Archive: Opinions

Sociologists, psychologists, historians, and just plain society watchers are going to be very busy in the next many years analyzing and dissecting all that came about in this pandemic year of 2020. The confluence of disease, politics, racial division, and lockdown, not to mention the general upheaval of what we considered normal or every day, has given a sense of unbalance to individuals, families, schools, and businesses. The search for answers has a deep sense of uncertainty and fear. Many are looking to the past, and find little solace, while the future seems to have shrunk to little more than today's reality, not tomorrow's possibilities.

I found a piece of what is called Harper's Index to be interesting and realized I could work it into a local context.

According to the index as of September 2020, the percentage of Black Americans who wish police officers would spend less time in their neighborhoods was nineteen percent. In direct contrast, the percentage of Black Americans who wish the police would spend more time in their neighborhoods was an almost identical twenty percent.

In light of the loud calls for defunding the police, this seemed a prime moment to reflect on a local issue.

It appears that the City of Ithaca is projecting a revenue loss of over two million dollars, mainly in sales tax and parking revenue. To paraphrase Everett Dirksen, a million here and a million there, and pretty soon you're talking real money. But there are two sides to this issue of 'real money'.

Ithaca's mayor is not proposing what can be considered a real cut, as eliminating so-called lines in the budget for personnel is a cut on paper, not money in the real sense, therefore projected, not real, savings.

I know I'm splitting fiscal hairs, maybe playing semantics, but the other side of the coin is real. Eight police officer positions and three firefighter positions have been open for more than a year. These are jobs which have been unfilled for any number of reasons. Perhaps a lack of qualified applicants, perhaps other less tangible reasons, but certainly not the pay. Who would want to be a cop these days? Good jobs, and dangerous jobs, it's true, but solid jobs now crossed off the city budget. A paper savings of about three million dollars.

A total of twenty-eight positions are being eliminated, almost all of them in services that people want and need and expect as a benefit of their tax dollars. These are mostly in public works and public safety, which should be frontline staffers in critical services. It could be argued that over the years since Southwest Park development occurred that the city and the county became flush with cash and spent it with little regard for the future. But as some would say, that's whiskey under the bridge now. I wish to address the eight police officer positions that could not be filled and now no longer exist. This is critical, I think, for a couple of reasons in this confusing and worrying environment.

The demonstrations in the city and the country have been legal and constitutionally protected, expressions of speech and assembly, and are being unfairly criticized. As long as they are peaceful and not destructive, they are critical to the continued viability of freedom, which seems threatened by certain elements of society and government. The anger in response to police brutality and violence against minorities is now in front of us and must be faced, but radical solutions such as defunding or eliminating the police are reactionary and dangerous.

Think if you will of eight well trained police officers no longer available to IPD. That seems like an entire shift of peacekeepers and a relief force to an overextended group of men and women in uniform. Talk of "efficiency plans" and ways to "prioritize violence prevention" with no increase in staffing can only mean stretching the available staff to its limits, thus making the job even less palatable to prospective applicants. This puts the force, as well as the people it is obligated to protect, at risk. It is also quite possibly beginning to manifest as a force stretched dangerously thin.

The incidence of unsolved crime appears to be rising, as indicated by gunfire at night in residential neighborhoods, armed robbery on downtown streets, increased assaults, and now even daylight strong-armed theft in parking lots. You may say I'm overreacting, but I have noted that Ithaca seems to have a problem with what is recorded as unsolved crimes. For years, that statistic was reported in the media, until someone decided it looked bad, then we didn't get those numbers anymore. Many of us in the media wondered why this was so, but it was pretty obvious.

If IPD is stretched and crime seems to be rising, is public confidence in the downtown area also taking a hit? I believe this may be the case. Emotion is running high these days, and fear, justified or not, is rearing its ugly head in American society. I think you'll agree that our current atmosphere is exacerbating our uncertainty.

Is the pulling back of proposed policing going to do harm to the public perception of downtown Ithaca? Are businesses being hit with more than COVID-related downturn? Are people avoiding downtown due to perceptions of a lack of safety? Is it possible that a decrease in public safety expenditures might actually demoralize both small business and its customers in the downtown district?

I am not denying that we need to address the problems associated with the police. Most of them are honest and hardworking, fair and competent, while a few rotten apples smear the reputations of the many. And I also don't question the need for increased spending at Southside and GIAC on a local level. I'm asking for the following questions to be discussed by all stakeholders.

If questions concerning public safety funding are to be presented, where are the business leaders? The Downtown Ithaca Alliance is always first at the microphone to expound on "downtown is open for business and thriving" and first at the trough for grant money. But where is the Downtown Alliance to question the city's cutting twenty-eight positions in police, fire, and public works? Why isn't the Downtown Alliance pounding the rostrum, gathering up its resources and political weight, to decry cuts of what is so essential for a healthy downtown? Public perception of a safe shopping and living environment is intrinsic to a city's success, but all we see and hear is a pell-mell rush to build more and more – more glass and concrete, up and up, with no bully pulpit from so-called business leaders to maintain spending on public safety. Perceptions are often reality.

Call city services cuts penny wise and pound foolish, and it's not me who should be yelling this, it is the Downtown Ithaca Alliance, it is Tomkins County Area Development, and it's the Chamber of Commerce who should be sounding the alarm, banging pots in front of City Hall. Speak up now, downtown business leaders, or you may have to forever hold your peace. Your future depends on it.

Take care of each other. VOTE!