{"product_id":"shaping-a-city-ithaca-new-york-a-developers-perspective-9781501730146","title":"Shaping a City: Ithaca, New York, a Developer's Perspective","description":"\u003cp\u003ePicture your downtown vacant, boarded up, while the malls surrounding your city are thriving. What would you do?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn 1974 the politicians, merchants, community leaders, and business and property owners, of Ithaca, New York, joined together to transform main street into a pedestrian mall. Cornell University began an Industrial Research Park to keep and attract jobs. Developers began renovating run-down housing. City Planners crafted a long-range plan utilizing State legislation permitting a Business Improvement District (BID), with taxing authority to raise up to 20 percent of the City tax rate focused on downtown redevelopment.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eShaping a City\u003c\/i\u003e is the behind-the-scenes story of one developer's involvement, from first buying and renovating small houses, gradually expanding his thinking and projects to include a recognition of the interdependence of the entire city--jobs, infrastructure, retail, housing, industry, taxation, banking and City Planning. It is the story of how he, along with other local developers transformed a quiet, economically challenged upstate New York town into one that is recognized nationally as among the best small cities in the country.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe lessons and principles of personal relationships, cooperation and collaboration, the importance of density, and the power of a Business Improvement District to catalyze change, are ones you can take home for the development and revitalization of your city.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eMack Travis spent his career as a real-estate developer. He is a former president of the Ithaca Business Improvement District, and an active participant in local and regional business development.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Cornell Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50467085779218,"sku":"9781501730146","price":25.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_e096adf2-a863-4386-9fef-49f7df6fc334.jpg?v=1730129084","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/shaping-a-city-ithaca-new-york-a-developers-perspective-9781501730146","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}