The city of Ithaca (named for the Greek
island of Ithaca in Homer's Odyssey) sits on the southern shores of Cayuga
Lake, in upstate New York.
Setting
The valley in which Cayuga Lake is located is long and narrow, with a
north-south orientation. 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. Since the lake valley was deepened by
glaciation during the last ice age, 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. Among these, maples are particularly common. Steep hillsides seen
from a distance resemble a curtain of green from late May through
September, show bright fall colors in October, and are a display of gray
trunks and branches, often with a white snowy background, from November
through early May.
The life of the city
The economy of Ithaca is based principally on education and tourism, with
some manufacturing. 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.
Tourism is based primarily on the natural scenery. Visitors come to see
the gorges, three of which are located within the city limits and three
others in nearby state parks. Tourists also enjoy Cayuga Lake, hiking
trails, and visits to wineries in lakeside vineyards found north and west
of the city.
Ithacans are noted for their strong sense of community, and support a
robust farmer's market, a professional theater (http://www.hangartheatre.org/),
a civic orchestra, much parkland, a science museum (http://www.sciencenter.org/)
for children, and a new paleontological museum (http://www.priweb.org/museumoftheearth/index.html).
They continue to attempt to maintain a traditional downtown shopping area,
a mix of a pedestrian mall (The Ithaca Commons) and a small, semi-
successful mixed use complex built at the end of the urban renewal era (Center
Ithaca). Also, there is Collegetown, a small commercial center adjacent to
the Cornell campus. The existing downtown has lost ground to two ever-expanding
zones of commercial sprawl to the northeast and southwest of the old city.
The city is known for having a politically left-leaning population in an
otherwise conservative region of New York State. Ithaca has many of the
businesses characteristic of small American university towns, such as used
bookstores, art house cinemas, craft stores, and vegetarian restaurants.
One of the best-known eateries is the collective Moosewood Restaurant.
Founded in 1973, Moosewood was the wellspring for seminal vegetarian
cookbooks and was instrumental in launching the vegetarian movement. Bon
Appetit magazine put it among the thirteen most influential restaurants of
the twentieth century.
The city is also home to one of the United States' first local currency
systems, the Ithaca Hours, and has pioneered the Ithaca Health Fund, a
popular cooperative health insurance.
The dominant local newspaper in Ithaca is a morning daily, The Ithaca
Journal, founded 1815. The paper has long been owned by the nationwide
Gannett company and is considered by some to be a generic product somewhat
similar to Gannett's national paper USA Today. Other local print
publications include the Ithaca Times and Positive News (US Edition).
There are also several Internet-based publications, including a local
email newsletter called the Ithaca Community News. Many local residents
subscribe to out-of-town papers as well, such as newspapers from Syracuse
or the New York Times.
Population and income figures
Population: 28,775
Total Households: 10,287
Median Household Income: 21,441
Median Family Income: 42,304
These are current as of May 2004 from the City of Ithaca GIS page.
Local government
The name "Ithaca" actually designates two legal entities in the area. The
Town of Ithaca is one of the nine towns that Tompkins County comprises.
The City of Ithaca is surrounded by, but independent of, the Town of
Ithaca. The neighboring suburb, the Village of Cayuga Heights, is part of
the town. Other non-municipal areas within the Town of Ithaca identified
by the US Census Bureau as census-designated places are:
East Ithaca
Forest Home
Northeast Ithaca
Northwest Ithaca
South Hill
The Town of Ithaca is bordered by other towns of Tompkins County as
follows:
Enfield to the west
Ulysses to the northwest
Lansing to the northeast
Dryden to the east
Danby to the south
Newfield to the southwest
Transportation
Ithaca is in a somewhat remote location 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.
Ithaca is served by Ithaca Tompkins Regional Airport, which provides daily
service to the major cities of the Northeast with a mixture of propeller
craft and small jets. US Airways, the sole commercial user of the airport,
offers flights to Boston Logan and New York LaGuardia and connections
through its major hubs of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
Ithaca lies at least a half hour's drive from any interstate highway, and
all car trips to Ithaca involve at least some driving on two-lane rural
roads. There is frequent bus service, particularly to New York City, but
only freight trains use the valley's rails.
Problems faced by the city
Although Ithaca is considered by many to be a very desirable place to live,
it also faces some problems. The streets, particularly the main highway NY
13, are often clogged with traffic, despite the public transit system (http://www.tcatbus.com/index.shtml).
Many grocery stores in residential neighborhoods been killed off by larger
stores in commercial strips, which has made it difficult for Ithacans
without cars to shop for food, and has also exacerbated traffic.
The beauty of the local scenery is threatened by development. This
includes the new commercial areas, whose buildings were evidently designed
solely with low cost in mind and are surrounded by huge parking lots, as
well as the large new houses built in nearby rural areas by wealthier
Ithacans.
For decades, the Ithaca Gun Company dumped heavy metals near Fall Creek,
one of the gorge-filling streams that flows into Cayuga Lake. The
ecological damage to the lake will be seen for generations. The EPA began
a major clean-up project sponsored by the United States Superfund in 2002.
