percent of its business is from Canadian consumers.
He wasn’t able to provide a percentage figure, but Kenan also noted consumers from Pennsylvania also drive north to Destiny USA.
“And they come … because they can because this great highway network is there,” Kenan added.
Kenan didn’t figure anyone would support the boulevard idea. “That just doesn’t make any sense,” he said.
But when Kenan learned a boulevard option was under consideration, that’s when he became concerned, he said.
James Gallagher, manager of the Holiday Inn and Staybridge Suites, both along Electronics Parkway in Salina, expressed concern for a portion of the facilities’ combined 150 employees.
“About 80 of them are from the [southern] part of Syracuse and they use [Interstate] 81 to come to work every day. So, it’s going to be a big problem for them and no one has ever addressed that or spoke to them,” Gallagher said.
The advocacy group just hopes to get more citizens involved, Ann Marie Taliercio, president of UNITE HERE 150, the union representing the hotel workers at the Holiday Inn and Staybridge Suites, said during her remarks.
“And that’s what Save81 really is about. Getting people engaged in the conversation and the use of social media to broaden that discussion,” she says.
The group of Aug. 5 announced that more than 1,000 from across Central New York signed the Save81.org online petition in support of preserving I-81’s designation as an interstate highway stretching through the city of Syracuse.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com