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GUEST ROOM | ‘Myrick’s Plan:’ Boom, Bust or Somewhere in Between?
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As you may know, Ithaca mayor Svante Myrick ’09 recently released a plan to replace the Ithaca Police Department with a new “Department of Community Solutions and Public Safety.” The department would be divided between armed “public safety officers” and unarmed “community solution workers.”
The plan has received fulsome praise and withering criticism. It deserves neither. I was part of the process that led to this document. Though the mayor badly botched the rollout, the vision behind the plan is exactly right. If we separate process from substance, we can still achieve meaningful change.
