Ryan Delaney, WRVO

The month of March is around the corner, and in the minds of auto dealers, it not only brings warmer temperatures, but also customers back to their lots.

And after a few years of hard times and sluggish sales, they’re more optimistic going into their busy selling season.

“The spring season is one of our best parts of the year for selling vehicles. And I think this year we have something to look forward to,” East Syracuse Chevrolet salesman Perry Richardson said at this past weekend’s Syracuse Auto Show. He’s worked the show for two-decades.

The move to downtown Syracuse was three years in the making for Nicole Samolis. That’s how long it took her to convince her husband to forgo their home in the suburbs.

The couple lives in the newly renovated Dey’s Plaza. The building was once a large department store, and then failed as an office building.

But since it was converted to apartments a few years ago, there’s been a waiting list to get in. Samolis was sold on the place by its view of Syracuse landmarks like the county courthouse.

Ken Simonson is on a road trip to lobby for an increase in government investment in infrastructure projects.

Tuesday morning he stood in front of equipment at Milton Caterpillar in Syracuse and said “It’s great to see all this magnificent construction equipment, but it would be even better to see it in action.”

Simonson is the chief economists for the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC), a trade group. He highlighted Syracuse as one of four metro areas that have struggled more than most to regain jobs in constructions.

They weren't quite the Transformers from the movies, but once the bell rang inside the Museum of Science and Technology in Syracuse, the robot's wheels turned, gears spun and metal arms extended.

The VEX Robotics Competition was the culmination of weeks of engineering and problem solving for central New York students. 

For property developers Rich DeVito and Bob Doucette of Paramount Realty, the motivation for taking on large scale renovations of downtown Syracuse’s previously empty buildings was this:

“We wanted to make money,” says DeVito flatly, though Doucette chuckles at the simplicity of the answer. “It’s where the market is,” DeVito goes on to say.

And make money they did.

The pair took the former Dey Brother’s department store in Syracuse two years ago and turned it into upscale apartments with a few office suites.

Its residential units are currently fully leased.

New York’s Canal Corporation was 0 for 3 in its efforts to find someone interested in redeveloping Syracuse’s Inner Harbor.

Their last request for proposals, a few years back, garnered zero submissions.

But now, the City of Syracuse is in charge, after stepping up and asking to be put in charge of the project. And today the city made public its ambitious new plan to redevelop the harbor.

In this morning's Trail Mix:

A mixed bag of economic forecasts for upstate New York.

The regional councils are back at it.

And the 46 things Governor Cuomo wagered on the Giants.

All but a done-deal - just not quite, was the message from Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) as he tries to build hype over the possibility of a high-tech chip manufacturer landing in central New York.

APIC Corp. of California proposes it will create 200 jobs, building the chips, at a site just north of Syracuse.

But the region landing its first nanotechnology firm hinges on APIC first securing a contract with the Defense Department.

For the second Friday morning edition of Trail Mix in a row, Kodak tops our news.

But the rest of the economy got good news yesterday in positive manufacturing numbers.

And three SUNY schools will compete for some big checks from Albany.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has called SUNY "the great equalizer for the middle class."

But now he's looking for the university system to do more than just lift up individual students: he wants SUNY to serve as a catalyst for economic growth in the communities that its schools serve.

Cuomo kicked off the process last year with promises of $35 million apiece for the state's four major research universities in Buffalo, Binghamton, Albany and Stony Brook. 

Now he's proposing another round of so-called SUNY 2020 cash, for the state's remaining 60 schools to compete for.