News from the Noteworthy from the City of Oneonta

As the Seasons Change, So Can We All

Soon the hills will be resplendent in a blaze of vivid colors. On some, the earliest harbingers of autumn, the leaves have already begun to turn and detach from limbs and branches to begin their spiral downward.

In this “even” year, the landscape is dotted not just by splashes of crimson and gold, but by red and blue. These are the other signs of the times. Lawn signs and billboards.

Like the stems of leaves, the moorings of politicians and their supporters grow increasingly tenuous as the days wear on. Detachment and a downward spiral follow.

Facts become elusive. Positivity withers and negativity reigns.

It has already begun.

But unlike the trees that surround us, we are not forced by the season to stop the conversion of sunlight into energy and new growth. And so, in Oneonta we are beginning a campaign of positivity, education and community collaboration. We are calling it the “Campaign for 25.”

It’s a call to our citizenry to make Oneonta a better place by working together to address these 25 goals:

• Celebrate and promote our diversity.
• Support and care for our veterans.
• Increase housing opportunity for all.
• Engage our college population in our city’s planning and success.
• Commit to respectful, fact-based dialogue.
• Grow our economy and create new opportunities and support for entrepreneurs.
• Make Oneonta an engaging and entertaining destination for tourists and residents.
• Empathically but realistically address the issue of homelessness.
• Implement a parking strategy that enables convenient connection to Main Street.
• Dedicate ourselves to collaboration for common cause.
• Be welcoming of new neighbors and embrace those who choose to live here.
• Step up to become stewards of our neighborhoods.
• When confronted by division, be uniting.
• Become accepting and supportive of those with mental health issues.
• Embrace the potential of our graduates as the new generation of Oneonta’s leadership.
• Support a strong, vital and growing small-business sector.
• Encourage childcare options to support the needs of young families.
• Prioritize the environment and sustainability.
• Understand how our history can inform the best decisions for our future.
• Encourage visual and performing artists to embrace the potential of Oneonta.
• Ensure the safety of all by seizing opportunities to assist in that security.
• Expand youth activities and support those who seek to provide them.
• Promote healthy opportunities and increase
• the community’s access to education.
• Determine new funding streams to ensure the enhancement of our quality of life.
• Provide care and support to our seniors to allow them to age in place with dignity.

To be sure, there are more goals that could be added to this list, but we’ll start with these.

If you are interested in helping achieve any or all of them, I invite you to contact me at mayor@oneonta.ny.us.

Working together, we can make 2025 a transformative year.

To help facilitate that process, we will be holding a series of community education sessions on a variety of topics that are connective to this list.

The first of these is scheduled for Wednesday, September 18 at 6 p.m. at Roots Public Social Club. Our topic is the recruitment and retention of young families, the availability of childcare, and current and planned programming for children and young adults. We will share successes and challenges and examine the financial assistances that are available for agencies and entrepreneurs that seek to offer these services.

Attendees will be provided with useful information and an opportunity to ask questions of the professionals that have made it their life’s work to enhance this crucial aspect of our community.

There is an option to the negativity of this political season. It’s respectful dialogue, and a renewed commitment to the examination and sharing of facts.

Independent of party or affiliation, it’s how we all win.

Mark Drnek is the mayor of the City of Oneonta.