Partnership for Onondaga Creek Celebration

In August, several Armory Square business owners sponsored a party for the Partnership for Onondaga Creek and their allies for the work they have done to prevent a sewage plant from being built in downtown Syracuse.
Lula Donald speaks about the accomplishments of the Partnership for Onondgaga Creek in the Southside.

Coming soon

I'll be presenting UP THE CREEK! twice this fall, please mark your calendars to hear about progress on this project.

Saturday October 4, Public Memories | Visible Memories Conference, Syracuse University
http://publicmemories.syr.edu/

Thursday October 16, Oral History Association Conference, Pittsburgh, PA
http://alpha.dickinson.edu/oha/org_am_pittsburgh.html

WAER coverage

58 sec MP3

Back in April, UP THE CREEK! was featured on WAER, the Syracuse NPR affiliate. I've finally gotten around to posting the tape from their interview with project participant Ralph Cady.

alternatives to the sewage plant downtown

Read an update in the Syracuse Post-Standard about the new green infrastructure plans to replace the sewage facility that was planned for downtown Syracuse:
http://tinyurl.com/44kfqn

Download the student sound walks

The student walks for Armory Square and the Southside are ready for listening! Download the files below or visit the venues to check out a CD player. You will be guided by a narrator on a short walk around the neighborhood. It will take around 10-15 minutes. Stand in front of the building before pressing PLAY on your MP3 player. Be careful when crossing streets and enjoy!

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COLORS OF THE CREEK

This walk starts in front of the Redhouse Art Center in Armory Square, downtown.
MAP: http://www.theredhouse.org/directions

This link will download a .zip/archived mp3 audio file to your computer:
http://fereshteh.net/creek/Downtown.mp3.zip
The artists have created a set of images for you to take on your walk. You'll need to make an appointment at the Redhouse to pick up the envelopes from the staff there.

The CD is available for check out by appointment or drop-in.

Redhouse phone: (315) 425 - 0405

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SOUTHWEST SOUND WALK

This walk starts in front of the Southwest Community Center.
MAP: http://tinyurl.com/5p6wu6

This link will download a .zip/archived mp3 audio file to your computer:
http://fereshteh.net/creek/Southwest.mp3.zip

The CD is available for check out from the public library on the 2nd floor the community center.

SWCC Library phone: (315) 671-5814
Monday-Friday 10:00 - 5:00
closed Saturday and Sunday

No sewage plant in Armory Square

Good news: The county legislature decided to stop construction on the sewage plant downtown. They will be pursuing green infrastructure options instead. Read more about it in today's Post-Standard newspaper! LINK: http://tinyurl.com/5oeers

Coming Soon!

On May 9th, we will post MP3s of the sound walks created by students for Southwest and Downtown. Add us as a friend on MySpace or Facebook to get the latest updates!
http://www.facebook.com/people/Onondaga_Creek/580374815
http://www.myspace.com/315water

MayFest photo

Syracuse University sophomore Eduard Tabaku and Fereshteh Toosi
at the UP THE CREEK! table in the SU Dome on MayFest.

MayFest: April 22

As many of you know, Syracuse University students have been working to produce their own version of a sound walk for Onondaga Creek. SU holds an annual MayFest in April for sharing such projects, and this year it falls on Tuesday the 22nd. We invite you to come out to campus to hear student productions in progress.

The students will be available to answer your questions in the Dome from 9 AM to 3 PM, where you can hear the first version of two group projects on a boombox. Also, a short radio piece by Stef Quam and Eduard Tabaku will be featured at the The Division of Student Affairs Civic Engagement and Sustainability Council showcase from 10 AM to 4 PM in Room 304 of the Schine Student Center.

For more information and a schedule of the days activities go to:
http://mayfest.syr.edu/

swimming UP THE CREEK!

Today I visited several spots along Onondaga Creek with teens who are working for Cornell Cooperative Extension's Onondaga Earth Corps. We were lucky to see some fish, maybe carp or suckers, trying to swim upstream in the current that runs under the bridge at Kelly Brothers Memorial Park. Watch the video below!

We also saw a beaver at the headwaters of the creek at Tracy Lake in Tully, sycamore trees, and found a dead deer that one of the corps members had spotted on his walk to school.
Sadly, people are still dumping along the creek. At Kirk Park, we found this collection of highly toxic electronics. Many of the teens in the corps have worked on clean-up along the creek. On the trip today, they took photos and wrote down their observations as research for a sculpture they'll be building out of found objects from the creek. Watch for the unveiling of their art work at Beauchamp Library on Earth Day, April 22.

Sizdah Bedar Potluck

It was a beautiful sunny day, a perfect time for the spring potluck and listening party.

6 April Potluck Party

You are cordially invited to a potluck party for UP THE CREEK! documentary arts project

Sunday 6 April 2008 at 1:00 pm
Zen Center of Syracuse
266 West Seneca Turnpike 13207

Come listen to selections from the interviews about Onondaga Creek. We will also celebrate Sizdah Bedar, “Getting Rid of 13,” a Persian ceremony for welcoming spring and saying good-bye to bad spirits from the previous year by tossing sprouts into the creek.
Please bring a vegetarian dish for this shared meal sponsored by Bread and Roses Co-op.

RSVP: 443-8796 or 315water@gmail.com

City Eagle article about the project

LINK to download the PDF of the article from the 27 March issue of the City Eagle:
http://fereshteh.net/press/pdfs/city_eagle.pdf

Fabius Street

1 min 43 sec MP3

Theresa M. used to live on Fabius Street (above). This house was next to the railroad bridge (below) behind the MOST building where the new sewage plant is being built.
Stay tuned for audio clips from Theresa and the many interviews I've been gathering in the past few weeks with Bruce and Barbara C., Joyce B., Kay L., Ralph C. and Chief Irving Powless of Onondaga Nation.

Plenty Magazine article

Want to get some general background info about the sewage plants on the creek in Syracuse?
Read this article, out today in Plenty Magazine:
http://www.plentymag.com/features/2008/02/syracuse_community_spotlight.php

Post-Standard article about the project

http://www.syracuse.com/poststandard/stories/index.ssf?/base/news-10/120350136164130.xml&coll=1

Black History Month Ceremony

Literacy Volunteers of Greater Syracuse hosted today's Black History Month Ceremony at the Common Council Chambers down in city hall. Geneva Hayden, a Literacy Advocate, gave a powerful testimony about her work. She helped me connect with 2 students for the audio reporter component of the UP THE CREEK! project and I was honored that she used the opportunity to read their words:

We go to the Beauchamp branch library to work with a lady named Fereshteh Toosi. We have a recording program. We do a lot of things with literacy, like we go and talk to people who have a story and they speak and if we don't get something we ask them what it means and they explain it to us. It is so very fun. We write down things that we can ask the people that we talk to, like "How old are you?" and "What do you know about Onondaga Creek?"

Most people in Syracuse do not know much about it, that is why we are here. In one of our interviews, a woman never even heard of Onondaga Creek before! We talk to people that we know and people we don't know. When you do this you can hear a lot of thing that person has not told a lot of people. This has helped us learn more about technology. You should join, it is very fun.

Senyah and Anastajah Haynes
9 and 10 years old

map

Mark K. sent in this map of the 5 Nations in central New York.

Charlie C.

I spoke with Charlie about his youth along the creek and he shared stories about its significance to the Haudenosaunee people.

30 sec MP3

creekwalk comments

The engineers for the city just had a deadline to take comments from the public on phase 2 of the DOT funded creekwalk. I'm going to write to request the full set of these remarks, but meanwhile, read one sample from Catherine Landis of SUNY-ESF: LINK

Sharon M.

Listen to a short sample from the interview with Sharon M. who grew up in a house near Midland and Ballantyne:

1:44 min MP3

good news

The Feb. 1st deadline to sign the lowest Clinton bids for the downtown sewage plant has been delayed 60 days. We've heard that the state in Albany is weighing in and looking over plans and alternatives. It is a small victory because Joanie Mahoney was being told she had to sign the Clinton bid and she resisted the demand. Read more about it here:
http://www.syracuse.com/state/index.ssf?/base/news-13/120125508363600.xml&coll=1&thispage=1

budgets for the Clinton RTF

This chart shows the escalating budgets for the RTF (regional treatment facility), a sewage plant being built on Clinton Street in downtown Syracuse. Click to see larger image.

letter to Joanie Mahoney

LINK HERE to read a letter from Aggie Lane of the Parternship for Onondaga Creek and Don Hughes of the Onondaga Environmental Institute to Joanie Mahoney, the recently elected Onondaga County Executive. It refers to the construction of the Clinton RTF (Regional Treatment Facility), a sewage plant being built in downtown Syracuse. Other acronyms include:
ACJ - Amended Consent Judgment - http://www.onlakepartners.org/p1302.html
WEP - Dept of Water Environment Protection - http://www.ongov.net/WEP/
CSO - combined sewer overflow - http://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/home.cfm?program_id=5
HBIS - Harbor Brook Interceptor Sewer

Karl M.

Yesterday I interviewed Karl M., a long-time resident of Nedrow, NY. Here we stop at a spot to compare the current landscape to photos he made during flooding in the 30s and 40s. Check back soon for audio clips and scans of his old photos.

The Future of Water

Mark your calendars for FOCUS the NATION at Syracuse University and SUNY-ESF on Thursday January 31st. I will be on a panel about "The future of water" during this day-long teach in about responses and solutions to climate change. Hopefully some of my students will be able to participate as well. Find us at 11-12:20 in room 115 of the SU Physics building. http://enspire.syr.edu/FTN/FTNprogram.htm#breakouts

Potluck & Storytelling session

Today's potluck had a great turnout, with 18 people and a visit from Time Warner News 10. Check it out tonight running after 9pm on this 24-hour news station. Also check the blog later for clips from my spot on WSTM, the Syracuse NBC affiliate and coverage in the City Eagle (Thanks Nancy!)

info session at Beauchamp Library

On Thursday January 10th, I held an info session at Beauchamp Library. Here I met the first 2 volunteer audio reporters, a pair of sisters who live in the Southside.

Coming soon: a sewage treatment plant in downtown Syracuse

This is a detail from the designs for the city's creekwalk from the landscape architecture/engineering firm of Barton and Loguidice.

City Creekwalk meeting

On Monday January 7th, I attended the Syracuse city government's "Public Information Meeting For the Syracuse Creekwalk Phase II Feasibility Study Project" which was at 7pm at Danforth Magnet School Cafeteria on 309 W. Brighton Ave. The proposed Onondaga Creekwalk Phase II will run from Armory Square to Colvin St. Bob Graham of Creek Rats and Partnership for Onondaga Creek checks out the plans.