Patient care at Neurosurgery Services of CMA goes well beyond precision surgery at Cayuga Medical Center operating rooms and can include treating neck and back pain with physical therapy, pain management, exercise, and medications.
Most of the practice’s patients are seen for disorders of the spine and include lumbar and cervical issues. The conditions can be painful, but they are often effectively treated without surgery to end months of discomfort.
“A majority of patients with back or neck pain will respond to non-surgical treatment that may include over-the-counter anti-inflammatory medications, physical therapy, and activity modification,” says James Metcalf, MD, who leads the Neurosurgery Services of CMA team of healthcare providers.
Many patients come to Neurosurgery Services of CMA after being referred to the practice by their primary care physician. Other patients seeking relief from neck or back pain make a direct contact for a consultation appointment. The patient’s initial visit usually involves a comprehensive evaluation with Dr. Metcalf or one of the practice’s physician assistants, Erica Lawlor, Marlee Drumheller or Desiree Long from the Cayuga Spine Center. Many neurologic conditions have similar symptoms, and a thorough physical examination as well as an extensive review of the patient’s medical history is essential for Dr. Metcalf and his team to develop an effective care plan. It’s important for the care team to know the type of discomfort a patient has, how long they have had the pain or related symptoms, and what range of motion or activity limitations a patient has. Patients may also be asked about past health conditions such as herniated disks, arthritis, or previous injuries to the spine or back.
During the initial consultation, some patients may learn they need diagnostic testing. Imaging tests such as X-rays, CT scans or MRIs can help determine the condition causing the patient’s pain, and laboratory tests can disclose potential nerve disorders. If those tests are needed, a physician assistant coordinates the patient’s appointments and tracks the results which can also be posted for the patient on their confidential digital portal. (cayugahealth.org/patient-portal)
When a patient’s care plan is developed, several therapies are considered. Physical therapy is often recommended as the first technique to resolve back or neck pain. Desiree Long, PA, from the Cayuga Spine Center, evaluates the patient’s information to recommend a treatment plan such as physical therapy, massage, interventional pain management, exercise, or medication. Most patients find these therapies reduce their pain without surgery.
If non-surgical care does not relieve a patient’s pain, Dr. Metcalf may recommend surgery. When patients need surgery, the
experienced team at Neurosurgery Services of CMA guides them through the surgical process from preoperative evaluation, hospital care, and postoperative care, with the goal of returning to normal activity.
“When surgery is needed, our goal is to perform the best procedure to relieve patients’ symptoms and facilitate their neurological recovery. For patients with complex neurosurgical conditions, we can arrange for prompt evaluations with our network of subspecialists at large medical centers,” says Dr. Metcalf, who has practiced neurosurgery at Cayuga Health since 2013.
Dr. Metcalf uses advanced computer and imaging technology to diagnose spinal conditions in the operating room during surgery, and uses specially designed equipment to move tissue and muscles to access the affected area. The technology allows the surgeon to remove tissue to relieve the pressure on the spinal nerves or make repairs to improve the patient’s condition.
Dr. Metcalf has been practicing at Neurosurgery Services of CMA and Cayuga Health for 11 years and teaching neurosurgery for more than 25 years, most recently at the University of Rochester. After receiving his medical degree from the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, he did a general surgery internship at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, MD and a neurosurgery residency at the University of Tennessee in Memphis where he was also a clinical professor of neurosurgery for 19 years.
The care team at Neurosurgery Services of CMA is:
Marlee Drumheller, PA. She joined the practice in 2023 after obtaining a Master of Physician Assistant Sciences degree at Saint Francis University in Loretto, PA.
Erica Lawlor, PA. She has a certification from the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants and received her Master of Science in Physician Assistance Studies from Lemoyne College in Syracuse.
Desiree Long, PA. She joined the Spine Center at Cayuga Health in January 2022. She graduated from the master’s program for Physician Assistance Studies at Lemoyne College in Syracuse.
For more information on neurosurgical care at Cayuga Health and Cayuga Medical Associates Neurosurgery, or the Cayuga Spine Center, call (607) 269-0033
Neurosurgery Services of CMA is located at 905 Hanshaw Road Suite A, in Cayuga Heights.
Tompkins County has launched a new initiative aimed at reducing the amount of time it takes for emergency medical services (EMS) to reach residents in need across its jurisdiction. The l Rapid Response Medical Pilot Program, led by the Tompkins County Department of Emergency Response, officially launched on April 2 and hopes to follow through on that goal.
The primary objective of the Rapid Response Medical Pilot Program is to ensure swift and efficient EMS coverage throughout Tompkins County, particularly in rural areas facing challenges in response times and access to emergency medical care. Joe Millman, the EMS Program Manager at the Tompkins County Department of Emergency Response, emphasized the program’s commitment to addressing these critical gaps.
“We’re not here to replace any of the local agencies or volunteer agencies already in place,” Millman said. “What we’re here to do is help augment some of those gaps in our response times in our county, especially to those rural areas.”
Unlike traditional EMS initiatives, the Rapid Response Medical Pilot Program takes a collaborative approach that complements existing local agencies and volunteer services. The program operates with a dedicated team comprising fulltime, part-time, and per diem staff, totaling nine individuals.
Funding for the program has been sourced through the Tompkins County budget, reflecting the government’s commitment to investing in the health and safety of its residents. The allocation of resources, including vehicles and equipment, has been carefully planned to optimize response times and facilitate coordination with existing EMS providers.
The program currently has three vehicles on the road. According to Millman, “Right now we have two Jeep Cherokees and one Dodge Ram that are on the road.”
Reflecting on the program’s first week, Millman highlighted both successes and challenges. Despite initial hurdles, including delays in obtaining necessary state agency approvals, the program commenced operations efficiently. Millman commended the dedication of the program’s staff, saying, “Our crews have gone above and beyond...meeting our expectations, doing what we’ve asked them to do, reaching out to the public."
According to Millman, the program has responded to 16 EMS calls within the first four days of operation. The first call the program responded to was for a hip injury on April 2 around 9:30 a.m. During a recent Tompkins County Legislature meet-
ing, County Administrator Lisa Holmes said, “The take-away from this first call was that without this service, this person would have been alone on the ground in their house with a hip injury for 22 minutes until the transport unit arrived, so out of the gate, or at least with this example, it appears that the program is doing what it’s designed to do.” Tompkins County Legislature Chairman Dan Klein said that the rapid response team was able to get EMS personnel on the scene in just 7 minutes.
In response to questions about how the program will work Millman said, “If you [call 911] and live in one of our target response areas, your local fire department rescue will be dispatched [and] our units will be dispatched, as well as your transport ambulances will all be dispatched at the same time.” He continued saying that if the local fire department and ambulance team is able to respond on time, then
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(Ithaca, N.Y., April 11, 2024) – Tompkins County has announced that applications are open through May 15 for the 2025 City/County Community Agencies funding request process. Not-for-profit agencies serving the health and human services needs of the community are eligible to apply. The Human Services Coalition reviews applications and makes funding recommendations to the Tompkins County Legislature as part of an annual budget process. Funding made available through this process supports not-for-profit agencies that provide services and/or programming in
alignment with Tompkins County’s interests in addressing community needs. Agencies may apply for general operating support and/or time-limited program funding.
Applicants must demonstrate an alignment with County goals in their application, such as by identifying relevant County plans, stated interests or stated focus areas. They are encouraged to view resolutions of the Tompkins County Legislature, department pages on the Tompkins County website and the Human Services Coalition website for plans and initiatives. The total amount of available funding
15
is determined during development of the Tompkins County Budget. In 2024 community agencies received $1,687,099 in target funding, and $254,972 in one-time funding.
The application can be found online at: https://hsctc.org/applications
Applications are due on Wednesday, May 15. Agencies may submit for early review by May 8, more details are available in the application documentation.
For questions or inquires, contact: applications@hsctc.org or Phone: 607-273-8686 x 230.
QUESTION OF THE WEEK: WHAT DO YOU DAYDREAM ABOUT?
“Being
In response to the growing challenge of managing homeless encampments on city property, the City of Ithaca has announced the development of a comprehensive Encampment Response Protocol. This comes as more than 100 Ithaca residents face the risk of unsheltered homelessness as Code Blue protections expired on April 15.
As part of the protocol, the City is considering spending up to $150,000 to clean up the triangular-shaped property near Cecil A. Malone Drive and Six Mile Creek that has been polluted by homeless encampments. If the protocol is approved it will also allocate $40,000 to create an encampment response coordinator position to oversee the reporting and relocation process for encampments in lightly managed areas.
Developing a homeless encampment response plan has been the subject of intense debate in City Hall over the last few years. Several draft plans to manage homeless encampments in Ithaca have been recommended, but without an adequate plan for how to house homeless residents the prospect of removing them from their encampments without providing alternative living accommodations has faced intense public scrutiny.
In September 2023, the Common Council approved a pilot plan to create a sanctioned “green zone” encampment area in Southwest Park behind Lowes. The initial plan called for bringing mobile sanitary facilities with bathrooms and showers to the location to attract unhoused residents to the area where encampments will be allowed, but those facilities have not yet been provided.
Then, in December 2023, the Council approved a framework to manage homeless encampments on city-owned property after it was dropped from the earlier plan over concerns that it would criminalize homelessness. The framework will provide a roadmap for the City to follow as it develops a new strategy to respond to encampments in different City-owned areas, such as the triangular-shaped property near Cecil A. Malone Drive and Six Mile Creek that is owned by both the City and the railroad company.
Now, after receiving an official notice of violation from the Tompkins County
Health Department and a warning from the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) regarding environmental contamination and health hazard concerns relating to the waste from the encampment near Cecil A. Malone Drive flowing into Six Mile Creek, City Hall is once again discussing the development of a plan to clean and remediate the site and manage other encampments on City-owned property.
The notice of violation from the County doesn’t carry a financial penalty, but it does require that the city and railroad company work together to come up with a plan within 30 days to clean up and remediate the encampment site. The plan must include a timeline for cleaning up the site and a method for preventing encampments from reoccurring in the same location.
During a Common Council meeting on April 10, City Manager Deb Mohlenhoff provided a comprehensive overview of the city’s efforts to develop a new encampment response plan. Mohlenhoff said that the plan was designed to balance the needs of the unhoused population with those of the broader community and prioritize health, safety, and dignity while aiming to address the underlying issues driving homelessness.
The Common Council approved the framework for the plan on December 6, 2023. It was developed by an internal Encampment Response Team comprising representatives from the Ithaca Fire Department, Ithaca Police Department, Department of Public Works, Attorney’s
Office, Planning Division, Ithaca Youth Bureau, and the City Manager’s office.
Before we jump into an explanation of the encampment response plan, let’s take a look at the current state of homelessness in Ithaca. According to the 2023 Home Together Tompkins Plan, “At 34.3%, Tompkins County has the highest rate of unsheltered homelessness in rural NYS,” and “32% of previously unhoused residents in TC become unhoused again within 2 years.” Additionally, the Department of Social Services (DSS) takes 50-75% of your income for you to stay in a shelter, and requires, “previous addresses to call before you’re placed in shelter, even in cases of domestic violence.”
To make the situation more complicated, other support services like Family and Childrens services and The Alcohol and Drug Council are disappearing. According to the Ithaca Tenants Union member Angel DeVivo, “Family and Children’s Services opted this year not to renew their City and County outreach worker grants, cutting off the main source of outreach services for homeless Ithaca residents.” DeVivo added, “The Alcohol and Drug Council of Tompkins County is [also] ceasing operations, further reducing the available services for struggling people.”
With support services running thin the City hopes that this plan will provide a sense of stability by creating a system to
“I’m a teacher for ICSD and while I can’t speak for all employees, I know my words reflect the voices of many, many other teachers and staff within this district.
While the superintendent loves to paint this lovely, well- polished picture of how “students and staff are happy” I’m here to tell you that so, so many of us are not. In fact, we are tired of our voices not being heard. We are tired of our voices being silenced. We don’t work in a culture of love. Instead, we work in a culture that’s rooted in fear, retaliation and hostility. This proposed budget is yet one more way of attempting to pull the wool over the taxpayers, communities, staff, and students’ eyes in an attempt to get what he wants..... more money to spend frivolously without real concern for the students or staff. I am of the opinion that it is time for him to go. If you too feel this way, then you can go to the district’s web page, to the “let’s talk portal” and simply let the BOE know that
they shouldn’t renew his contract which is up at the end of this school year. ALL BOE members have a responsibility to listen and act in the best interest of the community but their decision relies heavily on hearing from you.” — Concerned Teacher
“You say the budget has been created with the community’s priorities in mind. No it hasn’t. It’s been created to appease the progressive ideology in Ithaca. Tompkins County homeowners can’t take much more of the tax and spend addiction that TCSD has had for quite some time now. Tompkins County has an aging population, how much longer can we push increased taxes burden upon a population that is not seeing an increase in income. I would encourage all taxpayers to vote no on this outrageous budget proposal. Residents should no longer be a blank check for out of control spending by ICSD.” — Rich Gourley
“The real question on the ballot is how stupid is the Ithaca taxpayer? They boast they are keeping the tax levy the same while they increase the assessments to raise taxes. This isn’t what the Ithaca resident was expecting. They were expecting the tax to remain the same and spending held steady or decreased. So now once the smoke cleared they found it was only blown up their arses to increase spending and raise taxes. You get what you vote for regardless of what you have been promised.” — John Butler
“Ithaca has become a clown world. I want to leave this place so badly. Superintendent Brown has ruined ICSD. Academic achievement has decreased. The curriculum is dumbed down, woke, and infused with anti-whitism. Brown wants to rebuild the bus garage and replace all 88 school buses with expensive unreliable electric ones. He already wasted millions ruining the bathrooms in order to make them genderless. Now it is even easier for students to vape and have sex in there. I’m dreading having my daughter attend IHS. Elect a new School Board to oust Brown. He will never resign since he has to pay a lot of child support to his ex.” — Richard Ballantyne
“Yes to John Butler’s comment “You get what you vote for” Early vote — download your ballot at the ICSD website — Ballots due 5/21 by 5 p.m. (in person Vote 5/21 noon — 9 p.m. Polling places on websites. To consider: enrollment has decreased, Governor’s budget to reduce state aid #1.1M, state legislature wants to restore those cuts, a flow of info on the NextDoor App. A few questions : If more state aid will the ICSD decrease tax rate? ICSD has a $6M deficit why? How were the CoVid funds used? One last request: go to Ithaca School District website to “Let’s Talk” and report your concerns. Get active.” — Lee Rogers
“And will someone please explain to me how it’s not a conflict of interest that the ICSD board president (SEB) is an employee of Ithaca College in which Brown is a member of the board? Is nobody else skeptical of this setup?” — Concerned Teacher
“I am writing to express my concern about the proposed ICSD budget for the next school year. To pay for the budget requires the tax levy to increase by over 12%. Although property assessments are increasing, that does not mean that a homeowner has additional income to pay the taxes. I am a retiree on a fixed income. How am I to pay these additional taxes? My options are either to pay out of my savings or move to a school district where the taxes are more reasonable such as Lansing. Everybody talks about the lack of affordable housing in Ithaca and here the school board is contributing to the problem. The 12% increase in the tax levy is the largest such increase for any school district in New York State where the average increase is 2-3%. The school board
$1,500,000 will go toward a new joint-use Airport Rescue and Fire Fighting/Snow Removal Equipment building to replace the current facility and to adequately house the airport’s emergency response and snow removal vehicles. Tompkins County thanks Senator Schumer and Gillibrand for their efforts to help fund this project.
Staff at Buffalo Street Books have revealed that the bomb threat made in downtown Ithaca on April 7 specifically targeted the bookstore for its support of LGBTQ+ events like the Drag Story Hour.
Taughannock Falls will be illuminated to honor the 100th anniversary of the formation of the New York State Park System on, April 18, 19 and 20th. This event, co-hosted by the New York State Parks and the Tompkins Chamber and Visit Ithaca , will be viewable from the Taughannock Falls Overlook each evening between 8:30 p.m. and 10:00 p.m.
Seen
The Department of Emergency Response (DoER) will mark the second full week of April (April 14-20) as National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week. As part of NPSTW, staff at the Department of Emergency Response will be recognized for their service, with the presentation of the Director’s Award and Dispatcher of the Year Award on April 19th.
IF YOU CARE TO RESPOND to something in this column, or suggest your own praise or blame, write news@ithacatimes. com, with a subject head “U&D.”
Did the solar eclipse live up to your expectations? Was all the hype worth it?
32 . 7 % Yes? it was awesome!
56.4% No, not worth the hype.
10 9 % I don’t care.
N ext W eek ’s Q uestio N :
Should the City widen downtown sidewalks to increase accessibility and add plantings?
Visit ithaca.com to submit your response.
Ithaca residents have raised environmental safety concerns regarding the development of the Lake Street Townhome project near Ithaca Falls and the former Ithaca Gun Factory site, which has a history of contamination. The area has been the focus of a Brownfield Cleanup program for decades, but the project’s developers say that contamination from the site will not impact the townhome project.
The project is being developed by DMG Investments and aims to build 16 three-story townhouses at 261 Lake Street. The project will consist of three and four-bedroom units made available at market-rate. The project site sits downhill to the southeast of the former gun factory site at 121-125 Lake Street. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), ground surface samples from the gun factory site have “yielded lead concentrations ranging from 251 parts per million (ppm) to 215,000 ppm.” The EPA has also documented arsenic contamination “from non-detected to 3,000 ppm in surface soil samples.”
Local activist and president of environmental advocacy group Toxics Targeting, Walter Hang, has been a vocal opponent of the townhome project and has said that contamination from the gun factory site could be spreading into the site of the townhome project.
Hang submitted a detailed public request urging the City of Ithaca Planning and Development Board to withhold all approvals for the project until comprehensive investigations and remediation efforts are conducted, but the planning board voted 5-0 to approve the negative declaration and recreational river permit application to allow the project to move forward during a meeting on March 26. The planning board made the decision to advance the project
based on responses from the project’s developers who said that contamination from the old gun factory is not spreading to the site of the townhome project.
The planning board’s vote to approve the negative declaration means they determined that the townhome project will not result in any significant adverse environmental impacts based on the information provided. A negative declaration is an essential step in the environmental review process under the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQR).
In a public statement, Hang emphasized the need for strict compliance with all applicable New York State and Federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) groundwater and soil cleanup regulations. He highlighted the presence of Tetrachloroethylene (also known as Perchloroethylene) soil gas vapor at alarming levels, exceeding the New York State Department of Health indoor air guideline by over 11-fold. He stressed the carcinogenic and neurodegenerative risks associated with Tetrachloroethylene, which is commonly used as a metal degreaser, industrial solvent, and dry cleaning agent.
Hang’s concerns extend beyond Tetrachloroethylene, as he pointed out the inadequacy of efforts to delineate and remediate the full scope of contamination at the proposed project site. He emphasized the absence of proposals for mitigation measures such as soil vapor barriers or subslab depressurization systems to prevent the migration of toxic soil gas vapors into proposed structures. Additionally, Hang highlighted the conversion of Tetrachloroethylene into Trichloroethylene (TCE), a known carcinogen and neurodegenerative agent, further amplifying the health risks associated with the contamination.
Hang said the high-level TCE contamination remains unresolved at the former
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the rapid response program team will be alerted that they are no longer needed and be made available for other service calls. However, Millman added that if the fire department and ambulance crews aren’t able to respond first, “Then [the rapid response team] will continue to provide that initial EMS care and assist the ambulance when they get there.”
Additionally, Millman said that even EMS providers in locations that don’t fall within the program’s initial target area can still request help from the rapid response team. According to Millman, “if they are overwhelmed with the number of calls that they currently have, if they need additional resources on the scene, they absolutely can request for us to assist them as well.”
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gun factory site and could create a pathway for toxic contamination to migrate to residential areas, including the proposed project site. He backed his claims with extensive data illustrating groundwater migration and identifying pollutants such as TCE, Tetrachloroethylene, and Cis-1, 2-dichloroethene (CDCE) at concentrations far exceeding regulatory limits.
Furthermore, Hang underscored the lack of systematic monitoring and characterization of contamination plumes near the former Ithaca Gun factory site. According to Hang, despite documented evidence of toxic chemical contamination in soil gas vapor and groundwater, comprehensive cleanup actions have yet to be implemented, leaving residents vulnerable to potential health hazards.
In response to contamination concerns, the project’s developers explained that while the gun factory site and the adjacent Ithaca Falls natural area have documented histories of contamination above acceptable levels, contamination at the site of the townhome project was below acceptable levels in all but one area. Additionally, they said contamination from the gun factory site has been shown to spread to the northeast, away from the townhome site.
Regarding Hang’s concerns about toxic soil gas vapors, developers have said that soil gas samples have not indicated any level of contamination requiring “more than a vapor barrier to prevent potential risk from volatile organic compounds that might migrate to the site.” Developers continued saying that past studies of the area have shown, “There is no evidence that contamination has migrated to the site from the Ithaca Gun property except in the northeast corner of the site, which will not be disturbed.”
Still, developers have said they will take precautions to limit the potential spread of contamination. According to the response from developers, “as a best management practice, the installation of a vapor barrier beneath any proposed structures was recommended to be considered, in order to prevent any potential vapor intrusion migration concerns. Additionally, the previously submitted Soil Management Plan lays out procedures for ongoing monitoring for contamination and includes procedures for handling and disposal of any contaminated substances.
Despite the response from developers, Hang urged the Planning and Development Board to refrain from approving the proposed project until all contamination concerns are adequately addressed. “I respectfully request that the Board not approve the proposed project in any way because according to the extensive public and private data, toxic contamination is identified directly under as well as around the site that warrants comprehensive investigation and remediation,” Hang stated.
Hang outlined his intention to escalate the matter by reaching out to Governor Hochul and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to request further action, including the addition of the proposed project site and the former Ithaca Gun factory site to hazardous waste disposal registries and federal Superfund cleanup lists.
“The time has come for the City of Ithaca to resolve all the toxic concerns I have documented herein once and for all,” Hang asserted. “Had earlier Mayors and Common Council representatives heeded my requests for comprehensive cleanup action, these problems could have been resolved decades ago.”
As President of Cornell’s College Democrats chapter, our organization’s mission is to civically engage our peers on campus and spotlight policy issues that may impact our student bodies. We’ve campaigned for local candidates, registered young voters and advocated for critical reforms on campus.
For college students, prioritizing physical and mental health is perhaps not always at the top of our minds as we balance exams, extracurriculars and a social life, but the importance of having secure access to health resources cannot be understated.
Consequently, I am deeply concerned by former President Donald Trump’s pledge to terminate the Affordable Care Act (ACA) if re-elected President in 2024. Doing so would have disastrous effects for the over 50,000 young New Yorkers insured by the ACA.
According to a recent report released by healthcare policy group Protect Our Care and Young Invincibles, the ACA provides distinct protections for young Americans that would not be guaranteed otherwise. College Dems recently held an event with NY-19 Congressional candidate Josh Riley to discuss these findings and the importance of protecting and expanding the Affordable Care Act. Prior to the ACA becoming law in 2010, one in three adults aged 19 to 25 were uninsured, and there were significant racial and ethnic disparities among uninsured young adults.
Healthcare coverage for college-aged Americans has dramatically improved thanks to the ACA — providing crucial access to a variety of services, including coverage for emergency room visits, contraceptives, STI and cancer screenings and counseling for mental health and substance abuse. Just last year, a record-breaking 4 million young adults enrolled in the ACA marketplace. Not only does the ACA guarantee that Americans under 26 can stay on their parent’s insurance plans but also protects over 50% of young Americans who live with pre-existing conditions.
Affordable and accessible health insurance is now more important than
ever for our generation. The National Education Association recently surveyed over 90,000 college students across the country about their mental health. The findings were harrowing: 44% of respondents reported symptoms of depression, 37% said they experienced anxiety and 15% shared that they suffered from suicidal ideation.
Mental health concerns are a prevailing and ongoing point of concern on Cornell’s campus. As essential as it is to amplify mental health and hold space for these tough conversations, it is also necessary to protect access to crucial prescriptions and counseling services — something the ACA works to cover and defend.
It is imperative that we actively work to defend the ACA, especially as Donald Trump, who is now the official Republican Presidential nominee, doubles down on his pledge to repeal the ACA — despite enrollment reaching historic levels.
I am thankful for New York State Senator Lea Webb’s (D) advocacy on this issue. The Senator, who represents both Ithaca and Binghamton as part of New York’s 52nd District, recently rallied in support of the ACA and voiced her support for protecting its services in City & State.
But we need this same leadership on a federal level. I’m calling on Binghamton and Ithaca’s Congressional Representative Marc Molinaro (R) to stand up for the ACA and refuse to be complicit in supporting this dangerous and extreme proposal, which would rip healthcare away from New Yorkers who need it most.
It’s now more important than ever for our college communities to recognize the significance of the ACA and the numerous ways it protects issues and services for our generation. Our voices are our greatest tools we have to show lawmakers that young voters view healthcare access is a key priority. The ACA is under threat, and we must hold our lawmakers accountable.
Nick Weising is the President of Cornell University’s College Democrats chapter.
Cheapism.com, a website dedicated to finding inexpensive consumer goods, put forth a list of “25 Quirky Small Towns in America”. What that has to do with inexpensive consumer goods is a question left to the inexpensive consumer, but what should gall every red-blooded Ithacan is the fact that we are #23 on the list. Moosewood, Namgyal Monastery, and Gourdlandia were cited as the basis of our quirkiness, but Leiper’s Fork, Tennessee (some antique shops) and Mount Airy, North Carolina (the ‘real-life Mayberry’) outranked us. Ridiculous.
Fortunately, our city government elected to fight back. Simeon D. Witt, Ithaca’s Minister of Municipal Rankings, hasn’t risen to his present level of prominence by taking “no” for an answer. No sooner was Ithaca awarded the number 23 slot on the nation’s Quirkiest Town roster than Witt was on the phone to Bea T. Dubbs, the quirky small town editor at Cheapism.com. In an effort to prevent deepfake communication, all communication of any kind at the city cabinet level must now be made via a secure medium, and be witnessed and transcribed. The following phone conversation will surely silence those who complain about how tax dollars are spent around here.
Bea T� Dubbs: Dubbs here. Go. Simeon D� Witt: It’s Simeon Witt, again, Ms. Dubbs. I hope you got our gift basket! Some pretty off the wall things, huh? Like really unusual stuff. That’s just us here in Ithaca! Have you had a chance to look over our 2024 application package for moving up the quirkiest town list?
BTD: Now, Mr. Witt, as I’ve told you, it’s not our policy to discuss pending lists.
SDW: I know. It’s just that, well, we came in 23rd last year and we’re just not a 23rd place city. Why, we’ve been named Most Livable College Town, number one
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innocuously states that the tax rate has stayed the same, but any increase in the property assessment will result in higher taxes. I cannot support this proposed budget, I will vote, and I will encourage others to vote.” — Jim M
in Workforce Growth, Smartest City, Best College Town, Best City for a Weekend Getaway and City Most Likely to Blow Its Own Horn. That’s a real thing.
BTD: That’s all well and good, Mr. Witt, but what does that have to do with your city’s quirkiness?
SDW: It’s all in our application and the affidavits. We’ve been a certified eccentric municipality since 1959. I sent you the clippings. We were odd before it was cool! What’s Helen, Georgia got? Confederate flags? A few hillbillies? Pssh!
BTD: We sent a reporter down there, and she saw people eating grits. Of their own free will.
SDW: Hm. Well, I do see your point there. What about Cassadega, Florida, though? The “psychic capital of the world? And it’s not fair to include Forida. Cassadega’s probably not even the quirkiest town in Velusia County.
BTD: Mr. Witt …
SDW: In Ithaca, we banned vehicular traffic for several blocks to create a pedestrian shopping area.
BTD: Lots of cities have done that.
SDW: Yeah, well do they have a pot dispensary and a cult selling waffles there? We do!
BTD: Well, yes, I saw that. It is unusual.
SDW: It’s downright quirky! There’s more. Our most popular house of worship is a grocery store. We have our own currency. We have a flood control channel that’s only six inches deep. We maintain and study a substantial herd of aging hippies …
BTD: All right, Mr. Witt. These are all good points. I promise to give your materials every consideration.
SDW: That’s all I ask, Ms. Dubbs!
And now, the waiting …
“With all this talk about high school taxes, why is the administration set to get a 10 percent raise? Why don’t they take a pay cut if they care about the students and school. I could live like a king with the amount they get paid to sit around and decide how to spend our money.”
— Jason PeterAgeneration ago, the notion that you could pull out your phone and look up the history of any house in Ithaca would have seemed sort of magical. Similarly, being able to track demographic patterns city-wide or in certain neighborhoods with a few clicks of the mouse might have been the capacity of some future technology. Yet both those scenarios are available right now thanks to our home-grown history research tool: HistoryForge. HistoryForge is an innovative history project created right here in Ithaca in 2016 by the The History Center in Tompkins County. It’s an open-source digital platform combining maps, archival records, city directories, historical photographs, and census information to make comprehensive historical data about specific properties readily available online. What that means is that all the information available from those sources is now easily available in a single place.
Ithaca is blessed with a respectable wealth of historical data about its properties and residents. We have a pretty complete set of city directories dating back to the mid-1800s that detail both where people lived and who (or what) was at every address. There are sets of maps, including very detailed insurance maps that cover every structure in the city. Until not that long ago, researching required a trip to The History Center’s archives or the Tompkins County Library. That wasn’t necessar-
ily a hardship, especially given how pleasant and helpful Donna Eschenbrenner, the History Center’s archivist, is. More recently, most of those sources have been digitized, making it possible to research properties and people on a laptop, in the comfort of your living room. Still, it could be a painstaking and time-consuming process, finding and looking at each document individually. Census records, particularly, are not always available online and are generally more difficult to access. What HistoryForge has done is put all of that data in one easily-accessible, interactive place.
Developed at The History Center, HistoryForge began in 2016 as the brainchild of Bob Kibbee, a retired Cornell librarian specializing in maps, manuscripts, census data, and geospatial information. His vision was of a platform that combined demographic U.S. census data with the famously-detailed historic Sanborn Fire Insurance maps. He set to work with David Furber, a software engineer with a doctorate in History, and they built the prototype for HistoryForge. Using volunteers from The History Center, who transcribed census records for the City of Ithaca, and local seed money from the Dryden Mutual Insurance Company, the project was off and running. The goal from the start was to create an open-source application that could be used by any community in the country. That became a reality when The History Center was awarded
a Public Engagement with Historical Records Grant from the National Historical Publications & Records Commission (NHPRC) of the National Archives, which advanced HistoryForge from an Ithacabased project into a platform which could be replicated in other communities. A National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) grant allowed for further expansion of the program and the development of new programming features.
The vast majority of the transcription and data entry for the information in HistoryForge is collected through volunteer work. On a recent Saturday afternoon, in the roomy second-floor conference room of The History Center on the Commons, a dozen or so volunteers were hard at work doing just that, guided by the steady hand of HistoryForge project director Eve Snyder. “We really want to have people become invested in the project, not just for the hard work of transcribing, but to encourage them to take an active role in their community’s history,” she said. “The project would be impossible without the volunteers,” she continued. “Since 2016, we’ve had over 700 people working on it.” Snyder herself became involved with HistoryForge first as a volunteer, after finding out about it by chance at the Ithaca Festival in 2018. She was hired as project coordinator the following year, becoming the project’s director after Kibbee’s passing in 2022, adding,
“I could not have asked for a better mentor than Bob Kibbee.”
The details of how to volunteer are available on The History Center’s website, and the project is always looking for help. Generally, there are twice-monthly community transcription sessions, at which volunteers work together to decipher and transcribe the censuses. People are often tasked with working in pairs, as a lot of the sources are handwritten, and a backup pair of eyes reduces the likelihood of mistakes or misinterpretation. The work is granular in scope. House by house, person by person. Basically, every house is its own research project.
“As important as the finished product is, the volunteer experience is a critical part of the project, too,” said Snyder. “They really get a sense of community as they work with others, and it’s an opportunity to deepen their knowledge about Ithaca’s history and the people who lived here.”
The maps page of the platform is particularly interesting. Using a program called Map Warper, which allows users to take historic maps and ‘match’ them to the more precise maps of today, those Sanborn Insurance maps from the turn of the twentieth century were overlaid on existing Google maps (a process with the faintly ridiculous name “georectification”) to create a navigable document.
An additional feature, being explored more recently, is the addition of what’s called
a ‘person record’ — information about individuals gleaned from obituaries, newspaper articles and similar documents. It allows users to dive deeper and provide more context about the lives of the residents.
So now, as you’re walking around Ithaca, if you see a house or a building that catches your eye, you can pull out your phone and learn about the building and the people who lived there. Thanks to a grant from the South Regional Library Council, photos from the 1950s are available from Historic Ithaca’s tax assessment collection. As intriguing and fun as that is, though, HistoryForge is exciting for the possibilities it now provides for more academic research, too.
HistoryForge gives genealogists and scholars the ability to easily use complete census and map data to look at shifts in immigration, migration, industry, and employment, and to learn about the individuals and families involved. Social scientists have always been keyed into the abundance of demographic information about our communities and our nation in historical census records. Yet, for most people, access to historic censuses is limited to genealogy websites where they can only view the census one person and one page at a time, and older census records can often be difficult to read or interpret.
Ben Sandberg is the Executive Director at The History Center in Tompkins Coun-
ty. “HistoryForge is a fantastic tool to understand homes, neighborhoods, and communities,” he said. “It’s more than just a ‘look-up-my-house’ platform. Sophisticated analysis is possible. We were interested right off the bat with how we could track working class flight from the Fall Creek neighborhood.” Indeed, a quick survey of random Fall Creek homes in 1900 revealed ownership by cabinet-makers, store clerks, cigar factory workers, and tailors. These days, the median house price in Fall Creek is $365,000, and it’s not unusual to find a house once owned by a bank teller to go for considerably more than that.
Research like that is possible by using the filters on the platform. The database can be viewed in different sections: one for all the buildings represented at one point or another in the project and one section for each census year. A census page can provide all sorts of information, including occupations, where people lived, and family structures. The census data pages can be easily filtered and searched by any of the parameters recorded in those census years. For example, you could search for all the households with foreign-born residents in 1900, or all the African Americans in the city in that census year. The results can be viewed by address or projected on an interactive map where every listed address can be clicked on and viewed. Those results can
also be compared with similar searches in earlier or later years.
In recent years, HistoryForge has begun to expand beyond the City of Ithaca. Under Snyder’s guidance, and with the help of local history enthusiasts, it’s been spreading into the townships of Tompkins County. “Mapping the data in rural areas is a lot more challenging,” explained Snyder. “In a lot of areas, there weren’t street addresses until the middle of the twentieth century, and that makes determining the current location of the historical census data difficult. We’ve been using local knowledge as a tool — using what local people can remember about where their parents, grandparents and relatives lived, as well as things like road names and locations. We are always looking for people to help with that.”
Just as exciting is the fact that other communities have reached out and are experimenting with innovative ways to use HistoryForge. The platform is available for download and installation on the open-source repository GitHub, though assistance has been rendered by The History Center. In some larger cities, they are more focused on smaller areas, like neighborhoods. An example is the University of New Orleans, which is studying the Iberville and Tremé-Lafitte neighborhoods to examine the effects of urban renewal proj-
Tompkins HistoryForge now has over 130,000 census records, 8,100 building records, 82,000 person records, 6,000 photographs and 20 historical map layers
ects. Other communities, like Elmira and Auburn are taking the more comprehensive, city-wide approach pioneered by Ithaca. HistoryForge currently has six institutional partners testing the platform in New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Louisiana.
“We’re a local, regional museum, and it’s rare for us to have such an impact nationally,” said Sandberg. “It’s exciting to have such an influence beyond our local mission.”
So far, funding for the project has been grant-based. Grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the National Historical Publications & Records Commission of the National Archives (NHPRC) have allowed the program to grow and expand. In awarding a major grant to HistoryForge in 2022, the NEH announced special recognition for the project and selected it to receive additional funding through it’s a More Perfect Union initiative. Tompkins HistoryForge now has over 130,000 census records, 8,100 building records, 82,000 person records, 6,000 photographs and 20 historical map layers. It’s a user-friendly platform. Historic Ithaca created a how-to video on youtube that can walk anyone through the process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjOy lnPDnNE&list=PLoz4lGKRiTuJVDmoi1 Hx60-mKoN4UxZjh&index=11
To research buildings and houses on your phone, go to Tompkins.history.net, click on ‘The Forge’ to get to the maps page, (enable location services on your phone if it’s turned off) and HistoryForge will show you the buildings near you. Just click on a dot to open the building preview, and the address to open the building record. It’s easier than it sounds.
The History Center in Tompkins County is a pioneer in creating an online infrastructure for bringing linked historical information to both casual users and academic researchers. It’s been and will continue to be a project built on the work of volunteers creating a record of their own community. It’s also very much a work in progress, and volunteers are always more than welcome.
Afew weeks ago, I mentioned a dozen or so young women who came up through Ithaca’s youth, modified and varsity lacrosse programs, and offered a glimpse into some of their collegiate careers. One former Little Red player — Ithaca College attack Maddie Hall — has really come into her own as a key player for the Bombers.
Coming off a strong sophomore season in which Hall found the net for 24 goals (she assisted on 11 more), the junior is having another solid year. Thus far, she has had four multi-goal games, and her efforts have contributed to the Bombers exceptionally strong record. At this writing, Ithaca is 11-1 overall, and is sporting an unblemished 7-0 record in Liberty League play.
In the Bombers’ most recent contest, RPI scored first, hoping to hang the first “L” on Ithaca’s conference record, but a 7-goal explosion by the Bombers extinguished that hope and set the tone for the rest of the game. It would end with Ithaca winning 20-5, looking strong as the team heads into another Liberty League roadtrip weekend, facing off against Vassar and Bard.
I wrote in this column a couple weeks ago that the Cornell baseball team seemed very comfortable playing on their new field. The Big Red — especially sophomore outfielder Caden Wildman — also apparently likes playing at Tommy Lasorda Field in Philadelphia, where the team took two of three games against pre-season Ivy League favorite Penn. The two victories (in the three-game series) sent Cornell home
with an 8-4 Ivy record, the team’s best 12-game conference start since 2012.
Wildman put together the kind of back-to-back performances he will likely tell his grandkids about. In Sunday’s rubber match, the visitors were down 9-7 with two outs and the bases loaded. Wildman smoked a line drive into left field that eluded the diving outfielder to clear the bases and put the Big Red up for good.
It is safe to speculate that had the bases not been loaded, Penn might have chosen not to pitch to Wildman. The day before, Wildman hit not one, but two grand slams in game two of the series, making him the first player in the 153-year history of Cornell baseball to accomplish that feat. He had another base hit to make him three-for-six on the day, while teammate John Quinlan added four hits, including a triple, and also scored four times.
Cornell will host Yale in a double-header on Saturday.
Sometimes, even the most finely-tuned machines need to go out of service to be repaired.
Such is the case with Cornell wrestler Vito Arujau, who announced recently that he will not be competing on the biggest of stages.
Finally, condolences to the Dake family, as Doug Dake has passed at 62. A fine athlete himself, Doug — along with his wife, Jodi — raised three children, Kyle, Corey and Kristin, and were enjoying being grandparents as well. Ithaca
Arujau, who won his second consecutive NCAA individual title at 133 pounds last month was seeded at the top of the food chain to earn a spot on the U.S. Olympic team. Vito — who also won the World Senior Freestyle Championship — was doing his best to prepare for the Olympic Trials (to be held at State College, PA.), but recently announced that it would be necessary for him to take some time off to heal from the injuries that have piled up over the course of his grueling schedule. Also, the demands of dropping about 7 pounds to make weight to wrestle at the Olympic weight class of 57 kg (125.6 pounds) added more stress to his already over-taxed body, and alas, enough was enough. At only 24, Vito has a lot of mat time ahead of him.
Feeling oppressed by the endless grey and rain of our Ithaca spring? The perfect antidote is an evening of belly laughs — abundantly provided by the current comedy at The Kitchen Theatre. It’s pure opéra bouffe, without the music.
“The Liar” is David Ives’ 2010 adaptation of “Le Menteur” by classical French playwright Pierre Corneille, who in turn was reworking a play by Alarcón. Ives also adapted two other French works and has written numerous comic pieces; he’s perhaps most well-known for “All in the Timing” and “Venus in Fur.”
One distinctive aspect of this current production: it marks a fruitful collaboration between Ithaca College’s Department of Music, Theatre and Dance (the cast, crew, director and designers) and the Kitchen Theatre (with its ever-intimate stage). Acting professor Dean Robinson ably directs a highly energetic cast of 13, who swarm all over the small playing space. The show’s in the round, or rather, the rectangle, with a few rows of seats flanking the usual sides and back of the theatre — so the lively action is up close.
Oliver Canales Greenwood’s set is open and minimal, with moveable old-style street lamps, suitcases, and trunks, the latter sometimes draped with tacky green plastic carpeting to evoke shrubbery. (Multiple scene changes become mini comic ballets, as ensemble members swan through, gaily shifting props.) The stage floor is a painted map of city streets, and the musical interludes — Edith Piaf and typical bistro music (courtesy of sound designer Morgan Buker) — remind us we’re in Paris, in some other century (supposedly 1643, but who’s counting?).
Cady Loeb’s appealing costumes vaguely suggest “an earlier time,” which is good
by David Ives, directed by Dean Robinson.
Starring Will Ingram, Max Von Kolnitz, and ensemble An Ithaca College production
Kitchen Theatre, 417 W. State/MLK, Jr. St., Ithaca April 17-20 at 8:00 p.m.
Tickets online at kitchentheatre.org or call the box office at (607) 272-0570
enough — so long as we recognize white western aristocrats, errant sons, savvy misses, and clever servants, the stage is sufficiently set. The absurd plot involves mistaken and unknown identities, false and true romance, paternal expectations and youthful aberrations, and lots and lots of lying. Newly arrived in Paris, Dorante, an irresponsible young gentleman, is eager to taste its bounty but even more eager to impress — with endless hysterical fabulations. (His inventiveness throughout thematically suggests creative genius and the marvelous “lie” of fiction itself.)
A down-and-out lad, Cliton, worms himself into Dorante’s adventures as his valet. They’re a splendid pair: the master can’t stop contriving, while the servant is cursed with painful honesty. Dorante pursues a lass whose name and identity he mistakes; her own spurned lover goes ballistic; and Cliton is confounded by her maid, who alternately flirts with and furiously slaps him. And Dorante’s distinguished dad, Geronte, is determined to marry him off — but to whom, exactly, is the kerfuffle of this comedy.
The heart of the show is the dynamic between the two youths. Max Von Kolnitz dazzles us (and Dorante himself) with his energy, charm, and persistence in prevarication. No tale is too tall for him to spin; he not only concocts exploits but minute details to accompany them. Pressed by his father to wed, Kolnitz’s hyper-articulate Dorante even contrives a wife and lo, her pregnancy.
Woeful and self-doubting, slender Will Ingram is his robust, assured master’s perfect counter. All the actors here use excellent physicality to create humor, but Ingram is the most expressive — every squirm and shock is delightful. When he leaps into another actor’s arms like a frightened child, it’s brilliantly funny, and a second later he’s in another pose.
The speed of this farce is of course part of the pleasure, one misadventure tumbling in after another. And the entire cast’s energy is exceedingly high, with a great deal of
Icatch up with Lavinia Reid as she is loading set pieces into a Uhaul on Sunday morning. She’s getting ready to motor up from Pennsylvania to be at Ithaca’s State Theatre by 6 that evening to begin putting Ithaca Ballet’s spring offering, The Little Mermaid, onstage.
The Ithaca Ballet is run by Lavinia’s sister Cindy Reid. Lavinia is a go-to choreographer for the troupe. Local families enjoy her version of The Nutcracker annually (and several families have grown up dancing in it.).
The Little Mermaid is performed by senior dancer Maria Valencia Alvarez; the Prince is guest artist Laurence Gonzalez; Neptune is guest alumnus Patrick Ward, the Sea Witch is Dhiya Shea and the Lead
Temple Girl is Elliana Gibb. Tickets are available at www.stateofithaca.com.
Lavinia calls it a passion project—not only does it feature her choreography, but she has designed the costumes and composed the music. It was first performed by the Chambersburg Ballet Theater, founded by Ms. Reid in 1999, and led by her until her retirement last year.
Based on the Hans Christian Anderson story, some of it will be familiar from the Disney version. “But I connect the dots to the backstory,” in which the Prince thinks he has been rescued from drowning by a girl from the temple on the island where the mermaid deposited him. This girl is the Princess that his parents wish him to marry. In Act 2 the Little Mermaid (having asked for the Sea Witch’s potion) emerges from the water on human legs. She is brought to the
Prince and faints. Then the two of them “do a very understated pas de deux, because she is just stepping on her human legs for the first time. She can't lift her legs and do all the virtuosic things that a ballerina would do as a princess in a ballet.”
In Lavinia’s version, the Sea Witch lures the Temple Princess to the sea, drowns her and possesses her body. “It’s very spooky in that regard.”
“Later on…we see that she is [actually] the Sea Witch, and there’s a big battle of the Sea Witch and the Mermaids… It's done in black light and its very cool, because you can just see all these swirling colors. The Sea Witch comes out in this ring of fire... She ultimately is impaled on a piece of the shipwreck which she caused—you know, like Karma coming back to haunt her—and off she goes, carried off in this on this wave of fire.
“We have a happy ending. We see the beautiful sea people behind looking up
through the water at the land people, and there's an exciting moment where it goes from the bottom of the sea, and black light, and them rejoicing, … and then by magic, it turns into the Temple girls all rejoicing [as] the people join them.
For Lavinia, the making of the ballet (she started it in 2008 and finished it in 2009) “was great, a passionate, wonderful time. I was in love, an on again off again relationship with this guy who was a professional athlete—Oh, my God! …I wrote the shipwreck scene after a really bad time in my love life…
“I really use the passion of love and wanting to have something beautiful, lasting and permanent in my own life into the music of this ballet, and I’m very, very proud of this. This is something I can present to any company.”
Premiered with a live orchestra, including
The Park Center for Independent Media (PCIM) at Ithaca College has announced the winners of the 2024 Izzy Award, honoring outstanding achievements in independent media. Named after the renowned dissident journalist I. F. “Izzy” Stone, the award recognizes individuals and organizations for their commitment to holding power accountable and uncovering truths.
The award ceremony will take place at 6pm on April 23, and will honor the remarkable contributions of this year’s winners to independent media. From amplifying marginalized voices to exposing systemic injustices, these journalists and organizations embody the spirit of Izzy Stone’s legacy. Recipients span a diverse range of topics, from economic justice and environmental devastation to police malpractice and the Palestinian resistance against Israeli occupation.
This year’s judges, including renowned media scholars and practitioners, evaluated entries based on criteria such as investigative depth, community focus, and commitment to truth-telling. Their rigorous selection process highlighted the transformative impact of independent journalism in holding power to account and amplifying underrepresented voices. As the Izzy Award continues to recognize excellence in media, it reaffirms the vital role of independent journalism in safeguarding democracy and fostering a more just and equitable world.
The nonprofit news outlet, In These Times, received accolades for its unwavering focus on economic justice and social movements aimed at fostering a more humane world. Judges praised the publication’s relentless coverage of the lives and struggles of working-class people across the United States.
From Iowa meatpacking laborers to Appalachian coal miners, In These
Times provided a platform for voices often overlooked by mainstream media. Notable investigations included Luis Feliz Leon’s intimate portrayal of immigrant workers at Tyson Meatpacking and Kim Kelly’s expose on the reemergence of deadly black lung disease due to corporate greed.
Journalist Mohammed El-Kurd made history as the first Palestine correspondent for The Nation, challenging mainstream narratives and assumptions about the Israeli occupation and Palestinian resistance. Through deeply nuanced reporting and literary prowess, El-Kurd shed light on the dispossession in Jerusalem and colonization in Palestine. His work, including poignant pieces like "The Right to Speak for Ourselves," provided vital insights into human rights abuses and garnered international attention amid the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Lynzy Billing’s investigative reporting with New Lines Magazine and InsideClimate News delved into the environmental havoc left by the American military’s withdrawal from Afghanistan. Through meticulous research and firsthand accounts, Billing exposed the toxic pollutants and raw sewage dumped by U.S. forces, highlighting the tragic humanitarian and environmental consequences for Afghan civilians. Her fearless reporting underscored the urgent need for accountability and raised crucial questions about U.S. policy in the region.
In a groundbreaking collaboration, Trina Reynolds-Tyler and Sarah Conway unveiled systemic patterns of mismanagement in Chicago police’s handling of missing persons cases, disproportionately affecting Black women and girls. Through extensive data analysis and narrative justice, their investigative series, “Missing in Chicago,” penetrated the silences surrounding police misconduct and marginalized communities. Their work exemplified the best of local journalism, shedding
light on systemic injustices and advocating for change.
Democracy Now! received special recognition for its exemplary coverage of the destruction in Gaza and its commitment to amplifying Palestinian voices. Hosted by Amy Goodman, the independent broadcast news outlet provided crucial insights into the Israel-Hamas conflict, documenting the human cost of war and raising awareness of Palestinian perspectives. The Izzy judges applauded Democracy Now! for its unwavering dedication to truth-telling and public service journalism.
The winners of the 2024 Izzy Award exemplify the highest standards of independent journalism, fearlessly confronting power and advocating for marginalized communities. From economic injustice and environmental degradation to police malpractice and the Palestinian struggle, their reporting has sparked conversations, catalyzed change, and inspired action. As we celebrate their achievements, we are reminded of the enduring importance of independent media in shaping our understanding of the world and advancing social justice.
manage encampments on city property in two phases. Phase one focuses on immediately establishing a consistent response protocol for both actively managed and emergency/hazardous locations. Mohlenhoff describes actively managed locations as “[areas] that have a pretty obvious alternate use” or “[places] that have staff that actively manage that space all the time.”
According to the plan, actively managed areas would include parks, public access corridors within natural areas, parking garages, city-owned buildings, and other designated sites. In these areas, city staff will post a 24-hour notice to vacate before removing items, storing personal property, and cleaning up garbage.
Mohlenhoff said that actively managed areas will have “much shorter timeframes for relocation because an actively managed site has other uses.” Mohlenhoff continued, saying that the city is still figuring out how the process of property removal and retrieval will be conducted. She added that “things of importance” like ID cards, wallets, and medications will be safely stored away, and property retrieval notices will be sent to let individuals know where to
retrieve their property.
The framework for the plan outlines a five-step process to respond to encampments in actively managed areas. The first step involves giving the occupants of the encampment a verbal notification” and notifying them of amenities that will be made available to them in the sanctioned “green zone” encampment. The second step involves reporting the encampment, which means communicating the presence of the encampment to the Continuum of Care, Outreach Workers, and the City Manager. The third step involves posting a “notice to vacate within 24 hours” at the encampment site, including information about “shelter and housing resources.” The fourth step — outlining measures for removing property at the encampment — is where the Ithaca Police Department could come into play if requested. The fifth step then calls for remediation of the campsite. Regarding concerns relating to the potential for law enforcement being involved in the relocation process, Mohlenhoff said, “We’re being very upfront that there may be an occasion where law enforcement is present based on extenuating circumstances that became a threat to public safety.” She added that someone from one service agency has said that they no longer feel comfortable responding to calls in the encampments
without support from law enforcement.
The second part of phase one concerns emergency/hazardous locations, where encampments pose an immediate threat to public health or safety. In such cases, the city reserves the right to seek immediate closure and removal of the encampment, with staff posting an immediate hazard notice before cleanup operations commence.
According to Mohlenhoff, “This could end up being more complicated just based on what’s the location, what’s the hazard, and what things we might have to do to remediate the site.” She continued saying, “When you’ve been given a notice of violation, the next step for that would be for you to develop, not only a plan on how you would clean up the location but then also plan on how you would prevent that location from getting to the same condition that it was before.”
Phase 2 of the protocol, which will be implemented once additional resources are secured, focuses on lightly managed locations. These areas will be prioritized based on various factors, including the amount of debris, health and safety risks, proximity to residential or commercial areas, and environmental impact. According to the framework for the plan, “The vast majority of encampments have occurred at lightly managed city lands, such as the former Southwest Park, 119 Brindley St, and public lands at the end of Cherry Street.” It adds that encampments are more common in these areas because they “lack dedicated staff to patrol and manage these sites.”
The plan calls for a different approach to lightly managed City-owned land, laying out a four-step site visit process involving working with outreach workers to coordinate relocation opportunities and offering voluntary relocation assistance several times before removing the property from the encampment. All of the steps in this process are to be carried out by the City Homeless Outreach Coordinator.
Additionally, the city plans to spend $40,000 to hire an Encampment Response Coordinator to oversee the implementation of the protocol and coordinate between departments and community partners.
Some members of the Council expressed concerns about hiring additional staff members instead of spending money to address homelessness in other ways. Third Ward Alderperson David Shapiro said, “I’d rather see us invest in structures that keep some of our land that we own safe than new staff in the government.”
Fourth Ward Alderperson Patrick Kuhel asked why the City continues to allocate funds to hire more staff and clean up encampments instead of using those funds to help build emergency housing stock to
house the people living there. “I’m just confused how we got to this point,” Kuhel said. “It feels like we’re scratching the surface of this larger problem and refusing to address the internal issues in terms of figuring out what we’re going to do as a government to support people in need.”
In response to the concerns, Mohlenhoff said, “There is not a way for us to do everything that we want to do, and we can’t comply with the desire expressed by Council in December without some sort of additional formal coordinator.” She continued by reminding the Council that it isn’t anyone’s job to manage encampments in the City. “It’s like a hot potato that staff just keeps tossing around from person to person,” Mohlenhoff said. She added, “We need one person that sits in the middle of coordinating the variety of people that need to be available to manage the response.”
In response to the proposed plan
Genevieve Rand from the Ithaca Tenants Union told the Ithaca Times, “conservative legislators keep pushing to civilly and criminally punish unsheltered homelessness. Punishing poverty doesn’t solve it, it makes it worse. We need to house people, not criminalize them.” Rand continued saying that “Progressive legislators should shut it down” because voters have repeatedly rejected similar proposals in the past. They added that “bringing it back over and over is anti-democratic and shouldn’t be legal.”
Addressing the root causes of homelessness is a central tenet of the City of Ithaca’s approach. Mohlenhoff says that the plan recognizes that the county lacks sufficient emergency housing units for everyone experiencing homelessness. However, the county is actively engaged in discussions about expanding its shelter capacity.
In terms of funding, the city has allocated $40,000 for the part-time Encampment Response Coordinator position and an additional $250,000 across two budget cycles for cleanup operations and addressing underlying issues driving homelessness. These funds will be crucial in supporting the implementation of the protocol and ensuring its effectiveness in addressing the homelessness crisis.
Looking ahead, the city plans to finalize job descriptions for the encampment response coordinator position, aggressively pursue partnerships for low-barrier shelters, and develop a comprehensive page on the city website with resources and information related to the protocol.
According to Mohlenhoff, “At some point, we will identify a more formal process to help the public understand [what the process of reporting encampments will be.]”
continued from page 6
Looking ahead, the program aims to remain adaptable and responsive to evolving community needs. Millman emphasized the importance of flexibility in shaping the program’s trajectory. “Our vision is going to be very fluid...we’re rolling with it and making those changes as they come to better serve the residents of Tompkins County,” Millman said.
As the program continues, stakeholders remain optimistic about its potential
continued from page 7
“Thank you Ithaca Times for being fair and balanced! Now I’m confused...
After reading how TCAT told us they just wasted $7 million on electric buses that have mechanical issue, parts shortages, cost twice as much as diesel, were unreliable and out of service most of the time, why then, are they still moving forward to purchase even more electric buses by 2026? With declining ridership, service cuts and driver shortages, let’s try to run this like you would manage your own expenses (I hope). Keep using your reliable, cheaper, diesel buses that will get people from point A to B with reliability. I would urge all school boards to think about the taxpayers...make a 10 minute phone call to TCAT and ask them how their electric bus experiment worked. Then cut the new electric bus purchases from your proposed budgets and we just might start to decrease everyone’s taxes! Let’s be smart and learn from a failed experiment. I want to save the climate, but please make it make sense to me first!”
— John Duthiecontinued from page 12
two grand pianos and two multi percussionists in 2011 (the percussion took up a 20-foot box truck), the piece now has a digital soundtrack. Orchestrater Dennis Ritz uses gongs, bells, temple blocks, marimba, xylophone, snares, as well as the two pianos. Lavinia is very enthused to work with Ithaca Ballet’s company and students again. “Dancers from Ithaca Ballet are in Europe; are in many of the the professional companies in the United States. They have a girl who’s been accepted at the Royal Ballet School. It’s unbelievable. So I’m working with extremely gifted and well trained young dancers.”
to enhance the accessibility and quality of emergency medical services throughout Tompkins County. However, some County legislators have opposing views on how the program should be funded.
The County received a $630,000 state grant to fund the first year of the program, and would need to secure another $510,000 to fund the second year of operations.
Klein told the Ithaca Times that the county proposed a cost-sharing model to fund the second year of operations that would see towns pay approximately ⅓ of the cost while the county pays ⅔ of the cost, but that the proposal has been rejected.
Klein said that under the proposed cost-sharing model towns that had their own ambulance service would pay $1 per resident, while towns that don’t have their own ambulance service would pay $3 per resident. The cost breakdown would be:
Towns without Ambulance Service:
Caroline — $10,000
Danby — $10,000
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leaping and general dashing around. There’s a lot of mugging, too, as farce depends on exaggeration, and everything here is decidedly over the top — with the actors enjoying the outrageousness as much as the audience.
Riley Mari Fortin effectively presents Clarice, Dorante’s ostensible beloved, while Donna Fondjo, as Lucrece, emerges nicely from her character’s supposed
Enfield — $10,000
Newfield — $15,000
Lansing — $35,000
Towns with Ambulance Service: Groton — $6,000
Dryden — $15,000
Ulysses — $5,000
Town of Ithaca — $20,000
City of Ithaca — $32,000
Under the proposed cost-sharing plan the County would have paid a total of $350,000 while local municipalities would have paid roughly $160,000 collectively. According to Klein, now that the cost-sharing proposal has been rejected, it’s likely that the county will have to pick up the entire tab for the second year of the program. While Kein has said that “the final decision hasn’t been made,” he added, “I don’t see any other scenario because we have committed to this two year pilot project and the towns are not willing to put up any money for year two, so it’s gonna have to be the county.”
Any first responders interested in apply-
reticence. Both are well served by a formidable Ruth McCoy Miles, as the maid Isabelle. Or is it Sabine? Ignacio Torres Borges plays Clarice’s ex and Kaden Hawkins his buddy; their enthusiasm could benefit from more stage experience. And several actors, above all Borges, tend to shout excessively, rendering dialogue hard to discern. Even the cacophony of farce merits a ceiling — and Ives’ delicious wordplay deserves hearing.
Amidst all these adolescent hijinks, the foolish-yet-sensible elder role is a welcome
ing to join the rapid medical response team are encouraged to submit applications to the County. Millman says that the program has an open recruitment process, “So any EMT that is out there that is interested in applying, [is] absolutely welcome to apply on the county’s website at any point.” He continued saying, “When we get to the point where we’re ready to hire more staff…Your application will already be there for us to be able to utilize.”
In response to concerns that some areas of the County are struggling with EMS response times, Millman said, “I don’t think that there’s any part of our county that doesn’t have good service…no matter where you live in Tompkins County, you will receive the highest level of EMS care.”
Regarding setting a standard for the amount of time it takes for the rapid response team to arrive on scene Millman said, “Right now our goal is just to get to the scene as safely as we can as quickly as we can and initiate that initial life saving care until an ambulance arrives.”
counterpoint. Jack Hopkins’s paternal Geronte is subtle and endearing, a handsomely sketched fellow. He’s the amiable ballast to all the fizzy frolicking, and our surety that the witty but wild excesses of farce will be sanely resolved.
“The Liar” will please anyone who loves to laugh — and be beguiled by rhymed iambic pentameter.
Barbara Adams, a regional theater and arts journalist, teaches writing at Ithaca College.
