Valentine’s Day Ad Supplement SEE PAGES 10-11 INDEPENDENT SINCE 1880
The Corne¬ Daily Sun Vol. 129, No. 82
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2013
!
ITHACA, NEW YORK
20 Pages – Free
Ithacans Step Up Fracking Protests By KRITIKA OBEROI
rally, criticized the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation and the drafts of fracking regulations it has released. She added that not enough studies have While New York State Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) has been conducted to prove that fracking is safe. yet to decide whether to allow hydraulic fracturing, “I think that [fracking] will drastically change the members of the Ithaca and Cornell communities have landscape of New York. It’ll harm our economy,” Fiore put their feet down — gathering on Sunday at the said. Commons to participate in an anti-fracking rally. Steingraber said that the greatest problem with frackProtesters expressed their opposition to fracking, or ing is the scientific uncertainty surrounding it. the practice of injecting chemicals and water into the “Do you want to force people to become subjects in ground to extract natural an uncontrolled human gas. experiment?” Steingraber “Today’s rally kicks off a week of 13 “We are less frightened of said. “Fracking represents the actions and trainings to prepare New jail cells than of poisoned massive industrialization of a water,” said Prof. Sandra landscape.” Yorkers for civil disobedience.” Steingraber, Ithaca College, At the rally, Steberger environmental studies and spoke about the known conReed Steberger ’13 sciences. sequences of fracking, Reed Steberger ’13, a stuincluding the release of dent coordinator for the rally, said that if Cuomo votes methane gas. in favor of fracking, protestors are prepared to take “Expanding the development of natural gas, a greenadditional action. house gas 100 times more potent than carbon dioxide “Today’s rally kicks off a week of 13 actions and … shows a blatant disregard for basic climate science, trainings to prepare New Yorkers for civil disobedience and will have consequences for everyone in our generashould Governor Cuomo decide to allow fracking,” tion who will have to live through more extreme weathSteberger said. See FRACKING page 5 Julia Fiore ’13, another student coordinator of the Sun Staff Writer
SEYOUN KIM / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Don’t frack | Ithacans gather in the Commons Sunday to protest hydraulic fracturing.
Pipe Bursts,Flooding Synapsis By CAROLYN KRUPSKI Sun Staff Writer
ESTHER HOFFMAN / SUN PHOTOGRAPHER EDITOR
Things fall apart | The pipes burst in Synapsis Café at Weill Hall two weeks ago, causing the cafe to close down. Parts of Synapsis are still under repair.
Graduate Students Tackle Collegetown Parking Woes By KAITLYN KWAN Sun Staff Writer
Several students from the Cornell Institute for Public Affairs are helping to alleviate issues with parking in Collegetown. Students recommended — among other suggestions — lowering the price of the parking garage on Dryden Road and creating more frequent service routes for the TCAT bus, according to Laurie Miller, instructor of the capstone course. The City of Ithaca Department of Planning and Economic Development reached out to the capstone class to provide recommendations on how to improve the parking situation. “The City will be able to use this information to guide their decisions when implementing new parking
practices, including new meters and pay systems in Collegetown,” Miller said. For the project, the students separated into four groups that each performed a different task — addressing parking inventory and use, and conducting residential surveys, business surveys and stakeholder interviews, according to a press release. The work allowed them to update a City study from 2000 that surveyed residents and those in the surrounding area about their parking problems, according to a University press release. Henry McCaslin M.P.A. ’13 said that when he worked on the parking inventory, his group counted the number of parking spaces available in Collegetown. Other groups, he said, See PARKING page 4
On Jan. 24, at approximately 12:45 p.m., a frozen sprinkler pipe in Weill Hall burst, causing damage in Synapsis Café that kept its doors closed for almost a week. Although Synapsis reopened Wednesday, the University is continuing to repair parts of the café. A sprinkler located in the ceiling near the windows by the west entrance burst and sprayed water throughout the eatery, accompanied by loud screams and laughter from the restaurant’s patrons, according to Todd Pfeiffer, building manager of Weill
Hall. “Luckily, the damage in the ceiling was limited to an area of about 30 square feet, but quite a bit of water leaked into the basement and the corridor too,” Pfeiffer said. The incident “caused quite a ruckus,” according to Living at Cornell, a studentrun YouTube feed, in its video-post recording the explosion. The damage began as a mere trickle of water from the ceiling, but within seconds, escalated into a flood, spraying Synapsis patrons and their food. “The sprinkler burst above the ceiling, so
Chilling out
See FLOOD page 4
News Stand by Me
New members of fraternities and sororities learned about bystander invention in an orientation event for Greek life Thursday. | Page 3
Opinion Why Can’t We All Get Along?
Noah Karr-Kaitin ’13 argues that political parties need to work together in order to fix America’s problems. | Page 9
Sports 11th Time’s the Charm
The Cornell wrestling team has won the Ivy League championship for the eleventh time, one of the best records in Ivy history. | Page 20 RYAN LANDVATER / SUN SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER
Ethan Joseph ’14 reads on the Arts Quad in shorts even with temperatures dipping well below freezing.
Weather Showers HIGH: 19 LOW: 7