In 1975, Syracuse’s Central Technical High School closed its doors. Now, 44 years after the school shut down, Mayor Ben Walsh is working to convert Central Tech into a regional Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math school as part of his larger “Syracuse Surge” initiative.

The city tried to reopen the South Side school as a vocational tech school in the early 2000s, but the plan was quickly shelved due to high renovation costs and declining enrollment, according to Syracuse.com. Walsh announced the Surge, a growth and economic initiative, in his 2019 “State of the City” address.

The new STEAM school is part of a proposed Southside Campus for the New Economy, which Walsh said was the “signature investment” of the Surge.

Director of City Initiatives Greg Loh said the idea to renovate Central Tech came from a need to house Syracuse’s technical programs.

“One of the major parts of the Surge are the companies investing in industries like drone technology and cybersecurity,” Loh said. “We need to build the pipeline for talent to flow into the companies investing into Syracuse.”

Assemblywoman Pam Hunter, whom Walsh recognized in his address for her “tireless work in the South Side,” said that funding for Central Tech is not set. She said the state will fund about 60 percent of the project, with the city funding the rest.

Hunter said the Surge landed in the South Side due to initiatives that were taking place as early as 2006. One of those initiatives was the Southeast Gateway, which Hunter secured $200,000 in funding for in the city’s 2018-19 budget.

“Talking to South Side organizations and residents was a key part of the redevelopment plan for this neighborhood,” Hunter said.

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The area around Central Tech will also be renovated to address initiatives related to business, data and research. A new center, the New York Center for Smart Cities, will use data from the city to make decisions on how to best deploy municipal resources.

The city purchased 17,500 street lights to convert them to smart LED lights that can be operated and maintained remotely. The street lights will save Syracuse $3 million annually.

Syracuse’s Chief Data Officer Sam Edelstein said the street lights are only the beginning, and that officials are also analyzing traffic flow through the city. Both the street light and traffic data programs will be headquartered in the New York Center for Smart Cities, he said.

“All the numbers we capture will be used to build a model smart city,” Edelstein said. “We’ll find out what works and what doesn’t and try to be a reference point for other cities pioneering similar initiatives in the state.”

Edelstein said that changes in city infrastructure could have transformative effects on the data flows. One potential development is the overhaul of Syracuse’s I-81 overpass. The New York State Department of Transportation is reviewing three options to renovate the now-overpass section of the highway: a community grid, a taller and wider viaduct or a tunnel.

“Our current views on traffic flow will most likely be viewed as archaic by the time I-81 is fully replaced,” Edelstein said.

Vacant buildings will be incorporated into the Surge program, Deputy Commissioner of Business and Development Honora Spillane said. A property inventory check will be conducted through the city to help determine which buildings are viable to use, she said.

Loh said that if the Surge succeeds on the South Side, it could be repeated in other neighborhoods around the city, such as the Near Westside.

Results from the Surge shouldn’t be expected overnight, Spillane said. The school renovations will likely take several years to complete, and the rest of the program does not have a fixed timeline yet, she said. Still, she said she was optimistic about the project as a whole.

“We have an opportunity to catch up,” Spillane said.

Published on January 30, 2019 at 10:48 pm