Hello, I’m G.P. (Gepe) Zurenda
During my 39 years of living in Ithaca, I have tried to do my part to contribute to our community by serving on the Planning Board, the Board of Family and Children’s Services and the Advocacy Center, as well as being a founding member of Ithaca Community Recovery and a Treasurer of the Center for Religion, Ethics and Social Policy (CRESP) at Cornell.
My first career was in manufacturing. As a result, I have extensive management experience including the ability to make difficult decisions when expenses have exceeded revenue, -a situation I believe the city now finds itself in. My second career is as a Clinical Social Worker, which gives me the opportunity to help individuals, couples and families identify, analyze and address problems. I will bring this experience to Common Council to help foster communication and build alliances.
I believe it is the obligation of our elected officials to set policies that inform budget decisions. I will bring a strong voice toward making that happen and work diligently to solve issues without vilifying those who disagree.
Like many older Ithacans, I am wondering how long I will be able to continue to live here given our current property taxes and the prospect of the increases to come. Homeowners and renters alike face this challenge.
We need to reopen our MOU with Cornell to insist a fair payment in lieu of taxes be paid on its profit making, non-academic businesses. When Cornell was founded and obtained its tax-free status, it did not collect revenue over $100M annually in housing fees or from 29 campus eateries. We must recognize which are the true educational aspects and tax the profit-making ancillary businesses. Likewise equitable compensation for all services rendered, including fire protection, should be pursued.
We need to rebuild and expand existing housing stock through incentives to make upgrades economically viable for housing providers, and zoning changes to allow conversion of existing buildings to support our current demographics. Much of our housing was built for families with 3, 4 and 5 children. Now many of our homeowners and renters prefer a one or two-bedroom residence. We can greatly increase our housing stock and maintain our neighborhoods by addressing this shift in needs.
The Mayor and Common Council have yet to master the role of directing and supervising the job of the City Manager. Let’s complete our transition to a City Manager form of government by establishing clearly defined performance metrics that include financial goals and cost containment to rein in the cost of running our city.
Let’s reinvest in our local economy before we send all our tax dollars to outside developers, and work together to ensure Ithaca is a wonderful, affordable place to live for people of all backgrounds and viewpoints.
Let’s make Ithaca city government work for everyone!