A Green Economy for a Sustainable Syracuse

Greater Syracuse can get ahead of the curve and prosper from leading the transition to the zero-carbon economy that the world needs to avert catastrophic climate change. City and county planning should promote regional organic food and clean energy self-reliance, as well as an ecologically sustainable and diverse manufacturing. It is time to bring together and employ the technical expertise and the idle labor, land, and buildings located right in the 4th District to build an ecologically sustainable prosperity.

• Carbon Free by 2030: Develop a plan to power, heat, cool, and transport Syracuse solely with carbon-free clean energy by 2030, as a recent study of powering New York State only by clean wind, water, and sunlight sources shows is technically feasible and cost effective. A city-owned public power utility will be necessary to have the capacity to build our own clean sources of electricity and heat and help finance green building retrofits and electrified mass transit. With the state and federal governments stalling on climate action, cities like Syracuse must taked the lead to avert climate catastrophe.
• Green the Interstate 81 Corridor - Build a New 15th Ward Neighborhood: Take down the viaduct, reroute through traffic onto I-481, and build a green neighborhood: a car-free neighborhood supported by mass transit, bike, and pedestrian infrastructure, with a central park surrounded by mixed-use, mixed-income, mixed-age development. Move commuters, shoppers, and tourists in, around, and out of the city and this core central neighborhood by building a first-class metro mass transit system instead of continuing car-dependent transit by rebuilding the viaduct or replacing it with a stop-and-go boulevard.