The City of Ithaca will be holding a special meeting on Tuesday at 7pm to get the public’s opinion on whether there should be permanent suicide barriers on the Thurston Avenue Bridge and other city owned bridges. Anyone who lives nearby and cares about this issue is strongly encouraged to go to city hall, and share their thoughts. Each person will be allowed to speak for 3 minutes, and at the end of the meeting, the common council will determine their “next steps." Meta Ezra has heard that a small number of common council members already plan to vote against permanent barriers, since the best research available suggests they will be ineffective at preventing suicide. But the outcome of the meeting is far from clear, and the meeting itself is likely to be contentious. Much of this blog’s reporting has yet to reach local Ithacans, so many are still convinced that the scientific research favors suicide barriers, and that people who oppose them don’t care about helping those in need. I live too far away to drive down to Ithaca on such short notice, but if I was there, I would highlight some of the studies I’ve presented in my previous articles. Here are some links: Here is a post describing the most recent plans for the barriers: For more information about the meeting, click here
http://www.metaezra.com/archive/2011/02/dan_jost_05_asks_is_this_what.shtml
http://www.metaezra.com/archive/2011/02/dan_jost_05_asks_if_we_can_sen.shtml
http://www.metaezra.com/archive/2011/04/could_putting_up_a_suicide_bar.shtml
http://www.metaezra.com/archive/2011/06/cornell_proposes_suicide_nets.shtml
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