Published: May 07, 2008 03:45 am         

Developer must have clear goals

Well, we shall soon see how much of downtown Oneonta's malaise has been attributable to its downtown developer.

This newspaper has been a frequent critic of Jeff House, who has held the position for the past 10 years. We have had a hard time understanding what he was doing to justify the salary that had grown to about $42,000 in the last year.

We have also taken the city government to task because there never seemed to be a clear job description of what was expected of a "downtown developer."

Rather than being on the city payroll, House operated as an independent contractor. That may have been part of the problem of accountability.

Another problem has been the lax attitude of Mayor John Nader, previous Mayor Kim Muller and the Common Council in making House fulfill his responsibilities.

According to the terms of his latest contract, "the downtown developer will make bi-monthly written reports to the mayor, community development director, Finance, Operations and Legal Affairs Committee and will make oral reports to the Common Council.''

As of March 13, when House was to have submitted six written reports, he virtually ignored the requirement. Nader said at the time that House submitted at least two, and maybe three, written reports, but Nader somehow could find only one. The former and current Finance Committee chairmen said they hadn't seen any.

That kind of "my dog ate my homework" response from House and Nader did not serve the city well, and we can only hope for better from Nader and from a new developer.

Tom Harrington, who is doing business as HP Holdings Consultants, and Dana LaCroix have applied for the downtown developer contract.

For either to be effective will require a vision of what the city fathers and mothers want Oneonta to become. If it's to attract arts and entertainment businesses and groups, then resources must be allocated for that purpose.

If it's to attract soccer fans to the sport's Hall of Fame, then regional, national and worldwide publicity must be a priority. Right now, the fact that the hall is in Oneonta is among the best-kept secrets in sports.

The next downtown developer must reach out to the soccer and baseball halls, to the town of Oneonta and to the somnolent Otsego County Chamber _ among many others _ to stir interest here.

The developer must also solicit opinions and work with downtown merchants to make their storefronts and sidewalks less dreary and more alluring.

If vision and direction are lacking from the Common Council, then Oneonta will just continue to have a quaint little downtown in which there will always be too many vacancies.

If that's to be the case, then we suggest that the city not fill the downtown developer position. The money would be far better spent filling in the potholes when they occur on Main Street.