Archive: Opinions

One day after the Lansing Community Library won a 1122 to 446 victory at the polls, Lansing resident Larry Zuidema called out Town Board members for not publicly endorsing the library.  "I didn't hear the board speak out for the library, and I wondered why," Zuidema  said at Wednesday's Town Board meeting.  "I think it would have been politically very good for you to have recommended by resolution or whatever that the library be continued.  Nevertheless, as time goes on I hope you will focus on quality of life issues, because the residents have spoken."

With more than 70% of those who voted choosing to keep the library on the tax roles, Zuidema has a point.  While many quality of life issues in Lansing are privately funded, not all are.  Look at the enormous success of the Town Recreation Department with huge participation and diversity of programs that encompass sports, art, and music, cooking and a children's summer camp.  Music In The Park offers seven free concerts by top-notch local bands.  And the parks themselves greatly enhance the quality of life in a community that has embraced them as part of its own tightly woven fabric.

There are many things that taxpayers shouldn't be asked to pay for.  There is certainly a line that needs to be maintained between public money and pet projects.  And in difficult economic times it is important to be sensitive to residents on fixed incomes who need every penny to survive.

But even those folks want to stay in Lansing for a reason.  It is a great community with much to recommend it.  Perhaps low cost public projects that arguably enhance all stratas of the community aren't too much to ask the public to fund.  I don't think that the successful library vote is going to encourage Lansing people to recklessly put new projects on the tax roles.  For example, I don't think we're going to see a publicly funded art or history museum plunked onto the tax roles any time soon, or any time at all.

Many Lansing residents who do care about quality of life issues town-wide take matters into their own hands.  The Lansing Historical Association has done much to preserve our history that predates the Revolutionary War.  The Lansing Community Council has expanded its mission well beyond that of a funding caretaker for a few worthy town initiatives.  Now they are gearing up for the third annual Lansing Harbor Festival , a successful celebration of the community that it is anticipated will attract 2,000 visitors this August.  They have gotten behind the North Log Cabin project, raising funds to preserve a piece of town history that dates from 1791, and are starting a campaign to raise money for a walking bridge that will connect Myers Park and Salt Point.

As if that weren't enough for a small municipality the Lansing Lions Club seems to like donating buildings to the town.  Over the years that has included the Lansing Community Center, several pavilions in town parks, and most recently the Myers Park band stand.  The Ithaca Cayuga Rotary Club , contributes in countless ways to programs that help adults and children alike.  Even private groups that raise money for causes outside of Lansing such as PALS or the numerous church missions to Haiti and elsewhere use community building events to do it.  This weekend's Lansing Fire Department Carnival is a prime example of a segment of the community making the town better.

It is too convenient to say that quality of life issues are expendable in hard times.  I am not saying they have to cost much.  I'm saying that they make hard times tolerable and bring communities together in ways that make things better in times when they really, really need to be better.

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