City Councilperson Katy Silliman, D-2nd. (Photo via Kevin L. Smith of The Cortland Voice).
The proposed affordable housing project at the former Parker School site in the city of Cortland was the subject of discussion at Tuesday’s Common Council meeting.
Councilperson Katy Silliman (D-2nd Ward) updated attendees and the council on a recent meeting in the second ward, where more details were discussed on the proposed affordable housing project planned by the Ithaca Neighborhood Housing Services (INHS). The Tompkins County-based organization proposed earlier this year a mixed-use development that would bring 50 to 60 units of affordable housing at the former Parker school building on Madison Street.
Construction could take about 18 months, INHS officials said in June.
“The second ward meeting about Parker went well, it was open to all city residents, but primarily concerned the second ward as Parker is smack dab in the middle of it,” Silliman said. “We had a collective discussion. Most of the Parker ad hoc committee was there. Many people share their opinions regarding what they'd like to see and what they wouldn't like to see. And I will share those with the next council meeting, but I'd like to share them with the ad hoc committee first.”
Silliman commended residents for their interest in the project.
“I printed and folded 53 flyers to hand out at the Parker meeting,” she said. “A lot of them were taken.”
Silliman said some concerns in the community revolve around federal programs that subsidize rents for residents.
“I think they’re really worried about Section 8,” Silliman said. “It’s too bad. Because I've learned a lot about Section 8, since this whole thing started, I had a stigma in my head.”
Silliman said she heard arguments she believed are for and against having Section 8 housing in that neighborhood. She said she heard about the strictness of federal guidelines for the Section 8 program.
“Someone then also said to me, I wouldn’t want to see it become housing for one kind of (group),” she said of an encounter with a resident at the meeting. “Because if you put just one type of (group), even if it's elderly, you kind of (corner) those people. They're clustered together, they tend to stay together and we need to fix people up more.”
