Ithaca's Common Council voted last night to establish a task force that will look into reinvigorating Collegetown over the next five to 10 years. One council member described our beloved former collegiate playground to The Sun as "looking a little tired." The laundry list of areas in need of improvement, as cited by the Council, include: parking, retail property, public works, "overall aesthetics," pavement, signs and storefronts. What about the decrepit and horrible state of student housing and the slumlords who run them? Not a peep. Makes you wonder how you revitalize an area - one that is largely residential - without even mentioning the ramshackle (and often, unsafe) houses and apartments that occupy the same place. This is Collegetown's biggest problem. Sure, the parking situation stinks and who wouldn't want nicer storefronts? But, certainly not in the place of enforcing proper building codes and holding landlords responsible for their properties.
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