Letters

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Crooked Sixpence, a wildly popular contra dance trio.

For some villagers, Gordon is known as “Carol’s husband” or Lucas and Nathan’s father.

Despite his sons both being grown, they’re still an integral part of his life.

Carol Bloomgarden, who rivals Gordon as juggler, mentions that they have enjoyed many trips to Ecuador, Spain, Trinidad, and Belize for bird watching, a passion they share. (Stay tuned for a glimpse into Carol’s life as artist, nurseteacher, partner, parent and more.)

Here are the only clues I garnered from Gordon how he manages such a wild life.

Writing: “I’ve always been a Morning Person. I like to write when I first wake up…Afternoons I slow down. My blog is fun. But, when I can feel a power outage coming on, I tell my readers

‘I’m going to take a break next week. I will post again on X date.’ Ditto for vacations. This keeps the internal battery charged.”

Writing Partners: “I’ve met once a week with my writing partner for 20 years. We both write fiction and we read aloud to each other. We can hear the flow and we catch mistakes…We gently critique each other.”

So, Gordon, what’s it like to be retired, yet still so engaged in the world, and in one’s inner mind? “I don’t have enough time to be bored.”

To catch a glimpse of Gordon, check out his website, gordonbonnet.com.

Big Ideas Competition

Heart monitor and ‘tinder for musicians’ among winning ideas

Four teams of undergraduate students were named winners of the Big Ideas Competition at Cornell, with ideas that help musicians connect, detect heart problems, train unemployed young adults and help with pollution issues in developing countries.

More than 60 teams entered the 2021 Cornell competition (the largest in the Blackstone LaunchPad network), with business ideas in four tracks: consumer products, health and life sciences, social impact and general. The final 12 presented their ideas at a Nov. 17 pitch competition, which was sponsored by Blackstone LaunchPad at Cornell and Entrepreneurship at Cornell.

Judges for the event were Ryoko Nozawa, Cayuga Venture Fund; Greg Galvin, Rheonix; Jenna Winocur, Spark of Hudson; Todd Edmonds, Iron Design; and Pam Silverstein, Life Changing Labs.

Auni, the idea that was chosen as winner of the general track, is an app to help artists within the music industry — vocalists, musicians, sound engineering, lyricists, producers, composers — connect with one another.

“Artists in the early stages of their music careers don’t have connections within the industry to create the teams they need,” said Praveen Gunendran ‘24, who teamed up with Daniel Tuan ’24 on the idea. They refer to the business as “tinder for music artists. Both are students in the Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management.

Along with connecting artists, the app would also provide an open platform for artists to chat with one another and grow their networks.

Winner in the health and life sciences category, Cardo Vigi, is a wearable device that would instantly alert first responders and family when a cardiovascular event occurs.

Founder Tori DiStefano ’22, a Milstein Program in Technology and Humanity Scholar in the College of Arts & Sciences, lost her grandfather this year to a heart attack, prompting her to work on the idea. “Noticing symptoms isn’t always enough for people to receive proper medical care,” she said. “Many people receive care too late.”

ITReady, winner in the social impact category, helps train unemployed young people in the West African country of Togo in computer science skills and guide them to find careers.

“Togo has a very young population and as more people are able to access technology, there is an increasing need for IT support,” said Gbedasso Pitang ’25, a biology and society major in A&S, who founded the company with Victoria Montero ’20 MPH ’22 and Crystal Argüelles ’23, also a biology and society major in A&S. Pitang was born and raised in Togo and all three founders are members of the Cornell College and Career Readiness Initiative, which mentors young adults in their transitions to college and careers.

In the consumer products category, the winner was Fan Aid, founded by Ian ShenCostello ’23, an idea that would provide affordable residential ventilation systems in developing countries.

The idea addresses a worldwide problem for 2.6 billion people, who still rely on indoor fires for cooking, causing pollution that leads to 4 million deaths each year, mostly of children, said Costello, an environmental engineering major.

The fan doesn’t require electricity and could be created on a 3-D printer to save costs, he said.

The Big Ideas competition took place at 45 schools across the world this fall, said Felix Litvinsky, director of Blackstone LaunchPad at Cornell, and Cornell won special recognition from Blackstone for having the most student idea applications. By Kathy Hovis In support of the Elder Parole Act

In the time of the northern hemisphere turning back toward the sun, a bill that would bring hopeful light and genuine caring is pending in our New York Legislature. The Elder Parole Act provides incarcerated people aged 55 and older who have already served 15 or more years an opportunity to be considered for parole release. This would bring help and hope to some of our state’s oldest incarcerated people, some of them very ill. They pose no threat to our communities but keeping them behind bars poses a huge threat to them. In the spirit of the season, please write, email or call your State Senator and Assemblyperson stating your support for the Elder Parole Act. In the Senate that is Bill 15A; in the Assembly it is Bill 3475A. You’ll help bring some light to some of the darkest corners of our State. -Ruth Yarrow, Ithaca, NY

Supporting the New York Health Act

Iwork at Cayuga Medical and see how much time doctors spend negotiating with insurance companies to meet the needs of their patients. Doctors should be making decisions about what tests and treatments are necessary, not insurance companies. We also need a health care system that has an efficient process of billing patients. Right now, patients receive a huge number of bills mailed separately. One patient who broke her ankle came to Cayuga Medical and received more than 70 bills before her treatment was complete. The wasted time involved in the existing billing system is because the procedure allows for so much confusion and fraud.

The New York Health Act would address these problems and the benefits are so obvious and comprehensive, the only conclusion that one can come to is that the insurance companies have supported politicians that agree to block its passage into law. We need political leaders who have some integrity and are willing to act in the best interests of those who voted them into office.

-Sharon Hinson, RN

Re: Facility potentially opening at old power plant site

Isee it as a giant environmental tragedy to make fictitious currency with immense amounts of power that originates from fossil fuel. If they want to continue with this nonsense, require renewable power be constructed and operate only when it is actually available. The power plant in Dresden NY could power several cities and is powered up to make imaginary currency with fossil fuel instead. No matter if they run the power plant for the energy or buy it elsewhere, this is a huge contribution to climate change, for no real need or good. -Lee Haefele, via Ithaca.com As a SOAG member, I find your remarks in this piece very close to what I think about the show and gallery. We are proud to be an anchor while having to balance all the factors necessary to bring together and hold together a group adequate to be that anchor.

Regarding the show, some additional kindnesses you might have offered could be directed toward our bringing such a show to Ithaca at all and toward the skill to hang such a diverse show in what I find to be a beautiful arrangement. Full disclosure: I am not on the installation committee.

Don Ellis, via Ithaca.com

Re: Short-term rental legislation moving forward

Yet another nail in the coffin of the rights of home owners. We are supposed to own our properties but it seems that we have all become renters, in the sense that we pay property taxes and have local government act like we are renters and they are the landlords who can set extensive regulations on how we use the property. Zoning is no longer limited to health and safety but used to regulate every aspect of what we can do with our own homes. It’s good that people are out protesting yet another incursion to property owner rights. -Henry Kramer, via Ithaca.com Re: A letter to the Ithaca Town Board re: short-term rentals

Iagree with Craig and Megan. Short term rentals are a great way to have the “Ithaca is Gorges” experience in a welcoming home instead of a cold hotel room. They help many community members stay in our community despite the onerous property taxes. Ithaca is one of the most expensive cities in the US to raise a family. It isn’t coincidence that New York is also one of the most highly regulated and taxed states. It shouldn’t be this way! Disincentivizing short term rentals won’t fix these issues, but will further harm community members.

-Jason Evans, via Ithaca.com

Tax the ever living heck outta these rentals, equivalent to the tax say of a lux-hotel the same sqft, ya can’t say the a$&hats aren’t allowed but they also can’t continue to skip out of paying their fair share to accommodate the added burden they’re putting on others - call it the SHPT Selfish Horrible Person Tax -Seer, via Ithaca.com

I disagree. I think making my street into a row of transient houses will LOWER my property values, create a space less amenable for children to have friends and to play safely. I am very against the whole idea -Joyce Stillman, via Ithaca.com

2021 IN REVIEW

The year that promised everything and delivered, well, we’ll let you decide.

By Tanner Harding

Betty White died on the last day of 2021 — less than three weeks before she turned 100. If that doesn’t sum up this past year, what could? We entered 2021 hopeful — with mass vaccine distribution on the horizon, a return to normalcy seemed imminent. Then came delta. Followed by omicron. So, with another pandemic year under our belts, what have we learned? What can we take away? Well. I urge you to step away from Twitter, sign out of Facebook, and close out that CNN tab. Try not to think of the devastating tornadoes, the catastrophic climate change, the hospital rooms filling up with more COVID patients. Instead, look a little closer to home when reflecting on 2021. Remember your excitement as you skipped giddily into the Expo Center in Syracuse for your first COVID vaccine shot (just me?), think of the way you felt when you found out you were going to be an aunt or an uncle or a grandma or a grandpa, relish in the memory of your first family get together once you were finally all vaccinated, and sit with the gratefulness for healthcare workers who continue to give us their all.

To be frank, I doubt 2022 will be much different than 2021 or 2020. We’ll continue to face hardships and tragedy, sickness and loss. But maybe this year, we can be ready for it. Be ready to look for a little bit of good in every day, even when it can feel like the world is falling apart. Maybe it’s just being glad Wegmans had your favorite coffee creamer in stock, or you got a really nice photo of Stewart Park at sunset. It all counts.

Now, let’s take a look back at 2021 from Ithaca’s perspective…

JANUARY The year kicked off with change. Ithaca Police Chief Dennis Nayor announced his intent to retire in the spring and a handful of longtime Council and Legislature members announced they would not be running for re-election. The superintendent of Ithaca City School District Luvelle Brown also resigned but reversed his decision a few weeks later. Leslie Schill and Veronica Pillar announced they would be running for Anna Kelles’ seat on County Legislature in a special election after Kelles joined the State Assembly. The Health Department was also working hard in the new year to organize vaccination clinics for eligible people in the county.

Cornell returns to im person classes with massive testing effort. (Photo Casey Martin)

Vaccine clinic at the Ithaca Mall. (Photo Provided)

FEBRUARY As vaccines became available to wider groups of people, the county struggled with getting enough supply to meet the demand. However, health officials and experts continued to hold COVID Office Hours to answer questions about the vaccine. By the middle of the month, more than 6,700 people had been vaccinated. The Country Club of Ithaca was bought by Sean and Jennifer Whittaker, who changed the name to RaNic and opened it to the public.

MARCH Ithaca College announced plans to cut 116 positions, three departments and 17 undergraduate programs in accordance with its newly adopted “Shape of the College” plan. Schill won the special election for County Legislature, and the city hired Luis AguirreTorres as the first-ever sustainability director to help the city implement the Green New Deal. However, March was really the month of Reimagining Public Safety. Then County Administrator Jason Molino and Ithaca Mayor Svante Myrick announced a collaborative approach to revamp the Ithaca Police Department and the Tompkins County Sheriff’s Office. Much discussion and debate (and accusations of union busting) followed but ultimately both the Com-

Groundbreaking on the new Green St. Garage Conference center project. (Photo Casey Martin)

mon Council and County Legislature approved the plan by the end of the month.

APRIL Cornell kicked off the month by announcing students would be required to receive the COVID-19 vaccine before returning to campus for the fall semester. Meanwhile, 45% of the county had received a first dose of the vaccine by early April — things were looking up! As vaccination numbers grew, restrictions began to loosen. The county also conducted its one millionth COVID test, which is more than some states had tested at that point. The Tioga Street post office reached an agreement with the town of Ithaca to remain at its downtown location for at least the next five years. County Administrator Jason Molino announced he would be leaving his position in May to find a better work-life balance in Livingston County after leading the way through the pandemic since March 2020. The month ended with a rare (these days) celebratory ceremony by the Health Department to recognize 50,000 vaccinations administered in Tompkins County.

MAY More progress was made on the Reimagining Police Initiative, as both the city and county began working on establishing the Community Justice Center and the Sheriff’s Office and IPD announced they would be making changes to SWAT and CINT (critical incident negotiations team) in response to public conversations. The city began talking publicly about restructuring the city government, replacing the current mayor-council form of government with a city manager-council government, plus a mayor. Lisa Holmes, a then deputy county administrator, was named interim county administration after Molino’s departure. Work also got started in the city on deciding the fate of Inlet Island, as three developers vied for the opportunity to build. City voters approved ICSD’s $145 million budget and elected incumbents Nicole LaFave and Moira Lang and newcomer Kelly Evans to the Board of Education.

JULY

JUNE As people got vaccinated, restrictions loosened and businesses opened back up, Ithaca, along with the rest of the country, saw a labor shortage and businesses struggled to find enough employees. And speaking of vaccinations, we found out at a COVID Town Hall that Tompkins County had the second highest vaccination rate in the state, with the “Ithaca area” (nobody really seemed to know what that meant) ranking fifth best in the country. At one point in June, there were only eight active COVID cases in the entire county. Good times. The county solicited ideas on how to spend the $20 million they received from the federal government as COVID relief, and the city named former alderperson Eric Rosario as the lead of the Reimagining Public Safety task force. Also, for some reason, every time it got hot people got violent, so the city started seeing an uptick in violence as the weather warmed up. The local state of emergency was lifted by the Health Department as COVID cases dropped like a rock in early summer. Despite some damage early on this month due to intense wind during storms, Stewart Park was able to pull off its centennial celebration. Plus, the Tompkins County Public Library fully opened back up for the first time since the start of the pandemic. Hooray, normalcy! The presidents of both Ithaca College and Tompkins Cortland Community College announced their resignations this month within days of one another. With so few COVID cases to worry about, people turned their attention to what seemed to be a pretty substantial uptick in violent crime. Statistically, that didn’t turn out to be all that true, but the barrage of press releases about shootings and stabbings definitely made people feel uneasy. The Community Justice Center continues to move forward in July, with the job listings for a director and data analyst officially posted.

West End afordable housing on Cherry St. (Photo Casey Martin)

AUGUST Normalcy, we hardly knew ye. Cases start trending upward again (hello, delta variant) and Cornell and Ithaca College require masks on campus, while the Health Department reports the first COVID death since April and issues a health advisory to encourage mask wearing indoors. Despite that, ICSD (to the relief of many students and parents alike) said they planned to have all in-person classes for the upcoming school year, eliminating hybrid learning completely. The stormy, hot weather led to an increase in harmful algal blooms on Cayuga Lake, and people were encouraged to be careful while swimming. Businesses continued to shift and change as mask policies did the same — some required masks just for the unvaccinated, some required them for everyone, and some wanted to lose the masks altogether. Cornell grad (and Lansing native) Kyle Dake won an

Olympic bronze medal in Tokyo for wrestling, which was exciting. Ithaca Tenants Union proposed legislation to protect tenants from eviction, which the Planning and Economic Development Committee took on and began working on. Alderperson Stephen Smith announced his resignation, as he and his wife moved out of town.

SEPTEMBER Concern continued to grow around COVID again, and parents showed up to Board of Education meetings expressing concern about their younger children who couldn’t be vaccinated yet. Cases continued to skyrocket, with the county setting records (for now) on a seemingly daily basis for daily positive cases and overall total cases. However, due to high vaccination rates, severe disease continued to remain low. In more exciting news, Ithaca College announced the 2022 Cortaca Jug game would be held at Yankee Stadium — Bronx Bombers, am I right? The Planning Board approved a massive 321-unit apartment complex on E State Street, as part of the city’s effort to add more housing. Further in that vein, ground was broken on the conference center and

OCTOBER Boosters started becoming the talk of the town. As the delta variant spread rapidly, the Health Department encouraged eligible individuals to get boosted to better prevent severe disease as cases continued to rise. The leadership at the Farmers Market, and their architects, met with the Planning Board to discuss the redesign of the parking lot (goodbye gravel) and the new winterized building. Apple Harvest Festival returned with one of its biggest crowds ever — not even the delta variant could keep Ithacans from their apple cider donuts. A Cornell junior, Patrick Mehler, was announced as the fourth ward replacement for Stephen Smith. Tompkins County received $1.75 million from the state’s opioid lawsuit against drug companies blamed for the opioid epidemic. The conversation around Good Cause Eviction legislation continued and grew more heated as landlords and tenants voiced their opinions at meetings.

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NOVEMBER The Arthaus building opened for tenancy along the inlet, with 123 affordable units, 40 of which are dedicated to chronically unhoused youth ages 18-24. And in more good news, Ithaca became the first city in the United States to try and electrify all its buildings when the Common Council approved a plan that would see all 6,000 of the city’s buildings electrified. The Health Department turned its vaccine focus to kids, as the CDC authorized emergency use of the Pfizer COVID vaccine for individuals 5-11. Election results were tight in the District 8 County Legislature race, coming down to 20 votes between incumbent Mike Lane and Tom Corey. After an automatic recount, Lane won by just eight votes. Four new legislators, Travis Brooks, Veronica Pillar, Randy Brown and Greg Mezey were also elected, with the rest of the incumbents retaining their seats. Four new faces will also join Council, as Phoebe Brown, Jeffrey Barken, Jorge DeFendini and Robert Cantelmo all won their races.

DECEMBER Residents showed up (virtually) in droves to a public hearing about the town of Ithaca’s legislation to limit short-term rentals. People started throwing their hats in the ring for congress and state senate, despite the new district lines not yet being established. After 10 years without a contract, the city and police union finally came to an agreement that will run through the end of 2024. In other police news, Monalita Smiley was hired as the project director of the Community Justice Center, and will begin her role this month. The city of Ithaca also announced a guaranteed income project in collaboration with Mayors for Guaranteed Income that will see 110 caregivers in Ithaca receive $450 monthly for a year. The Good Cause Eviction legislation was put on pause as the city awaits a decision from the attorney general regarding similar legislation in Beacon, New York. It was this month that the latest variant, omicron, appeared in Tompkins County. The Health Department continued to encourage vaccination and boosters to protect against severe illness. Cases surged to their highest numbers ever, hitting over 2,600 at some point. Cornell entered alert level red for the first time, and things got pretty bad.