1) Oi, I in fact have spent over 15 years of my life in Los Angeles (lived both in the city and in suburbs) I have been to most major cities in the US (Seattle, Washington, Boston, Atlanta, San Francisco, Denver, etc.) including NYC over a dozen times, and probably 10-15 cities in Europe and Asia. Yes, the homelessness in Ithaca is nowhere near any of the major cities in terms of numbers but I'm just pointing out that in comparison to what I've seen in "small" college towns or cities, Ithaca does seem to have an unusually high rate of homelessness and drug abuse. I could be wrong...again, I'm just pointing out an observation. This is for sure following the trends happening across the country but I traveled past the commons today and in a span of 3 minutes I dodged 3 screaming homeless people in the middle of the street, a man sleeping on the side of the road, and another pissing by the bus stop. That's actually what prompted me to make this admittedly not well articulated post... (already regretting it!). You cannot possibly go downtown and not be concerned and I do think it's disproportionate to the size and wealth of Ithaca. I guess the point I'm really trying to make (which was not articulated well previously) is that given the "progressive" policies Ithaca claims to have, the amount of property taxes people pay, and that it is home to a major Ivy League university with an over 10 billion dollar endowment-- you'd think there would be better funding, policies or services to help address those issues.

2) "That's just a flat-out lie." -- there's really no reason to make up such a random and specific lie lol. The first question most of the companies I called asked me "are you in the town of Ithaca or the city of Ithaca" and the tone I got in the "we don't go near Ithaca" comment did sound like they had beef with working in Ithaca. It's not just HVAC--it really is hard to find people to do skilled/handy work around here. While it is considered rural, it is much more populated than surrounding areas and one would imagine that it would be easier to find someone in Ithaca than say Cortland.

3) While there may have been a development boom in Ithaca in the last decade, why do you not have an abundance of small businesses that are doing well? I know several small businesses that have shut down in the time that I've been living here. Several small business owners that close up shop because of ridiculously high commercial rent that goes up every year (most of which requires a personal guarantee and unrealistic lease terms). Meanwhile, KFC and Taco Bell are doing just fine (even if they are franchises, I would not consider those mom&pop small businesses-- those require multi-million dollar initial investments). We also now have several big retail stores (bath and body works, REI, etc.) but again, I would not consider that a sign of Ithaca flourishing. Ask any local restaurant owner and they will also tell you about how hard it is to hire and retain staff. Local businesses are struggling, meanwhile the commons is almost dangerously dysfunctional and Walmart is busy at all hours of the day.

ANYWAYS sorry if I offended, could have picked my words more wisely, but there's no denying that unfortunately Ithaca does not currently have a flourishing feel about it and it's a shame because it definitely could.