Columns

VALDETARO | Make Collegetown Streets Ducking Safe

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Back in Collegetown, make College Avenue, Eddy Street and Dryden Road kinkier. No, this hasn’t suddenly become a Wednesday edition of Sex on Thursday. Instead, I’m referring to bumping out sidewalks to induce what’s called a chicane effect, meaning that drivers are forced to slow down because they can’t drive in a straight line. By further reducing vehicle speeds in and around Collegetown, these changes would make the space reclaimed from cars even more lively, as it would help people sitting at a sidewalk feel safer.

Arts & Culture

Citizen Jane: Battle for the City at Cornell Cinema

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Citizen Jane: Battle for the City relayed a narrative of civil disobedience, the destructive uprooting and displacement of black communities, and a constant fight to bring the city back to its people. The 2016 documentary, directed by Matt Tyrnauer and featuring Prof. Thomas Campanella, premiered in Ithaca at Willard Straight Theater this past Wednesday. The documentary delves into the life of Jane Jacobs’, recounting her fervent campaign to save New York City from attempts to pave over its existing social fabric. Author of the influential book The Death and Life of Great American Cities, grassroots activist Jacobs advocated for “eyes on the street” as a force for safety, providing for vital and prosperous city streets. In an hour and a half the film provided a critique of urban renewal and the ideals of modernism driving New York City’s planning commissioner Robert Moses to clear out the suffering cities through demolition and the complete remodeling of its infrastructure.