Cornell on Fire: A call from our alliance partners

Dear Cornell on Fire,

While CoF is regenerating, our Alliance Partners are calling for concerned citizens and Cornellians to add their names to a public sign-on letter calling for sound science and democratic participation around Cornell's proposed artificial turf fields (at the Meinig Fieldhouse and Game Farm Road). 

Signatures from Cornellians will be most helpful...and of course, all of us who “live downstream."

Signatures collected before 11am tomorrow will be submitted to the Town Planning Board.* Signatures collected later will also be shared with the City Planning Board and Cornell. 

To be clear: this letter is not opposed to Big Red athletics played on amazing fields. It is opposed to fields composed of hazardous materials founded on inept pro-industry “research” and false statements.

Sincerely,

bethany

(for Cornell on Fire)

*If you're moved to comment on the contradiction between Cornell's commitment to scientific rigor as a University, on the one hand, and the Administration’s endorsement of pro-industry "research" and false testimony on the other hand, please consider making a 3-minute public comment to the Town Planning Board tomorrow at 6:30pm. They will meet to approve their determination of no environmental significance for this project. We ask that they reconsider this decision in light of the false statements that informed it, and all the other reasons outlined in the public sign-on letter and scientific literature. (Or stay tuned for the next City PB meeting!)

Appended below is the most recent version of the letter submitted to the Ithaca City Planning Board in August 12, 2024. An earlier version of this letter was submitted to the Ithaca Town Planning Board on July 16, 2024. The City Planning Board never explicitly addressed even one of the concerns raised by this letter in their negative declaration of environmental significance on September 3, 2024. They have ignored the matter of false testimony from Cornell’s consultants, have not corrected the record, and have not responded to our emails on those questions. Contrast this to the Town Planning Board, which explicitly discussed some of these matters and came to a split environmental determination as an involved agency.