SYRACUSE -- In his article for Forbes Magazine, Syracuse University professor Carl Schramm points at the decline of manufacturing in Syracuse as the center of the area's problems. Schramm says the city needs to look at it's past with industrial giants like Carrier, GE and Smith Corona if it wants to improve in the future.
"It appears that its future is no longer dependent on the genius of its people but the largesse of higher order governments both state and federal. It has lost its ability to determine its own fate," said Schramm.
Syracuse mayor Stephanie Miner said the article doesn't recognize the progress Syracuse has made as it moves from an old fashioned industrial city to a more diverse economy - and that Schramm's approach is trapped in the 1950's
"Our economy has changed as a country and here in Syracuse in particular we have to embrace new technology, research and development - and we've been doing all of that. But the new economy for cities looks very different from how it did in the 1950's," said Miner.
Miner says the Syracuse area's economy has now grown for four years in a row and that several manufacturing businesses in Central New York are proving to be innovators.
General Manager Laura Miller says Darco Manufacturing in Dewitt has been successful by being flexible and that there are a lot of success stories locally. Carrier moved most of the company's manufacturing south but Darco still makes precision crafted components for them. Miller says she is seeing growth and the next generation of Syracuse entrepreneurs is ready to start building.
"When the drawings come in and they want to sit down and talk with you about how do we make this better - that means that pretty soon we're going to start seeing orders," said Miller.
