The Collegetown Neighborhood Council met in the basement of St. Luke’s Church yesterday to discuss future designs for Collegetown in light of the impending expiration of the moratorium on new Collegetown construction that lasted over a year. The moratorium is set to expire on April 12, and there is pressure on the Ithaca Common Council to adopt the urban plan before this date.

The meeting was led by Mary Tomlan ’71 (D-3rd ward), co-chair of the CNC, with major input from city planner Megan Gilbert ’07, Jennifer Dotson (G-1st ward) and Svante Myrick ’09 (D-4th ward).

Gilbert began by outlining the latest changes to the Collegetown urban plan, the proposed amendment to the comprehensive plan for the city of Ithaca.

As a senior soon to graduate, I have been reflecting on how much I have grown since matriculating at Cornell. I believe my undergraduate experience can be best summarized with the quotation, “I don’t know if it was heaven or hell, but whatever it was, it was wonderful.” I, like many students, have excelled and failed, found love and lost it, matured, evolved my cognitive processes, better understood myself, and have grown even more handsome (not like many students). Positivity does not sell, though – just look at Ithaca’s own Positive News — it’s free and no one reads it. For that reason, my editor encouraged me to reflect on some of the past four years’ hell.

Ithaca residents sounded off on a proposed urban plan for Collegetown at a meeting yesterday of Ithaca Common Council’s Planning and Economic Development Committee, showing growing tensions between Collegetown’s permanent residents and the ever-changing flow of student residents.

The plan, formally called the Collegetown Urban Plan and Design Guidelines, is a sweeping initiative that many citizens criticize as a “notion in search of a plan.”

“What I don’t like is that all the pieces, and the answers to all those questions associated with those pieces, are not worked out,” said Martha Fromett, a Collegetown resident of 22 years. “I don’t want to adopt something that is a notion.”

It has been almost a year since consultants visited Collegetown to develop a vision for renewal and nearly six months since an entire book was compiled to lay out the plans that will bring make that vision a reality. Last night, the Collegetown Neighborhood Council devoted its bimonthly meeting to update the status of the Collegetown development plan.

The meeting had approximately 30 attendees. According to Mary Tomlan ’71 (D-3rd Ward), co-chair of the CNC, the meeting had a much larger turnout than usual, attesting to the interest on the development plan.

One of the most welcome sights for a student out late at night in Collegetown or on West Campus is a 92 or a 93 pulling to a stop and opening its door. However, with the changes proposed by Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit Inc., these numbers will no longer be flashing across the front of a familiar blue and white TCAT bus.

On Tuesday, someone installed a sea monster outside my apartment building.

Yes, you read that right — a sea monster.

Over the last couple of weeks, construction crews built what can only be described now as an octagon-shaped concrete nest for the large metal creature that was, as I said above, installed on Tuesday.

Well, come to think of it, maybe it’s not a sea monster. Maybe it’s just a large fish.

Could be a barracuda.

Should we name it? What could we name it?

Let’s name it Sarah. Sarah Barracuda — in honor of our long lost vice presidential candidate.

Welcome to the neighborhood, Sarah.

Now go away.

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The New York Times, the Richard Blackwell of New York dailies, has once again cast doting eyes on Ithaca. According to a November 13 article, the city possesses an “eclectic spirit,” exhibits “palpable energy,” and “has embraced the influence of its colleges to create a liberal, cultural and gastronomic oasis...” And the streets are paved with smiles and gum drops rain from the sky.

As I sat in my overpriced Collegetown hovel reading about Ithaca’s “Greek Revivals” and “Federal-style” farmhouses, I was riled by the utopian euphoria. Ithaca may be a lovely place for retirees, families, and people who use “summer” as a verb, but much as I enjoy the quirk, the food, and the vistas, I’ve hardly felt “embraced” by this city.

The hasty search for off-campus housing was among the various topics discussed by Kimberly Fezza of the Cornell University Off-Campus Housing Office at last night’s Collegetown Neighborhood Council meeting with Collegetown landlords, property owners and student renters.

OCHO, which opened its doors in last April, aims to provide off-campus housing information, resources and referrals to interested members of the Cornell community.

At this fall’s First-Year Parents’ Weekend, OCHO learned from concerned parents that a majority of parents and students alike already feel the pressure to sign a lease for the following year.

“Some first year students sign a lease within 30 days of their arrival on campus,” Fezza said.

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