Today, little is left of this once-bustling neighborhood. Parking lots, parking garages, and medical facilities that turn their backs on the street are everywhere. The western side of the neighborhood is now the eastern end of downtown, with scattered office buildings and several public housing projects. The eastern side of the 15th Ward is now the Near Eastside, where I live. This damaged but resilient neighborhood has a mix of offices, hotels, apartments, student housing, and centers of worship for multiple faiths. On East Genesee Street, you’ll find an American bistro, comedy nights at the local Italian restaurant, pizza, multiple coffee shops, university spaces, a theater, an imported foods grocer with an attached gyro shop, community-focused art galleries, convenience stores, tacos, and more.

The Near Eastside has much potential. It’s sandwiched between Syracuse University and downtown, each of which is less than a twenty-minute walk away. Even with all of the diversity of this place and the businesses here, it has a long way to go. Behind East Genessee Street, many blocks are vacant. Residents here must walk underneath I-81 to go to downtown. This highway is a troubling monument to the destruction of a neighborhood. Around the highway is a dead zone, where no one wants to be, and where parking lots and underutilized spaces line the streets.

The Near Eastside, east of I-81 and downtown, and north of the university, is cut off from the downtown. At the same time, public housing in the Southside, west of the university and I-81, and south of downtown, is cut off from the vibrant university community. This neighborhood is also a victim of the highway that acts as a segregating wall.