ONEONTA WINS

$10M – ALL OF IT

Cuomo Administration Delivers

Downtown Development Bonanza

Oneonta's First Lady Connie Herzig joins in the wild applause when the $10 mllion special allocation for downtown redevelopment in the City of the Hills was announced announced at Foothills. (Jim Kevlin/AllOTSEGO.com) — Oneonta’s First Lady Connie Herzig joins in the wild applause when the $10 mllion special allocation for downtown redevelopment in the City of the Hills was announced this afternoon at Foothills. (Jim Kevlin/AllOTSEGO.com)

By JIM KEVLIN & LIBBY CUDMORE • for www.AllOTSEGO.com

Empire State Development President Howard Zemsky makes an announcement that thrilled a who's who crowd this afternoon at Foothills. — Empire State Development President Howard Zemsky makes an announcement that thrilled a who’s who crowd this afternoon at Foothills.

ONEONTA – Governor Cuomo couldn’t make it, called away from a City of the Hills appearance by a collapsing crane on the Tappan Zee Bridge project. But he sent the check.

$10 million. Howard Zemsky, Empire Development Corp. president, announced at 3:45 p.m. that Oneonta has won the special multi-million allocation earmarked for downtown redevelopment in the whole Mohawk Valley Economic Development Region.

In making the announcement, Zemsky said this city’s application – it was championed and fast-tracked in May by Mayor Gary Herzig, assisted by Otsego Now President Sandy Mathes and his staff – had it all: an affordable housing piece, a downtown strategy, an entertainment piece (in Foothills Performing Arts Center), and an overriding concept – the “food hub” initiative.

Common Council members Melissa Nicosia, Dave Rissberger, Michelle Osterhoudt and Paul Van der Sommen stand with Mayor Gary Herzig and Howard Zemsky who hold a check for $10 million dollars, awarded to Otsego County this afternoon by Governor Andrew Cuomo as part of his Downtown Revitalization competition. (Ian Austin/AllOTSEGO.com)

The crowd, a who’s who in Oneonta and Otsego County, which had been waiting since 2:30 for the governor, burst into wild applause. And when Zemsky said how much he enjoyed the cheers, the audience burst into wild applause again.

In the governor’s absence, Mayor Herzig emceed the announcement. “This doesn’t just happen by itself,” he told the crowd. “You earned this. You came together and made it happen.”

Herzig’s “Authentically Oneonta” proposal will be further detailed by Mathes to Common Council at 7 p.m. tonight. “We’re looking for Oneonta to become a destination for food, arts and hospitality,” he said. “It’s nice that the state recognized that.”

In preparing the application and deciding to go for the full $10 million, Herzig argued Oneonta is at a “tipping point,” and $10 million will make the difference.

The Oneonta stop was part of a swing through the region. The governor was in Binghamton this morning, announcing $100 million in additional money that would, among other things, bring Dick’s Sporting Goods headquarters, now in Coraopolis, Pa., back to the Southern Tier city where it was founded.

The crane collapse that caused Cuomo to miss the Oneonta stop resulted in five injuries as of the latest reports, but no fatalities so far.

4 Comments

Margaret Carney says:

July 19, 2016 at 5:04 pm

Great news!

Anonymous says:

July 19, 2016 at 9:40 pm

That is wonderful! Now just use it wisely! Molly M. Swain

Jay Shultis says:

July 20, 2016 at 6:01 pm

Amazing! Where can we see a copy of the proposal?

Michelle Osterhoudt says:

July 20, 2016 at 11:42 pm

Ya