We've been loaded this week, and there's a lot to talk about. Let's get to it.

Mall expansion

About two weeks ago, the Syracuse Industrial Development Agency (SIDA) asked a court to lift a stay that was holding up the expansion of Carousel Center.

The stay was put in place because 12 of the mall's tenants have asked a court to require their landlord, Pyramid, to negotiate the terms of their leases, rather than allowing the company to run to SIDA and take the leases by eminent domain.

SIDA is apparently more interested in having a bigger mall, not the stores to fill it.

Friday, though, the court declined SIDA's request. The 12 stores are due to have their hearing this upcoming Thursday.

The bad news on this front, though, is that the Common Council folded. Faced with an impending battle with the mayor over paying the outside lawyers it hired to continue its appeal, the council agreed to stop fighting and the mayor agreed to sign the check.

Never mind that the mayor also hired outside counsel – despite the fact that he already had someone on the city's payroll to represent his interests.

Way to stick to your guns, there, councilors.

Development: Downtown and south side

The Pioneer Cos. own two lots in Armory Square, on either side of The Warehouse, which houses the Syracuse University School of Architecture and an art gallery. The company is planning to spend $70 to $90 million to build housing, retail and office space on those lots.

And even better than the fact that the company is planning the development project, CEO Michael Falcone has put up some money to sponsor a class this fall at the architecture school. The course objective: Students will design buildings they hope will meet Pioneer's needs, and the company will consider actually using a design or two that comes out of the class.

In other downtown news, there are more people living in downtown Syracuse, and there is more residential space being built.

The furniture company Dunk & Bright this week opened a new 25,000-square foot retail space on the city's economically depressed south side. D&B has been down there for a long time, and Jim Bright, a member of the eponymous Bright family that owns the business, has been very active in economic development, including sitting on the board of the South Side Entrepreneurial Connect Project, a cooperative effort between Syracuse University's Entrepreneurship & Emerging Enterprises department and businesses to help revitalize the area.

Inner Harbor

Post-Standard columnist Dick Case continues his call to action for development at Syracuse's Inner Harbor. I'm afraid, at this point, there may be some shady dealings taking place between the Canal Corp. and Destiny.

Bloggers

I wrote last week about meeting other CNY bloggers at the fair, along with P-S columnist Sean Kirst.

Ellen found a post over at The Blogging Journalist declaring this meeting to be wonderful – the writer believes that reporters and local bloggers should meet regularly.

Well, of course they should, but not just bloggers. Columnists should be out in their communities talking to people. That's what makes Sean a much better columnist than Jayson Blair, who invented his meetings with people.

Bruce Campbell: Support independent theaters

Actor Bruce Campbell made an appearance this week at the Palace Theatre, and spent a fair bit of time urging attendees to continue to support independent theaters. Angela's got more here.