Some Ithaca news

[Ex-Ithacan]

A sad day in Ithaca. A wonderful man who loved the city is gone:



‘Ithaca is Gorges' wordsmith dies at 78
IC professor remembered for love of city
By Tim Ashmore
Journal Staff

Howard Cogan, the man who coined the phrase “Ithaca is Gorges,” died Saturday after a six-year battle with Alzheimer's. He was 78.

Friends and family knew Cogan as more than the playful wordsmith who gave Ithaca its most famous bumper sticker and promotional phrase. To them, he was always a family man, a brilliant storyteller and hard-working teacher.


Barbara Cogan Bedell, Cogan's oldest daughter, said her father loved Ithaca, which was why after coming up with “Ithaca is Gorges” in the 1970s, he never copyrighted the phrase, giving local businesses free rein to use the slogan as advertising.

“He loved Ithaca so much he wanted to bring tourists here,” Bedell said. “He wanted to bring people to Ithaca so they could love it as well.”
In 2005, Cogan was honored with the Ithaca/Tompkins County Convention and Visitor's Bureau's lifetime achievement award, and an award was created in Cogan's name for important contributions to tourism and community service.

Cogan taught advertising and public relations at Ithaca College for 17 years and became an associate professor of the Roy H. Park School of Communications. During his Ithaca College tenure, Cogan led five groups of advertising students to victory in five district American Advertising Federation competitions.

Elissa Cogan, Howard's sister, said her brother's students adored him so much they created the Howard and Helen Cogan AdLab fund, which started with some $20,000, when he retired.

For years students sent Cogan pictures from around the world of cars with “Ithaca is Gorges” on their bumpers, Bedell said. She said her father received photos from Paris, France, the Great Wall of China and Puerto Rico to show him how far his words had traveled.

Words, in a way, are a common thread in people's memories of Cogan.

Cogan's sister Elissa remembered him as a “magician with words.” Bedell remembered him as “brilliant.” Colleague Chuck Brodhead said Cogan was “an exceptional talent who had a gifted way with words.”

“He was a raconteur,” Elissa Cogan said. “He told wonderful stories, particularly stories that had people with Yiddish accents, and you waited breathlessly for him to deliver the punch line.

Cogan, a Cornell University graduate, started off running his father's shoe store in Cortland and “promptly ran it into the ground,” Bedell said. After that Cogan decided to get into advertising by knocking on doors in Ithaca to see if he could find clients for $25 a month, she said.

He later founded Cogan Associates, which received the American Advertising Federation award for its work for the National Paper Box Association, and Cogan was honored with the federation's silver medal for his service in advertising, Brodhead said. Over his lifetime Cogan won numerous awards in advertising and teaching.

“One of the things about him was that he took such joy in the successes of his clients,” said Brodhead, who worked with Cogan as part of the Communication Support Group. “His business was to make his clients successful, and he did, but there was a just a sheer joy about it. He was so happy for them.”

Cogan's words and teaching in Ithaca will become part of his legacy, Elissa Cogan said. “I think he will be remembered for a very long time,” she said. “I think that his students who go out into the world and do great things will become part of his legacy as well.”

tashmore@ithacajournal.com


Originally published February 18, 2008

[Visiteur]

A sad day for Ithaca indeed.

In other news, here's the Carrowmoor website.

http://carrowmoor.com/



English-Cottage style homes...



cluster-style planning



Carrowmoor Center (hell, just call it "Centre" and keep going with the English theme...)

[Ex-Ithacan]

^Kinda looks like a Cornell/Cayuga Heights baby clone west. Glad they've accounted for some basic shopping/services. Should help with the west side traffic problems (at the Octupus).

[Ex-Ithacan]

Here's some welcome news (as long as the city government doesn't just sit on the proposal).


Long Island developer plans hotel for downtown
By Krisy Gashler
Journal Staff

ITHACA — A new hotel could be coming to The Commons.

Long Island developer Jeffrey Rimland has proposed to build an eight-story hotel at the eastern end of The Commons in the triangular spot of land surrounded by the Rothschild's building, Aurora Street and Green Street. The land is currently a surface parking lot. Rimland's Ithaca Properties, LLC, already owns the Rothschild's building.


The proposed 102-room hotel would have an estimated of cost $17 million, according to a Feb. 5 memo from Scott Whitham, Rimland's architect and former city Planning Board chairman, to Mayor Carolyn Peterson.

In contrast to several recent, high-profile developments in the city, Rimland is not asking for any tax abatements or public money to build the project — “none at all,” Whitham said.
Whitham called the project an ideal example of taking land that's “currently underutilized and off the tax rolls” and moving it to “a high-use, dense use, right downtown.”

The complication is that to meet city setback requirements, the development requires the city to sell a small, 2,000-square-foot strip of land near the edge of the sidewalk on Aurora Street to the developer.

The process to make that decision has taken roughly two years and a dozen votes, said Gary Ferguson, executive director of the Downtown Ithaca Alliance, known until this week as the Ithaca Downtown Partnership.

“Certainly from the Alliance's position, from our standpoint, this is a really crucial project. It provides a real boost of economic activity at a place and at a time that we could really use it,” Ferguson said.

Tomas Harrington, general manager of Viva Taqueria, which sits kitty corner from the proposed hotel site, said he is “fully and entirely” in favor of the project.

One of the issues that has come up in discussions on the project is whether the developer will pay hotel staff a living wage, as defined by Alternatives Federal Credit Union — currently $9.83 an hour in Tompkins County.

Rimland has agreed to pay all housekeepers 156 percent of the New York State minimum wage, which equals $11.18 per hour.

Living wage advocates, including the Tompkins County Workers' Center, have asked that Rimland agree to pay all employees a living wage, not just housekeepers.

Nels Bohn, director of community development for the Ithaca Urban Renewal Agency, estimated that “at least 50 percent of employees in a standard hotel in the Southern Tier are below living wage.”

A committee of the agency voted this week to agree to the wage promise just for housekeepers, Bohn said.

Harrington said he thinks it's unfair for the city to impose wage restrictions on just one developer.

“The city doesn't have a right to take over payroll,” he said. “I feel like it's singling him out unfairly.”

In a feasibility study, the developers estimated that in 2010, the project could create $277,245 in property tax revenue, $375,000 in sales tax revenue and $235,000 in room tax for the City of Ithaca alone.

The Tompkins County Visitors and Conventions Bureau estimates the project will spur $2.5 million annually in food purchases on The Commons, according to Whitham's memo.

The Ithaca Urban Renewal Agency will vote on whether to sell the land at its meeting Feb 28, Bohn said. The city would hold a public hearing on the sale at Common Council's planning and economic development committee March 19, and Common Council would ultimately vote on the sale April 2, he said.

Bohn said that after two years of discussion with the city, “Jeffrey Rimland has indicated that he would look at other projects in other areas in the state if he doesn't get this locked in this year.”


Cayuga Green
At Common Council's planning and economic development committee meeting Wednesday night, Bohn reported that lower than expected initial sales of condominiums in the Cayuga Green development have led developers Bloomfield & Schon to request permission to scale back the number of units in their development.
The developers received site plan approval to build 44 condos. They are now asking to build 30 condos, most of them larger and all with balconies, Bohn said. The revised plan would change from six to seven stories and allow the developers to create more green space on the ground level.

The apartments in the Cayuga Green development are slated for completion in September, Bohn said. The developers are hoping to begin construction on the condos this year, he said.


kgashler@ithacajournal.com




Originally published February 21, 2008

[Visiteur]

Hmmm...a new eight-story hotel, and Cayuga Green condos gained a floor.

Excuse me one moment.

HAPPY DANCE!!!



Thank you, have a nice day.

[Ex-Ithacan]

^ I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the city doesn't blow this deal. I remember snapping a pic of the hotel location when you and I walked around downtown during my last visit to the city. Please, PLEASE Ithaca, let this happen.

[Visiteur]

What makes it even better is that its all privately funded. No tax abatements here. I really, REALLY hope this goes through and comes ot fruition, even with the IJ forumers complaining about the loss of downtown's "character".


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

With the exception of The Commons, which was built in the 1970s, downtown Ithaca has in many ways become the sum of its most recent parts: Seneca Place, the parking garages and Cayuga Green are perhaps the most noticeable. Break these new landmarks down even further and they become even more recognizable - just consider the addition of Starbucks across from The Commons.

Each new development - and every landmark shop or building - has been flirting with the hope of downtown vibrancy for years. But how to build and maintain a strong downtown in the midst of a changing local economy - that is the question, notes Gary Ferguson, executive director of the Ithaca Downtown Partnership, which changed its name to Downtown Ithaca Alliance this week.

The Alliance's first 10-year strategic plan, implemented in 2000 and updated at the end of 2003, is reaching the end of its viability and relevancy, Ferguson explained.

"There's been substantial change in the last 10 years, about $100 million in investment and growth - planned growth - in downtown," Ferguson said. That amount of investment is the biggest in the history of the city.
The Downtown Ithaca Development Strategy 2000-2010 was an ambitious plan when it was first proposed. "I think people were sort of saying, yeah, [do] whatever you want," Ferguson recalled of the proposal to develop a strategy of planned economic growth. The lackluster reaction was perhaps a response to fact that there had been no dedicated initiative combining government and business efforts in years. Since the mid-'70s to early '80s, when landmarks such as The Commons, Center Ithaca and Dewitt Mall were built, there hadn't been much new investment there. At the time, though, the buildings were innovative and ahead of the curve.

"That's when the downtown we knew of came to fruition," Ferguson said, noting that it was also the time when downtown became pedestrian-heavy. "There was a window in there when a lot of stuff got done...At the time they were really pioneer projects," he said. Mixed-use was not yet considered the economic staple it is today, and Ferguson explained that the success of the buildings almost allowed downtown to "coast" for the next 20 years.

Almost. "Running into the year 2000 or so, in all honesty, it just sort of ran out of gas," he said. "There had been no more reinvestment. You can only ride on that for so long [until] the community starts changing in other ways. If you don't keep reinvesting, it happens somewhere else." And it was happening elsewhere: on Route 13, in Collegetown, on West Hill. Buildings were going up, retail was coming in and people were spending their money in other places.

In 1999 Ferguson came to Ithaca to see what difference could be made in the future of the city. There was 25 percent vacancy on The Commons, the highest it's ever been, he says. "One worried that it didn't have a strong future," he explained. What was missing was not just the capital investment; it was confidence in the future success of downtown. "That's one of the reasons why plans exist - to provide the private sector with confidence," he added.

So they developed a plan to instill confidence in people - people with the money, people in city and town government, and people who would become the lifeblood of downtown commerce.

In the first 10-year plan, the Alliance focused on many areas of the economy: retail, office and housing development; tourism, entertainment and the cultural arts; the environment; infrastructure and transportation; the city's reputation. Some of the goals included adding at least 50,000 square feet of new retail space, including the consideration of a locally grown general merchandise department store, and the construction or renovation of 300,000 square feet of housing product.

As might be expected, Cornell University was the first major investor to sign on to the Alliance's dream. Though the Seneca Place project wasn't the first one to come out of the ground - the renovation of the Gateway Plaza building was - more development quickly followed after Cornell's pledge of support.

"All these things kind of played together," Ferguson said. Developers such as Mack Travis, in particular, were "enamored that there was this long-term vision that [they] could have confidence in."

As buildings started coming up out of the ground, Ferguson said, people started to take notice. "All of the sudden [the 10-year plan] had more cache, more prominence and importance than the first time around," he said. So they revisited the plan at the end of 2003 and beginning of 2004. The Alliance added a new section to its list of goals about historic character and revisited other areas. The retail goal was bumped up to 75,000 square feet by 2010, and certain types of developments began to be targeted. The Alliance wanted convenience goods to support people who live and work downtown, and at least five new businesses added to the mix, including a drug store and expanded grocery store. Office space was essential to the plan, as was residential.

"It was all predicated on density," Ferguson explained. "We had to build up pedestrian traffic downtown that could survive no matter what happened to the strip, no matter what happened to the national economy, [no matter] the infiltration of new business coming into the community. We had to survive that, and the best way we could think of to do that is to build our own downtown traffic." The Downtown Ithaca Alliance wants downtown to sustain itself, not only depend on tourist traffic. People should live, work and spend their money downtown.

But how successful have the plans been? Well, it's relative. In the past decade, Ithaca has seen the addition of about 20,000 to 25,000 square feet of retail. "There was a lot of talk about it - 'Why the hell are you building more retail space? You've got vacancy on The Commons,'" Ferguson recalled. "We can argue about, oh, that was good, that was bad, it's full, it's empty...but in the meantime, in the area around downtown - highway or the suburbs - there was almost 2 million square feet [of growth]." The region is growing, but the percentage of that that has occurred downtown is tiny.
Ferguson discussed the inherent conflict that many small towns like Ithaca are facing: the discrepancy between what residents want and what they think they want. In a town like Ithaca with a strong ideological presence, this discrepancy can sometimes be even more pronounced.

"[Density] is where a lot of the discussion in the community came to pass....'Can't you put a Wegmans downtown?' Well, which two blocks would you like me to get rid of?" Ferguson asks. "We want downtown, but we don't want density."

And this list goes on, at least anecdotally: We don't want big-box retailers, yet the parking lot at Wal-Mart is packed. We don't want chain restaurants, but a party of four can't get into Chili's on the weekends without a significant wait. We don't want cars, but we don't want to ride buses and there aren't enough bike paths.

"This is a community that prides itself on bookstores. Where's the No.1 place where people in Tompkins County buy their books? The Internet," Ferguson added.

Developing a long-term plan allows for some of these inconsistencies by setting goals for what people really want, all things considered.
"The good news is in Ithaca we're actually having this discussion, which means we have an opportunity to succeed," Ferguson said, contrasting Ithaca's future growth to that of Elmira, Binghamton and Utica.
As the Alliance begins to develop its new 10-year plan, it hopes to continue to survey Ithaca's residents to find out how they shop, where they spend their money and where they live, what they consider sustainable and what they are willing to give up. "We want...the public to understand this and for them to have some sense that this is something they feel comfortable with," Ferguson said.

In the 2003-2004 edition of the 10-year-plan, the Alliance identified for future development and growth 13 possible locations, including the Rothschild triangle and the air above the Green Street Garage; West State Street corridor between Geneva and Albany; the southwest corner of Cayuga and Green; and northwest corners of both the Buffalo and Tioga intersection and Seneca and Cayuga. Whether those will still be on the list of potential growth sites is, in part, up to residents. The Downtown Ithaca Alliance will sponsor forums on different topics - such as transportation, density, character, retail, housing, for example - and continue to look to other cities' examples of how to create a vibrant downtown.

With the Town and City of Ithaca and the Alliance all about to embark on creating their respective next-10-year plans for growth, sustainability and development, the next decade might just be the one where Ithaca's downtown finally comes into its own.

[Visiteur]

http://www.lansingstar.com/content/view/3406/77/

Plans for a proposed $17 million dollar, 105 room branded hotel in downtown Ithaca moved forward this week and with final approval, would further solidify Ithaca as an upstate hub of commerce, tourism and economic activity.

Ithaca Properties L.L.C. is proposing to build the eight-story hotel on the corner of Aurora and Green Streets on the same site that once housed the landmark Ithaca Hotel. The Ithaca Urban Renewal Agency demolished the hotel in 1966 to make way for new development and the city took ownership of part of the property. Ithaca Properties is now asking the IURA to approve the sale of the land to it, so the site can be redeveloped. An approval by the IURA and a final approval by the Ithaca Common Council would allow Ithaca Properties to submit formal site plans for the project, to the city. Those approvals will be considered in early April.

Ithaca Properties L.L.C. is not seeking any public financing for this project and will not ask for any tax abatements, either. The project will be financed entirely with private funds.

Downtown Ithaca Alliance Executive Director Gary Ferguson says, ‘This project fits our vision for downtown Ithaca on so many levels. It creates jobs, will generate sales, property and room taxes and makes it possible for more people to stay in the heart of our community and experience all that downtown Ithaca has to offer. This is the kind of private investment that grows communities and sends the message that downtown Ithaca is a place to do business and to stay when you visit the area for leisure activities.’

An estimated $652,000 in sales and property tax revenues would be generated by the hotel in 2010, according to an independent feasibility study conducted in 2007 by HSV Consulting. The study projects those figures to increase in subsequent years. The Tompkins County Convention and Visitors Bureau estimates the project will generate $2.5 million dollars in annual food and beverage sales in the downtown area. According to Ithaca Properties L.L.C., it will create 51 full-time equivalent jobs.

Just as importantly, the proposed hotel supports the objectives of the city’s Urban Renewal Plan, which was adopted in 2001. The plan calls for ‘expansion and diversification of the economic base of the community to provide the employment opportunities needed by its residents and to strengthen the tax base.’ The plan also calls for the ‘development of design concepts and standards to make the city a more attractive and pleasant place to live.’ The projected tax revenues, food and beverage sales and job creation figures will strengthen the tax base and help diversify the economic base of the city. Ithaca Properties L.L.C. has also voluntarily agreed to a peer-review of the project by a city-sanctioned architecture firm, to help further ensure the project meets the concepts and standards of the plan.

Construction is tentatively scheduled to begin later this year and be completed in early 2009.

[Ex-Ithacan]

^ The project just HAS to go through.

Here's an Ithaca Times article about updating the downtown vision statement:




2020 Vision
By: Colleen Corley
02/20/2008
Email to a friendPost a CommentPrinter-friendly



A view of downtown from the Seneca Street parking garage. (Photo by Rachel Philipson)

With the exception of The Commons, which was built in the 1970s, downtown Ithaca has in many ways become the sum of its most recent parts: Seneca Place, the parking garages and Cayuga Green are perhaps the most noticeable. Break these new landmarks down even further and they become even more recognizable - just consider the addition of Starbucks across from The Commons.
Each new development - and every landmark shop or building - has been flirting with the hope of downtown vibrancy for years. But how to build and maintain a strong downtown in the midst of a changing local economy - that is the question, notes Gary Ferguson, executive director of the Ithaca Downtown Partnership, which changed its name to Downtown Ithaca Alliance this week.
The Alliance's first 10-year strategic plan, implemented in 2000 and updated at the end of 2003, is reaching the end of its viability and relevancy, Ferguson explained.
"There's been substantial change in the last 10 years, about $100 million in investment and growth - planned growth - in downtown," Ferguson said. That amount of investment is the biggest in the history of the city.
The Downtown Ithaca Development Strategy 2000-2010 was an ambitious plan when it was first proposed. "I think people were sort of saying, yeah, [do] whatever you want," Ferguson recalled of the proposal to develop a strategy of planned economic growth. The lackluster reaction was perhaps a response to fact that there had been no dedicated initiative combining government and business efforts in years. Since the mid-'70s to early '80s, when landmarks such as The Commons, Center Ithaca and Dewitt Mall were built, there hadn't been much new investment there. At the time, though, the buildings were innovative and ahead of the curve.
"That's when the downtown we knew of came to fruition," Ferguson said, noting that it was also the time when downtown became pedestrian-heavy. "There was a window in there when a lot of stuff got done...At the time they were really pioneer projects," he said. Mixed-use was not yet considered the economic staple it is today, and Ferguson explained that the success of the buildings almost allowed downtown to "coast" for the next 20 years.
Almost. "Running into the year 2000 or so, in all honesty, it just sort of ran out of gas," he said. "There had been no more reinvestment. You can only ride on that for so long [until] the community starts changing in other ways. If you don't keep reinvesting, it happens somewhere else." And it was happening elsewhere: on Route 13, in Collegetown, on West Hill. Buildings were going up, retail was coming in and people were spending their money in other places.
In 1999 Ferguson came to Ithaca to see what difference could be made in the future of the city. There was 25 percent vacancy on The Commons, the highest it's ever been, he says. "One worried that it didn't have a strong future," he explained. What was missing was not just the capital investment; it was confidence in the future success of downtown. "That's one of the reasons why plans exist - to provide the private sector with confidence," he added.
So they developed a plan to instill confidence in people - people with the money, people in city and town government, and people who would become the lifeblood of downtown commerce.
In the first 10-year plan, the Alliance focused on many areas of the economy: retail, office and housing development; tourism, entertainment and the cultural arts; the environment; infrastructure and transportation; the city's reputation. Some of the goals included adding at least 50,000 square feet of new retail space, including the consideration of a locally grown general merchandise department store, and the construction or renovation of 300,000 square feet of housing product.
As might be expected, Cornell University was the first major investor to sign on to the Alliance's dream. Though the Seneca Place project wasn't the first one to come out of the ground - the renovation of the Gateway Plaza building was - more development quickly followed after Cornell's pledge of support.
"All these things kind of played together," Ferguson said. Developers such as Mack Travis, in particular, were "enamored that there was this long-term vision that [they] could have confidence in."
As buildings started coming up out of the ground, Ferguson said, people started to take notice. "All of the sudden [the 10-year plan] had more cache, more prominence and importance than the first time around," he said. So they revisited the plan at the end of 2003 and beginning of 2004. The Alliance added a new section to its list of goals about historic character and revisited other areas. The retail goal was bumped up to 75,000 square feet by 2010, and certain types of developments began to be targeted. The Alliance wanted convenience goods to support people who live and work downtown, and at least five new businesses added to the mix, including a drug store and expanded grocery store. Office space was essential to the plan, as was residential.
"It was all predicated on density," Ferguson explained. "We had to build up pedestrian traffic downtown that could survive no matter what happened to the strip, no matter what happened to the national economy, [no matter] the infiltration of new business coming into the community. We had to survive that, and the best way we could think of to do that is to build our own downtown traffic." The Downtown Ithaca Alliance wants downtown to sustain itself, not only depend on tourist traffic. People should live, work and spend their money downtown.
But how successful have the plans been? Well, it's relative. In the past decade, Ithaca has seen the addition of about 20,000 to 25,000 square feet of retail. "There was a lot of talk about it - 'Why the hell are you building more retail space? You've got vacancy on The Commons,'" Ferguson recalled. "We can argue about, oh, that was good, that was bad, it's full, it's empty...but in the meantime, in the area around downtown - highway or the suburbs - there was almost 2 million square feet [of growth]." The region is growing, but the percentage of that that has occurred downtown is tiny.
Ferguson discussed the inherent conflict that many small towns like Ithaca are facing: the discrepancy between what residents want and what they think they want. In a town like Ithaca with a strong ideological presence, this discrepancy can sometimes be even more pronounced.
"[Density] is where a lot of the discussion in the community came to pass....'Can't you put a Wegmans downtown?' Well, which two blocks would you like me to get rid of?" Ferguson asks. "We want downtown, but we don't want density."
And this list goes on, at least anecdotally: We don't want big-box retailers, yet the parking lot at Wal-Mart is packed. We don't want chain restaurants, but a party of four can't get into Chili's on the weekends without a significant wait. We don't want cars, but we don't want to ride buses and there aren't enough bike paths.
"This is a community that prides itself on bookstores. Where's the No.1 place where people in Tompkins County buy their books? The Internet," Ferguson added.
Developing a long-term plan allows for some of these inconsistencies by setting goals for what people really want, all things considered.
"The good news is in Ithaca we're actually having this discussion, which means we have an opportunity to succeed," Ferguson said, contrasting Ithaca's future growth to that of Elmira, Binghamton and Utica.
As the Alliance begins to develop its new 10-year plan, it hopes to continue to survey Ithaca's residents to find out how they shop, where they spend their money and where they live, what they consider sustainable and what they are willing to give up. "We want...the public to understand this and for them to have some sense that this is something they feel comfortable with," Ferguson said.
In the 2003-2004 edition of the 10-year-plan, the Alliance identified for future development and growth 13 possible locations, including the Rothschild triangle and the air above the Green Street Garage; West State Street corridor between Geneva and Albany; the southwest corner of Cayuga and Green; and northwest corners of both the Buffalo and Tioga intersection and Seneca and Cayuga. Whether those will still be on the list of potential growth sites is, in part, up to residents. The Downtown Ithaca Alliance will sponsor forums on different topics - such as transportation, density, character, retail, housing, for example - and continue to look to other cities' examples of how to create a vibrant downtown.
With the Town and City of Ithaca and the Alliance all about to embark on creating their respective next-10-year plans for growth, sustainability and development, the next decade might just be the one where Ithaca's downtown finally comes into its own.





©Ithaca Times 2008

[donybrx]

Originally Posted by Ex-Ithacan

With the Town and City of Ithaca and the Alliance all about to embark on creating their respective next-10-year plans for growth, sustainability and development, the next decade might just be the one where Ithaca's downtown finally comes into its own.

...certainly not for lack of trying........the transitions of our smaller cities take so long that they become subject to the next wave of transitions .....

[Ex-Ithacan]

^ So true dony.


The first hurdle for the new hotel project has been cleared:

Agency approves hotel land sale
Group petitioning city to require living wage for all hotel employees
By Krisy Gashler
Journal Staff

ITHACA — Plans for a new eight-story hotel on The Commons took a step forward Thursday.

The Ithaca Urban Renewal Agency voted unanimously Thursday morning to approve a purchase and sale contract for a 2,140-square-foot portion of city land along the edge of the sidewalk on Aurora Street, said Sue Kittel, deputy director of community development for the IURA.


Long Island developer Jeff Rimland has proposed a 102-room hotel on the eastern end of The Commons right next to the Rothschild's building on a spot that's currently a parking lot.

For the hotel to meet city setback requirements, the city will have to sell the strip of land to Rimland's Ithaca Properties, LLC. Rimland has not responded to several requests for comment.
The IURA's decision clears the way for the final sale, which must be approved by Common Council.

The city is scheduled to hold a public hearing on the sale at Common Council's planning and economic development committee meeting at 7:30 p.m. March 19 in City Hall, 108 E. Green St.

Common Council will ultimately have to vote on the sale at its meeting at 7 p.m. April 2.

Fred Bonn, director of the Ithaca/Tompkins County Convention and Visitors Bureau, said he believes there is enough demand in Ithaca's hotel community for another 100 rooms.

Citing statistics compiled by Smith Travel Research, Bonn said Tompkins County's overall occupancy rate rose 3.5 percent between 2006 and 2007.

During the same period, room demand grew 8.1 percent while room supply grew 4.4 percent, he said.

“At this point we have been successful, very successful, at absorbing the increased rooms but also increasing demand in those rooms,” he said.

Jim Bouderau, general manager of the Hilton Garden Inn, said the project is “a fantastic idea” and “a wonderful addition for downtown.”

Bouderau said that while there may be enough hotel rooms in the county to meet supply, many visitors strongly prefer to stay downtown and close to the universities.

Bonn said the new hotel would increase downtown hotel rooms to more than 800, which many organizations that book conventions consider a minimum number.

“What this project has the potential to do is help us host larger conventions in the downtown core,” he said.


Living wage
The issue that has been most hotly debated in IURA discussions is whether the city can or should require the developer to pay hotel employees a living wage in exchange for selling the strip of land.
Members of the Tompkins County Workers' Center have petitioned the city to make this a requirement.

Rimland has promised to pay all housekeepers $11.18 an hour — currently the living wage if health insurance is not provided, said Pete Meyers, coordinator of the Workers' Center.

Theresa Alt, a member of the Workers' Center steering committee who has lobbied the city on the living wage as a private citizen, said that while it's great news that housekeepers will be paid a living wage, “What about the other workers in the same hotel?”

Meyers said it's still “an open question” whether the Workers' Center will continue pursuing the issue through Common Council. Unlike other recent developers, who have requested tax abatements or other public money to pursue developments, Rimland's hotel would be completely privately financed and receive no tax abatements.

Meyers said this fact gives the city less leverage in its position.

Meyers said he applauds Rimland's willingness to pay housekeepers a living wage and said that regardless of what happens next, the center's advocacy has aided at least some workers.

“Obviously we've had an effect on the situation,” he said.


kgashler@ithacajournal.com




Originally published February 29, 2008


Just not too sure the living wage people are really helping the working folks if they keep developers from investing in the city and its future.

[Ex-Ithacan]

ADVERTISEMENT


Collegetown invites public input
By Krisy Gashler
Journal Staff

ITHACA — Residents interested in the future of Collegetown are invited to a series of educational and design workshops March 7-9 with city planners and the city's consultants.

“What we're hoping to increase is the participation by people in the creation of their future,” said Ron Mallis, senior planner with Goody Clancy, the firm hired by the city to help create a new urban plan and design guidelines for Collegetown. “I know this sounds like a Chinese fortune cookie, but I truly believe that.”


The city has been working on a new vision for Collegetown for several years. The new plan and guidelines, with accompanying changes in city law and zoning, will be the end result.

Mallis, a Cornell alumnus, said some of Collegetown's strengths are its proximity to the university, the natural beauty of the gorge, the higher elevation overlooking the city, “brilliant” historic districts and its diverse, international population.
Weaknesses are “too many places that look like hell, ... too many couches on front porches, too much trash,” he said.

Preliminary urban plan concepts include concentrating retail and building additional mixed-use housing and retail at the intersection of Dryden Road and College Avenue, and increasing housing along College Avenue based on design guidelines.

The consultants are also trying to develop ways to strengthen pedestrian access through Collegetown and along Cascadilla Gorge.

One of the issues planners wrestle with is where and how much to mix student and non-student populations.

Two of the potentially conflicting goals of the Collegetown Vision Statement are:

1. to diversify Collegetown's populations, so that the neighborhood economy is not so dependent on the academic calendar, and

2. to create better transitions and buffers between student-heavy Collegetown and surrounding family neighborhoods.

City planner Megan Gilbert said litter and noise have been key challenges for long-term residents living near students.

During a series of meetings earlier this month, Mallis said he raised the issue of whether it's possible for students and non-students to live together in Collegetown.

When he asked a group of students, “The answer was no,” he said. When the issue came up among a group of long-term residents from the Bryant Park Civic Association, the feeling was more that it “could give a real excitement, in a positive way to the place,” he said.

Referencing the Davenport Commons in Boston, where Goody Clancy is based, Mallis said it is possible for students and non-students to “live together in, let's call it harmony.”

“It requires beginning simply by communicating. Trying to find where common ground is. I'm not saying everything is gonna be kumbaya,” he said.

Even so, with Cornell planning to hire hundreds of new faculty and staff over the next few years, many will want to live in “an urban environment” near the University, Mallis said.

“I think there's room for people to get stupid at 2 a.m. and people to put their 2-year-old to bed,” he said.

Gilbert said the consultants' outside look has been “refreshing,” and that both the city and the consultant are committed to making a plan informed by community input.

“They really are coming in with a fresh look and a mindset like, ‘What can we do to enhance Collegetown?” she said. “I think that's been very helpful.”


kgashler@ithacajournal.com




Originally published March 1, 2008



Public sessions

* Friday, March 7, 5 to 7 p.m.: Educational sessions on urban design, with emphasis on circulation, transportation and economics in Collegetown, in preparation for Saturday’s design workshop. St. Luke’s church, 109 Oak Ave.


* Saturday, March 8, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.: Design workshop or “charrette” where participants can use maps to draw their own urban plan for Collegetown. St. Luke’s church, 109 Oak Ave.


* Sunday, March 9, 1 to 4 p.m.: Open house for members of the public to share ideas and ask questions. Consultants will make preliminary design sketches based on input from Saturday’s session. Location to be determined.


* For more information, contact city planner Megan Gilbert at 274-6560 or mgilbert@cityofithaca.org.





File downloads:

Collegetown planning update

[Ex-Ithacan]

Looks like the local paper got it right this time (their editorial):



Living wage: Don't let downtown hotel deal hinge on it

A Long Island developer wants to build a 102-room hotel near the Rothschild's building on The Commons. From what the experts say, there is demand for yet another hotel in this area, despite the fact many have popped up across our landscape in recent years.

Like other debates about new projects, this one has a familiar chorus. Members of the community want all employees at the hotel to earn a living wage, currently $11.18 per hour if someone doesn't receive health insurance benefits, according to the Alternatives Federal Credit Union. Developer Jeff Rimland has agreed to pay all housekeepers a living wage at the hotel if it is built but has not committed to promising a living wage for all hotel employees.



The living wage debate is a complicated one. On one hand, the more people are paid, especially in traditional lower-income jobs, the better chance they have of not having to turn to the government for help making ends meet. This is especially true in an area like this where a one-bedroom apartment in the city can fetch more than $700 per month in rent because of supply/demand factors.

But the other side of this debate has a lot of appeal to us. In this case, because Rimland is not seeking tax breaks for the project, there isn't much at stake for government. Rimland needs to buy a small piece of city land on the edge of the sidewalk of Aurora Street. Last week, the Ithaca Urban Renewal Agency voted to sell it to him. The city will hold a public hearing March 19, and Ithaca Common Council is expected to vote on whether to finalize the sale by April 2.
When council votes, it should keep the following information in mind. A hotel like Rimland's stands to be beneficial for an entire block of restaurants and bars on Aurora Street, and those that call The Commons home. Increased traffic will also serve stores on The Commons well. Recently, the owners of Juna's Cafe, which closed Friday, remarked that a lack of foot traffic was one of the factors in their decision to close. With the Hilton Garden Inn, the Holiday Inn, Rimland's hotel and other local draws, maybe the next Juna's won't have to shutter its business.

Further, while we support the theory of a living wage, it shouldn't be mandated for any project or business. Our state and federal governments have passed the minimum wage thresholds. Once you move past that amount, government and groups can lobby for a living wage but should not mandate it. Developers and business owners are all working under the same financial risks. There is no guarantee any project will be successful, especially at first.

Council members have to weigh all of the factors on the land deal and make the best decision they can that will serve the city's interests. We won't tell them how to vote right now. But we will say the living wage debate should be one factor considered among many others. If this project is as good as it looks on paper, then it shouldn't be torpedoed by mandating living wage salaries.



Originally published March 4, 2008

[Ex-Ithacan]

Some good (if not great) news for the Ithaca area:



Tompkins Lures Young Professionals to Settle
Print: Email: Share: March 6, 2008 - 12:00am
By Nathan Sermonis (Cornell Daily Sun)
While Ithaca may not at first glance seem like a bustling metropolis compared to the skylines of New York City or Los Angeles, for Upstate New York it is the pinnacle of excellence when it comes to the region’s dreaded “brain drain.”

As the young and educated throughout most of Upstate N.Y. jump ship looking for something different down south or out west, Tompkins County has actually gained many members of this demographic. In what has become known as Upstate N.Y.’s “brain drain,” many of the forward-thinking college graduates that are needed to get the region’s economy back on track are moving elsewhere.

So then what is so unique about Tompkins?

According to The New York Times, Tompkins County is the only one of 62 counties in the area to have increased its population of 25-to-34-year-olds from 1990 to 2004. But like other places in Upstate N.Y., residents still have to deal with large taxes, bad weather and few high-paying jobs. This leaves one aspect still to ponder — the area’s community life.

Mike Fuller, chairman of the Pipeline 4 Progress steering committee, said that Tompkins has something that other places in the region really don’t have — diversity. Pipeline 4 Progress is a think tank and public forum that tries to attract and retain “talented individuals to the Southern Tier of Upstate New York” according to its website.

“You have two great universities — Cornell and Ithaca College — as anchors that really attract people from around the world,” he said.

This kind of cultural diversity, he said, is what really makes a place great and draws people in. Cultural centers with plenty of entertainment, like art shows, restaurants and shopping, are the places that Americans are flocking to, Fuller explained.

With a wide variety of concert venues, theaters, trendy stores and ethnic eateries, Ithaca seems to fit right into this category.

“There’s so much to do in Ithaca,” said Chad Zimar, a local teacher and resident of Ithaca. “It’s a beautiful place to live and there’s always something going on.”

However, while Ithaca may offer plenty to do after work, for many fields the jobs are scarce. Long past the days of the Ithaca Gun Company and the city’s “Hollywood” era, Ithaca is now usually known for having only three employers — Cornell, Ithaca College and the tourism industry.

The technologies field is another promising area that has gained momentum in Tompkins over the past decade, though. According to Zach Shulman ’87, managing partner of Cayuga Venture Fund, with manufacturing jobs being outsourced overseas, high tech companies will be a big player in restoring the regional economy.

In Ithaca, CVF has helped bring Cornell-patented technologies to life, investing in companies that commercialize inventions developed by University professors and students.

Deb Mohlenhoff, a professor at Ithaca College, has also worked with other young professionals to create a social networking group called Ithaca Forward. The group holds social functions with a goal of connecting young professionals with each other for job opportunities.

While the city may not be quite up to par with Silicon Valley, Shulman, who is also the J.T. Clark Clark Professor of Entrepreneurship and Personal Enterprise at the Johnson School of Management, said, “there is certainly a lot of entrepreneurship in the area.” These new companies offer new work opportunities and if the jobs are here, “it’s not terribly hard to get people to come,” he said.

But despite the poor job market, many people still call Ithaca home. For a lot of young professionals, commuting has become part of the daily routine. Right after showering at 6 a.m., de-icing the car for 10 minutes and stopping at Dunkin’ Donuts for a jumbo coffee, it’s off to Elmira, Corning or even Syracuse as in Zimar’s case.

His wife, Heather, adjusted differently to Ithaca’s cramped job market, deciding to take a job in journalism and work from home.

While these choices may not be the traditional in-town office jobs many professionals are looking for, they have become popular alternatives. With this in mind, Fuller said, it is necessary to think of the region not just as a collection of city or county-based markets, but rather as a region-wide marketplace.

More places around Upstate N.Y. should concentrate on incorporating lessons from the County, said Fuller. To attract and retain talent as Tompkins has done so well, the rest of the regional marketplace should develop more engaging communities encouraging cultural diversity and recreational opportunity, he said.

[Ex-Ithacan]

One of the alternative local papers surprised the heck out of me with their editorial questioning whether the pedsetrian mall (in the heart of Ithaca) is still viable. There has been a vocal minority of folks requesting the mall be removed and the streets involved be opened up again. Here's the editorial:



The Commons: Know when to walk away, and know when to bulldoze?
By:
03/05/2008
Email to a friendPost a CommentPrinter-friendly

Warm weather in Ithaca always brings out the wandering consumer, people who otherwise wouldn't be walking outside in the middle of the day - with wallets that would not otherwise be open. The Commons - and the few pedestrian malls still in existence that were built during the same era - was built on this truth, with the extra hope that similar behavior might exist during the cold months, as well.
But the jury is still out on whether these economic mores prove to be true in Ithaca - and indeed, they haven't, elsewhere. It is no secret that the small independent retailers on The Commons are locked into a struggle to the death with the chain stores that envelop Ithaca.
Thirty years ago, The Commons was a great experiment in city planning and growth. Ten years ago, it faced a vacancy rate of about 25 percent. Today - after The Commons took yet another hit last week when Juna's Café closed - we are well on our way to seeing that rate again. There are many ways to look at Juna's failure: Blame it on the corporations. Blame it on the people still gathered outside Juna's nearly empty space, unsure of where else to congregate. Blame it on the owner, blame it on the business plan, blame it on the locals who meant to buy coffee there but didn't, blame it on the lazy tourists. There are many causes - not enough pedestrian traffic, not enough retail, too many empty storefronts, not enough confidence - and all of them speak to the very real problems facing The Commons.
We are positive about the future of Ithaca and understand the ebbs and flows of retail and the fragility of our downtown economy. But we should refuse to excuse the failures of The Commons if the efforts to change our fate don't succeed. How much longer do we wait for the vacancies to be filled? How much should we depend on the willingness of Ithacans to trade convenience for the sake of ideals? How many business owners do we want to see lose their livelihood? There are smarter people than us looking into these questions. But we urge them to take a long hard look at The Commons' successes and failures. The Commons was the 1970s answer to Pyramid Mall; the throwback to a time when towns had a gathering place and mom-and-pop shops. What will be our generation's answer to the massive Route 13 superstores? It was a gamble to build The Commons, and only a daring and forward-looking private-and-public enterprise could have spawned its genesis and ensured its survival. But like the old song advises, sometimes you've got to know when to fold 'em. It may be time.



©Ithaca Times 2008

[Ex-Ithacan]

Article in the Cornell Sun about my old neighborhood. I bet the apartment building where I grew up will be one of the first rat-traps to go.


Consultants Plan for Collegetown’s Future
Print: Email: Share: March 10, 2008 - 12:00am

By Ben Eisen
Though some may see College­town as no more than a rundown neighborhood, the planning consultants who spent the last three days at Cornell have a more optimistic vision for it. This weekend, phrases like “mix-use development,” “pedestrian circulation” and “urban environment” floated around the basement of St. Luke’s Church more frequently than snowstorms in Ithaca.

The consulting team — comprised of two architects, a transportation specialist, a zoning expert and an economic advisor — made its second visit to Ithaca to continue gathering input as part of its report for the Collegetown Vision Implementation Committee. This time, the team focused on connecting up and creating a theme for the issues voiced by constituents of the neighborhood.

“We’re not just looking at parking, but looking at how it relates to urban planning and coming up with a set of guidelines,” said Ron Mallis ’60, senior planner for Goody Clancy Architects, to the crowd that gathered on Friday afternoon at St. Luke’s. “We want to do things like make streetscape improvements and reduce vehicular traffic.”Zoning codes: Student-Elected Trustee Kate Duch ’09 speaks with consultant Jason Schrieber of Nelson Nygaard about traffic flow in Collegetown on Saturday. Consultants ran a series of workshops throughout the weekend.
The weekend started off with a meeting of the Collegetown Neigh­borhood Council, where Mallis recapped the findings of last month’s visit from Goody Clancy. In February, the consultants met with a variety of groups, from students to landlords to University officials, and came up with a laundry list of concerns from a number of different perspectives.

Attendees of the meeting were given the opportunity to voice their concerns about the planning process in a number of ways. Posters with potential design and planning ideas were posted around the room at St. Luke’s and participants were encouraged to write their comments on them.

“The amenities of being in the neighborhood are distinctively urban, but there have always been problems with trash and density,” said Ellen McCollister ’78, a Collegetown resident. She added that one of her chief complaints about the neighborhood is the number of old couches sitting on students’ porches, which contributes to Collegetown’s disheveled look.

David Grissino, senior urban designer with Goody Clancy, spoke about the need to find more sustainable types of housing, such as mixed-use developments. He also talked about utilizing the natural resources that surround Collegetown in addition to working on the streetscape.

Jason Schreiber, a transportation specialist from the Boston office of Nelson/Nygaard, spoke further about transportation issues.

“The 400 block of College Ave. has twice as many pedestrians walking by as cars,” Schreiber said. “But the sidewalks are very narrow compared to the wide roads.”

Parking, which many students consider to be a major issue in the neighborhood, was another topic he discussed.

“The best views you have in Collegetown, half of them are being occupied by cars,” Schreiber lamented.

Sarah Woodworth, an economic advisor from the real-estate company W-ZHA, illustrated the difficulty in developing apartment buildings in Collegetown. She presented financial estimates, which, after the cost of land and construction, showed that developers would have to charge over $1,000 per bed to students at the current expense level.

Lee Einsweiler, the zoning advisor for the team, spoke about the need for zoning that fits regulations but still allows for beneficial changes to the neighborhood.

“Codes implement plans, not make them,” Einsweiler remarked.

The beginnings of change in Collegetown have gotten a lot of people excited about new possibilities.

“[The consultants’ visits] have been interesting for me,” said City of Ithaca Mayor Carolyn Peterson to the crowd gathered at the meeting. “I was on Common Council in the ’80s when Collegetown first saw changes in issues of density. It has been a long time coming since the last changes.”

Stephen Golding, Cornell’s vice president for finance and administration, remarked to the audience that the Cornell Master Plan had just been adopted by the Board of Trustees at their meetings this weekend.

On Saturday morning, participants once again gathered in the basement of St. Luke’s Church, to participate in a charrette, a design exercise where they broke into consultant-guided groups and were given a map of Collegetown on which to make any changes they felt appropriate. Suggestions ranged from more high-rises to parks by the gorges to more visibility for storefronts.
“The charrette is really designed to get the community involved so that we can figure out what their concerns are,” Schreiber said. “Everything you say here today is the basis for what we’ll end up doing.”

Kate Duch ’09, student-elected trustee, who has been one of the student representatives working with the consultants, found the charrette to be a great medium in which to voice her thoughts.

“I think the biggest concern I’ve seen is that a lot of the housing in Collegetown is in horrible condition. There’s a fire in Collegetown at least every year,” she said.

Yesterday, the consultants gathered all the feedback and worked to put it all together. In an open house format, they sketched out existing Collegetown conditions, indicating what should be kept and what should be improved. The collaborative effort between the consultants and community member included discussions that pinpointed specific areas to be improved.

Though the creation of change in Collegetown is a process that will likely continue for years to come, the urban design guidelines must be finished by October, when the moratorium on building will be lifted.

“The consultants will return in early April to present a draft of the urban plan and design guidelines,” said Mary Tomlan ’71 (D-3rd Ward).

[Ex-Ithacan]

The Carrowmoor development process continues. Seems to be quite the eco friendly proposal. Of course it's across the main road from Ithaca's EcoVillage residential development.




Zoning shift sought for Carrowmoor development
By Krisy Gashler
Journal Staff

ITHACA — Plans for an environmentally friendly, high-end development across from EcoVillage are moving slowly forward.

Developer John Rancich, the man behind the Linderman Creek apartments and the Enfield wind power idea, has proposed to build a 400-unit clustered development along Route 79 in the Town of Ithaca.


The development requires the town to pass a local law to change the zoning. A similar process was used to create EcoVillage.

Will Burbank, chair of the town's planning committee, said one of the best aspects of the project is its emphasis on environmental conservation.
Steven Bauman, Carrowmoor designer, said the development would include geo-thermal, wind and hydro power and 100 percent rain harvesting. All home or apartment purchases would include an electric scooter or car, with “re-fueling” stations built into the development.

If both Carrowmoor and the Enfield wind farm are approved and built, Rancich and Bauman hope that the entire community can be powered by the windmills less than 10 miles away.

“That was the positive,” Burbank said. “The negative was the scale, the size, and the fact that it was gonna be very, very expensive.”

Bauman said the target price range for most of the housing units is $250 per square foot — roughly $150,000 for a one-bedroom apartment.

Ten percent of the units will be priced mid-range, $140,000 to $220,000, Bauman said.

How to ensure that units remain affordable long term has been a primary point of disagreement between the developers and the town, according to both Bauman and Burbank.

Burbank said he also has concerns about the impact of that much extra density on West Hill.

Based on current zoning, the developers could build approximately 250-360 units in a traditional sub-division, said Jonathan Kanter, director of planning for the town.

“I'm keenly aware that our choice is not between that and doing nothing, but (between) that and another kind of very, very conventional development,” Burbank said. “To my mind, what they're proposing is preferable, but I'm by no means convinced that it's a given that it'll be built. I think there's a lot more work to be done.”

If the development is approved, the earliest that construction could begin would be early 2009, Kanter said.


kgashler@ithacajournal.com




Originally published March 14, 2008



--------------------------------------------------------------------------*For more on the proposed development:


http://carrowmoor.com

[Visiteur]

Seems to be a redesign for the condo portion of Cayuga Green. This is from the Warren Real Estate website.
http://www.warrenhomes.com/index.cfm?action=new

[Ex-Ithacan]

Great find Vis. Looks impressive (at least for downtown Ithaca )

[Ex-Ithacan]

The Tompkins County Workers Center better not screw this deal up.


Public hearing planned for proposed downtown hotel
By Krisy Gashler
Journal Staff

A public hearing on the hotel proposed for The Commons is scheduled for tonight, amid strong support from downtown business owners and calls from the Workers' Center for a living wage for all hotel employees.

Common Council's planning and economic development committee is scheduled to vote on whether to sell a 2,140-square-foot parcel along the edge of the sidewalk on Aurora Street to developer Jeffrey Rimland so he can build a 102-room hotel.


The $17 million hotel would sit on the eastern end of The Commons right next to the Rothschild's building on a spot that's currently a parking lot.

The developers' consultants estimate the project will create $652,000 in sales and property tax revenues in 2010, and the Tompkins County Visitors and Conventions Bureau estimates the project will spur $2.5 million annually in food purchases on the Commons.
The developer is not asking for any tax abatements or public money to construct the hotel.

The last several days have been a battle of e-mails as advocates from the Tompkins County Workers' Center and the Downtown Ithaca Alliance have both asked their members to come to the public hearing and lobby Council members.

In the Workers' Center's “We Can Do Better!” e-mail, supporters are urged to come to the hearing and ask the committee to demand that Rimland pay all hotel workers a living wage in exchange for selling the strip of land.

Rimland has already agreed to pay housekeepers $11.18 per hour, or 156 percent of the minimum wage. $11.18 per hour is also the living wage for employees without health insurance, as defined by Alternatives Federal Credit Union here in Ithaca.

The Workers' Center wants Rimland to pay all employees a living wage and to index their salaries to AFCU's standard. Rimland, a Long Island developer, prefers to index by the state minimum wage.

“The Workers' Center believes that the City of Ithaca can ask for more from Rimland. We can do better! Hotel workers are amongst the hardest workers in our City and society and deserve a Living Wage,” reads the Workers' Center's e-mail.

Monday evening, the Downtown Ithaca Alliance Board of Directors passed a resolution stating that it “supports the Rimland hotel project as a vehicle for economic betterment for downtown.”

“The developer, Jeff Rimland, feels like he has done all he can do to accommodate various community interests and still make this project economically viable,” reads an e-mail to “downtown community member(s)” from Gary Ferguson, executive director of the alliance. “If you believe in the value of a new hotel project is downtown at the eastern entrance to the Commons, we urge you to speak up and attend the hearing. Without your voice, this project may not happen.”

Mary Tomlan, D-3rd and chair of the planning committee, said she plans to vote for selling the strip of land and does not favor requiring the developer to pay all employees a living wage in exchange for the sale.

“I would like to see an effort to make the same requirement of all hotels instead of targeting just this one,” she said.

Tomlan said she's not convinced by the Workers' Center's argument that “you have to start somewhere” to get all hotels to pay a living wage.

“I'm not sure I would be as optimistic this would have that effect,” she said.

Eric Rosario, I-2nd and vice-chair of the committee, did not return a phone call seeking comment. Rosario is also on the Ithaca Urban Renewal Agency and through that committee recently voted to approve the sale.

The committee meeting is at 7:30 p.m. tonight in City Hall, 108 E. Green St. If passed by the committee, Common Council would vote on the sale at its meeting at 7 p.m. April 2.


kgashler@ithacajournal.com


Originally published March 19, 2008