Findings
IX. Social Cohesion, Culture and Recreation
Highlights:
- Table SC-1 lists Cortland’s numerous recreational opportunities for the entire family with several new indoor recreational activities having recently been added to the list – the J.M. McDonald Sports Complex and an indoor soccer field located in the same building as the new East End Community Center on Elm Street.
- Cortland’s rich historical past is well documented by our county’s historians and in our many museums. (Table SC-2)
- The new Center for the Arts located in the former Homer Baptist Church, Homer is a great cultural addition to the community along with the Pin Striped Pokadots Gallery on Main Street in Cortland. (Table SC-2)
- The dramatic decline in attendance at cultural events between 2000 and 2004 is due to the large decrease in attendance at the Cortland Music Park. (Table SC-3)
- A greater percentage of Cortland citizens vote compared to NYS (Table SC-3)
- Retired senior citizens volunteered more nearly 77,000 hours of community service in 2004 for a value of $396,334 in minimum wage dollars. (Table SC-5)
- Marriages take place in Cortland to the same extent as they do statewide. However, there was a substantial increase in the rate and number of divorces in Cortland County between 1998 and 2002. This was not so for Upstate NY or NYS. (Table SC-6 and SC-7)
- About a third of all births in Cortland County are out-of-wedlock (OOW). This is greater than the OOW percent for Upstate NY (57 of 62 counties). It is lower than NYS as a whole. The NYC data sometimes skews NYS data due to the large low-income population in the city. (Table SC-8)