April 17, 2009

S.A. Creates Cornell Collegetown Committee

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As part of their continued effort to develop Collegetown, Student Assembly members created the Cornell Collegetown Committee yesterday during their weekly meeting at the Straight.
The resolution, which is sponsored by Chris Basil ’10, executive vice president, and Allen Miller ’10, Greek Liaison. calls for an ad-hoc committee will include three members of the S.A., two members of the Greek tri-council, one member of Campus Life and four members from the Cornell or Collegetown community.
Since 97 percent of residents living in the Collegetown area are Cornell students, the S.A. wanted to enable students to “organize and advocate for student interests in the ongoing work of [local governing bodies of Collegetown],” according to the S.A. resolution.
The S.A. passed a resolution last week endorsing the Goody Clancy version of the Collegetown Urban Plan that sought to expand the height throughout Collegetown.
In the most recent meeting concerning the plan for Collegetown, the Ithaca Planning and Economic Development Committee and the Planning and Development Board held a joint meeting on April 7 to hash out the details of the most recent version of the plan, Part 1 of the 2009 Collegetown Urban Plan and Conceptual Design Guidelines, as it is now called.
Andrew Brokman, transfer representative, believes that this is a “great next step” for the S.A. in the work in developing Collegetown.
“In the next few years, Cornell students and the Ithaca community will have to find common ground in order to develop Collegetown and sustain the University,” Brokman stated in an e-mail. “This committee will strive to ensure that the interest of students are being properly represented and that Collegetown will one day become the safer, denser, and more affordable city we know it could be.”