In 2019, City Centre was completed, creating eight stories of luxury apartments priced at over $2,000 a month. “Just seeing the way … we prioritize economics and haven’t made this place more economical for families has made me angry.” “For me, it’s kind of sad watching all the buildings come into play, especially since Ithaca has always been advertised as a city in which we value nature and the importance of natural light,” Yearwood said. She believes Ithaca’s culture and values around environmentalism are put at odds when the city races to construct new buildings. Yearwood said she has noticed new developments near her childhood school that she views as out of place for the neighborhood and for the City of Ithaca. Martin Elementary in Downtown Ithaca as a child. Junior Kalena Yearwood grew up near Dryden but attended Beverly J. Throughout Ithaca, other construction projects have been underway in neighborhoods where Ithaca’s families live. This gentrification is not just limited to The Commons. we’re just staying home and not going to what made The Commons feel so special.” “They’re taking away all those little stores that people like to go to and then those big buildings that just no one has any interest in. “It feels like the energy has been sucked out of The Commons,” Whitmore said. Now, he says, it feels like The Commons has transformed to appeal to those outside the city, like wealthy students at Cornell University and Ithaca College as well as large, profitable businesses. Whitmore said he remembers how when he was a child, The Commons existed as a community space for small businesses and Ithacans. Each building has or will have minimalist architecture that towers high above the skyline of the buildings of the old Commons. City Centre, The Ithacan: Luxury Living, Harold’s Square and Asteri Ithaca are four major apartment complex business centers on The Commons in different stages of development. Since the reconstruction of The Commons, the downtown area surrounding it has been a construction free-for-all, dominating small businesses that have thrived in the city’s brick – and – mortar buildings for decades. … It’s a twofold economic and social concern.” … If they don’t lose their own property, what happens is they lose the social connections that tied them to their neighbors. “And then they no longer fit in the very neighborhoods in which they grew up. “All of a sudden everything becomes more valuable and people start getting priced out,” Sweet said. Sweet said that while gentrification upfront is an economic issue, its effects can be felt among the networks of a community experiencing it. Stephen Sweet, D ana professor in the Department of Sociology, said gentrification is an old sociological concept that has been explored in studies of communities and urban environments. Since 2010, the percentage of Tompkins County renters who are cost burdened - spend more than 30% of their income on housing - has risen to 55%. During this transformation, the median rent in the C ity of Ithaca quietly increased from $574 per month in 2000 to $1,072 per month in 2020 for a one bedroom apartment, according to The Ithaca Voice. In April 2013, the old Commons - an open community walkway with an aging, European-style layout - was destroyed and by 2015 was replaced by a more photogenic, business-friendly space. In 2009, the City of Ithaca began a six-year renovation of The Commons, redoing the pavement and infrastructure of the two-block pedestrian mall into something entirely new. Additionally, gentrification has priced out and displaced lower-income Ithacans - like those living in Ithaca’s south side, a historically Black neighborhood - into the surrounding areas. In Downtown Ithaca, the effects of gentrification can be felt the most in the changing scenery of The Commons. However, gentrification leads to higher rent, changing culture and physical displacement for the residents who are from the area. On paper, gentrification appears to be beneficial - the process brings in temporary jobs, new tax revenue and an increase in housing value. The process that Whitmore is referring to is gentrification, where a city or neighborhood gets transformed over time when more affluent residents move in. But with this whole process, it’s just not fun to be here anymore.” “I absolutely love this town,” Whitmore said. However, the city’s rising rent, increasing number of upper-class housing developments and declining flavor have made Whitemore and many of the college’s students who are native to Ithaca feel isolated and distant from their home. Whitmore would rather spend his life in Ithaca, the town where he was born and raised. After sophomore Spencer Whitmore graduates from Ithaca College, he plans to move to a small town in Washington.
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