What would the city of Syracuse do with $1 billion? Syracuse City Hall has put together a series of projects that it hopes could be the basis for a Syracuse Billion agenda, based loosely on the state funded Buffalo Billion.
Mayor Stephanie Miner says topping the wish list is replacing a 550 mile, 100-year-old water system that constantly breaks down. The project would cost $750 million.
"You have to both dig and reconstruct," Miner said. "We would also be using this as an opportunity to put sensors on our water lines to make us more resilient for storms that are going through because of climate change, and be more efficient with how we use water.”
While the city is doing all that digging, it would create the Central New York Naturally Chilled Water Project, using cold Skaneateles Lake water to cool buildings in the summer, something local businesses would like.
"They would spend less on electricity," Miner said. "Our carbon footprint would go down and it would use an asset we have a lot of here -- cold water.”
She says the rest of the money would be spent on things like boosting Internet access, fixing roads and beefing up the "Say Yes to Education" endowment.
“What this did was a mixture of innovation and traditional infrastructure, looking where we have gaps in the community and how we can use government money to fill those gaps, to ultimately benefit the entire community and the entire public good," Miner explained.
The list has been sent to the governor’s office, and Miner will begin talking it up to state lawmakers. Gov. Andrew Cuomo is expected to propose spending $1.5 billion for upstate revitalization in the state’s next budget, and says he’ll ask for community proposals.
She doesn’t know if there is a billion dollars in the city’s future, but if nothing else, this starts a conversation.
“We put a stake in the ground and said, this is where we are, this is where our priorities are and if we had access to $1 billion this is what we would be investing in in order to give our community a competitive advantage."
Miner also says the proposed Syracuse Billion helps everyone involved, not just a select few businesses or projects.
"By doing so, we think this is real, meaningful growth and development," Miner explained. "It gives a common good, a public good for everyone across the community. You don’t have the government pick between winners and losers and you build a foundation for everyone to thrive and prosper.”
