It is that month on your free wall calendar when your mind shifts from the holiday season straight into resolution season. The time to proclaim your New Year’s resolutions to family, friends and the social media universe. Time to knuckle down, eat less, work out more, get in shape, invest in the new Microsoft, become wealthy overnight and move to Tahiti. If these are not your resolutions, kindly step aside. I am focused.
Resolutions should not just be for individuals. They are also very useful for families, businesses, municipalities and, yes, counties. Every entity should occasionally pause and take stock of where they have been, where they are and most importantly where they plan to go. It is a time for goal setting, restructuring, reinvesting, recalibrating and re-envisioning. It is the time for looking into the mirror.
Which brings us to beautiful Otsego County. We are home to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, youth baseball camps, gorgeous lakes and rivers. We are the northern gateway to the Catskills. We are also home to a regional health network in Bassett, a manufacturing giant in Corning, a financial and insurance titan with NYCM in Edmeston, cutting edge tech companies such as Ioxus, and superb small-town treasures like Five Kids Bakery in Gilbertsville. No room for improvement, right? If you think that statement is true, please move on to the next story in the paper and save yourself time and anguish.
So now that those folks have exited the conversation, the rest of us can look at where we are, where we wish to go, and how we plan to get there. The issues we have are issues because they are hard to fix (see JFK). Solutions we look to find today will benefit generations beyond our own. The time to act is now.
So, what is on the resolution list? Buckle up and knuckle down.
1. Stagnation: The population of Oneonta is exactly what it was in 1950. Exactly. What on earth have we been doing? Where are the single-family home developments? Where are the townhouses and duplexes? What have we built over the past 73 years that has not centered on low-income housing? Yes, there have been a few successful efforts and kudos to those developers with vision, but we are way behind. The county and city should be working together to fund and execute a comprehensive housing initiative to create housing options developed by private enterprise. An active engagement with professional developers who do it for a living and do it well, and closing the deal would be a great step. Question: Who is responsible for housing creation and development at the city or county level? Spoiler alert: Nobody. This seems like a great place to begin.
2. Job creation: Good-paying jobs at good employers mean more types of housing are affordable to buy (see number 1). Jobs and housing are tied together. Where can we create new jobs? The state, from Albany to Utica to Binghamton, is booming with high tech startups. Schoharie County is bringing in new businesses there. Peter Oberacker, our state senator, moved his business from Texas to Schoharie County. I will repeat that: Texas to Schoharie County. I am not suggesting this task is an easy one. New York state has some of the highest tax structures in the nation and the reputation as being a tough place to do business. But we cannot give up. This is not a back-burner issue. We need new investment here. We need more jobs. We need growth and progress. So, the question here is: How are we now doing in this vital effort? What can we do to turn it around?
3. Will: For those of us of certain age, we heard from our parents about the sacrifice this nation made during WWII. Everyday citizens drank chicory instead of coffee, donated all kinds of household metal items and other materials for the war effort. We invested in war bonds, rationed gasoline, and the women of our nation entered the workforce by the millions to fuel the war effort. And lastly, we sent our sons and daughters into harm’s way. Why? Because these huge sacrifices were worth it to us. We had a collective will to invest our money, our possessions, our skills, our sweat and, literally, our blood for a great cause. Is a good life for your family in future generations worth your investment and sacrifice? Is your avoidance of investment more important than the future of your family? Do you have the will?
Looking in the mirror and seeing what needs to be done is painful. But it can be invigorating and focusing. What is your resolution list for 2024? How resolute is your will? How can we help you to accomplish your goals?