Walt Shepperd is a veteran of Central New York's political scuffle, having covered government and politics in Syracuse for nearly four decades. He is the Senior Editor of the City Eagle and the Mayor of Montgomery Street in downtown Syracuse.
Samadee stood in Hanover Square to celebrate Spring. There was no place to sit, since the April (snow) showers had dampened the park benches, and although the City, in its infinite wisdom, had moved up the outdoor table date from the 15th to the lst of the month, the wind and freezing temperatures kept the tables and chairs on the Northside of the Square from being unstacked. There were no chairs on the Southside of the Square to be unstacked, since the three institutions on that stretch providing pause for outdoor reflection and refreshment had fallen to the onslaught of the War for Gentrification...
In 1968 a small band of pioneers moved the focus of their activities from Marshall Street on the SU campus to the corner of Trinity and Beech, just off Westcott Street on the east side of Thornden Park. They brought with them the underground Nickel Review, setting up shop in a former dentist office in a house not intended as a commune, but which often functioned like one. Joe Leonard, manager of the headline band Jam Factory, and crafter Bill McDowell, who would later play an urban pioneering role in Armory Square, took a corner storefront to create the Dragon’s Emporium. The store’s remodeling constituted McDowell’s senior design project for SU. He got an A...
It was mid-evening Friday and tables were out on Hanover Square. There had been notice of some activity in the space vacated by Manhattan’s and some talk of club activity developing where Quigley’s used to be, but the tables were concentrated on the north side of the Square. Samadee sat for awhile at Bull and Bear, relieved to be back in touch with the whispers of history from those people who worked the canal and the railroad. But the Square didn’t look, and certainly didn’t feel the same from the north side. He moved over to Wild Will’s, where the tables stretched up Warren Street to the end of the block, but the view of the Square was obstructed, focusing visual perspective mostly on the faces in car windows paused for the light at Water Street...
