Syracuse, NY - What Happened?

[pippadaisy[$]]

Yaw! I just got back from a convention in Syracuse, which is about an hour and a half from here. Apologies if any of you live there, but in the 8 years since I've been there, downtown has become a PIT.

In addition, the Chamber of Commerce didn't let any restaurant owners in the area know about not only our convention, but ANOTHER convention also being held at OnCenter... everything within walking distance closed early on Friday, wasn't open for lunch on Saturday, or hadn't staffed adequately to handle 1300 people looking for food!

We didn't venture up to the university area, which might have been better, but I was just shocked that there wasn't anything within walking distance of the convention area.

And the hotel... I sat there yesterday when we got up telling hubby that I was seriously hoping there was an area to write an Epinion, because that was the first thing I was going to do!

Anyone know what happened to Syracuse??

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

Did you stay at the Hotel Syracuse? I was there last year. What a disaster.

And we had the same problems. We had a three-day convention and our problem was nothing was open at night unless you walked pretty far away from OnCenter, to the "colleg-y" area I guess. But ours was a group of women whose average age was probably 72, and for whom mobility was not a prime characteristic.

Some of our events at OnCenter were in the evening, and it was a scary walk from the Hotel Syracuse to the OnCenter... too many closed stores, buildings that looked abandoned, etc.

Hey, I'm from Buffalo so I know I can't talk about having a vibrant downtown atmosphere, but wow - Syracuse was something else.

[pippadaisy[$]]

Review here:

http://www.epinions.com/content_102367596164

And yes, I agree on all counts! I had left my Nora Roberts book in the car, but no way was I going over to the parking garage to go get it.

I heard this morning from another convention attendee that they are planning on building a new hotel specifically for OnCenter, but I dunno.. I'm from Rochester, and it seems that Rochester is more "into" making things convenient for conventions. Hotels connected via Skyway to the convention center (more than one) so you never have to go out into rain or whatever, more restaurants, more everything. It's not that we are Manhattan or anything, but at least the attempt is made.

And we also had an "older" contingent at the convention, so straying up toward SU wasn't really an option.

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

Heh. The reason Hotel Syracuse is listed in Travel is I asked for it to be added so I could review the hotel... and then I never got around to doing it.

[pippadaisy[$]]

So go do it now. I'm sure that my experience will spark your memory. God, what a horror!