MONEY TALK Our Vast, Throwaway Nation By TOM MORGAN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com Many visiting Europeans are stunned by the huge number of derelict and otherwise empty buildings we have. They ain’t seen nuthin’ yet. Most of our cities show signs of manufacturing blight. Especially northern and rust-belt cities. In this state, a city does not qualify as a city unless it can show several shuttered factories, an empty mall, vacant storefronts, office buildings half-empty. Maybe an armory. Many of…
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Opinion - Page 167
LETTER from ALBERT COLONE ‘Reimagine Upstate’ Will Lead To Single Oneonta A couple of weeks ago, Hometown Oneonta and The Freeman’s Journal published my opinion piece, once again trying to promote the idea of consolidating the city and town of Oneonta. I submitted it to try and generate some meaningful debate on the issue. Surprisingly, the only subsequent reference I’ve seen was an unsigned comment in another paper. How can this be? Whoever submitted that comment, thank you for the…
LIFE IN TIME OF COVID-19 Social Distancing Works – Do It! By RICHARD STERNBERG • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com One and one-half weeks ago Otsego County, as part of the Mohawk Valley Region, was allowed to begin reopening following almost two months of lockdown to try and prevent the spread and decrease the incidence of COVID-19. Reopening is something desired by pretty much everyone. As long as all reasonable measures would be taken to prevent further spread and it is reasonable,…
LETTER from JOHN RUDY 5 Traffic Signals Doing Job Of One To the Editor: Until now, Cooperstown could be characterized as a quaint little village with one traffic light. That one light, on Main and Chestnut, has multiplied into five: one one each corner and one suspended above the middle of the intersection. Is this someone’s idea of a joke? Or just a case of Buy 4 Get 1 Free? JOHN A. RUDY Cooperstown…
EDITORIAL Action Needed, And Responsible Majority Acted 9 ACCEPTED IMPERATIVE; 5 DIDN’T Sometimes things have to be done. Imperatives, they’re called. Such is the regrettable layoff of 59 county workers, a decision made May 20, a week ago Wednesday, by the Otsego County Board of Representatives. The layoffs go into effect Monday, June 8, the day county government is allowed to reopen. The vote was 9-4-1, with the nays all Democrats: a veteran county rep, Andrew Stammell, Town of Oneonta,…
FRONT PORCH PERSPECTIVE Off To Civitan Convention, Lad Sailed On Packet Line By JIM ATWELL • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com Fifteen years old. Never away from home overnight without my parents. And yet, wonderful! Sprung loose for two days on my own – with the night in between to be spent on a 250-mile trip on a steam packet, traveling down Chesapeake Bay from Baltimore, Md., to Norfolk, Va. I owe that dazzling adventure to the Annapolis Civitan Club, which had…
Life In The Time of COVID-19 Suffer The Poor Children There remains a lot about SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 that we don’t know. What was “common knowledge” yesterday could be proved wrong tomorrow. The risk of morbidity and mortality in children was one of the things we thought we knew but now appears that we didn’t. SARS-CoV-2, the currently accepted scientific name for the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, appears to be the precipitating cause of a newly recognized syndrome that causes…
Letter From CHIP NORTHRUP County Primus Inter Paras To the Editor: Otsego County’s response to The Plague has been as good as anywhere in Europe or Asia and better than most places in America. For that reason, the county is on track to safely reopen ahead of almost any other place in America, having met Governor Cuomo’s requirements. By stark contrast, Texas is next to last in testing per capita, there are no contract tracers, little social distancing and few masks.…
COLUMN Worst Place To Live? Oneonta Family Enjoys It! The following May we moved to Red Lake Falls. Our family – me; Briana; Jack; Charles; Tiber, our 70-pound beagle-basset mix; and Ivy, our 12-year-old cat – arrived on a Sunday. The closing on the house was scheduled for the following day, but the previous owners, the Kleins, told us they’d leave the door open and…
Letter From ANDREW STAMMEL Let’s Revisit One Oneonta To the Editor: As we enter Phase One of the easing of COVID-related public health restrictions, it is important to reflect on where we are, but also where we came from and where we are going. We are poised to surpass the sobering milestone of 100,000 dead Americans this Memorial Weekend, after just two short months of viral spread. NY’s “PAUSE” went into effect as the rate of infection and death was…
