We Must Take Care Of Us

1-29-11

All of a sudden, Mayor Dick Miller must feel a bit like Barack Obama inheriting 1.8 trillion deficit.
It’s more of a case, as the amended saying goes, of “stuff” happening.  Or as Elbert Hubbard, our philosophical friend from western New York, had it: “Life is just one d----- thing after another.”
It’s like losing the trifecta, one fecta at a time.
We already knew the National Soccer Hall of Fame & Museum was in trouble.  In recent weeks, soccer’s high priests have announced this year’s inductees, who will be entered into the Hall someplace, somewhere, somehow.  Meanwhile, word on the street is the West Oneonta property is about to be sold.
Second, the Foothills Performing Arts Center hits a wall, as Albany decides to hang on to an anticipated $100,000 grant the center had anticipated.  Then, the county Board of Representatives does the same with $25,000.  (The recent exodus of Foothills staff may be a good thing; it gives the able board of directors a chance for a clean-sheet review.)
Then, it turns out in recent days that the Oneonta Tigers, which had pledged to stay at Damaschke Field through the 2010 season, may be scurrying off by the time you read this to vacant Dodd Stadium in Norwich, Conn.  The only financial commitment to the city is $7,500 rent for the upcoming season.
Do you see a trend here?
Lessons?  Here’s one:  When the community allows local institutions to fall into out-of-town hands – the soccer hall, the Tigers – the community loses control.  (Happily, Foothills is still firmly anchored in a local foundation.)
In truth, no one cares as much about Oneonta as Oneontans, (or, if you will, Otsego County as Otsego Countians.)
Edna St. Vincent Millay did Elbert Hubbard one better:  “It’s not true that life is one d--- thing after another; it’s the same d--- thing over and over.”
That certainly seems to be the current case in Oneonta.  But it doesn’t have to be.  Let’s learn the lesson.  Apply it.  And move on.