News from the Noteworthy by Mark Drnek

It’s Not New Math, But It’s the Best Math

A+ B + C = X, where X = 100 percent of everything we want it to be.

Math meets aspiration.

Collaboration in the achievement of goals is a formula for success, and it’s been the informing principle of these past 22 months of my term as mayor.

So, what does that look like? What examples can we provide?

Consider housing. Oneonta’s student landlords are working with Human Resources directors, our Housing Commission, and local media entrepreneurs to create a conduit through which tailored rental properties can be advertised at “market rate” to new residents.

Regarding the recruitment of new community members, consider the precedent of the Oneonta school district and both colleges relaxing their control of “branding” to allow the city’s use of their mascots in marketing to alumni. (A strategy that has already borne fruit.)

Consider the Village of Cooperstown, the Otsego County Chamber, and the City of Oneonta combining efforts in a collaborative marketing strategy.

Entertain, too, the notion of the Cooperstown All-Star Village partnering with the City and Town of Oneonta to maximize the effect of 800 teams and all those supporting families’ impact on our shared economy.

In Oneonta’s downtown, the city, Friends of Recovery of Delaware and Otsego Counties, our local performance community, businesses, and institutions joined forces to provide an entertainingly reimagined Muller Plaza for the enjoyment of visitors and the community this summer.

Regarding those institutions, there’s been a highly successful collaborative formed—the Regional Innovation Council—through which our local economy and quality of place will be further and exponentially strengthened. That collaborative effort has been led by SUNY Oneonta, Hartwick College and a who’s who of leadership from across the region.

Hartwick College, SUNY Oneonta, and Bassett Healthcare have also partnered to create a new paradigm for the training and likely retention of the skilled healthcare professionals our area so desperately needs.

The collaboration of the colleges and the city has been greatly enhanced in these last two years, with an embrace of both that has brought more young talent into the workings of government. In the mayor’s office, for instance, interns from Hartwick and SUNY are producing podcasts and social media content. (I am proud to say that one of my interns has gone on to become the director of Destination Oneonta.)

Since the closing of the garage, the concerns regarding downtown parking have been vocal, and arguably overstated. To help correct that narrative and provide those who would visit our Main Street area with confidence that they will, in fact, be able to do so conveniently, we have brought a diverse collaborative to the table in a “Parking Strategies Taskforce.”

Additionally, in the Oneonta Job Corps’ drone program students will document our parking availabilities three times per day, every day. These will be posted to a website and will provide empirical information regarding parking vacancy that I believe will be game changing.

The math is this: Individually we are never more than one. Together we are everything.

And you are invited to add to that equation. All4Oneonta.com.

Mark Drnek is the mayor of the City of Oneonta.