The Ithaca Journal has been remarkably quiet about Dryden lately. Yesterday, there was a letter in the paper from Peter Davies (listed as Ithaca) suggesting a change in the way groups fundraise. Today Peter Lipinski of Dryden co-signs a letter dismissing the City of Ithaca's concerns about joining Bolton Point as a customer rather than as a partner. Even as a Dryden resident, I find the letter pretty bizarre, given that the city is used to having control over how its water supply is run, and cities are generally supposed to have control over their infrastructure - that's a lot of why we have governments, not just armies of private contractors. It's nice that Dryden's a partner in Bolton Point, given our tiny share of its customer base, and it's hard to wonder whether anything but history makes us partners.
There's also a letter from the director of the Tompkins County SPCA on the success of their "no-kill" policy.
Looking a bit further afield, dissolving Tioga County came up as a surprise item in a list of ideas for improving government efficiency. I've written about this at The Albany Project, and you can see another Dryden opinion here.
Posted by simon at September 22, 2007 7:27 PM in Ithaca Journal , water and sewer
I'm afraid the silence about Dryden comes from the fact that there's no Dryden reporter left on staff. I'm hoping that will change.
I imagine Drydens role as a partner in Bolton Point is a result of a capital investment, an option no longer available to new customers.
"An option no longer available to new customers" - I think that's the very essence of the past decisions made by some folks would like to use to keep the City out of their decision-making process.
Given Bolton Point's historically fractious relationship with the City of Ithaca, I'm not surprised that there's resistance - but I still find the idea that the City of Ithaca should be happy about the situation to be bizarre at best, self-deluding at worst.