Clairborne: The city should seek partnerships with Ithaca College and Cornell University
“That’s an interesting conversation because it’s happening right now. The mayor just received a letter from the Cornell president asking that same question. IC is different because it’s physically wholly in the Town of Ithaca, but we’re IC’s commercial center, and I think we have to be able to look for win-win situations. We have to look at something where IC doesn’t feel penalized, [and] Cornell doesn’t feel like it’s being unduly pressured, [and] the city doesn’t feel like it’s being unduly underfunded. We have to figure out ways where true partnerships can be formed.”

Kelly: Colleges and the city should bolster relations before moving forward“One of the points of resistance is that the colleges have been treated badly by the city many times when they wanted to do something and they couldn’t get permission for whatever city board or commissions that had some sort of authority there. I listened to unbelievable presentations about Cornell University’s Milstein Hall project, which was to renovate and expand the main building of the College of Architecture, which they had to do, or they would lose their accreditation. Now, that was held up and had to be redesigned and redone in bizarre ways because people on this commission had a crush on this ugly little building that was called the Foundry.”

“It happens, I know, that building really well because one of the ways I worked my way through school when I was at Cornell was I worked as an artist model, and I posed for sculpture classes in that building, and let me tell you, it was nobody’s prize. It wasn’t even an original building — it was made out of pieces of buildings that were originally on the engineering quadrangle. Because of that, the whole project had to be redesigned, and the Cornell guys told me it cost them more than $1 million in reconstruction and redesign. That’s $1 million that didn’t go to the city. It went to lawyers, and it went to the rising construction costs. If we had a more sane relationship between the city and the colleges, the colleges might be more willing to step up to the plate. If they feel like they’re just to beat around, why should they bother? I think the colleges also need to take more responsibility for the problems their students create in the parts of town they live in. When I was a student, if you tried to stiff your landlord for your last month’s rent, you didn’t get your diploma until you’d settled up.”

Myrick: Because campus populations burden city services, Ithaca College and Cornell University should contribute to the city budget“Both Cornell University and Ithaca College should contribute more to the municipalities. They should do so because they’re a great strain on the local municipal infrastructure, and in that regard, it’s an issue of fairness. In all fairness, they should pay for some of the strain that they create on the bus system, the roads, the police department and the sidewalks, etc. But on the other hand, I do think it’s in their own best interest. If Ithaca continues to struggle, to struggle to make ends meet, to struggle to fund its police department, to struggle to fund its infrastructure, to fix its roads, to fix its bridges, to fix its schools, then the quality of life in the city will decrease, and therefore the attractiveness of both Ithaca College and Cornell University, as a destination for college students and faculty and graduate students, will decrease. It’s in their own best interest to contribute more than they do currently, and as mayor I will work, always constructively and always positively, with members of both administrations to find places where they can strategically invest in the well being of our city finances.”

Wykstra: The city should work with Ithaca College and Cornell University to find mutually beneficial methods of creating revenue

“There’s much more strength in finding mutual purpose and collaborating on those things than there is with the city standing back and trying to coerce the colleges or make demands. I believe both universities have enough people who realize it’s in their best interest for the city to have an independently strong economy that they will help us to do that. I can be useful in negotiating that and collaborating with them and asking for some new businesses to be built downtown — manufacturing businesses or it could be intellectual property — anything that can be produced and makes wealth.”

“It would be nice if they paid a little more toward fire protection and services, but again, I don’t think the route to that is through demand or coercion.”