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.

images for the media

Click on images to access full size copy. Right click to download to your computer.