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Highway that divided Syracuse decades ago is set to be demolished, reconnecting a neighborhood
When Interstate 81 was built in the 1960s, it sliced right through Syracuse’s Pioneer Homes — one of the nation’s oldest public housing communities, which had been built some three decades earlier. But in a few years, the government is set to level to level a mile and a half of the highway and reconnect a neighborhood.
Bishop Bernard Alex’s church is just a few miles from Syracuse, where he grew up. He says the highway stretch of I-81 sits over where people from his hometown used to plant gardens.
“You took away a thriving, vibrant community,” he said “You took away the hope and the space of a people.”
Alex said he believes the highway’s construction in New York state was a deliberate attempt to drive certain people out of the area.
To this day, the highway casts a massive shadow, separating Pioneer Homes from White and affluent neighborhoods, hospitals and schools.
A CBS News review of federal records found communities that sit in the shadows of major highways suffer higher pollution rates. The people have higher asthma rates and the income levels and property values are lower.
Syracuse is one of more than 130 communities nationwide that shared $3 billion in federal awards this year to reconnect neighborhoods segregated by highway planners in the 1900s. From Portland, Oregon to Philadelphia, cities are repurposing stretches of expressways with parks and green space planted over the roadways, a process known as capping.
Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh said his city’s project is among the most ambitious, calling the soon-to-be-demolished stretch of I-81 “a scar that goes through the heart of our city.”
At a cost of more than $2 billion, I-81 is being rerouted around Syracuse. The current stretch will then be demolished and replaced with a pedestrian-friendly grid of surface streets with shops, stop signs and potentially new life for Pioneer Homes
“We can’t undo the wrongs of the past,” Walsh said. “But we can try to get it right this time around. We have an opportunity to knit back the fabric of our cities and to bring people together.”
Alex hopes the demolition will prompt people to move back to the neighborhoods near Pioneer Homes
But in other traffic-choked cities across the country, highway expansion goes on. Like in North Charleston, South Carolina, where Interstate 526, which runs through many mostly Black neighborhoods, is set to be widened.
North Charleston Mayor Reggie Burgess said the expansion is “unavoidable.”
Burgess said dozens of homeowners will need to be relocated, but the state is offering affected residents housing assistance, employment help and college grants
“Of course, we don’t want to displace people. But when we have to actually improve the infrastructure, sometimes we have to make decisions that are not accepted, but I think that people understand it,” he said.
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Walmart said it’s testing body cameras on some store employees, a move that comes after some of its locations have experienced shootings and other violent incidents.
A Walmart associate checking receipts in a store in Denton, Texas, was spotted wearing a recording device earlier this month, according to CNBC, which cited a photo shared by a shopper. Walmart on Tuesday confirmed with CBS MoneyWatch that it is piloting the use of body cameras.
“While we don’t talk about the specifics of our security measures, we are always looking at new and innovative technology used across the retail industry. This is a pilot we are testing in one market, and we will evaluate the results before making any longer-term decisions,” a Walmart spokesperson told CBS MoneyWatch.
In 2023, there were more than 200 violent incidents at Walmart stores, according to United for Respect, a worker rights group, while in 2019, a gunman killed 23 people inside a Walmart in El Paso. Based in Bentonville, Arkansas, Walmart operates 4,700 stores and clubs across the country, and employs 1.6 million people in the U.S.
The body cameras are “for the safety and security of workers — it’s not designed for anti-theft measures,” a person close to the situation told CBS.
Body cameras at other retailers
Walmart is not alone in looking at body cameras, with more than a third of retailers reporting having researched the option in a survey released last year by the National Retail Federation. “No retailer reported being fully operational, but 11% are either piloting or testing the solution,” according to the NRF’s findings.
“Retailers are making every effort to ensure the safety and well-being of their customers, associates and communities. The use of body cameras is still a newer technology being used in retail and individual retailers are finding how this technology best works within their environments,” David Johnston, the NRF’s vice president of asset protection and retail operations, said Tuesday.
According to the trade group’s latest study, “The Impact of Retail Theft & Violence 2024,” about 91% of those surveyed say that shoplifters are exhibiting more violence and aggression compared with 2019, “highlighting why retailers are continuously looking at measures to reduce the threat of violence,” Johnson said.
TJX, which operates TJ Maxx, Marshalls and HomeGoods, began outfitting security workers with police-type body cameras at some of its locations over the past year, the company said this summer.
When somebody walks in, “It’s almost like a de-escalation where people are less likely to do something when they’re being videotaped,” chief financial officer John Klinger told Wall Street analysts in late May.
“We hope that these body cameras will help us de-escalate incidents, deter crime and demonstrate to our associates and customers that we take safety in our stores seriously,” a TJX spokesperson stated in June.
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