Elephant In The Room
Undergirds Discourse
Dismiss Smokescreen Hype
About Dubious New Jobs
In last week’s editorial in this newspaper, Oneonta Mayor Herzig is quoted as saying: "We should not let those who are economically secure, by comparison, tell those who need jobs they can't have them."
The mayor was reacting to the March 5 hearing he moderated at the Foothills in Oneonta, where a long series of speakers pushed back almost unanimously against the gas-expansion project proposed by the city and Otsego Now to develop the D&H railyards.
The mayor’s insinuation of class warfare is totally out of line. No one at the hearing told anyone they can’t have a job. On the contrary, the point was repeatedly made – by many people distinctly not “economically secure” – that the development of renewable energy and retrofitting buildings to be more energy efficient was far more likely to produce jobs than the proposed railyards project.
