svante myrick

Dozens of tenants' rights activists gathered outside Ithaca City Court Thursday to call for the city to pass a "Right to Renew Leases" bill.

The findings are contrary to messaging from the Ithaca Police Department and its labor union, the Ithaca Police Benevolent Association.

Organizers say the governor's executive order to reform police last year didn’t go far enough in curbing discriminatory policing against Black New Yorkers.

“Having an acting chief at the helm of the department right now is not causing any problems."

A task force will now take over the work for designing how the new overarching Department of Public Safety would work.

So far, most councilors have not explicitly said how they’ll vote on the resolution.

"The job is just very different than it was 50 years ago or 30 years ago. A ton of what we ask our officers to do may not be considered traditional police work."

“I look forward to this becoming an actual discussion, where our questions are answered, where we have actual talks about how we can imagine public safety because this ain’t it.”

Myrick said police “cannot be everywhere and our safety is ultimately in our hands.”

"This is not about government. Government can offer suggestions, advice and guidance."