Public hearing draws residents urging funds for Stewart Park, unarmed responders, TCAT and participatory budgeting

The Ithaca Common Council opened a public hearing on the proposed 2026 city budget on Oct. 15. More than a dozen speakers used the three-minute public-comment slots to press the council for funding on several community priorities.

Friends of Stewart Park leaders asked the council to add $50,000 to the city's budget to cover a $150,000 cost overrun on a completed splash pad and bathroom project and to support ongoing park maintenance and programs. Melanie McMurray, executive director of Friends of Stewart Park, said the organization has helped deliver large, mostly privately raised capital projects in partnership with the city and requested modest city support to address the overrun. Diana Reisman, board president of Friends of Stewart Park, recounted decades of volunteer work and asked the council to continue the partnership.

Multiple speakers urged the council to fund the city’s unarmed responder initiatives and related violence-interruption programs. Sam Poole (Cornell Young Democratic Socialists of America) and several community members urged funding for the reimagining public safety effort and for a city contribution to expand the unarmed responder program so that police are not the first response to many calls, particularly mental health and low-level disturbances. Deb Wilke of Second Wind Cottages described a violence interrupter pilot that began in July and asked council to fund a care-team clinician and further OTR (over-the-target) support. Anesti, the program’s violence interrupter, recounted multiple on-scene de-escalations and described the program’s relationship-based approach.

Speakers also urged increased support for TCAT public transit and complained that service remains unreliable post-pandemic. A number of commenters said Cornell — which accounts for a large share of TCAT ridership — should contribute more toward operations; others said city and county support is needed to maintain transit reliability that residents depend on.

Participatory budgeting drew sustained support. Siobhan Hull reminded council that Justice 50 included a pledge that 10% of the capital project budget would be routed to participatory budgeting; she asked the council to implement at least a pilot if full funding is not feasible in 2026.

Other speakers urged protection of seniors from rising property taxes and argued for continuing investments in core services (snow removal, code compliance) to avoid higher downstream costs.

The public hearing closed by unanimous vote; the council recessed and continued its budget review in departmental presentations that followed.