Q&A

In my twelve years on Council, I strived to provide a critical and practical perspective on the issues before us. I evaluate proposals based on the real impacts they will have on the lives of our residents, our employees, and our community as a whole. The majority of City functions exist behind the scenes and do not receive the attention and funding they deserve, and I am focused on highlighting these needs while also planning for the future. I am running for re-election to keep the day-to-day needs of our residents and businesses first and foremost on Council’s mind.

Our essential services, roads, bridges, and infrastructure are in desperate need of accelerated care and attention to make up for years of deferred maintenance resulting from COVID delays and staffing shortages.

We must focus the City’s attention on enhancing the essential and vital services that only the City can provide – fire; police; building inspection and maintenance; water and sewer treatment; youth, senior and cultural services – and prioritize our core needs before creating or expanding City-funded programs into fields served by County or non-government organizations (such as social services, mental health, and addiction assistance).

Property owners are burdened with increasing taxes that come with rising property values, and a rapidly growing City budget. Residential development projects come with increased demands on City services which are paid for by others while developers profit from generous tax abatements. Low vacancy rates make Ithaca an attractive market for real estate developers, without tax abatements (Collegetown Terrace was built without tax abatements). We need to abandon the map-based CIITAP program and refocus our abatements on projects that demonstrate significant public benefit beyond the goal of density itself.

City employees are significantly underpaid relative to their colleagues in neighboring municipalities resulting in increasing staff shortages, low morale, and the inability to attract the talent and skills we need. Our workers do more for less, and City Hall must change how we treat our workers, and value them as cherished assets to be supported and retained rather than cost burdens to be suppressed.

The City will transition into a City Manager system in 2024, and we need to ensure that the voice of the Common Council is maintained through this process. Councilmembers have intimate and immediate awareness of the needs of the residents and businesses in their Wards. The City Manager will provide much-needed professional oversight of staff, propose budgets and capital needs, and provide long-term vision and stability for the organization as a whole. The Mayor and Council will establish policies and priorities for development, delivery of City services, and provide community awareness and engagement. Council’s intimate knowledge of their Wards will guide our City forward in meeting our community’s immediate and long term needs.

Everyone deserves to be and feel safe. On April 5th 2023, Common Council adopted plans to establish a Deputy City Manager position to implement City-focused reimagining public safety initiatives and oversee policing and public safety in Ithaca. Our work ahead requires building and rebuilding trust in a community which has been impacted by intense scrutiny, division, and outside influence. We need to create an environment where the highest level of professionalism and accountability is the standard, an environment where the community enjoys connection, equanimity, and dignity from law enforcement officers, and an environment where law enforcement officers feel supported, trusted and valued.

Every year, more and more people are experiencing homelessness as housing, food and health care becomes more expensive; more people experience displacement due to insufficient access to mental health, addiction, and housing support and services; and lack jobs that pay a living wage. The City of Ithaca is at the nexus of service providers and general amenities, making it the prime location for those seeking help while they wait for permanent and supportive housing opportunities to be available – which often takes years to develop. Compassionately meeting the needs of those living unhoused, while also addressing health, safety and community needs will be a focus of City and County efforts in 2023 and for years to come.

FEMA Flood Maps

  • FEMA has published draft and preliminary flood maps that have increased the areas in the City that are in the designated 100-year flood zone. The majority of the First Ward in the flats are affected by the new maps, especially the Northside, Southside, South of the Creek, and Spencer Road Neighborhoods.
  • FEMA recommends renters, businesses and property owners to purchase flood insurance to protect their investments. The City is exploring mitigation efforts to reduce flood risk and possible amendments to the FEMA maps.
  • The City of Ithaca must work to identify implementable solutions to reduce risk and build resilience to flooding, such as participating in the Community Ratings System that will help improve flood management and reduce insurance premiums.

Affordability, financing, and services are the core issues facing the City of Ithaca. Our taxes are too high, our needs are too great, and challenges are not contained by municipal boundaries – we must change how government is done in the City.

It is understandable that people from across the region come to the City for school, work, services, entertainment, recreation, and housing. Ithaca is vibrant, multi-cultural, engaging and gorgeous. However, the financial burden of maintaining our roads, parks, waterways, and services are unfairly carried by property owners in the City resulting in dramatically increasing property taxes and families and businesses being priced out of the City. A growing number of government services are benefiting from inter-municipal partnerships, but government bureaucracy, redundancy and administrations results in costs and delays that inhibit our ability to provide services in a timely and cost efficient manner. It is time to reconsider how we do government and if there are opportunities for consolidation of services with partner municipalities.

If re-elected, I will continue the work I have been a part of for the last several years in an effort to implement structural change that would make a meaningful impact on the quality of life of our residents.