Mayoral Candidate Forums:

Youth Council hosted two Mayoral Candidate forums. The first, on Monday, August 29th, featured the three mayoral candidates running for the Democratic spot in the general election. The second, on Thursday, November 3rd, featured three of the four candidates on the November ballot.

Youth Council believes that youth will thrive as integral and active members in a strong community. IYC did not endorse a candidate, but used the forums to focus on issues that youth find most important in this year's mayoral race. "Ithaca needs a strong leader that has the skill and tact to shape our city's future positively," said IYC Chair Cody Austern-Aceto. "We are holding this forum to ensure that voters get a clear impression of how each candidate plans to engage our youth and use long term planning to continue making Ithaca a better place to live."

1. •Watch video of the first forum on the Youth Bureau’s YouTube Channel.
   

Common Council Candidate Q&As:

As the representatives of area youth, the members of Youth Council have been busy helping youth and the rest of the public stay informed about all the elections going on this fall. For the Common Council elections, we composed a short survey and sent it out to all the Common Council candidates. Their responses were kept to 150 words. We were very excited to learn that nearly all of the candidates responded! Now that we have the survey, we want a way to get it out to as many members of the public as possible so they can get to know their future Common Council members. If you are unsure about which ward you live in, check out this street listing.

1. •Steven Williams - Candidate for Common Council, 1st ward
   

2. •*Cynthia Brock - Candidate for Common Council, 1st ward
   

3. •*Joseph Murtagh - Candidate for Common Council, 2nd ward
   

4. •*Donna Fleming - Candidate for Common Council, 3rd ward
   

5. •*Graham Kerslick Candidate for Common Council, 4th ward
   

6. •*Chris Proulx - Candidate for Common Council, 5th ward
   

7. *Indicates the candidate won their race.

Youth opinion matters. Youth can make a surprising impact by engaging with candidates showing your support at events! You can affect important decisions that concern you and make a real difference in your city!

Ithaca Comprehensive Plan:

The Ithaca Comprehensive Plan is a document that defines the city's goals and vision, and then lays out the framework and zoning regulations to allow policy makers and citizens alike to help push the city in that direction. The Comprehensive Plan committee is comprised of community organizers, business owners, common council members, and other members of the public. Right now we're working to get input on the things in our city that need to be fixed and some possible ways to fix these things from everyone who will be effected. Several community input meetings are scheduled throughout February and March. More information can be found here: http://www.ci.ithaca.ny.us/departments/planning/projects/compplan.cfm