Letter from Harvey Brody

City Policies Defy Logic, Data

“Hometown Oneonta” is an excellent source of information about our county and the City of Oneonta. However, even “Hometown Oneonta” will find it difficult to analyze the governance of Oneonta because of the lack of actual information.

City policy seems to defy data from the updated Census, the office of the New York State Comptroller, and the New York Housing Resource Center. The problem is that the revenue from actual taxpayers is declining. In fact, nearly 56 percent of the residents actually support 44 percent dependent upon social services.

Recent housing such as Dietz Lofts has become de facto low-income housing and a new initiative comes from a former director of a low income housing project in Troy, New York. Housing is a fundamental human right. The problem is that it is sustainable only by actual taxpayers and commercial taxes, and that seems to be declining.

The City of Oneonta has remarkable resources, such as nearby hydroelectric power, infrastructure, and ideal climate, that are ignored in its expensive marketing of itself. What is necessary is to follow the example of our state and develop a website that makes it easy to know the revenue, expenditures, rental and new housing metrics, RFPs and new contracts, sales tax revenue, tax warrants, in rem housing, etc., of the City of Oneonta. Essentially, the information required by a voter to make decisions.

I have followed the Common Council on Youtube.com, through the New York Comptroller and, of course, “Hometown Oneonta.” But most city governance seems contrary to Urban Planning 101, and driving in the wrong direction.

Harvey Brody
Oneonta