Examining town-gown life, both near and far

By Gary Stewart
 
One of the more challenging things in life, beyond predicting Tompkins County’s weather, is analyzing town-gown relations.
 
Local campus-community challenges and opportunities aren’t especially unique to Tompkins County, though sometimes it might feel that way.
Housing, students, budgets, nonprofits, quality of life and other topics were discussed at a recent conference on town-gown economic development, organized by Cornell’s Office of Community Relations. Among other takeaways from the conference, it again illustrated that our town-gown tugs, pulls and shared successes are the norm elsewhere, too, and ever-evolving.
 
Community and campus representatives from six states attended the event at Coltivare in downtown Ithaca, Tompkins Cortland Community College’s wonderful culinary center and teaching facility.
 
More than 90 leaders—from mayors and provosts to chamber of commerce presidents and nonprofit directors—heard diverse presentations, preceded by the announcement that the university will open a Cornell Store on the Commons later this spring.
 
This new operation on the pedestrian mall’s west end, hard by Cayuga Street, features 1,700 square feet of retail space and is on the tax rolls.
 
“Across the country, there are excellent examples of universities who have used their campus stores as economic development engines and stimuli for downtown retail growth,” Downtown Ithaca Alliance Executive Director Gary Ferguson said last week.
 
“The opening of a Cornell campus store in downtown Ithaca at this strategic location will be a great boost for downtown retailing and should send a strong signal to others that downtown is an important retail marketplace for our community. We are grateful to Cornell for this commitment to our community,” he added.
 
It was a nice way to start a meeting.

The agenda was interesting, too, including:

• In Ithaca: How a community business incubator sponsored by higher-ed thrives in a downtown setting. (A noontime visit to the incubator was arranged for interested conference-goers.)
• In Syracuse: The Connective Corridor, and how leadership drives creative place-making, collaboration and sustainable solutions in urban planning.
• In Your Community: What’s on Your Mind? An open discussion on town-gown economic development, with morning and afternoon segments.
• In Our Meeting Space: The development of a downtown teaching facility, the Coltivare Culinary Center.
• In Tompkins County: A Town-Gown Affordable Housing Fund.
• In Burlington, Vt.: It’s worth the work—a 225-year marriage, and progress on economic development, quality of life, housing and other issues.
• In Amherst, Mass.: Creating a Blueprint for Shared Success: The University-Town of Amherst Collaborative.
• In Geneseo: SUNY Geneseo and Downtown Revitalization. (The presentation included two really sharp students.)

 
If you would like electronic copies of any of these presentations, please let me know, e-mail below.
 
Finally, our office is accessible and helpful, so please reach out if we may be of assistance on any front.
 
Thanks to Tompkins Weekly for publishing East Hill Notes. We look forward to discussing, and writing about, “town-gown” and its hundreds of components going forward.
 
Gary Stewart is Director of Community Relations at Cornell University. Contact him at gjs28@cornell.edu. Follow Cornell Community Relations @CornellTownGown.