City Hall Buys Oneonta Ford By JAMES CUMMINGS • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com ONEONTA — The Common Council voted 7-1 last night to buy the dilapidated Oneonta Ford building for $425,000 from the Twelve Tribes, despite a new Council member’s suggestion to take it by eminent domain for half the price. And, first, the deal must by signed-off on by the state Historic Preservation Office. “The Ford building is part of a historical area of Oneonta,” said Bob Brzozowski, Greater Oneonta…
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Twelve Tribes
Letter from JASON HEWLETT Twelve Tribes Outstanding Citizens; Leave Them Alone To the Editor: I wish the people who attend churches here in Oneonta would do more research before jumping to false conclusions about the Twelve Tribes. First of all, how many people have carefully and thoroughly read what they believe on their public website titled, “Frequently Asked Questions – The Twelve Tribes”? These people have nothing to hide, no fear of persecution or adversity, and they share what they…
Editorial for October 5, 2018 Isn’t It Time For City To Act, Or Get Out Of The Way? You know, of course: Creativity is making something out of nothing. Or, better, recognizing potential where nobody else does. The scoop in last week’s paper is a case in point: A group calling itself The Market Street Alliance is proposing a distillery in the former Oneonta Ford building, that dreary, long-empty, black-painted hulk at the foot of Chestnut Street, across from Foothills.…
Twelve Tribes Investigated For Child-Labor Practices ONEONTA – An investigation into child-labor practices has been opened by the state Department of Labor into the local sect of the Twelve Tribes group following a report by Inside Edition that showed children working in a cosmetics factory on the Common Sense Farm in Cambridge. An “Inside Edition” investigative report, which used hidden camera footage gathered by a former member of the Twelve Tribes, aired Friday, June 1. In it, children as young…
Editorial, May 5, 2018 It’s Decision Time. But Is There The Will? Question: Can Oneonta Mayor Gary Herzig’s administration make tough decisions? For one thing, whether or not to condemn the Twelve Tribes’ blighted Oneonta Ford property has been hanging fire since before Herzig took office. He’s now in his second term. There is state money in hand to demolish what is a public hazard and state money to prepare the site for new construction. All that’s hanging fire is…
Governor Sends $417,000 To Raze Oneonta Ford Hulk ONEONTA – The Cuomo Administration today announced a $477,915 allocation to be used toward the demolition of the former Oneonta Ford building at Chestnut and South Main to make way for the new Susquehanna Regional Food & Beverage Hub. Concidentally, at an Otsego Now hearing this morning on taking the property by eminent domain, spokesmen for its owner, the Twelve Tribes, testified $150,000 offered for the property is insufficient; the governor’s announcement came…
Otsego Now, Twelve Tribes Spar Over Eminent Domain By LIBBY CUDMORE • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com ONEONTA – As the plans for the Mohawk Valley Food & Beverage Innovation Center move forward, negotiations for purchasing the former Oneonta Ford building have grown tense. “We’ve engaged in good-faith negotiations with the owners,” said Otsego Now CEO Sandy Mathes. “We’ve shared info, appraisals and environmental issues that need to be remediated.” But with the option of eminent domain on the table, a packed public hearing was held…