Burnin’ Up
Off Track
Track members use snowshoeing as alternative to running, page 23
Students sweat it out in heated yoga classes for challenging workout, page 13
Thursday March 11, 2010
The Ithacan
Logged out
Online avatars abandon Park’s Second Life island
photo illustration by allison usavage and michelle barrie
By Allison Musante Managing editor
More than three years ago an island was purchased for the Roy H. Park School of Communications in the virtual world of Second Life. Now the island often resembles a ghost town. “Sometimes you expect a tumbleweed to blow by,” assistant television-radio professor Kim Gregson said.
Despite the buzz about Second Life when it was publicly released in 2003, only a handful of Ithaca College professors have experimented with it. Though users could socialize in this customizable digital environment through avatars — character representations of themselves — many users, which have included educators and casual gamers alike, have felt that their expectations of it have fallen flat. The Park School paid a $1,500 start-up fee and
has been paying $150 in rent per month since it launched in 2006. Diane Gayeski, the interim dean of the Park School, spoke about the potential of online education during her candidate sessions. “It will be up to the permanent dean and faculty who teach courses that might require online tools such as Second Life to make decisions about how
See Technology, page 4
City officials hold meeting after downtown shooting By Lily Oberman Staff Writer
Many questions remained after about 300 members of the community met at Southside Community Center on Tuesday night to discuss the death of Shawn Greenwood. The community members voiced their concerns about Greenwood’s death, which occurred around 5 p.m. Feb. 23 outside of Pete’s Grocery and Deli on West Buffalo Street. Greenwood was fatally shot by Ithaca Police Department Sgt. Bryan Bangs after Greenwood accelerated his car toward an officer. As previously reported in an Ithacan article, officers were attempting to serve Greenwood with a search warrant while Greenwood was sitting in his car. The gathering, which was moderated by Kirby Edmonds and Laura Branca of TFC Associates, was intended to be an evening for community reflection, Branca said. Mayor Carolyn Peterson, District Attorney Gwen Wilkinson and Police Chief Ed Vallely were present to field community members’ questions about Greenwood’s death.
Wilkinson was originally in charge of investigating Greenwood’s death but stepped aside March 8. Chemung County District Attorney Weeden A. Wetmore is now special prosecutor of the investigation. Ricardo Williams, a lifelong friend of Greenwood’s, spoke to the packed auditorium first. Greenwood was one of the funniest and most energetic people he had ever met, Williams said. Though the two grew apart as they got older, Williams spent a lot of time with Greenwood in the months before his death and said that he had noticed a change in him. “He seemed … more concerned about the important things in life, like family and friends,” Williams said. “He showed a true love for life and seemed he was an all-around more positive person.” Peterson said that she is “keenly aware” of the stress that the incident has put on the community. She is urging the most transparent release of information regarding the incident. “The community deserves this,” she said. “This is not a press confer-
See meeting, page 4
Ricardo Williams, a friend of the Shawn Greenwood, reflects on his speech at the community meeting Tuesday night at Southside Community Center. Andrew Buraczenski/The Ithacan
find more. online. www.theithacan.org
Tie it up
City’s garbage policy is unfair to off-campus students, page 10
I t h a c a , N . Y.
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Tax receipts drop below expectations By ryan sharpstene Staff Writer
With the news of a downturn in countywide sales tax receipts in January 2010, the ongoing economic recession continues to take its toll on Tompkins County. Late last month, Tompkins County Finance Director David Squires announced before the Tompkins County Dennis said tax receipts have L e g i s l a t u r e ’s been down for Budget and more than a year. Capital Committee that sales tax receipts were down more than 3.39 percent countywide in comparison to January 2009. At the same meeting, Tompkins County Administrator Joe Mareane said this receipt decline is a concern because the overall 2010 county budget was initially based off a net growth. James Dennis, the chairman of the county’s Budget and Capital Committee, said countywide sales tax receipts have been down every month for more than a year. “It is such a significant amount of money for us because, like the other 61 counties in the state, we only have two real methods of raising money — sales taxes and property taxes,” Dennis said. “So when we lose that kind of money in sales tax, it has a significant impact to our budget.” Dennis said the larger brand -name retailers are taking a harder hit than some of the niche-market shops on The Commons. “What is really significant to the county, when you look at outcome from businesses, are the car dealerships and the big-box stores,” Dennis said. Dennis said this news is especially bleak for Tompkins County because of the many tax-exempt organizations owning property within the county. “We already have about 45 percent of the property in the county off the tax roll, so 55 percent of all the property is paying all the taxes in Tompkins County,” he said. “It is not really a positive or a negative, just the reality of the issue.” Dennis said the original 2010 budget was based on a 3 percent increase because in 2009 Tompkins County began to feel dramatic effects of the economic recession. “The sales tax numbers in Tompkins County had until 2009 been increasing at a rate of about
See tax, page 4