The Daily Orange

Soon residents of Syracuse will vote for candidates who have neglected the core issues facing Central New York. Despite their track records, all the candidates - Republican, Democrat and Green - promise a better, more stable and financially secure future for all.

I'm reminded of that Simpsons episode about the monorail. Mr. Burns is fined $3 million after being caught illegally dumping. A town meeting is convened to discuss spending the money. Marge suggests repairing a rundown Main Street while a devious salesman, Lyle Lanley, convinces Springfield to buy an exorbitant monorail. We all know the rest of the story.

Like the doomed monorail, Syracuse's long-touted Destiny USA project and inevitably the Connective Corridor are white elephants - excessive mega-projects designed to save the city but are doing more harm than good. Think of Boston's Big Dig or Brooklyn's Atlantic Yards.

Robert Congel, founder and chairman of The Pyramid Companies, which runs the Destiny project, writes about "revitalizing our community and re-establishing global leadership and restoring America's international image" on the Destiny USA Web site. He believes "Destiny USA in Syracuse, New York, is our primary vehicle to make this happen."

Congel has faced significant delays and plenty of controversies over tax incentives and legal mumbo-jumbo since his company's 1997 proposal. More than 20 million people annually are predicted to flood Destiny USA to enjoy 13,000 hotel rooms, an indoor aquarium and water park, a sports stadium and performing arts center, an indoor recreation of the Erie Canal, at least three golf courses and, of course, an artificial lake and glass-enclosed park approximately one-third the size of Syracuse University. I wonder if they've ordered white elephants yet. Also include an estimated $750 million monorail connecting Syracuse Hancock International Airport, our university and downtown in the mix.

Syracuse's grand planners claim approximately 120,000 new jobs - albeit minimum-wage paying, service-oriented and most likely non-unionized - will be created. The fact is that Syracuse, according to the 2005 U.S. Census, has the third-highest poverty rate (31.3 percent) and the highest poverty rate among blacks (42.5 percent) with nearly half of children under the poverty line. Likewise, the majority of Syracusans are simply skilled blue-collar workers living middle-class lives. Flipping hamburgers on the Erie Canal may work for cash-hungry teenagers but will do little to alleviate poverty, stem the brain drain or revive Central New York.

"More than 90 percent of the workforce will be Destiny USA employees managed by third parties," according to the Destiny USA Web site. However, local leaders accused the temporary hiring of 180 employees at an average $60,000 annual salary of being a public relations ploy. Remember those sappy commercials featuring their employees? Even local unions criticized Destiny USA's construction training as dangerously below industry standards.

Homer, too, was conned into becoming an (untrained) monorail conductor after watching commercials.

Real solutions for Central New York calls for more than white elephants. It demands an understanding of our city and region for what it really is rather than what it once was or what we envision it to become. Each of us, Chancellor Nancy Cantor and Robert Congel included, must be responsible actors in the region's eventual renaissance. Whether we're the reason or the cause is up to us.

Jonathan Han is a biweekly columnist for The Daily Orange. He can be reached at johan@syr.edu.

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