Here's an article about another gorge rescue, but the kid rescued was entirely at fault.

http://www.theithacajournal.com/apps...602110330/1002



And on a more upbeat note, here's an article about a new housing alternative for some folks with problems:

http://www.theithacajournal.com/apps...602110331/1002

:)

Trying to figure out a plan for downtown
 

With the increased desire to make downtown Ithaca an entertainment destination (spending a million or so in tax breaks for a movie theater) the City commissioned a report to look at other cities that are in a similar situation. here is an article describing their findings.

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?n...d=216620&rfi=6

While they have some good ideas, the bowling center part of it is a bit loopy, since the two largest centers have closed over the last 10 years, most recently Ides, which closed in May of last year, with the property being turned into a Rite Aid and a couple of other commercial lots. and a third burnt down and was never rebuilt, despite having a good restaurant attached to it. However it would be a return to the past for downtown, since the Challenge Industries building used to be the Bowl-O Drome back in the 40's

Yeah, I agree about the bowling. I do remember when I was a kid, there was a 4 lane alley in the basement of a sporting goods/hobby store at the end of Eddy street. It was cramped (no seating behind the lanes, only off to the left side), and no automatic pin reset-there was a guy rolling the ball back and setting the pins. Maybe a small basement type bowling alley/ bar with a few lanes and some music playing would work. Oh well. Whit, did you read the other article about Bloomfield and Schon, the Cayuga Green developers? They are loved everywhere they go, but hit the wall in Ithaca. Almost gave up the fight, but city officils convinced them to stick it out, thank goodnes.

I go in there quite a bit when I'm home, since part of it became the Chariot (Good Pizza, plus the floors are the bowling alley floors.) I have no beef with most of the project, but you know my view on the movie theater section, which is whre I would have come up against the wall with the project and the city allowing the tax breaks for this segment, especially since many studies have proven that tax breaks are ineffective as development tools.

As far as the bowling center in downtown goes, I don't think that the economics of an 8 lane center would work even there, since the insurance costs for a facility would scare off most investors, and the 40 year mortgage would scare off others (I saw an article quoting Chuck Parkin, owner of the Bowl-O Drome talking about expanding his center after the demise of Ides and these numbers came up.)

40 year mortgage? Yikes. You're probably right, I was just tossing out an idea. I guess it will depend on the popularity of bowling and the economics as to whether Bowl-O-Drome would expand. btw, I use to be in a junior bowling league (saturday mornings) at the Drome when I was a kid. Good times.

Pyramid Movie Theaters
 

It's finally official, the new theaters at Pyramid Mall will be open by fall, as the former Ames store will bve torn down to make way for a 14 screen complex, as mentioned in this space before.

http://www.syracuse.com/business/pos...480.xml&coll=1

^ Well, I guess this means a lot more people are going to have to go to the movies in Ithaca, because Cayuga Green is suppose to start construction later this year with the multi-plex theatres being a major component (12 screens I believe).

How about some pics I found on the net (taken by Chad Lieberman of Flap.TV). Taken in sept 05 from the top of the new downtown parking garage.
1.
http://flap.tv/photos/2005/09/21/images/CRW_6585.jpg

2.
http://flap.tv/photos/2005/09/21/images/CRW_6586.jpg

3.
http://flap.tv/photos/2005/09/21/images/CRW_6587.jpg

4.
http://flap.tv/photos/2005/09/21/images/CRW_6588.jpg

5.
http://flap.tv/photos/2005/09/21/images/CRW_6590.jpg

6.
http://flap.tv/photos/2005/09/21/images/CRW_6591.jpg

7.
http://flap.tv/photos/2005/09/21/images/CRW_6592.jpg

8.
http://flap.tv/photos/2005/09/21/images/CRW_6593.jpg

9.
http://flap.tv/photos/2005/09/21/images/CRW_6594.jpg

10.
http://flap.tv/photos/2005/09/21/images/CRW_6595.jpg

11.
http://flap.tv/photos/2005/09/21/images/CRW_6596.jpg

12.
http://flap.tv/photos/2005/09/21/images/CRW_6597.jpg

13.
http://flap.tv/photos/2005/09/21/images/CRW_6598.jpg

14.
http://flap.tv/photos/2005/09/21/images/CRW_6599.jpg

:)

The day will be coming soon. Ithaca to get its first Starbucks:

http://www.theithacajournal.com/apps...603030333/1002

:shrug:

The article mentioned 4 other locations for Starbucks in the Ithaca area. I can guess 2 (Collegetown and in the vicinity of the mall). Where do you think the other 2 will be?

Probably the Elmira Road corridor and maybe some place on South Hill near IC.

Here's an article on some new technology which may be the wave of the future (or not). Anyway, I thought it was an interesting class project for school:

http://www.theithacajournal.com/apps...603090347/1002

Of course maybe this is old stuff and a non tech guy like myself just isn't up on all the latest stuff.:rolleyes:

Found these pics on the net. The tallest structure in Ithaca is the McGraw Tower on Cornell's campus. There's a clock and chimes play during the day. Students are the chime masters.

http://static.flickr.com/47/10967989...f92b03.jpg?v=0

here's one of the students in action:

http://static.flickr.com/44/10989059...275064.jpg?v=0

http://static.flickr.com/39/10989063...5be789.jpg?v=0

:D

Ithaca isn't all hippies, beautiful campuses and waterfalls. Here's a couple of pics from the net of part of the flats.

http://static.flickr.com/38/11174997...3eaa92.jpg?v=0

http://static.flickr.com/35/11174997...d53906.jpg?v=0

around the corner from where my brother lives

http://static.flickr.com/51/11174997...8fc84c.jpg?v=0

:(


But not all is bad, here's a new health & fitness center which just opened on the west end.
http://www.tompkinschamber.org/creat...71.jpg&max=400

The first pictures
 

bring back memories. Many was the afternoon that I would go to that store back when it was called Jakes to get some baseball cards or a soda while I was waiting for my dad to pick me up after school at Immaculate.

^I went to catechism at Immaculate for a while (the nuns scared the bejebuss out of me). Never made it to that market, we use to frequent our own up in Collegetown.

For all you fast food lovers, here's some sad news:

http://www.theithacajournal.com/apps...603150326/1002

a sad day indeed.

btw, I've never had that BBQ chicken, and I grew up in Ithaca.

Of course another problem popped up with the Cayuga Green phase 2.

http://www.theithacajournal.com/apps...36/1002/NEWS17

The new building is suppose to go where the parking lot and helix are in foreground. The garage to be renovated is in the background (other side of the street):

http://flap.tv/photos/2005/09/21/images/CRW_6592.jpg

You never had a parent that worked at Cornell that dragged you to an employee day as a kid, or did they not have those things until the 80's?

Don't know when that started whit, besides my folks were blue-collar folks who didn't work for Cornell, we just lived near it.:shrug:

Here's a nice article about bringing more vitality to downtown Ithaca.

http://www.theithacajournal.com/apps...603220335/1002

:) :tup: