Ithaca

Ithaca, New York

Ithaca is in the rural Finger Lakes region about 250 miles to the northwest of New York City; the nearest larger cities, Binghamton and Syracuse, are an hour’s drive away by car. The City of Ithaca sits on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake, in Central New York State. It is best known for being home to Cornell University - an Ivy League school with 20,000 students. The City of Ithaca is the center of the Ithaca metropolitan area (which also contains the legally distinct Town of Ithaca and other towns and villages in Tompkins County) and the county seat of Tompkins County, New York. As of 2000, the city had a population of 29,287, and the metropolitan area had a population of 100,135. 2004 estimates puts the city population at 29,952, an increase of 2.3%.

Ithaca is commonly listed among the most culturally liberal (or, to the like-minded, “enlightened”) of American small cities. The Utne Reader named Ithaca “America’s most enlightened town” in 1997.

Like many small college towns, Ithaca has also received accolades for having a high overall quality of life. In 2004, Cities Ranked and Rated named Ithaca the best “emerging city” to live in the United States. In 2006, the Internet realty website “Relocate America” named Ithaca the fourth best city in the country to relocate to. In July 2006, Ithaca was listed as one of the “12 Hippest Hometowns for Vegetarians” by VegNews Magazine and chosen by Mother Earth News as one of the “12 Great Places You’ve Never Heard Of.”

Geography and Climate

Ithaca was founded on flat land just south of the lake — land that formed in fairly recent geological times when silt filled the southern end of the lake. The city ultimately spread to the adjacent hillsides, which rise several hundred feet above the central flats: East Hill, West Hill, and South Hill. Its sides are fairly steep, and a number of the streams that flow into the valley from east or west have cut deep gorges, usually with several waterfalls.

Ithaca experiences a moderate continental climate, with cold, snowy winters and sometimes hot and humid summers. The valley flatland has slightly milder weather in winter, and occasionally Ithacans experience simultaneous snow on the hills and rain in the valley. The natural vegetation of the Ithaca area, seen in areas unbuilt and unfarmed, is northern temperate broadleaf forest, dominated by deciduous trees. Due to the microclimates created by the impact of the lakes, the region surrounding Ithaca (Finger Lakes American Viticultural Area) experiences a short but adequate growing season for winemaking. As such the region is home to many wineries.

Education

Ithaca is a major educational center in Central New York. The city is home to Cornell University, which overlooks the town from East Hill, and Ithaca College, similarly situated on South Hill. The student population is very high, as almost 20,000 students are enrolled at Cornell, with an additional 6,300 students at Ithaca College.

Economy

With some level of success, Ithaca has tried to maintain a traditional downtown shopping area that includes the Ithaca Commons pedestrian mall and Center Ithaca, a small mixed-use complex built at the end of the urban renewal era. Some in the community regret that downtown has lost vitality to two expanding commercial zones to the northeast and southwest of the old city. These areas contain an increasing number of large retail stores and restaurants run by national chains. Others say the chain stores boost local shopping options for residents considerably, many of whom would have previously shopped elsewhere, while increasing sales tax revenue for the city and county. The tradeoff between sprawl and economic development continues to be debated throughout the city and the surrounding area. (Another commercial center, Collegetown, is located next to the Cornell campus. It features a number of restaurants, shops, and bars, and an increasing number of high rise apartments and is primarily frequented by Cornell University students.)

Ithaca has many of the businesses characteristic of small American university towns: used bookstores, art house cinemas, craft stores, and vegetarian restaurants. The collective Moosewood Restaurant, founded in 1973, was the wellspring for a number of vegetarian cookbooks; Bon Appetit magazine ranked it among the thirteen most influential restaurants of the twentieth century.

Information compiled from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ithaca,_New_York