Last Wednesday I attended a talk with John Schroeder. The talk documented how Cornell’s housing came to be, from the construction of the first dorms to the construction of apartments in Collegetown. I was not very familiar with the topic before going in; I knew that prices for housing in Ithaca were high and that the student influx had an affect on the greater Ithaca community, but John made it evident that prices were getting out of hand. People who have lived in the area cannot afford to pay their rent, many people who work in Ithaca have to commute from farther places, and prices are still rising.

But John said there was a plan. Realtors are now looking to build more housing to accommodate for the large demand from Cornell students. If the supply goes up, hopefully the prices will go down. But John expressed that though this should happen theoretically, there is no way to ensure that this actually happens. A lot of the land in Ithaca is owned by a few people who have a monopoly, so it is ultimately their decision on whether or not to lower the prices.

A small debate got going on whether or not it was best to build more housing that did not fit Ithaca’s aesthetic to lower prices; some say that giving access to housing is more essential than preserving the authenticity of Ithaca while others say that Ithaca’s small-town feel is what people come for. I personally agree with the latter. Ithaca is Ithaca because of the environment. It would not be fit for skyscrapers and apartment duplexes to line the streets of downtown. Ithaca has a history, and it is important to maintain that history regardless of what may be economically lucrative.

Also, John gave me a cool map of early Ithaca to put on my wall 🙂 Thanks, John!