Ithaca city life

The economy of Ithaca is based on education and manufacturing with high tech and tourism in strong supporting roles. As of 2006, Ithaca remains one of the few expanding economies in economically troubled New York State outside of New York City, and draws commuters from the neighboring rural counties of Cortland, Tioga, and Schuyler, as well as from the more urbanized Chemung County. 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. The Ithaca City School District, which encompasses Ithaca and the surrounding area, enrolls about 5,500 K-12 students in eight elementary schools, two middle schools, Ithaca High School, and the Lehman Alternative Community School, which provides its students wide-ranging freedom to choose their own curriculum, occasionally resulting in controversy over political content in academic events.

Tourists come largely for the natural scenery, including three gorges within the city limits and three in nearby state parks. Visitors also enjoy Cayuga Lake, numerous hiking, skiing, and bicycling trails, and visits to wineries in lakeside vineyards found north and west of the city.

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. Therefore, 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.)

Ithacans support a popular farmer’s market[5], professional theaters[6],[7],[8], a civic orchestra, much parkland, a science museum for children, and a new paleontological museum. Ithaca is noted for its annual artistic celebration of community: The Ithaca Festival[9]. (The Ithaca Festival Parade[10] and Circus Eccentrithaca[11] are legendary!) Another gem is the Constance Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts [12] which provides grants and Summer Fellowships at the Saltonstall Arts Colony for NYS artists and writers. Ithaca also hosts what is described as the third-largest used-book sale in the United States.

Politically , the city’s population has a significant liberal Democrat political tilt, in contrast to the more conservative leanings of the region of Upstate New York that surrounds it.

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.

The dominant local newspaper in Ithaca is a morning daily, the Ithaca Journal, founded 1815. The paper is owned by Gannett, Inc., publishers of USA Today. Other local print publications include the Ithaca Times, the Cornell Daily Sun, the Ithacan, and the Tattler. (The latter three are run by student staffs at Cornell University, Ithaca College, and Ithaca High School, respectively.) Local residents often subscribe to out-of-town papers as well. The Post Standard of Syracuse and the New York Times are popular among many community members.

Ithaca has also pioneered the Ithaca Health Fund, a popular cooperative health insurance. Ithaca is also home to one of the United States’ first local currency systems, Ithaca Hours.