There are a lot of opinions on police reform efforts happening in Ithaca, a city of roughly 30,000 in the Finger Lakes that is looking to push the envelope when it comes to reimagining public safety.

“We need to chew bubble gum and walk at the same time," Ithaca 4th Ward Alderperson Jorge Difendini said. "There are some things that we can do and have been doing.”

DiFendini hit the ground running with ideas when he took office on the Common Council in January.

“I was really excited at the prospect that we would actually have a shot at reimagining public safety, and after seeing what those recommendations look like, I've been very excited,” he said.

Finding lasting avenues of change took a grueling amount of work for everyone involved.

“We really need to be listening to our most marginalized communities when it comes, when they're telling us their concerns, and they're telling us that they need these things to change,” he said. “I think it's really important that we get this first step right, and that we're not back to the drawing board in five years, when things come tumbling down because we didn't put enough strength behind.”

The term "compromise" has been brought up at many council meetings, but Difendini doesn't see that as the primary option for this situation. That doesn't mean talks are at a standstill.

Some of the plans in motion include creating a public safety committee, recommitting to ideas like a citizens review board and the formation of consolidated roles in local government to best serve public safety needs, as opposed to strictly oversight. There are still some among council and in the community that are pushing for more pressing and immediate changes.

There are measures being drawn up and put up to votes. But a lot of the reimagining is a slow, long-term process. 

“And in the meantime, we're also going to see us working on long-term plans for some of the bigger projects that we have to do, in terms of we're really reimagining public safety,” DiFendini said.

“And so while we have a really good starting point now, I think we need to be able to implement what we have,” said 5th Ward Alderperson Robert Cantelmo. “And we need to start thinking about what are the next steps.”

He is also helping take up the charge.

Recently, he helped put Ithaca in the running for federal grant dollars to aid in public safety reform, less of the unarmed division proposed and more of a commonly seen crisis intervention partnership.

"The [police department] was on board with that,” he said. “They recognize that this is something that will actually help them in keeping the community safe.”

It’s what could be the start of more widely accepted changes.

“You know, everyone is always reluctant to embrace change, but we need to really remember, you know, the executive order that set this off,” Cantelmo added. “How that centered the conversation and what that needed to be focused on and that really needs to remain priority.”

He thinks widening the scope of public safety to fire police and a significantly more active role in community needs is something everyone can back.

“We've made a really good first cut at reimagining public safety,” Cantelmo said.

“There's just been a lot of enthusiasm,” added DiFendini. “But also caution in terms of wanting to really believe that this thing will come to fruition — and be successful.”