Highlights of March 19 meeting; Tompkins County Legislature
Core reporting courtesy, Tompkins County Department of Communications; Monika Salvage, Communications Director; March 25, 2026
It doesn’t happen often that a key member of a lawmaking body crafts a major initiative just hours before a meeting, then puts in on the floor and gets it passed without dissent. Odder still is when the event that drives that leader to act is the death of a friend, a struggling victim of the system, and the legislator lies in bed the night before the meeting agonizing over how best to pay proper tribute to her friend’s legacy.
But that’s what happened last week. And Tompkins County Legislature Chair Shawna Black openly admits that the unnamed man’s untimely death is why she’d sought—and secured—a $50,000 grant in emergency legal services support to aid the briefly-evicted residents of Ithaca’s Asteri apartment complex, some of them the formerly-homeless.
“I was laying in bed, and I just kept thinking like, what the hell could I do (or) could I have done to help this gentleman,” Black told legislators that next evening, March 19, when she directed a colleague to move the $50,000 appropriation..
“The one thing that I wish I knew more of and I wish that the residents knew more of was what their legal rights were,” Black said she’d pondered earlier on meeting day, “because we all know that Asteri has a lot of attorneys and a lot of money, and there’s probably a situation where they’re taking advantage of some of our vulnerable population.”
What Shawna Black presented and what the County Legislature passed without objection March 19 was clearly scripted on the fly. Black credited County Attorney Maury Josephson and County Administrator Korsah Akumfi for assisting her in drafting on deadline. The Legislature’s first procedural vote added the spending item to the agenda. Discussion proved minimal. It passed quickly. No legislator wanted to say taxpayer money couldn’t—or shouldn’t—be spent that way.
Tompkins County’s Communications Department condensed the breakneck action into a single paragraph:
“In response to the challenges that arose for Asteri residents due to the Order to Vacate, the legislature considered and approved a member-filed resolution allocating $50,000 from the contingent fund to support legal assistance for housing needs, aimed at helping residents navigate housing instability and access legal resources,” the news release stated. “Legislators emphasized the importance of proactive support to prevent displacement and ensure equitable access to housing protections,” the paragraph ended.
Largely because of the initiative’s spontaneous submission, details on just how the $50,000 appropriation will find its way to Asteri’s evicted residents remain sketchy. A legal aid group, known as “Law New York ,” its service staffed by attorneys, legal interns and paralegals, will likely handle most of the work. But Law New York may not do all of it. It’s been short on staff lately. Some of the money could go to other legal agencies.
There’s something else to remember: The Chair made one point clear. “This resolution specifically does not talk about representing for the purposes of litigation,” Black advised. “It really is just to offer some assistance.” Nevertheless, she added, “If that (meaning litigation) ends up being the path that they choose, then we might have to have a different conversation.”
Quite obviously, Black’s was well-intentioned and hastily-conceived legislation engineered on the fly.
And much the same way, the hastily-imposed Asteri evictions remain a rapidly-evolving saga hard to follow day-by-day.
On March 4, the City of Ithaca’s fire marshal issued an immediate eviction order for tenants to vacate the 181-unit Asteri Ithaca residential tower on East Green Street. A number of Asteri’s residents living there are the formerly homeless. Reportedly 40 of Asteri’s units were set aside for homeless transitioning. The fire marshal’s eviction order followed the discovery of broken glass in stairwells and glass missing from windows, deficiencies that could endanger tenants exiting in the event of a fire.
As tenants moved out, and with many of them having no place to go, Tompkins County stepped in and arranged to have some newly-displaced tenants quartered in local hotels.
Asteri’s owner, the Vecino Group, subsequently took emergency action to fix the deficiencies. Media reports tell us the marshal approved the repairs last week and Asteri’s tenants began moving back into their apartments Friday, March 20.
Given that the March Asteri evictions—although admittedly disruptive—have so far been measured in only days and not months, and given that third parties may have paid the hotel bills, the extent to which displaced tenants hold any legally-tenable claim for damages against Vecino remains unclear—that is, unless tenants’ lawyers go after alleged landlord negligence more pervasive and long-running.
“Access to legal support at critical moments can make the difference between stability and displacement,” Chairperson Black told the Legislature. “And we must do more to ensure that residents are not navigating these situations alone,” Black said.
But recall that Shawna Black’s concern stemmed from the death of a single Asteri tenant, one particular tenant, a formerly unhoused person, one whose full name was never revealed during the meeting, but one who’d reportedly attended the Legislature at least once. He’d been a friend of Ithaca Republican activist and political candidate Zach Winn, who himself often attends and speaks.
“I’m sorry I didn’t do something before, and I hope he is at rest,” Winn told the Legislature that night of his lost friend. “Please continue to press for positive change over on Green Street,” Winn implored.
The deceased victim was last seen alive February 19. That’s when he’d been served a notice of eviction by Asteri, possibly in error. Black said she’d worked with Law New York to try to help him, but in her words, “due to limited capacity at Law New York and the circumstances of the notice, it appeared he had to leave Asteri.”
“He was understandably upset,” Black described the man’s emotions at the time he got the notice to move out.
Ithaca Police found the man deceased in his apartment on March 18. He may have lain there dead for weeks. At the meeting, the cause of death was not yet known.
“This is a deeply sad situation,” Shawna Black described the victim’s passing, “and this individual was a member of our community who had worked hard to transition out of homelessness and into stable housing,” Black added. “His passing is a reminder of vulnerabilities many individuals in our community continue to face even after accessing housing and services.”
“This is a deeply sad situation,” Black reiterated, “and one that I believe requires us not only to reflect but to act.” And that night, in the legislative leader’s chosen way, it acted.
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In other matters addressed March 19 by the Tompkins County Legislature, as reported by the County’s Communications Department:
Flock camera working group: Legislators discussed forming a working group to evaluate the continued use of Flock license plate reader cameras, emphasizing the importance of balancing public safety benefits with community concerns about privacy and data use.
“We do want to make sure that whatever direction we go in is what’s best for the community,” commented Legislator Travis Brooks, Chair of the Public Safety Committee “We want to protect the programs that have been established by the GIVE grant and hear some of the voices that we usually don’t hear in this room … folks that live in neighborhoods that historically have had larger instances of violence.”
[Note related commentary reported from the meeting.]
Paid caregiver leave policy: Upon recommendation of the Workforce Diversity and Inclusion and the Budget, Capital and Personnel Committees, the legislature unanimously approved a resolution to direct county staff to develop a Paid Caregiver Leave Policy based on the Team Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) proposal.
Legislator Iris Packman said, “It is important that we show that we are creating these opportunities for people so they don’t have to choose between do I stay at my job or do I grow my family or do I care for a family member.”
Vietnam Veterans proclamation: The legislature proclaimed March 29 as Vietnam Veterans Recognition Day, honoring the service and sacrifice of Vietnam-era veterans and acknowledging their lasting contributions to the community. Director of Veterans Services J.R. Clairborne and Terry Clark, representing and leadership team member of the American Legion Post 221, Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 961, and Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter #377 received the proclamation.
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