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An agreement between the city of Syracuse and Syracuse University would permit the university to maintain and improve Walnut and Thornden parks subject to approval by the city’s Commissioner of Parks. 

Sondra Roth, a member of the Thornden Park Association’s Board of Directors, said in an email obtained by The Daily Orange that TPA strongly advocated for the removal of Thornden Park from the agreement at the subcommittee meeting on Oct. 21, mainly citing issues with the language used to describe what the university’s role would be with the park.

SU City Services Agreement 2021 by The Daily Orange on Scribd

The agreement, which was presented to the Common Council by Mayor Ben Walsh’s office on Oct. 6, did not move forward from the finances, taxes and assessment subcommittee to the Common Council because of pushback from the TPA.

While TPA expressed support for SU’s assistance with the park, TPA found the inclusion of public parks in the service agreement to be unnecessary and asked the city and SU to create a separate agreement for that purpose.

Kate Auwaerter, TPA’s vice president, said in the email obtained by The D.O. that the descriptions of actions for which SU would be responsible were too general. She asked SU and the city’s parks department to develop more specific scopes of work for areas frequently used by students and members of the Syracuse community.

The commissioner of parks was given a period of five days to review proposed maintenance and improvements by the agreement, but Auwaerter said in the email such a period was an “entirely insufficient” amount of time.

In the agreement, SU would also promise to maintain some sidewalks on Ostrom Avenue and near Thornden Park, and the city would agree to install new crosswalks on Ostrom Avenue. But Auwaerter said TPA would not recommend introducing more crosswalks into the park.

Auwaerter also said the part of the agreement that gives SU students, faculty and staff access to Thornden Park is unnecessary and appears to give SU preferential treatment. The park is public and therefore already open to anybody in the Syracuse community, she said.

Common Council addressed a resolution to extend the agreement during their meeting on Oct. 12, but it held the decision for a future meeting.

Published on November 1, 2021 at 11:08 pm

Contact Richard: [email protected] | @richardperrins2