Good News York by Growth Mode Content - GNY EP.160 | feat. Ben Walsh from The NYS Canal Corporation

Episode Date: April 14, 2026

Former Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh on Leading the New York State Canal Corporation and the Modern Erie Canal System Matt Maier hosts the first episode filmed in Good News York’s new downtown Syracuse space and welcomes former Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh, now director of the New York State Canal Corporation. Walsh recounts his Syracuse roots, family tradition of public service, eight years as mayor, and passing leadership to Mayor Owens, his former deputy mayor. He explains the Canal Corporation’s role managing a modern, 524-mile, four-canal system (Erie, Champlain, Seneca, Oswego) with 57 locks, lift bridges, trails, recreation, limited commercial shipping, and significant infrastructure maintenance needs, including deferred maintenance and capital priorities. Walsh describes winter work, workforce support, partnerships, and efforts to promote the canal as a world-class linear park. He highlights upcoming navigation season (May 15–Oct 14), events like the Medina Triennial, Albany Symphony canal performances, and the Seneca Chief “Back to Buffalo” tour, and shares Syracuse water-related gems such as Elmwood Park, Hiawatha Lake, and the Inner Harbor/Creekwalk. 00:00 Welcome to the New Studio 01:01 Meet Former Mayor Ben Walsh 02:23 Passing the Torch to Mayor Owens 03:34 Why the Canal Corporation 04:55 Canal System Explained 06:47 Erie Canal Then and Now 08:00 Modern Uses and Upgrades 09:58 Ben Walsh Day to Day 12:13 Trails and Local Partnerships 13:22 Biggest Canal Surprises 15:53 Events to Watch This Season 18:16 Hidden Gems in Syracuse 20:33 Wrap Up and Thanks

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Hey folks, welcome to Good News York. I'm Matt Major, back again for another exciting episode. We're in our new space finally. This is the first episode that we've shot in this particular room. We've been in the building for a little while, but I've been trying to get this just right, and we feel like it is just right. So we're very excited to do that. And we got an incredible guest to break in the place here.

If you're not from Syracuse, I'm going to ask him to give his background. But if you are, you already recognize his gentleman. This is Mr. Ben Walsh. He's a very popular local mayor here in the city of Syracuse just recently turned over the reins. And just a little plug, if you didn't see. Our man, Noah actually interviewed the new mayor, Owens, at her gala just a few weeks ago. So zoom back and check that out if you want to see what's happening. But welcome.

Welcome to the show. Thank you so much. So Mr. Walsh, tell us, you know, a little bit for folks. that maybe aren't from Syracuse. Give us just a little bit of your background. What got you to where you are today? Sure. So, yeah, as you mentioned, prior to my current role as director of the New York State Canal

Corporation, which obviously will talk about. Sure. I served as mayor of the city of Syracuse for eight years. So I was elected in 2017. I started 2018, served for four years. I was re-elected and served an additional four years for my second term and my final term because the mayor's office is term limited in the city. So that's what I've been doing for the past eight years.

But, you know, born and raised in Syracuse, grew up in a family full of public servants. My father held elected office on the local level in the city council and federally in Congress. My grandfather served as mayor back in the 60s. But, you know, beyond those two, I guess, most known members of my family, you know, the thread throughout my family is public service. My mom was a teacher. I have hospital administrators, laborers, teachers, social service work. workers, all of the folks that I grew up around were giving back to the community. And so it's not a surprise that I found myself on this path.

That's incredible. And like I said, I know you were a very highly respected mayor, did a great job around the city. Lots of things changed under your time. And I think you passed the torch to someone who was a member of your team previously, right? Yeah, Mayor Owen served as my deputy mayor for all eight years. Literally one of, if not the first hire that I made, we met working under the previous administration, Mayor Stephanie Minor as deputy commissioners of Neighborhood and Business Development, but was always a trusted friend and colleague. And when I thought about who I wanted right by my side as mayor, then deputy mayor, now Mayor Owens was that person.

She knows the job. She was right there with me every step of the way. And she seems to be off to a great start, so I'm excited about it. That's awesome. That's great to hear. We've been a local business for a number of years, but we just recently took this spot here in downtown Syracuse. This is our first time really being in the city. So it's exciting, and it's great to see the direction things are moving in. And speaking of moving in directions, you know, your term is over, like you said, but you're a young guy. You can't retire. Yeah, people keep asking me how retirement's going. I said, I wish I knew. But yeah, back to work, but really excited about my new decision. And I think a lot of people have these questions. So, you know, they think, well, what is he doing these days? So if you could, what are you doing these days?

Yeah, so as I mentioned, public service is what I've always gravitated towards. And as much as I love being mayor, I always knew that it was, in best case scenario, I would serve eight years, which I did. And so as I shifted towards looking at what I wanted to do next, I knew I wanted to stay in public service. I was pretty sure. I was also pretty sure I didn't want to run for another elected office. That's one type of service. And, you know, it was all consuming when I did it, but it's not the only way.

And so as I began to explore my options, I had developed a very good relationship with Governor Hockel, and she had expressed an interest in bringing me out of the team. And we looked at a couple different opportunities, but when the Canal Corp opened up, that really seemed perfect for me. You know, during my time as mayor, I spent a lot of time investing in our waterways, whether it's the inner harbor right here in the neighborhood or, you know, our, creeks and brooks like Onondaga Creek and Furnacebrook and Coldbrook down in the valley. And growing up, I grew up out on Otisco Lake at the family camp in the Finger Lake.

So water has also been a thread throughout my life and my career. And when you think about upstate New York, there is no upstate New York, as we know it today, without the Erie Canal and the New York State Canal system. So it really checked a lot of boxes for me, and it's been a blast so far. That's incredible. What exactly is the Canal Corporation? What's a great question? A quick story.

I pulled up at a gas station the other day. I do a good amount of traveling along the canal system, and I pulled up in my truck that had the Canal Corporation logo on it, and a guy rolled down his window and asked what it was, and I explained it to him, and he couldn't believe it. He lived in upstate New York his whole life and didn't know. But, you know, again, we all learn about the Erie Canal in fourth grade, and if you live near it, you might be aware of maybe the trial system,

or if you're a boat or you're on there. But otherwise, people don't know that we have a modern, really thriving canal system today. So it's actually made up of four canals. So, of course, people are very familiar with the Erie Canal, but you also have the Champlain Canal, the Cayuga Seneca Canal, and the Oswego Canal. So it's four canals. It's 524 miles of navigable waterway. It's actually the largest state-run inland waterway in the United States. Wow.

Obviously, a lot of it is recreational boating. We still do have some commercial shipping as well, certainly not as much as back in the heyday. But I mentioned the trail system, too, which actually contributes to the most users of the system. So it's a lot different than the canal we all learned about growing up, but it's still very relevant. And I think what excites me about it, it's still critical to the revitalization and the viability of 200 communities that are sprinkled along the system throughout the state. Yeah, that's incredible. I grew up in the Mohawk Valley in town called Ilian, and our marina was one of the highlights of town. And there's great burger joint that opens up in the summer and a place to go and hang out by the water.

And I know, like you said, all those communities, Frankfurt right down the road, very much taking advantage of the cool, unique things that are, in many cases, man-made here throughout our history. And if I could, you mentioned the Mohawk Valley. perfect example. I've driven the Thruway countless times throughout my life and driven along the Mohawk River, never understanding that that's part of the modern day Erie Canal. You know, people also don't realize that the Erie Canal has had a number of iterations over the years, starting with the original old canal, which you can still see in local communities like Camillis and DeWitt. But by the time we got to the modern day barge canal that is the Erie Canal today, what the state did was what we call canalized a lot of existing waterways, including

the Mohawk River. And so, again, something that you wouldn't really know unless you were a user of the system. But I've learned a lot just in the past two months. But I think the more people learn about it, the more they realize how connected it is to a lot of our everyday life here in upstate New York. Absolutely. I think what's very interesting is when you get into the history of some of that, you talk about the different iterations, how at some points it's been sort of moved, right? So a lot of our cities, we have a canal street that at one point was the actual canal, right? That's precisely right, just like Erie Boulevard here in the city of Syracuse. It's not where it once was, but again, it's history and its legacy remains.

It's incredible. What is, you know, a lot of us, we talk about the history, right? But what is the modern day kind of some of the advantages and things like that? People should know that's happening today on the canal. Yeah, so as I mentioned, you know, there's a lot of. of recreational boaters that are using the canal actually traveling through our 57 locks throughout the system. Again, a limited amount of commercial shipping.

The trail system. So we have the Erie Canalway Trail. We have the Erie Canal Trail. We have the Champlain Trail. Those two contribute to the Empire State Trail, which runs throughout New York State. Those are all part of the canal system. Those are all ways in which people utilize and an interface. with the canal. And our job at the Canal Corporation, obviously, is to manage that infrastructure,

which is significant. You've got up, you know, in some cases, 200-year-old infrastructure that needs a lot of work and has seen a lot of deferred maintenance, something I could certainly relate to from my time as mayor. So a big part of it is just maintaining the system to allow for, you know, continuous navigation throughout, which is, you know, not something that I think any of us take for granted, but something that we're committed to continuing. But again, besides that, not only maintaining it, but drawing more people to it. Again, we view this as a world-class piece of infrastructure, a world-class almost a linear park that needs to be treated as such and needs to be promoted as such. When people are looking for places to, you know, and I talk about recreational boating, that isn't just motorized boating.

That's canoes and kayaks, which are increasingly used. We're putting more and more kayak and canoe launches, including accessible. launches along the system. We want to draw people to the canal, whether it's in your backyard or it's across the world because it's, it is right up there with many other world-class natural amenities. That's incredible. You told us a little bit about the organization. What is your role? What's your day-to-day look like in this new job? So again, I've been out of for just over two months now, so every day is a little bit different. But that's what I always loved about mayor and so far what I love about this job.

You know, people often wonder, well, what are you doing when it's not navigation season? So for us, navigation season this year, you know, Mother Nature permitting will run from May 15th to October 14th. The rest of the time is known as what we call winter work. So that's, you know, going into the locks, doing pumpouts and doing maintenance. I've been on a lot of site visits over the past couple months, again, meeting the incredible workforce that we have. A term that I've been using for what the work that our workers do is canal craft, because it's really unique. And you can't go to a trade school or anywhere to

learn it. It's one of those things where you just have to learn it on the job. And so I've just been so impressed and amazed by the creativity and the ingenuity and really the innovation that happens on a daily basis with our workers. So, you know, it's supporting that work. workforce, it's making sure that we have the resources that we need to maintain the system. Again, a lot of deferred maintenance. We have billions of dollars worth of capital needs. And, you know, thankfully, the New York Power Authority where we're housed in New York State government contributes significantly towards the maintenance of that system, as does Governor Hockel and the legislature who the past two years have been investing $50 million into it.

So it's, you know, it's being a good steward of those public resources. you know, it's managing a workforce of over 500 people. So, again, some things that were similar from my time as mayor, you know, everything from, you know, finance to budgeting to workforce development. But it's also, you know, trying to stay, lift up from the weeds and look at the horizon and try to figure out as we just recently last year celebrated our bicentennial of the Erie Canal, you know, how do we continue to be viable in the third century of operation for the canal system? And again, I can't answer that question yet. I have some thoughts, but we've got an incredible team at canals, and I'm just learning a lot from them and excited to see what we can accomplish together. That's awesome. That's awesome.

And you said that the trail as well as falls under your direction as well? Yeah. So the Erie Canal Way Trail goes along the entire Erie Canal system. It's broken up about a third managed by New York State Parks, which is a critical partner of ours. About a third managed by local municipalities, so in the city of Syracuse, as it goes along Erie Boulevard, that's managed by the city. And then about a third of it is managed by the Canal Corporation. So a lot of what we do is in close collaboration and partnership, again, with local municipalities, other state offices. But, again, as a team, and that's what it's all about.

It's about teamwork. Our team does a great job and, again, excited to see what else we can accomplish. That's such a neat thing. You know, when you talk about the evolution of things like that, and that's something that I remember as a kid, a bunch of these different spots where you could go and access the canal. There was always some kind of neat trail, but it usually didn't go necessarily too far, you know? And now you can go, what, from Albany to Buffalo pretty much, right? Absolutely, yeah. On a well-maintained and safe place.

That's the idea. That's pretty cool. Yeah. I love that. A couple quick questions for you, and we'll let you get back to it. You know, and again, you're new to this. So I won't hold you to this. But I've always, you know, throughout all the history, all the different parts of the canal, is there one thing that stands out to you, whether it's from history or just something you've learned recently, that is really just one of the most unique things you think folks should know more about?

Well, I think a number of things that I've mentioned, again, just the extent of it, 524 miles of navigable waterways, the infrastructure involved, the 57 locks, the 16 lift bridges that we operate. there's a lot that that goes into it. Again, also the history, the fact that, you know, the Erie Canal that maybe we learned about when we were younger looks different and operates differently that it does now. And, you know, one of the things that I would just encourage people to do as you, and, you know, please search up New York State Canal Corporation. You can get on our website, look at the map. And what I found myself doing a lot is just literally connecting the dots throughout New York

state. We don't often think about, we take for granted the natural. resources, the water that we have in abundance here in upstate New York. But I don't think many people, including myself up until recently, fully appreciate how interconnected it is. I mentioned I grew up on Onondaga or on Otisco Lake. You know, I knew that there was a dam at the northern end of the lake. I knew that that went into Nine Mile Creek.

And eventually I knew that Nine Mile Creek ended up in Onondaga Lake. But I kind of stopped there and you don't realize that it goes from Onondaga and then into Seneca and up in the Oswego and into Lake Ontario. And I think the more you realize how interconnected all these systems are, as well as how, you know, for better and worse, how much influence people, you know, humankind have had on these waterways. There are very few waterways that haven't been touched by humankind, again, for better and worse. But I think that the more you connect the dots and understand how kind of interconnected it all is, the more you appreciate what we have here. but also hopefully the more you appreciate how important it is that we all work together, all the different partners involved to maintain it.

Because, again, whether it's climate change or any other changes that are impacting how we operate our lives, we are so blessed here in this region of not just the state or the country, but the world, to have these natural resources and amenities here. And it's really incumbent upon all of us to take care of them. That's incredible. I love this. and I love this work that you're doing. It's such a neat thing.

Any upcoming events, special things like that that folks should be aware of? Yeah. So, again, I temper my excitement or the idea that I kind of have it all figured out because we haven't even hit my first navigation season yet. So that starts, again, weather permitting, May 15th. And that's really when the canal communities start to get activated. There's a number of events that happen on a local basis by local municipalities and organizations, as well as some that, you know, that we have a direct involvement with the New York State Canal Corporation.

We have a really cool event coming up called the Medina Triennial, which is a really world-class, you know, multi-week art exhibit that will officially open on June 6th in Medina, you know, out west towards Buffalo, that really is going to help us activate the canal and bring people to it. So I would encourage people to look up the Medina Triennial and see, see what's happening there. We have the Albany Symphony that. that travels along the canal and does performances. So again, please look up where the Albany Symphony will be throughout the canal system. They won't make it quite to Syracuse, but there'll be in Albany, actually Waterford, technically, in Rome, as well as out west.

Another thing I wanted to mention, so we had a big year last year with the bicentennial. One of the things that people may have seen was that there was a replica boat that was built called the Seneca Chief, built after the... the original boat that traversed the Erie Canal built by this really cool organization called the Buffalo Maritime Center for Mountain Buffalo. They took it on a voyage, a bicentennial voyage from Buffalo to New York City and came to port in New York City on the day the canal opened 200 years earlier. Well, this year, they're doing the Back to Buffalo tour. So it's going to be traveling back, and just as it did on the way, it's going to stop in different

areas, invite students in the community to come on to check it out, to learn about the history, but also what's happening today on the canal system. It's going to be making stops right here in Syracuse, in the neighborhood, in the Inner Harbor, as well as in Baldwin'sville, in Sylvan Beach, really throughout the system. Their voyage starts on June 6th and will continue throughout the month of June. Those are just a few examples. But again, please log onto our website and see there's a lot going on. And again, for most of us, it's right in our backyard. That's awesome.

Last question for you, sir, and I got to ask you this, you know, we don't get into politics, we don't get anything like that, but I love talking to elected officials because from whether it was campaigning or your time in office, you have a better handle on some areas than a lot of folks. You get to see more than most do. So bringing it back just to the city of Syracuse, what's one or two just hidden gems about the city that you wish more people knew about? Yeah, there's so many that come to mind. But I think just staying on the theme of today, We have some incredible parks in public spaces that, including that have water in them, that people may not know about. You know, one of my favorites that was right down at the end of my dead end street that I grew up on a Robino Road in Strathmore is Elmwood Park, which has furnace brook flowing right through it. There's natural trout in there. It's a beautiful bubbling brook that, again, is kind of tucked away.

And if you aren't from the neighborhood, you might not know about it. but it's a beautiful, a beautiful little space in the city. A few others come to mind, again, right in that neighborhood up around Adaga Park. You have Hiawatha Lake, which we've invested a lot in. You can go fish there. And then, you know, I mentioned the Syracuse Inter Harbor. You know, the development along there has been slow but steady, and I think we're going to see it accelerate. The fact that, you know, it's one of the interesting things about the city of Syracuse.

You know, every great city is built on a body of water. There aren't many, like Syracuse, that the body of water that it was built around, in our case, the Erie Canal, doesn't exist where it previously did. And so we've had to kind of reorient ourselves around our existing water bodies, Onondaga Creek, which flows into the Inner Harbor and, you know, the creek walk and the amenities are on the inner harbor or something that, again, if you haven't checked out in a while or ever, check it out and you'll find some really special places in the city. That's awesome.

I love that so much. You know, there's been a lot of studies have been done and people say, you know, living near water, visiting water, all those things. It's good for your health. It's good for stress. Absolutely. And it's great to see that we got somebody who genuinely cares. It's been good for my stress level since leaving City Hall for sure. It's got to be kind of knee. Get to trail different parts of the state, see some beautiful waterways. It's really fun. In parks and things. So I've eaten a lot of hot dogs everywhere. I don't know. This is awesome. Ben Walsh, thank you so much for joining us here on Good News York. This has been

wonderful. My pleasure. And an open invitation, anytime. These events get closer. You got things going on yourself, any of your representatives. We'd love to hear more about this. Sharing the good work, good things that are happening in New York State is our entire mission here. So this is really cool. And we're glad you took some time to join us. So a lot going on. Thanks for spreading the good word. Thank you so much. And with that, that's today's episode of Good News York. Sponsored by Ads on the Go. Get Ads on the go.com is the website for that. Our website, goodnewsyork.com, is where you can find all this fun stuff. And you should do that. follow us, like, subscribe, all those fun things.

Thanks to Danny and Noah and the crew, and we'll see you tomorrow. Peace out.