Green Street Corridor Sees Growth, Despite Recession

Despite the economic recession, downtown Ithaca continues to expand. The corridor between Green Street and Cayuga Street is fast becoming a trendy consumer complex, with a new Gimme! Coffee, pharmacy and TCAT bus stop sprouting up alongside the recently opened Urban Outfitters.
The point of the development, according to city officials, is to make the area a destination spot in the same vein of the Commons.
“I think we’re creating a fun city,” said Alderperson Svante Myrick ’09 (D-4th ward). “Green Street now is a major improvement on Green Street four years ago. We want to make [the area] a destination and extension of the Commons.”

New Principals Take the Helm at Ithaca and Lansing

This school year is bringing more than just new freshmen to Ithaca and Lansing High Schools. Two new principals, Don Mills at Ithaca and Eric Hartz at Lansing, will join these new students in getting their bearings on the unfamiliar terrain.
“I’m in a community that cares very much about kids and academics,” Hartz said. The former Cortland State football player is more than familiar with the Lansing community; he has been part of it for 18 years, and says he originally moved to Lansing because of the secondary education.

Provost’s Office Reallocates Duties of Axed Positions

The Office of the Provost is the launch pad for all cuts, merging and scale backs associated with “Reimagining Cornell.” However, no facet of the University has been untouched by the financial crisis, and the office is scrambling just as much as academic departments to slim down its bloated administrative body.

Pipe Burst Leads to Pot Bust

When a water pipe in the Sigma Nu fraternity on Willard Way broke last week and started flooding the second floor, a concerned brother called the fire department thinking it would be a routine fix. Instead, firefighters found six marijuana plants in a tinfoil-lined room, putting the fraternity in even more hot water.
“It wasn’t the fraternity’s doing; it was a brother,” said Robert Quintal ’10, last year’s president of the fraternity. Quintal noted that during his tenure as president last year, he had no knowledge of any illicit activities in the house. The brother responsible for the plants had been growing them over the summer.

UAW, University Reach Contract Agreement

The United Auto Workers Local 2300 and the University came to an agreement on July 22 regarding their new three-year contracts, effective immediately, following a month of negotiations between the two parties.
UAW Local 2300 represents approximately 1,200 Cornell employees. The union’s president Terry Sharpe noted that the UAW gave up no provisions from the last contract, which expired on June 30.
“A lot of our members are just grateful to have their jobs,” Sharpe said.
The agreement passed by 73 percent in the local UAW meeting. The final meeting between the two parties took place on July 13, when the University administration agreed on a draft.
“The biggest concern was wages,” Sharpe said.

Developer Seeks to Add Apt. Complex to C-Town

A developer is proposing a housing project in Collegetown that could drastically change the look of East State Street and add about 600 rental beds to the student-populated district. The project would replace nearly all the buildings in the area of Valentine Place, East State Street, Quarry Street and Six Mile Creek, with 1,250 new rental beds and 820 parking spaces, an increase from the current 650 rental beds. The only buildings remaining on the site would be Quarry Arms, Casa Roma and Boiler Works apartments.
“We have an opportunity to revisit the building in general,” said Common Council member Svante Myrick ’09 (D-4th ward). “There are some who believe [that] in order for Collegetown to be healthy, buildings in the middle need to be taller.”

ILR Sued for Age, Sex Discrimination

For the third time since 2002, the School of Industrial and Labor Relations is defending itself in court against allegations that it was discriminatory in laying off female workers.
Francine Moccio filed a lawsuit against the University on April 8, claiming that she was discriminated against based on both her age and gender.
Moccio was hired in 1990 as a Senior Extension Associate for the ILR Extension program in New York City. At the beginning of the 2008-2009 school year, the 58-year-old was notified that she would be laid off at the end of this semester.
“The ILR school does a lot in training other people how not to discriminate,” said Moccio’s attorney, David Marek. “It’s important that if they have problems internally, these problems are addressed.”

African Business Leader Stresses Ethical Practices

The stream of world leaders coming to campus continued yesterday, as Mo Ibrahim, founder of Celtel and the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, spoke to a captivated audience in Kennedy Hall. Named one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People, Ibrahim’s lecture, titled, “Africa Works with Good Governance, Investment, and a Little Help from Our Friends,” was this year’s Henry E. and Nancy Horton Bartels World Affairs Fellowship Lecture.
“I was lucky, I had the chance to get educated, which many of my African friends did not have,” Ibrahim said.

Greeks Unite to Serve Ithaca-Area Community

The University Greek community came together this past weekend to participate in the Days of Demeter, a weekend-long charitable event that assists organizations across campus and in Ithaca. The fourth annual event of its kind, the Days of Demeter has grown exponentially in size over the past several years to become the largest coordinated Greek service event of the year, with an estimated 400 students participating.
“This event is just focused on giving back and the unquestionable need in Ithaca,” said Jason Shapiro ’10, vice president for university and community relations of the interfraternity council. “The showing of the event was a testament to the fact that everyone was more than willing to help out.”

Military Mistreats Gays, C.U. Alum Claims

Direction Action to Stop Heterosexism’s onslaught against oppressive actions toward homosexuals continued yesterday, as the student group hosted “Future of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’” in Myron Taylor Hall. Aaron Tax ’98, legal co-director of The Service Members Legal Defense Network, spoke to the audience about the context and deleterious effects of the infamous 15-year-old measure “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” which refers to the United States military policy on homosexuals that mandates immediate discharge from service of anyone who shows signs of homosexuality, a policy Tax emphasized as antiquated and baseless.
Tax, who studied law at George Washington University said, “It’s much worse than you think,” referencing the unofficial title of his lecture.