Point/Counterpoint

Mayor, RSS, Others Respond to Concerns Voiced by Citizens That Care Group

By DARLA M. YOUNGSONEONTA

Editor’s Note: This article includes input from multiple individuals and resources. The first part of this story was published in "Hometown Oneonta" and "The Freeman's Journal." Below is the piece in its entirety.

The proposed Rehabilitation Support Services housing project at 27 Market Street has been met with strong public push-back, but city officials contend that misinformation, disinformation and fear are driving the response.

“People are not hearing the facts,” said City of Oneonta Mayor Mark Drnek in an e-mail on Sunday, March 10. “They’re distrustful and they are afraid.”

So distrustful and afraid, in fact, that a group calling themselves Citizens That Care held their own Town Hall meeting on March 2, in response to not feeling heard by Common Council members and Mayor Drnek at a city-sponsored Town Hall just days before on February 27.

“The town hall was not prompted by any particular details about the project itself, but rather due to the need for people to share their reactions and thoughts about the project who had, up to that point, not felt as though there was sufficient time for public comment,” explained CTC Town Hall organizer Dan Buttermann, an Eighth Ward resident. “I was approached by several people who attended the Tuesday night presentation at the Foothills and were upset that there was little time for public comment or questions, so I offered to arrange a town hall specifically for the opportunity for community members to share their thoughts and feelings for each other to hear.”

Luisa Montanti, who organized the CTC Town Hall along with Buttermann, wrote in a letter to the editor published on March 7: “We, the concerned citizens of greater Oneonta, are frustrated by the apparent lack of transparency in the administration of our City Hall government. Dear Mayor Drnek and city staff, your behaviors of ignoring us are clear and your unwillingness to listen and act accordingly is causing this divide in our city.”

Mayor Drnek Responds

This weekend, Mayor Drnek addressed the major concerns voiced by CTC organizers and attendees of the March 10 CTC Town Hall. Those concerns, and Drnek’s answers, are as follows.