Heritage Park

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Heritage Park is a City of Syracuse project to reimagine a vacant city property, known as the Powelson Site, and the existing Columbus Circle, into a larger heritage and education site for the public to enjoy.

 

Heritage Park, Downtown Syracuse

Celebrating the contributions of our diverse communities and their resilience to oppression

Heritage Park is a City of Syracuse project to reimagine a vacant city property, known as the Powelson Site, and the existing Columbus Circle, into a larger heritage and education site for the public to enjoy. The space will celebrate the contributions of our richly diverse communities and their resilience to oppression. It is located where Montgomery Street meets East Jefferson Street and East Onondaga Street in the Cathedral District in downtown Syracuse.

Heritage Park Advisory Commission

Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh appointed a Heritage Park Advisory Commission to recommend the design and educational content for the new park. The Commission consists of more than 30 members representing a broad range of community stakeholders. The Commission has sought community input and conducted extensive stakeholder engagement. It has also developed broad recommendations on the concept and content for Heritage Park and developed the following goals for project:

  • Inclusion of all the heritages past and present in Syracuse with a focus on the history and contributions of the Onondagas.
  • A welcoming, peaceful, contemplative, and informative space with the ability to gather as a community for events.
  • Natural, robust, sustainable, and colorful landscaping and artwork, as well as educational content regarding various heritages.
  • Additional educational content and sources relative to the oppression experienced and the contributions made by the various stakeholder groups.
  • A platform to promote education and dialogue that is civic and civil and that promotes critical thinking, open minds, and a deeper understanding of our histories and each other’s perspectives.

Commission Members
Kate Auwaerter

Beth Broadway
Janet Burke
Dennis Connors
Hillary-Anne Coppola
Joe Driscoll
Elizabeth Dunbar
Mohammed Elfiki
Rabbi Dan Fellman
JoAnne Galgiano
Bea Gonzalez
Clelia Ilacqua
Pastor Eric Jackson
Freida Jacques
Owen Kerney
Julie LaFave

      
Brandon Lazore

Greg Loh
Vince Love
Bishop Douglas Lucia
Elisa Morales
Rita Paniagua
Monsignor Neal Quartier
Sally Roesch Wagner
Bob Searing
Nick Stamoulacatos
Cindy Squillace
Tina Thomas
Merike Treier
John Camp
Mayor Ben Walsh
Carrie Mae Weems
Monica Williams

Site Master Plan

The City of Syracuse has engaged EDR, a Syracuse-based landscape architecture, engineering, environmental, cultural resources, community planning, and visualization firm, to develop a conceptual master plan and visualization for Heritage Park. EDR will continue to work with the Heritage Park Advisory Commission in this next stage of the project.

Return to this page for updates on Heritage Park planning and design.