Archive: Opinions

Dear Mr. Stevens,

Your bullying tactics of NIMBY-mudslinging and cries of 'racism' are directed at the wrong target.

If you really want to characterize this kind of behavior as 'not in my backyard', you need to establish whose backyard it actually is. It's Cornell's continual expansion that is displacing their own workers in Ithaca, and it's Cornell's and Ithaca's refusal to provide the housing needed for their own workers and the disadvantaged in their community that has increasingly put pressure on the surrounding communities.

With speculators awaiting yet another expansion of Cornell, and plans to attract more businesses to Ithaca in the works, the pressure for housing is greater than ever. The Tompkins County Comprehensive Plan proclaims that 'the colleges define the community' and makes it clear that Ithaca is to be the one and only center of education, culture and business — a 'vibrant' community of historic neighborhoods and green spaces — and that the rest of the county will need to be sacrificed over time to make this happen.

Ithaca's unsustainable arrogance has piled up debts that they refuse to pay. Now Tompkins County is pretending we co-signed the loan, and since Ithaca has defaulted, we are obligated to pay for them.

The concept of Tompkins County is no more than a puppet show. It's time to stop looking at the puppet, and pay attention to the puppet master.

Sincerely,

Doug Baird
Lansing, NY
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