Yesterday, we wrote about Destiny USA's failure to meet the New York State Canal Corp.'s deadline for putting a down payment on Syracuse's Inner Harbor.

Canal Corp. head Carmella Mantello has agreed to have a sit-down with Destiny execs to talk about the whole thing, but I hope no one involved with that meeting expects the harbor will always be open to Destiny. Sutton Companies would probably do a fine job managing the harbor, and while their vision is different than mine – they see primarily residential, while I see more of a commercial, educational and recreational opportunity – I'm definitely OK with them taking the ball and running with it.

If they were to hand the Canal Corp. a check first thing Monday morning for the $1.8 million it required Destiny to pay, I don't see how Mantello could say no.

And local columnist Dick Case today has a couple of suggestions:

• Bring the mayor in on the project.
• Let Sutton have a go.
• Tell the folks at Destiny the ship has sailed.
• When real entrepreneurs want to see fulfillment on a project, they don't have meetings, they write the check.

Point A: I'm not in a position to trust the mayor much right now. He's been reworking the way civil government is supposed to work, and even if you think his views are correct on the mall expansion (I don't), you have to admit that his methods aren't what they should be. I was underwhelmed with the way he handled a crowd and didn't seem to understand half the questions (including one from a man who works sun-up to sun-down, and just wanted to not have a ticket on his car every day, since he can't switch which side of the road his car is parked on at dinner time, as he's at work).

Point B: Amen. While my initial impression of Sutton was not a good one – they bought the building I was living in and were nothing like the landlord they had bought from – I know from subsequent dealings with them and seeing them in action that while they may not be caring and generous, they can get things done and done well.

Point C: I don't think there's a better way to say that.

Point D: Having worked in an entrepreneurship department, I can vouch for that. Academically, even. And, as Jill Hurst-Wahl, herself an entrepreneur, noted in a comment on this blog, "DestiNY is not currently creating jobs, but hundreds of small businesses are."

That all said, I'm planning to spend much of the afternoon in the grass at the harbor with a trashy detective novel. Because really, what's the point of having such a gorgeous area right down the street if you're not going to absorb it?