I understand suicide prevention is important, but the "Ithaca is Gorges" theme is sorely lacking in the city now with the barriers blocking the view. From the Ithaca Journal:
Effectiveness of Cornell suicide barriers questioned
5:41 PM, May. 20, 2011
Pedestrians cross the College Avenue bridge over Cascadilla Gorge Friday at midday. / SIMON WHEELER / STAFF PHOTO
Written by
Rachel Stern
When Daniel Jost was a student at Cornell University, he enjoyed walking to North Campus and slowing down to gaze at the gorges. It relaxed him, he said.
"One of the things that gets lost are the mental health benefits the gorges provided for students before the barriers were put up," he said. "I worry future Cornellians will never be able to look out over the bridges without being reminded of death."
Jost, who graduated in 2005 and is a writer and editor for Landscape Architecture Magazine, said it is more than just those feelings of nostalgia that sparked him to research the effectiveness of suicide barriers.
To Jost, scientific evidence that says suicide barriers will save lives is inconclusive. Barriers will simply push the problem elsewhere, he said.
After three suicides in spring 2010, the university consulted with three suicide experts who stressed that barriers are effective. For now, black fences are in place.
The city and the university are reviewing 21 schematic designs. A final design will be proposed May 31, after which the city and university will review the selection.
Tim Marchell, director of mental health initiatives at Cornell, said Cornell is in a unique position in that half of the suicides among students over the past 20 years have been jumping deaths.
"That is really an unprecedented proportion," he said. "There have been no studies on communities that have this high a percentage resulting from jumping."
Most notably, Jost cited the Bloor Street Viaduct study in Toronto. The authors of the study found that there was no significant decrease in the jumping suicide rate after a barrier went up on the Bloor Street Viaduct. People just jumped from other places in Toronto.
In addition, the suicide rate at Cornell is lower than the national average and therefore, the university is not in need of a method to stop suicide, he said.
"Suicide rates spike and they go down," he said. "We shouldn't make a rash decision that really effects how people live on campus based on a single year's worth of suicides."
Marchell said the authors of the Bloor Street Viaduct study found that there is some risk of displacement if there are comparable bridges nearby. At Cornell and in the surrounding area, the bridges are all being treated as one, he said.
"No single bridge on East Hill is uniquely attractive for suicide," Marchell said. "That is why consultants told us to treat the bridges collectively as a single iconic site for suicide."
While people may try another method of suicide if there are bridge barriers, in many cases that alternative method may be less deadly, he said. More individuals survive an overdose than jumping off a bridge, he said.
Here's the link:
http://www.theithacajournal.com/arti...text|FRONTPAGE