While the jagged sidewalks and century-old pipeline add to the historic charm of the Commons, these outdated facilities are also a major area of concern. Last night, the Ithaca Common Council held a special meeting to discuss a $250,000 Commons Upgrade Project, which would appoint a professional design company to plan an overhaul for the Commons’s infrastructure.

The plan will be comprehensive, targeting a wide range of problem areas in the Commons including broken sidewalks, old public utilities and outdated fire facilities.

Joann Cornish, acting planning director, stressed that the project will only remain in the scope of planning and investigation.

“We are not committed to build anything,” Cornish said.

Edward Vallely was officially named the new police chief of the Ithaca Police Department last night after the Common Council’s unanimous vote confirmed the mayor’s appointment. Vallely, who is the current acting police chief, will oversee a $10 million budget and more than 100 employees, according to the Ithaca Journal.

The selection process began last October after Police Chief Lauren Signer unexpectedly announced her retirement. A search committee — which included Common Council members and representatives from the Community Police Board — then submitted a list of finalists to Mayor Carolyn Peterson. The two finalists for the job, Vallely and Deputy Police Chief John Barber, were internal candidates.

Imagine it’s 6 a.m. on a Sunday morning. You’re still drunk from last night, you’ve got work and laundry piling up and it’s not even light out. Yet here you are at Barton Hall, chugging coffee and assembling steel trusses, heavy-duty rigging for light fixtures and scaffolds into a stage. You’re making signs that say: ‘Backstage Band Area’ or ‘Bathrooms Here,’ or running errands to Wegmans to buy your guests of honor their organic bottled water of choice. A truck breaks down on its way to Ithaca, so the stage you need to have assembled by 3 p.m. won’t be ready for a few more hours. But the show must go on — will go on, at 6 p.m. Screw how early it is, it’s time to get to work.

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It seems that Cornell has received its fair 15 minutes of television fame lately, what with Dwight’s Cornell-centric Office antics a few weeks ago. But Andy Bernard ’95 is only one fictional alumnus of our humble university. On Monday, Ithaca College TV debuted a new show, Ivy, which stars all of us—in a way.

The show, according to co-producer Rachel Hastings, an Ithaca sophomore, is “kind of a faux-reality show, like Laguna Beach, but written as a dry comedy and set at Cornell.” Aided by co-producer Ed Pietzak, a senior at I.C., Hastings wrote a script over the summer and set out to produce a truly unique project.

This may sound like an insane question: Why would you go to a concert? The explanations are straightforward. One, you enjoy the music the band plays; it touches you in some manner. Two, your friends are going and it might be fun; Friday nights and lab reports don’t always mix. Three, you know someone in the band; maybe they’ll give you a wave during a song, or throw you a (wood) drumstick. Four, you like live music. If you’ve heard of the Deadheads, or recognize the term “Red Sox Nation,” you know that some people have an elevated level of dedication to some bands or sports teams.

At first glance, Jeff and Bruce’s camaraderie (their senses of humor complement each other and they finish each others sentences in a way that makes them seem like they’ve known each other much longer than a few months) belies how passionately they play when on stage. Jeff is out of town a lot and is apparently homeless; Bruce, in a complementary way, came to Cornell to run track, and has since stayed, taking on the persona of a talented Van Wilder (at 25, he’s been at Cornell since 2005 and claims his date of graduation is 2012) who also happens to be a pretty talented poker player, and is using his winnings to pay tuition.

Democrats were victorious in both houses of Congress last night, securing seats that would back president-elect Barack Obama upon his inauguration. Marking a major shift in power in New York, the Democratic Party will hold 26 of the 29 seats in the House of Representatives, in addition to at least 32 of 62 seats in the State Senate.

Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.) was elected to serve his ninth term in the 22nd district, which includes Southern Tier and Finger Lakes regions. He defeated Republican George Phillips, a history teacher in Binghamton. In an informal lunch meeting at Cornell last month, Hinchey — one of 288 to reject the $700 billion bailout bill in September — addressed the current financial crisis.

Obamania erupted in Collegetown just after 11 p.m. as Barack Obama was declared the next president of the United States. People poured out of bars and crowded the streets as they soaked in the historic moment.

“It’s crazy, oh my God,” Leslie Tseng ’10 said. “Everyone is running up and down Dryden Road, yelling ‘Barack Obama’ and setting off fireworks.”

It was a time of unbridled celebration across campus.

“After McCain conceded, everyone was on cell phones, smiling and screaming. Everyone was really happy and the atmosphere was great,” Claudia Mattos ’11 said.Obamania

When the New York State Electric Gas company decided two weeks ago not to fund the construction of a new basketball court in a downtown Ithaca park, it brought an apparent end to an ongoing struggle between neighbors of the park and city officials that had resulted in allegations of racism and stereotyping.

Camera MenIt’s not infrequent for Cornellians watching Entourage or The O.C. to sigh longingly and wish that our fair University were located somewhere a bit more star-studded or sun-basked. But these dreamers can take heart in the fact that once, a long, long time ago, Ithaca was the center of the movie universe.