The Freeman's Journal 06-17-21

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Volume 213, No. 24

COOPERSTOWN AND AROUND

According to officials at both schools, the Board of Educations at Worcester Central School and Schenevus Central School have both unanimously voted Tuesday, June 15, to approve a potential merger. The plan will now go to a non-binding communty straw poll Sept. 22, followed by a binding resolution Dec. 3. INSIDE ►PRIMARY FOCUS: Primary election day is Tuesday, June 22. See list of local elections. Page A3. ►PreMerger HARDWARE: Schenevus girls accomplish major goal before possible changes. Page A7. ►INDIVIDUAL HONORS: Locals win section crowns in tennis, track. Page A7. ►ROUGH GOS: Section crowns elude Cooperstown softball, Edmeston baseball Saturday. Page A8.

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Local theatre restages

AllOTSEGO.com, OTSEGO COUNTY’S DAILY NEWSPAPER/ONLINE Newsstand Price $1

Hall: Wednesday induction was best option

Juneteenth to be COOPERSTOWN — A National celebrated Saturday Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Oneonta official said the rescheduling of

School merger passes first hurdle

founded

Curtain’s up:

Cooperstown, New York, Thursday, June 17, 2021

By GREG KLEIN

Juneteenth, a celebration of the emancipation of AfricanAmericans during the Civil War, will be celebrated at 3 p.m., Saturday, June 19, in Neahwa Park in Oneonta. There will be music, food and art. Oneonta Mayor Gary Herzig will speak at 5 p.m., before an introduction to Juneteenth from Jonathan Brown.

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Induction Weekend to a Wednesday in September came down to one simple factor: the calendar. “Looking at the calendar, we just had a very limited amount of options,” Jon Shestakofsky, vice president of communications and education, told Iron String Media, Friday, June 11.

The exclusive interview took place two days after the Hall announced it would shift from a virtual induction on the traditional Sunday afternoon in July to a limited capacity, ticketed-only induction Wednesday, Sept. 8, at the Clark Sports Center in the town of Middlefield. Shestakofsky said the date was the best available option. He said there was no weekend date in September that worked for all of the induction

Jobs and houses Herzig: For city to thrive, the two issues intersect By KEVIN LIMITI ONEONTA — Housing and jobs remain high priorities for the city of Oneonta. Both are needed and, according to Mayor Gary Herzig, need to be gradually increased at the same time. “You can’t have a thriving community, you can’t have a good economy, if you can’t provide people with good housing,” Herzig said. According to Herzig, housing is “desperately” needed at all levels including lowincome, middle-income and high-income. One of the problems with housing in Oneonta is that it is hard to compete with student rentals if you are a family in need of rental housing. Herzig said there are “not a lot of incentives” for family rentals. “We have to be creative with what we do.”

stakeholders, including Major League Baseball, the MLB Network, the inductees and their familes, the Hall and the Hall of Famers. With the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah begining the evening of Monday, Sept. 6, the induction conflicts with the Jewish High Holy Days, something that might keep some fans and Hall of Famers from attending the ceremony. Shestakofsky said the conflict was noted and he mentioned that he and

Interim President Jeff Idelson are of Jewish descent, but he said the Hall’s decision came down to the one factor, the best available date for all the stakeholders. “Our number one goal in making the decision was to do what is best for the game of baseball, what is best for major league baseball and what is best for the institution,” he said, and the decision was to hold an in-person event in a limited capacity on the date identified as the best available day.

Kisses from the champions

However, there have been some steps taken on the housing front in Oneonta. Most notably, the artist lofts being created on Dietz Street and, more recently, the pending purchase of the Ford Building by Springbrook to create 22 to 24 market rate apartments, which Herzig called a “very exciting project” that he said was certain would be approved by the Common Council. The Springbrook project goes to the city’s Planning Board, Wednesday, June 16. Herzig stressed the necessity of such developments and emphasized the importance of change. “Change is hard and change never affects everybody the same,” Herzig Greg Klein/The Freeman’s Journal said. “However, times are Alex Hage kisses home plate in Oneonta’s Damaschke Field on Saturday, always changing and without June 12, not long after knocking in the Section III Class C winning run, in change, we’ll stagnate and Cooperstown’s 4-3 baseball win over Port Byron. See A7 for full coverage. See ONEONTA, Page A2

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AllOTSEGO.com Chestnut Crossing developers host neighborhood Q&A

►EQUINE RESCUE: The Susquehanna SPCA intervened to save about 30 horses. ►MERGER Momentum?: Find out how the school boards of Schenevus and Worcester central schools voted on the issue of combining. ►SUPERintendent resigns: Milford Central School, superintendent agree to part ways. ►CLARK WINNERS: The Clark Foundation announces the recipients of its 2021 scholarships. ►RESTRICTIONS LIFTED: Gov. Andrew Cuomo lifts most Greg Klein/The Freeman’s Journal coronavirus restrictions in Artist’s rendering for the Chestnut Crossing the state. property proposed for 10 Chestnut Street, shows the alleys, parking area and adjacent property on Pine Boulevard that will act as a buffer between the 13-unit rental property and its neighbors.

By GREG KLEIN COOPERSTOWN — About 50 village residents gathered Monday, June 15, at a residential space at 20 Lake Street to hear a detailed presentation and ask questions about a debated proposal to build a 13-unit rental apartment on several pieces of property on Chesnut Street. Josh Edmonds, a Cooperstown native who is the onwer of Simple Integriy Construction, and Francesca Zambello, the artistic and managing director of The Glimmerglass Festival, detailed their private partnership and its plans to develop the three pieces of property they own—two on Chestnut and one on Pine Boulevard, behind it—into one housing project. The number of units, 13 apartments with 21 bedrooms/parkings spaces, requires a special use permit from Cooperstown’s Board of Trustees. In addition, the current

design for the project, from River Architects, exceeds the maximum height allowed under the village’s zoning laws and therefore a variance is needed. Many other issues would also have to be worked out at board level, especially with the Historic Preservation and Architectural Review Board. The special use permit is the biggest hurdle for the project as designed and it will be considered at a public hearing Monday, June 28, at a location to be announced later, as part of June’s Board of Trustees meeting. The meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. and the hearing begins at 7 p.m. Village officials said they are searching for a venue large enough to accomodate the expected large turnout. Monday’s meeting was one part question and answer session,and one part damage control/community outreach to a group of neighbors who are suspicious about apartments turning into See CROSSING, Page A2

THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL & HOMETOWN ONEONTA, OTSEGO COUNTY’S LARGEST PRINT CIRCULATION 2010 WINNERS OF The Otsego County Chamber/KEY BANK SMALL BUSINESS AWARD


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The Freeman's Journal 06-17-21 by All Otsego - News of Oneonta, Cooperstown & Otsego County, NY - Issuu