The Ithaca Solidarity Slate is running for Common Council on a shared platform and commitment to governing alongside community organizations.

The Solidarity Slate fights for :

Quality Housing as a Human Right

  • Bring rent stabilization to Ithaca, and put caps on rent hikes for thousands of Ithacans through ETPA (Emergency Tenant Protection Act). 

  • Implement a housing first approach to housing and homelessness, because we all deserve a safe and dignified place to live. Housing first is an evidence-based response to homelessness that includes rapid and permanent housing, and supportive services. It is best laid out in Ithaca with the Home Together Tompkins plan

Make Cornell Pay

  • Increased funding from Cornell University to invest in our failed transportation system and lower the tax burden for renters and homeowners. 

The PILOT renegotiation is coming up, and it’ll take a city-wide effort to make sure Cornell pays their fair share — that’s why the Solidarity Slate is working alongside DSA to ensure the negotiations result in a higher contribution from Cornell.

Transportation

  • Expand TCAT with payments from Cornell, and make it free to ride.

  • Municipal snow and ice removal from sidewalks, to make them more accessible, especially to disabled and older Ithacans.

  • Expand Complete Streets, which include safe infrastructure for people using buses, bikes, or mobility devices, with well-maintained sidewalks and safer crossings.

Ithaca Green New Deal

  • Investing 50% of all Green New Deal funding in people who are most affected by climate change because of systemic exploitation and underfunding. 

  • Sustainable transportation, carbon-neutral buildings, and renewable electricity infrastructure.

  • Including protections against displacement in green building renovation plans

  • Ensuring the city's response to rising flood risks and new insurance requirements does not leave out people already facing gentrification

Justice for Workers

  • Preventing workers’ unjust and arbitrary firings by passing Just Cause labor protections, which require employers to have a reason to fire workers and gives workers a way to fight unfair or discriminatory firings.

  • Supporting city workers with fair wages, fair negotiations, and good working conditions.

Public Safety

  • Creating a Civilian Accountability Board that would actually have the power to investigate and sanction the police department. 

  • Renegotiate a contract with our police union that gives the city the ability to create real safety through social services and civilian responders. 

Dignity & Systemic Justice for Black and Brown People

  • Reparations for Black Ithacans, including a committee for the creation of wealth and resource redistribution.

  • Fully funding Black institutions in Ithaca, and a direct payment program for Black Ithacans.

Support for People Returning from Incarceration

  • Resources and legal protections to ensure people returning from jail and prison can thrive

Support for LGBTQ+ people

  • Make Ithaca a sanctuary city for people seeking gender affirming healthcare.

  • Protect and expand rights for transgender and queer people against a growing nationwide campaign to strip them away.

Remain a Sanctuary City

  • Protect or expand Ithaca’s Sanctuary City policy for immigration and abortion care

Support for Community Organizations

  • Support community organizations providing essential services to our community, like affordable childcare, supporting people in reentry from jail and prison, and programs for seniors.

 

Beyond the Office

While there are many actions we can take in city government to improve life in Ithaca, this isn’t the solution for all problems. It’s also necessary to become more organized as a community, engage in and fund mutual aid, and stand up for each other when we see inequality, neglect, or mistreatment. Solidarity Slate candidates already have history in organizations like Southside Community Center, Mutual Aid Tompkins and its food and supplies distribution, the Multicultural Resource Center, No Mas Lagrimas/No More Tears, tenant organizing, local protests and solidarity actions, and other community efforts.