UPDATED: Feb. 3, 2019 at 1:30 p.m.

Sam Edelstein, Syracuse’s chief data officer, detailed Mayor Ben Walsh’s plan to make technological advancements throughout the city to a crowd of students, faculty and city residents at Syracuse University’s Hall of Languages on Thursday night.

Edelstein’s talk focused on the logistics behind Walsh’s Syracuse Surge, a series of initiatives designed to boost economic growth and give the city an edge in the technology field. Two major Surge projects are the redevelopment of the southeast area of downtown and the creation of a Southside Campus for the New Economy.

The campus will be equipped with broadband Internet access and include a regional Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math school.

Edelstein said the first step in making Syracuse more technologically advanced is already underway with the city’s planned purchase of more than 17,500 street lights throughout the city.

Ownership of the lights will supply Syracuse with more than $3 million in annual savings and connect the lights to a central network that will alert the city when it experiences a malfunction, Edelstein said. The city plans to connect other sensors and data collection tools to the network, he added.

Edelstein focused on the use of information to shape city policy throughout his presentation. He said the Surge initiative concentrates on four main areas: fiscal sustainability, engagement with residents, increased economic investment and neighborhood stability and an efficient and equitable delivery of city services.

“Our point of view is that using data and information allows us to make more equitable, fair and informed decisions about the way that we should be spending the cities resources and ultimately taxpayers’ resources,” he said.

The Surge is a “large umbrella” of different projects intended to push Syracuse into the future, Edelstein said.

Not all of the initiatives involved in the Surge are entirely new developments. Many are an extension of actions Syracuse is already taking, now with a greater emphasis on data collection and analysis, Edelstein said.

Data collection could be used in various ways in Syracuse, such as locating areas where potholes develop and determining what conditions are responsible for them. Another possible use is improving traffic management by finding areas with high vehicle or pedestrian traffic. This type of analysis would ultimately save the city time and money and allow it to make better policy decisions, he said.

Equity was also a key theme of the presentation. Edelstein said the southeast area of downtown Syracuse was chosen as the location for the Southside Campus because the area has not seen financial investment in decades. The city researched locations with the most concentrated to better understand factors behind it, he said.

Through its research the city found barriers to transportation and education as well as a digital divide, Edelstein said. The Surge will provide more widespread Internet access to areas most impacted by the digital divide, he said.

The STEAM school will also benefit impoverished students by providing them with the opportunity to learn about cutting-edge technologies, he said.

Edelstein said the Surge poses some challenges, particularly concerning the privacy of Syracuse residents. Certain types of data collection would require surveillance cameras or detection of iPhones, he said.

Edelstein also said the city is open to partnering with SU for research projects and to help manage data collected by the city.

Ingrid Erickson, an assistant professor at the iSchool, said she sees a potential for SU students and faculty to be involved in the Surge.

“I think there’s a lot of opportunity to explore what the future of the city is,” she said.

Steve Sawyer, a professor in the iSchool, said he was impressed by Edelstein’s presentation.

“You don’t make changes by doing the things that you’re already doing,” Sawyer said. “I think the city has a really good sense of what’s possible.”

Edelstein said the timeline for the plan is still in the works. But he said the city is being aggressive in its pursuit of the project, and that it should be completed within a few years.

CORRECTION: In a previous version of this post, the location of  Sam Edelstein’s talk at Syracuse University was misstated. The Daily Orange regrets this error.

Published on February 1, 2019 at 1:13 pm

Contact Gillian: gifollet@syr.edu