The BOOKPRESS | March 2000 |
On the issue of
economic development, Ithaca is rapidly becoming a divided city. Interpreting
his re-election as a mandate, Mayor Alan Cohen has vigorously—some would
say heedlessly—pressed forward with his plans for commercial development
in the Southwest and West End. Despite Ithaca’s small population of 15,000
permanent residents (the number doubles when Cornell University and Ithaca
College are in session), and the sluggish rate of 1% annual increase over
the past decade, Cohen believes that the city is poised to attract large-scale
chain stores which would fuel an economic boom.
Critics have pointed
out that Ithaca is a late entry to this strategy and that the model it
is adopting has been shown to impose serious environmental and social costs
in countless towns throughout the country. Even with the best of intentions,the
city may find that it has little leverage in negotiations with such organizations
as Home Depot, Target, Borders, and others on the all-too familiar list.
It is doubtful if a small, geographically isolated city like Ithaca can
attract big-box stores without offering considerable infrastructure, maintenance,
and tax abatement benefits that, over time, may seriously erode anticipated
sales tax revenues.
There are also legitimate
questions as to whether the Ithaca market is large enough to sustain more
than one major shopping area. City representatives offer a vague and largely
unsupported notion of mutual symbiosis between Southwest Park and the Commons.
But past experience in other cities shows that big-box stores act as a
magnet for strip mall development along the most heavily trafficked routes—in
this case, Route 13—and this would draw additional commercial activity
away from the Commons. Shifting its economic base to national retailers
would make the city much more vulnerable to economic forces entirely beyond
its control. Woolworth’s and Lauriat’s closed their doors here, not because
their Ithaca locations were unprofitable, but because both chains went
bankrupt.
Some would say that
economic growth necessarily entails risks. While this may be true, it does
not mean that the mayor’s approach is best for Ithaca. A recent article
in The New York Times describes how an increasing number of communities
have been left to pick up the pieces of malls abandoned by big-box retailers,
turning them instead into modern replicas of old downtown neighborhoods.
Other cities around the country are now working with private-sector developers
to revitalize languishing downtowns, with a combination of small-scale
national chains and local merchants.
Downtown Ithaca
is certainly better off than many, but the city has not provided the leadership
and investment to develop a comprehensive plan that would capitalize on
its architectural assets and authentic local history. If adequate resources
were assured to enable the Commons area to regain its economic vitality,
the city could then pursue some larger retailers in the Southwest without
jeopardizing downtown commerce. By reversing these priorities, the city
is engaging in a high-stakes gamble that sufficient revenues will be generated
by Southwest Park to restore the health of the Commons. What is more likely
is that infrastructure and maintenance costs in the Southwest will drain
the city’s resources, leaving the downtown to suffer an irreversible decline.
One need not be
opposed to economic growth to believe that Mayor Cohen’s blueprint for
Southwest Park represents a failure of community planning. Imaginatively
impoverished and lacking a firm grasp of economic realities, it is certainly
not worth the sacrifice of the valuable environmental and urban characteristics
which still provide Ithaca with a sense of hope and a sense of place.
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