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UPDATED April 18, 2022 at 6:09 p.m.

Thornden Park holds a special place in Miranda Hine’s heart.

Hine, a founder of the Thornden Park Association and member of the organization from 1983 to 2020, has frequently jogged, walked and visited the vast park for over 40 years.

While the park’s beauty and abundant opportunities stand out to her, Hine said the park’s negative reputation also stands out.

To Hine, the biggest mission of the Thornden Park Association is to restore and revitalize the perception of the park by SU and members of the local community. Hine said the Thornden Park Association is having tremendous success in achieving that goal.

“One of the reasons for us to form was to change that perception,” Hine said. “We created the board because of a bunch of negative perceptions. I think we’ve been 100% successful with the community.”

Thornden Park’s reputation has been under the spotlight because of a decades-old incident that took place at the park.

In 1981, Alice Sebold, an SU freshman at the time, said a man threatened and raped her while she was walking in Thornden Park. Anthony Broadwater was falsely convicted in 1982 for the rape of Sebold and was imprisoned for 16 years before being exonerated on Nov. 22, 2021. Recently, Broadwater filed a lawsuit against New York state for the wrongful conviction.

Hine said that the rape case back in 1981 created a narrative that the park is unsafe and has a high crime rate.

“The community feels safe (at the park),” Hine said. “I’ve been to the park for 42 years by myself and I have never, ever felt unsafe.”

Dale Avers, a current board member of the Thornden Park Association, said she’s gotten the sense the image of the park is more positive, but what happened to Sebold and the resulting false conviction of Broadwater created a long-term perception.

“I’m sure it influenced (the image of the park),” Avers said. “Those kinds of stories live on. Parents would be concerned about a past event like that. I do hope though that the justice that’s occurred now also lives on.”

Avers said she’s recently seen more students at the park, and the board has educated security personnel at SU and were active in creating meetings between the board, SU, officials and the local community prior to the pandemic.

Danny Kahn | Design Editor

Although progress is being made, Avers said she is frustrated by recent developments of SU pushing to manage parts of the park through a new agreement between the university and the city of Syracuse. SU is investing $11 million to the city of Syracuse that would fund city services and communities near Thornden Park. As part of the agreement, the university will also maintain certain areas of Thornden Park, particularly around Ostrom Avenue near the park.

Thornden Park Association wants the park to be available to all in the community, Avers said. She added that this decision is causing frustration among Thornden Park’s board members and making it more difficult to work with SU in general.

“We want all folks to use and enjoy the park,” Avers said. “I don’t get the rationale behind putting these acres in the Services Agreement.”

Avers said that the Thornden Park Association is actively promoting more use of the park for those at SU and in the local community.

“That is our mission,” Avers said. “We love the diversity, we love the students and we love everyone who uses the park.”

Former SU professor Marvin Druger worked at the university for 47 years and is a professor emeritus of biology at SU. Druger said that Thornden Park is a very valuable resource for the local community, especially residents of the Westcott neighborhood, but that the perception of the park has changed during his time at SU.

“In the past, there were some bad incidents in the park and the park was condemned as an unsafe place to walk, especially at night,” Druger said. “The bad reputation of the park is probably overrated, but in these days of high crime, I would be apprehensive about walking by myself through any such park at night, or anywhere else.”

Druger said he has never explored the full resources of the park because he always considered it unsafe, mostly because of the incidents that occurred there. Druger said some aspects of the park are incredibly important to the Westcott community, such as the Mills Rose Garden.

Some SU students who have been to the park have had mixed responses on Thornden’s safety. Kadin Person, a sophomore at SU, said he’s been to the park numerous times to walk, jog and cut through to get to local restaurants in Westcott. He said Thornden Park’s perception as a high-crime area is exaggerated.

“I’ve never heard of a perception that Thornden Park is bad,” Person said. “I’ve been all over Thornden Park and there really is no element of crime.”

Person added that what happened to Sebold and the resulting false conviction of Broadwater created a misleading representation of Thornden.

“It shouldn’t be a generalization that (the park) is bad because of one incident,” Person said. “It’s not an empty area where you will be mugged or robbed.”

Freshman Dyana Gales doesn’t recall the university warning them about Thornden Park, but that it’s best to stay away from the park at night, especially if you are a young woman.

“I went to the park one time and didn’t go alone,” Gales said. “I would never go alone. I haven’t seen it as an important place to hang out, especially at night.”

The Daily Orange reached out to Syracuse Police Department Sergeant Matthew Malinowski, but because Broadwater’s false conviction is still in current litigation, he would not comment on the matter. However, Malinowski did provide The D.O. with violent and non-violent crime that took place in the Wescott neighborhood.

According to Syracuse Police Department data, there have been 109 violent crimes in the Westcott neighborhood, in which Thornden Park is located, that were reported to the department between 2015-21. Among those crimes, 66 have been identified as aggravated assault, while the other 43 reported violent crimes include murder, rape and robbery. Rape makes up 10 out of the 43 reported violent crimes. Within the span of years, violent crime peaked last year with 25 reported violent crimes.

Meanwhile, according to SPD data, there have been 815 non-violent crimes in the neighborhood reported to the department in the same time period. Among those, 484 have been identified as charges of larceny, while the other 331 charges include burglary and motor vehicle theft.

Non-violent crime peaked in 2016 with 155 non-violent crimes. Since 2018, the number of reported non-violent crimes has declined every year, with just 85 reported non-violent crimes in 2021.

Hine said the image of the park among the local community has improved because of the efforts of the Thornden Park Association, specifically in being able to rekindle the joy that Hine wants the park to provide. Working alongside other members of the Thornden Park Association, the park continues to host tons of events for the local community, such as exercise classes every Monday and Thursday as well as Discovery Camping programs for children in K-5 over the summer.

Hine said it’s very common to see both members of the SU community and the local area running, swimming, playing football, attending a concert, eating chili at the park’s chili bowl or sitting by the rose garden. She said she wants the park, at its absolute best, to be an area open to all in the local community.

“In its idealist form, the purpose of Thornden Park is for people to be themselves,” Hine said.

CORRECTION: In a previous version of this post, the crime data was misinterpreted. The data in question refers to the entire Westcott neighborhood. The Daily Orange regrets this error.

Published on April 11, 2022 at 1:13 am