February 18, 2015 by Ithaca Times

w s l i n e

VOL.X X XVI / NO. 25 / February 18, 2015

Hindering Development .......... 8

War on Drugs

City of Ithaca

Film Dramatizes Local Problems

City Modernizes Trash Fine System

ccording to Tompkins County District Attorney Gwen Wilkinson, it is time to “rethink our priorities” about drug crime and sentencing. She said, “I think that I am not the only district attorney in New York who thinks that it is time to rethink our priorities … in sentencing people to prison for nonviolent drug offenses.” Wilkinson shared her views about the War on Drugs during a panel discussion and film screening at Cinemapolis hosted by Mayor Svante Myrick on Feb. 16. The film, Eugene Jarecki’s The House I Live In, is Mayor Svante Myrick a sweeping (Photo: Keri Blakinger) indictment of the drug war. Released in 2012, the film, which garnered a Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, addresses the disparate racial effects of the drug war, the private prison industry, and the human toll of policies of mass incarceration. Although the primary story focuses on a family friend of Jarecki’s, it incorporates interviews with The New Jim Crow author Michelle Alexander, The Wire creator David Simon, neuroscientist Dr. Carl Hart, John Jay College of Criminal Justice Professor David Kennedy, a variety of law enforcement officials, and a number drug users and dealers. The film’s unequivocal conclusion is that the War on Drugs has done more harm than good. As Simon tells viewers, “What drugs haven’t destroyed, the war against them has.” At the film’s conclusion, local stakeholders engaged in a questionand-answer panel discussion regarding the local implications. Myrick offered some personal background in part of his response. “I was born under Reagan in the inner city to a black male,” he said. “My father was a drug addict. He was addicted to crack cocaine, and he was addicted for 20 years and he cycled in and out of jail and prison and rehab. “The resources we have in Ithaca are far better than the resources where I was born … The one area I think we could improve … is that of housing.”

thaca’s property owners soon might find that the city’s practice of ticketing for trash left out several days in a row without letting them know of the issue causes less mess on their balance sheets. A $6,954 notification system will allow city building inspector Martin (a.k.a. Tony) Love to send emails when he writes a ticket to a property owner for having garbage on the porch or in the front yard. This system will, hopefully, make a memory out of rentiers’ oftrepeated complaint that tickets, which escalate in cost, arrive in bunches and weeks after the violation happened, giving them no chance to fix the problem. Larry Beck of the Rental Housing Advisory Commission summed up complaints he’d gathered from 13 Uncovered trash containers and loose trash on the street (Photo: Tim Gera) landlords at a recent planning committee meeting. He delved come to his office complaining. “By far into the history of the Exterior Property the biggest stress is the time lag. There are Management Ordinance (EPMO) that’s some who say to me ‘Does the city want caused so much grief for owners. me to be a garbageman? I’ve got to go by “In 1999 if I had a tenant who left 25 every morning and pick up the garbage.’” bags of garbage on the porch, I had some There are cases, Sarachan said, kind of notice there was a problem there and he would have had, I think, three days where he does offer some common-sense leniency for those who say they just want a to correct it,” Beck told the committee. chance to clean up immediately before the “The fines at that time went from $40 to fines accumulate. $60 to $80.” The fine structure changed in 2000 continued on page 4 to a steeper escalation, before complaints

continued on page 5

caused Common Council to drop the first fine from $50 to $25. Now, the second fine is $75, then $200 and finally $300 for the fourth and each subsequent violation, with the clock resetting after six months. “We need to go back to some kind of warning period, some kind of opportunity to cure and correct,” Beck said. “We had suggestions that this should be looked at more like a parking violation. They’re not escalating. My car is the same car just like my property is the same property.” Dropping the initial fine level in 2012 did make it easier to deal with first-time offenders, city prosecutor Robert Sarachan said. “For the people who get one every five or 10 years, $25 has fixed a big chunk of the pie,” Sarachan said of those who

▶ Autism Fundraiser There will be an athletic benefit for Autism Speaks in Ithaca. It is being held at Ultimate Athletics in the Shops at Ithaca Mall, March 25, starting at 2 pm. Scott Noren will attempt to clean and jerk (Olympic style lift) at least 100 kg (220 lbs.) Noren is looking for people and companies to sponsor the event through the linked Autism Speaks fundraising page, as well as people to attend and cheer him on. He plans on donating $1 for every kg lifted up to 100 kg. If he lifts more than that, he won’t be on the hook for that!

Please consider donating through the web page (fundraise.autismspeaks.org) or showing up on the day of as well. For more information, email Noren at autism188@gmail.com ▶ Foster Grandparents Wayne County Actions is trying to recruit Foster Grandparent Volunteers for Wayne, Ontario, Seneca and Yates counties. If you are 55 years of age or older, have a limited income, and are interested in making a difference in a child’s life, please call Kim, at 315-665-0131 Ext 170.

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How multiple agendas downtown can kill downtown development projects

Into the Mystic . ........................ 19 Cornell festival explores the music of French composer Olivier Messiaen

NE W S & OPINION

Newsline . ............................... 3-7, 11, 13 Sports ................................................... 14

ART S & E NTE RTAINME NT

Art . ....................................................... 20 Music . ................................................... 21 Music . ................................................... 22 Stage ..................................................... 23 Film . ...................................................... 24 TimesTable .................................... 26-29 Encore .................................................. 29 Classifieds...................................... 26-28 Cover Photo: Attorney Nathan Lyman at 130 East Clinton (Photo: Tim Gera) Cover Design: Julianna Truesdale.

ON THE W E B Visit our website at www.ithaca.com for more news, arts, sports and photos. B i l l C h a i s s o n , M a n a g i n g E d i t o r , 6 07-277-70 0 0 x 224 E d i t o r @ I t h a c a T i me s . c o m K e r i B l a k i n g e r, W e b E d i t o r , x 217 A r t s @I t h a c a T i me s . c o m J o s h B r o k a w, S t a f f R e p o r t e r , x 225 R e p o r t e r @I t h a c a T i me s . c o m A r t S a m p l a s k i , E d i t o r i a l a s s i s t a n t , x 217 A r t s @I t h a c a T i me s . c o m Tim Gera, Photographer p h o t o g r a p h e r @I t h a c a T i me s . c o m Steve Lawrence, Sports Editor, Ste vespo rt sd u d e@gmai l .co m M i c h a e l N o c e l l a , F i n g e r L a k e s S p o r t s E d i t o r , x 236 Sp o rt s@Flcn .o rg J u l i a n n a Tr u e s d a l e , P r o d u c t i o n D i r e c t o r / D e s i g n e r , x 226 P r o d u c t i o n @I t h a c a T i me s . c o m G e o r g i a C o l i c c h i o, A c c o u n t R e p r e s e n t a t i v e , x 220 G e o r g i a @ I t h a c a T i me s . c o m J i m K i e r n a n , A c c o u n t R e p r e s e n t a t i v e , x 219 J k i e r n a n @ I t h a c a T i me s . c o m R i c k y C h a n , A c c o u n t R e p r e s e n t a t i v e , x 218 R i c k y @ I t h a c a T i me s . c o m C a t h y B u t t n e r, C l a s s i f i e d A d v e r t i s i n g , x 227 c b u t t n e r @ i t h a c a t i me s . c o m Cy n d i B r o n g , x 211; J u n e S e a n e y A d m i n i s t r a t i o n Rick Blaisdell, Chris Eaton, Les Jink s J i m B i l i n s k i , P u b l i s h e r , x 210 j b i l i n s k i @ I t h a c a T i me s . c o m C o n t r i b u t o r s : Barbara Adams,Deirdre Cunningham, Jane Dieckmann, Amber Donofrio, Luke Z. Fenchel, J.F.K. Fisher, Karen Gadiel, Charley Githler, Linda B. Glaser, Warren Greenwood, Ross Haarstad, Peggy Haine, Cassandra Palmyra, and Bryan VanCampen.

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