Clyde Lederman ’26 Wins Fifth Ward Widespread Council Seat

3 weeks ago 2 min read

Clyde Lederman ’26 (D) was profitable in his bid for the Fifth Ward’s two-year Widespread Council seat. Lederman, who beat out Jason Houghton within the June main by solely 10 votes, confronted off towards Houghton once more within the basic election, narrowly successful by greater than 20 votes.

Lederman formally launched his marketing campaign on Sunday, Jan. 8, with a fundraiser in his hometown of Nyack, New York the place he was joined by former Congressman Mondaire Jones.

He works intently with newly-elected Fourth Ward alderperson Patrick Kuehl ’24 on the Scholar Meeting and the pair are reportedly buddies. Kuehl launched a shock write-in marketing campaign that the majority discovered about on Election Day.

Lederman goals to extend the reliability of the bus system and produce inexpensive housing to Ithaca. As a scholar himself, Lederman finds scholar pursuits vital to contemplate.

“College students are a transient inhabitants with everlasting pursuits,” Lederman mentioned in a previous interview with The Solar.

As a consultant of the town’s re-drawn Fifth Ward, Lederman will characterize closely scholar populated areas, spanning Cornell’s North Campus together with College Hill and Cornell Heights.

All through his marketing campaign, Lederman has known as for better funding for the TCAT.

“[TCAT] shouldn’t be sustainable,” Lederman mentioned in a earlier interview with The Solar. “It’s about growing funding in order that we are able to scale back headways within the routes so buses run extra ceaselessly.”

Lederman additionally mentioned within the interview that he helps the development of accent dwelling items to mitigate Ithaca’s one % rental emptiness price, only one symptom of Ithaca’s ongoing housing disaster.

“[Accessory dwelling units] are the chance to create zoning permissions that will enable anybody to show [a space] like a storage, basement or attic into an extra unit,” Lederman mentioned. “They’ve achieved this in California, and it’s been actually profitable in growing the housing inventory.”

However as a longer-term answer, Lederman advocated for the usage of lease stabilization in Ithaca, citing success elsewhere.

Lederman, a sophomore within the Faculty of Industrial and Labor Relations, presently serves on the Cornell Scholar Meeting because the clerk for the Workplace of Assemblies. When Lederman takes workplace on Jan. 1, 2024, he would be the youngest member presently sitting on the Widespread Council at simply 19 years previous.