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
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Monday, February 11, 2008
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
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
Sunday, February 3, 2008
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
Saturday, February 2, 2008
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
Thursday, January 31, 2008
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
Thursday, January 24, 2008
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
http://www.syracuse.com/state/index.ssf?/base/news-13/120125508363600.xml&coll=1&thispage=1
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
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
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.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
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
Saturday, January 12, 2008
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!)
Thursday, January 10, 2008
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.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
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.
Monday, January 7, 2008
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.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
images for the media
Click on images to access full size copy. Right click to download to your computer.
Press Release: UP THE CREEK documentary arts initiative seeks local lore about Onondaga Creek
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 26, 2007
Contact: Fereshteh Toosi, phone: 315-443-8796
email: 315WATER@gmail.com
UP THE CREEK: New documentary arts initiative seeks local lore about Onondaga Creek
Drop-in Information Session: Beauchamp Library, January 10, 2008, 4-6pm
Potluck Dinner and Storytelling Session: Center for Peace and Social Justice, January 12, 2008, 4-7pm
RSVP: 315-443-8796 or 315WATER@gmail.com
A local documentary arts initiative launches a campaign to gather stories and memories about a major local tributary, Onondaga Creek. The project, titled UP THE CREEK, will host two public events in Syracuse on January 10th and January 12th. Organizers are inviting local residents to contribute their stories for the project, and are searching for six volunteers to participate in the project as audio reporters.
Just as bids are finalized for the contested multi-million dollar sewage plant along Onondaga Creek in Armory Square, UP THE CREEK aims to document the stories of people living and working along the creek through audio recordings. The goal is to produce an oral history that will result in a CD and an interactive audio tour to walk along selected portions of the creek. The audio tour will be distributed free of charge starting in April 2008.
The project will kick off the new year with a drop-in information session at Beauchamp Library from 4-6 pm on January 10th, and potluck dinner and storytelling session on Saturday January 12th from 4-7pm at the Center for Peace and Social Justice at 2013 East Genesee Street. Interested parties are invited to gather as a group to hear and share memories about the creek in a session that will be professionally recorded.
Project Coordinator and Syracuse University instructor Fereshteh Toosi plans to gather a variety of stories from residents of Onondaga County. "We're looking for tall fish tales, songs, urban legends, you name it. You might think your story is too ordinary, but we believe every story is important." Like the popular NPR feature StoryCorps, the project aims to be accessible. "We want to make it as easy as possible to participate and be interviewed, so we'll meet folks wherever it's convenient for them," Ms. Toosi says. "We're also looking for six people who want to learn the audio technology, and we'll train them as audio reporters, to keep a journal on their own time."
Ms. Toosi says of her motivations for the project: "I recently moved to Syracuse and I was surprised by the difference between recreational opportunities at Erie Canal and those at Onondaga Creek. Like the canal, Onondaga Creek has a lot of potential but there are so many fences and walls built around it. The goal for UP THE CREEK is to imagine a different way of interacting with a major waterway that runs downtown and throughout the diverse landscape of Onondaga County."
The city of Syracuse has been developing a creek walk trail, but they admit that progress has been slow due to the "logistical challenges of rediscovering a waterway in an urbanized area" ( http://www.syracuse.ny.us/creekWalk.asp). UP THE CREEK embraces the challenge to rediscover this waterway through a localized, grassroots effort that showcases the past, present, and future of work and play around Onondaga Creek.
###
UP THE CREEK drop-in information session January 10, 2008 at Beauchamp Library, 2111 S. Salina Street, 4-6 pm. Potluck dinner and storytelling session January 12, 2008 at the Center for Peace and Social Justice, 2013 East Genesee Street, 4-7pm. Bring food or drink to share. To RSVP for either public event or to participate in the oral history project, please call the Project Coordinator at 315-443-8796, or email 315WATER@gmail.com
Attached images: poster for the potluck, poster for the Beauchamp Library info session, image of Onondaga Creek courtesy of the Partnership for Onondaga Creek
###
Contact: Fereshteh Toosi, phone: 315-443-8796
email: 315WATER@gmail.com
UP THE CREEK: New documentary arts initiative seeks local lore about Onondaga Creek
Drop-in Information Session: Beauchamp Library, January 10, 2008, 4-6pm
Potluck Dinner and Storytelling Session: Center for Peace and Social Justice, January 12, 2008, 4-7pm
RSVP: 315-443-8796 or 315WATER@gmail.com
A local documentary arts initiative launches a campaign to gather stories and memories about a major local tributary, Onondaga Creek. The project, titled UP THE CREEK, will host two public events in Syracuse on January 10th and January 12th. Organizers are inviting local residents to contribute their stories for the project, and are searching for six volunteers to participate in the project as audio reporters.
Just as bids are finalized for the contested multi-million dollar sewage plant along Onondaga Creek in Armory Square, UP THE CREEK aims to document the stories of people living and working along the creek through audio recordings. The goal is to produce an oral history that will result in a CD and an interactive audio tour to walk along selected portions of the creek. The audio tour will be distributed free of charge starting in April 2008.
The project will kick off the new year with a drop-in information session at Beauchamp Library from 4-6 pm on January 10th, and potluck dinner and storytelling session on Saturday January 12th from 4-7pm at the Center for Peace and Social Justice at 2013 East Genesee Street. Interested parties are invited to gather as a group to hear and share memories about the creek in a session that will be professionally recorded.
Project Coordinator and Syracuse University instructor Fereshteh Toosi plans to gather a variety of stories from residents of Onondaga County. "We're looking for tall fish tales, songs, urban legends, you name it. You might think your story is too ordinary, but we believe every story is important." Like the popular NPR feature StoryCorps, the project aims to be accessible. "We want to make it as easy as possible to participate and be interviewed, so we'll meet folks wherever it's convenient for them," Ms. Toosi says. "We're also looking for six people who want to learn the audio technology, and we'll train them as audio reporters, to keep a journal on their own time."
Ms. Toosi says of her motivations for the project: "I recently moved to Syracuse and I was surprised by the difference between recreational opportunities at Erie Canal and those at Onondaga Creek. Like the canal, Onondaga Creek has a lot of potential but there are so many fences and walls built around it. The goal for UP THE CREEK is to imagine a different way of interacting with a major waterway that runs downtown and throughout the diverse landscape of Onondaga County."
The city of Syracuse has been developing a creek walk trail, but they admit that progress has been slow due to the "logistical challenges of rediscovering a waterway in an urbanized area" ( http://www.syracuse.ny.us/creekWalk.asp). UP THE CREEK embraces the challenge to rediscover this waterway through a localized, grassroots effort that showcases the past, present, and future of work and play around Onondaga Creek.
###
UP THE CREEK drop-in information session January 10, 2008 at Beauchamp Library, 2111 S. Salina Street, 4-6 pm. Potluck dinner and storytelling session January 12, 2008 at the Center for Peace and Social Justice, 2013 East Genesee Street, 4-7pm. Bring food or drink to share. To RSVP for either public event or to participate in the oral history project, please call the Project Coordinator at 315-443-8796, or email 315WATER@gmail.com
Attached images: poster for the potluck, poster for the Beauchamp Library info session, image of Onondaga Creek courtesy of the Partnership for Onondaga Creek
###
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