Ithaca: The City Almost Everyone Can’t Wait to Leave

The kids in school growing up would talk about the city with resentment from boredom. That may be a normal part of childhood development, but in Ithaca, it was pervasive and real. So much so that teachers in high school acknowledged it, and very few students choose to remain in Ithaca after graduation. Ithaca has oriented itself as a city for the elite to pass through. People from all over come in the summer to see the waterfalls and parks and enjoy the numerous outdoor spaces that Ithaca’s tax base has come to offer, make purchases at restaurants and artisan shops on the commons, and then make a swift exit.

I wanted to leave, as a kid, I told myself I would move across the country for college or at the first chance I got. When it came time for me to pick colleges I did leave, but I came back. I realized that I had unfinished business in the city of Ithaca and that my hometown truly was the best place for me to study the city form. Parts of me still want to leave—the same parts that did as a kid. I still live downtown in an apartment, very similar to one I grew up in with my father, where the landlords don’t care that the plumbing breaks every few weeks, there is a mouse infestation, and barely operable heat. When you ask them to fix it with urgency in your eyes you’re almost laughed off, they know that Ithaca is the second most expensive small city in the country in terms of rental housing and that I am considered lucky to find a place only a couple hundred dollars over a fair market rate.

Despite all of this, people pass through Ithaca to be lifted up. Some do this through educational institutions but Ithaca is also known as a sanctuary city for immigrants like my mom. While parts of its oasis-like reputation definitely pleased her, even she can’t wait to get out of Ithaca and makes it a priority to travel as much as possible. My mom was able to find good housing in a historically black neighborhood in Ithaca, Southside. Having two single parents and two homes in two different neighborhoods in Ithaca really opened my eyes to how racist cities and infrastructure can be. Beyond social perception are zoning and traffic choices. Two one-way streets with no red lights ran across the perimeter of the neighborhood, which made the usually pedestrian-friendly downtown area a hostile environment for walking. Roads would go on for a couple of blocks to have a seemingly random concrete slab turn them into a dead end. It always confused me why they would block off access to some of the most important roads, and give roads coming from other directions so much priority over ours.

The cost of living is driving people out of the city. They can’t wait to leave the threat of poverty. Evictions are driving people out of their homes, they sadly literally can’t wait to leave. This year alone there have been two well-known unethical evictions. One just a few days before Christmas on one of the coldest days of the year.

The other is a doctor in economics from Cornell and an economic advisor for the Kenyan government, Ben Okumu, who had accumulated hospital debt after a car crash and the subsequent death of his wife. He had to seek medical treatment in Africa and fell behind on some mortgage payments. The eviction notice was served to his children while he was out of the country seeking treatment for blood clots. I was lucky enough to hear of his story and get him in contact with people at Cornell who could represent him legally.

In all of these ways and more, I see Ithaca tare people down and also bring them up, I just wish the luck that Ithaca brings to the wealthy as a city could be distributed ethically and equitably.