New York Mayor warns about dire consequences if local colleges don’t reopen in fall
Svante Myrick, Mayor of Ithaca, New York, discusses how the coronavirus pandemic is impacting the town areas of Cornell University and Ithaca College.
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Ithaca, New York, Mayor Svante Myrick said on Wednesday that the economic impact of university closings in his city – Cornell University and Ithaca College – is enormous and “cannot be overstated.”
“Not just for our town but for college towns all across the country, which are economic engines for every state that we are in,” the Democratic mayor told “America’s Newsroom.”
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Myrick said that Ithaca has the “strongest economy in New York.”
“We have the lowest unemployment, the fastest-growing employment base, and that has been true for almost a decade now,” Myrick said. “Our bond rating was AA2, our finances were in the best shape they have been in decades, and here comes this [coronavirus] catastrophe,” Myrick said.
Together, Cornell University and Ithaca College have more than 26,500 students that contribute to a massive portion of its economy. The city, meanwhile, has a population of about 31,000 people.
Ithaca announced it would be reopening for students and in-person classes on Oct. 5 — a month later than normal. Both Ithaca and Cornell University closed their campuses to students in mid-March, to protect their safety amid the COVID-19 public health crisis.
Myrick, a Democrat who graduated from Cornell back in 2009, says the city is also facing a budget shortfall stemming from the crisis.
Ithaca is part of the Southern Tier region of New York, which among other areas began its phased reopening from coronavirus-related shutdowns last Friday.
While the economy will most likely be impacted further due to the virus and lack of activity on campus, having students back also raises questions regarding their health compared to the benefit of the city.
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Myrick said that the opening of Ithaca College is “great” and that there is hope that nearby Tompkins Cortland Community College and Cornell University open in the fall as well.
“It’s not just bars and pizza places that people might think; it’s police officers, first responders, all of whom rely on tax revenues that are not coming in right now. It’s accountants, it’s lawyers, it’s everybody in our community and all over the country is going to suffer if we can’t find a way to safely reopen the economy, not just in a regional sense, but in an interconnected sense.”
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Myrick said that though mayors and state governors are trying their best, without a smart strong federal response “stitching” the economy back together will be a challenge.
“We’d like to see a strong forceful smart plan for contact tracing and testing finally come from the [Trump administration.]”
New York had 351,371 total coronavirus cases as of early Tuesday, more than any other state in the U.S.
Fox News' David Aaro contributed to this report.
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