[a reason]

If you are not yet aware of this, it will not take you long to realize--I have an immense [perhaps sometimes overboard] passion for the city of Syracuse. I was born here; I grew up here; I live here; I am being educated here. The city has provided me with a forum of interaction, a place to form a wealth of experiences. I am as equally enamored with the wonderful existing urban fabric of Syracuse as I am alarmed by its current apparent state of despair. I can sense, and see, the amazing potential that the city and region is poised on the edge of--just waiting for a little push, for some people to stir things up a bit, for the dialogue to become concrete action.

This blog can become an ongoing discussion and deliberation among all of us who wish to put our hands on the theoretical back of the city and give it that slight nudge into a context of prosperity. While still in school [studying architecture], it may sound overly ambitious that I want to become a catalyst for the ongoing revitilization of Syracuse, but I am already immersing myself in this process. I am working in a design studio at the Warehouse, conceptualizing a mixed-use development on the western edge of downtown, near Armory Square, that not only has the potential to be built, but also will help to infuse another corner of the city with a 24-hour presence. I'm becoming ever-more involved with AdaptCNY [an off-shoot of 40 Below] and their efforts to restore the splendor of the Wilson Building in the heart of downtown. Some friends and I are even formulating a creative live/work/play endeavor we look forward to undertake within the next few years, downtown.

I realize there are a lot of I's above, but I don't intend for it to remain this way. Sure I'm using this blog as a showcase for my work as it trickles onto these pages, but I want you to critique it, to propose your own ideas, to start a discussion around this all. I want you to become as much as force behind positive change as all of us participating in this dialogue strive to become. Lets become a driving force behind a new vibrancy in the city of Syracuse.