The Ithaca Journal (New York), January 10, 2006, Tuesday

Copyright 2006 The Ithaca Journal (Ithaca, NY)
All Rights Reserved
The Ithaca Journal (New York)

January 10, 2006 Tuesday 1 Edition

SECTION: OPINION; Pg. 7A

HEADLINE: The shame of Cayuga Green is the process

BODY:
Regardless of your position on Phase Two of the Cayuga Green project, one fact was painfully clear. From the many poorly addressed issues along the way to the final decision made despite countless remaining questions, the Cayuga Green "debate" process was shameful for a city that claims to be a shining example of democracy.
Bloomfield, Schon & Partners argued that there is great demand for the downtown movie theatre from students who would like something "closer" than the one at the mall. In the six years that I attended both Ithaca College and Cornell University, I never heard a single person complain about the distance to the Pyramid Mall. However, I have met hundreds of students (who likely represent thousands) who get close to graduation and have rarely left campus for anything other than Wegmans.
The downtown area never seems to reach its potential for attracting students, regardless of the stores or events. For example, for the last few years in early fall, there has been an event on the Commons just for students, with tables set up by local organizations to promote the many opportunities throughout the town. Year after year this event draws a disappointingly small percentage of students, and this is specifically designed for them! I recently spoke to one of the Student Service directors at Cornell who is an active member of the community, and she thought this event was a great idea and something worth promoting. But she had never even heard of it! These represent significant marketing and communication problems, and any argument that claims a movie theatre will be some great panacea ignores the reality and history of downtown's issues.
Next, what type of research did Bloomfield conduct to determine this great demand? Was it a general market analysis, or did they actually survey students and other residents to see if they would go to a theater downtown? If so, did they make sure these people knew that the Pyramid theater, a similar distance away if not closer, is to undergo a massive improvement?
How much did the Industrial Development Agency really question the developers on the poor state of the movie industry, which finished 2005 with a 7 percent drop from the previous year? Can I guess that Bloomfield replied with talk of a "brief downturn" followed by optimistic projections for the future? Any rational person would expect this automatic response from businessmen selling a project at a time of unprecedented uncertainty in their industry. Did the IDA ever obtain a truly objective market analysis to complement the predictably glowing projections used by the developers? What did Bloomfield, Schon & Partners say when asked why they first "needed" the full tax abatement, but then suddenly a sliding scale was acceptable?
Most people in this city are not against growth, they just think it should be smart growth. They are not against every project for that space; they just thought we might consider holding out for a proposal that was not defined by poor communication, dubious projections and a lack of concern for other community interests.
To top things off, a comment cited in The Ithaca Journal claimed that the number of people in the city for and against this movie theater/housing development appeared to be equal. While I am only one man, I have yet to meet a single person who supports this project. Instead, I spoke to at least 100 people who were appalled by the lack of clear answers, frustrated from the lack of adequate opportunities to voice their opinion and struggling to find anyone who could provide clear reasons to support this project.
We believe that every citizen against this project who sent an e-mail, made a call or showed up at a meeting, represented hundreds more who either couldn't keep track of what was going on or didn't have the time to get involved. Perhaps they were busy working or focused on trying to pay their astronomical heating bills. Or maybe they were just too disgusted to participate after hearing that our city was giving disturbingly generous tax assistance to a developer who used the terms "nine hundred dollars per month" and "affordable housing" in the same sentence.
All of these questions may have already been answered. Unfortunately, many members of the community who must balance our work lives with our desire to stay active in local affairs have no idea if they were ever properly addressed.
That may be typical for other cities. For Ithaca, it's disgraceful.
. . .
Ian Schachner lives in Ithaca. He has a bachelor's degree from the Ithaca College Business School and a master's degree from Cornell's Industrial Labor Relations School in 2004.

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