February 26, 2025 - American Public News

ITHACA, N.Y. — Third Ward Alderperson Pierre Saint-Perez is attempting to make the leap from Ithaca Common Council to the Tompkins County Legislature. Saint-Perez, a Democrat, is vying to represent Ithaca’s Belle Sherman and South Hill neighborhoods on the county legislature. He first announced his legislature campaign at Lehman Alternative Community School, his alma mater, on Jan. 15 and followed with a press release on Feb. 4.Saint-Perez, a born-and-raised Ithacan, was first elected to the Common Council in 2023 to serve a two-year term. He said he doesn’t view the change from council to legislature as a significant jump, instead characterizing it as a continuation of the work he has already been doing during his first term on Common Council. Saint-Perez said he feels the county legislature is best positioned to solve residents’ most pressing issues because it has an increased capacity for cooperation between municipalities. Saint-Perez said rising housing prices and cost-of-living in the county is a prime example.“I’ve come to the conclusion that we can’t solve that at the city level,” Saint-Perez said. “Not for lack of wanting to, but there is simply not enough space. Too many people want to live in Ithaca, which is a good thing. But if we are going to address the cost of living, that is a Tompkins County-wide issue, not just a City of Ithaca issue.” Saint-Perez said while he feels there has been progress in city government, the problem has begun to spill outside the city’s boundaries as population growth continues to creep into the more rural parts of the county.The District 3 seat is currently occupied by outgoing legislator Susan Currie. One other candidate, Cornell Industrial Labor Relations faculty member and labor lawyer Iris Packman, a Democrat, has also declared her candidacy for the seat. Saint-Perez praised Currie’s tenure and said she has been encouraging members of the public to run for the open seat. Currie, the longtime former director of the Tompkins County Public Library, is one of seven county legislators who have announced they will not seek re-election this year. With the introduction of two new seats, there will be at least nine new legislators on the 16-seat governing body in 2026. “With the massive turnover that is likely to happen at the county level, having more experience in all the seats is beneficial,” Saint-Perez said. “I’ve just been through seeing at the city level what happens when you have a group of inexperienced people walking in, and I can say personally that there are things that I would do differently, knowing what I know now.”Saint-Perez, who has served on the Common Council for just over a year, said he’s gained an appreciation of the importance of community outreach as well as expert feedback. He also said he has learned how to better navigate government structures: for the past year, he has served as one of two Common Council liaisons to the legislature and the Town of Ithaca.The balance and boundary between college students and permanent residents is of high importance to his current constituents, he said. The Belle Sherman and South Hill neighborhoods have both grappled with the growing presence of student housing from Cornell University and Ithaca College, respectively. Since the district Saint-Perez is vying to represent largely overlaps with the ward he currently represents on Common Council, he said he is already familiar with the concerns of his constituents. “I grew up here, when I knock [on doors] through my district, I knock on the apartment where my parents lived when I was young,” Saint-Perez said. “This is my community, and my being a townie in Ithaca is a significantly more important part of who I am than having a degree from Cornell.”The post Ithaca Common Council member running for Tompkins County Legislature appeared first on The Ithaca Voice.First published by The Ithaca Voice.

Daily Archives: February 26, 2025

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