I’m curious to know how many students who are originally from Cortland go away to school. This summer I came up to look for an apartment, and there were a lot of college-aged people at the bars.
[Side Note: I couldn’t travel three and a half hours all the way to Cortland to look for an apartment and not check-in at the bars downtown for a while.]
This is going to be the second year, in a row, that I’m going to work a wedding at the Alumni House on New Years Eve. I’ll admit that I was really upset about this last year. I had to miss out on my family’s New Years party, and I had to travel to what I thought was going to be a ghost town. In hindsight, though, I can admit that I was way off.
There were a lot of people in Cortland on New Years Eve last year. (furthermore, there will probably be a lot of people here this year considering the Cortland Standard Building will drop the ball--See caption to the right). It was and will be a sight. The bad news is, though, that the rest of the winter it seemed to be more like what I had imagined. I think I’ve come to a realization…
Don’t get me wrong, what I’m about to write has no bearing on the fact that I still think it is completely necessary to try to integrate the college and the city more. But, I think that maybe there’s a different problem. It seems that there is no real reason for anyone from surrounding areas to travel to Cortland. There’s no great shopping mall, there’s no real mind-blowing restaurant, and there’s no gimmick (besides the ball dropping).
Maybe I went too far in stating there is not real reason for anyone to come to our city. I, like all of you, know that there are plenty of reasons to come to Cortland. Heck, sometimes, I walk down Main Street just for the atmosphere. I’m skeptical as to believe that someone would want to come from Ithaca to walk down Main St., though.
Could we set this as a guideline? Let’s do something that people from Ithaca would have to come to Cortland to see/do. The ball drop on New Years Eve is a perfect example! What do you think, Cortland? Cheers.
--Ray
1 comment:
Ray-
I think this is a great idea. I can think of a few things people might come to Cortland for, the Pumpkin and Celtic Festivals. But those are isolated to their specific grounds and may not bring people downtown. And maybe when it's football season people travel here for the games. But it would be great to have one giant event that would bring people to Cortland. I know that the college's spring Open House and graduation bring many people to the area. But I doubt these people stay very long. Maybe having some kind of event (a concert, perhaps) could allow people to when visiting, stay in Cortland a bit longer.
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