Archive: Opinions

I'm a genealogy wannabe.  I can trace my family back into the late 18th century when they immigrated to the United States.  But at that point they disappear into the fog of little countries largely assimilated by the Russian Czar, and later the Soviet Union.  So I have to admit I was a little star struck when I moved to Lansing nearly 20 years ago, a town where people have streets named after their families, and heritage clearly goes back to the Revolutionary War and beyond.

So it struck me as interesting that the man who stood up at Wednesday's Town Board meeting to passionately plea for keeping Lansing's character in the face of growth and development was someone who has only lived here five years.  James Sullivan argued that promoting development, or at least promoting it the wrong way, would drive out long time residents.  And I have to say that he got me thinking about the character of the town, exactly what that is, and why we want to keep it.

I have to admit that I have always thought growth can be a good thing, but I have an ulterior motive.  I miss the Sure Save.  Or was it the Sure Fine?  I could never keep that straight, but I really liked having a grocery store in Lansing, within walking distance of my house.  I've moved since, so if it were still open it would be almost five minutes from here.  It was convenient to get sugar if you started making cookies before realizing you were out.  And even though it was a little more expensive than Tops or the P&C, I knew where everything was.  It wasn't the best market in Tompkins County, but it was ours and I loved it.

It closed, because the owners couldn't compete with the bigger stores in Lansing Village, and Wegmans in Ithaca.  And the only realistic way to get a market into the center of Lansing again is to build the population to the point where it becomes economically feasible.  And wouldn't it be great to get a bank branch, some doctors' offices, and a restaurant or two that delivers north of Asbury Road?

Sullivan argued that diversity of income is one of Lansing's greatest strengths, and I agree with that.  This is about the only place I've seen where people of such diverse economic means get along so well and accomplish so much together.  And it would be terrible, in my view, if people whose families have been here since the year dot were pushed out by rising taxes and costs.  I got a taste of what that would be like when we considered moving to northern Virginia a few years ago.  Everything was prohibitively expensive, the average yard was the size of a postage stamp, and you felt as if you were competing for air to breathe.

But I also agree with those who say that growth will occur in Lansing no matter what we do.  To me it's a matter of controlling how growth happens.  We don't need more density in the south of town where it would only become an extension of the Village.  We need it near the Town Hall so we can have our own town center.  And so I can get my grocery store!

As events push us into a denser future, it isn't a bad idea to think about what makes the Town and Village of Lansing so great, and to try to preserve that.  I think the Town's Comprehensive Plan makes a decent stab at doing that, though I know that any growth will mean higher property taxes, and that means we will lose people who can't afford to stay.  

But that is already happening.  The challenge is how we make it happen, to keep the character of the town that we love, and the people who have been here for so long as well as the relative newcomers.  In three hundred years I'd love for some descendent of mine to have a street named for him or her in Lansing.  Shaping inevitable growth is our challenge and opportunity.

----
v2i44