The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
SHARING IDEAS
What could Oneida do with $10 million? Residents share their ideas for downtown revitalization
ONEIDA, N.Y. >> Recently, community members gathered to share what ideas they believe could give Oneida new life. These ideas and more will be included in the city’s grant application to compete for a chance to win $10 million to get these projects off the ground.
The funds up for grabs for municipalities in the Central New York region are part of the state’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative (DRI), an economic development program that’s transforming downtown neighborhoods into vibrant centers that offer a high quality of life and are magnets for redevelopment, business, job creation, and economic and housing diversity.
This is the 5th round of the program vetting and choosing from potential winners. Oneida applied for the grant previously in 2019 but to no avail. In 2020, the program was put on hiatus. This year, with a closely approaching deadline and only a short window to prepare an application worthy of approval, Oneida is utilizing the foundation it created in its 2019 application and merging that with updated ideas and edits after hearing from community members during an open-house style meeting.
The ideas to breathe new life into Oneida are diverse. Cassie Rose, planning director for the City of Oneida, said she got some really good feedback from residents who came to the council chambers on August 24 to share their ideas. Adults from around the ages of 30 to 75 participated, she said.
“Basically, anything that you can tie into revitalizing the downtown — bringing people in, bringing visitors in, creating jobs, anything like that where it will have an overall positive impact on the local economy and our county and regional economy” will be considered, Rose said.
The list of downtown revitalization ideas presented by residents and other members of the community are as follows:
• Revilatize the Hotel Oneida
• Renovate and improve the Kallet Civic Center
• Instill downtown arts and culture district initiatives
• New restaurants
• Microbrewery
• Artist studios
• Gallery space
• Downtown business assistance program
• AYSO soccer complex
• Upgrades city parks: Higinbotham Park — upgrading the space with a performance pavilion. Both Vet’s Memorial Field and Carinci Park — add pickle
“Basically, anything that you can tie into revitalizing the downtown — bringing people in, bringing visitors in, creating jobs, anything like that where it will have an overall positive impact on the local economy and our county and regional economy.” — Cassie Rose, planning director for the City of Oneida
ball courts, a splash pad, and ADA compliant playground
•Downtown murals program •Funding for enhanced annual arts and entertainment festivals
•General upgrades for city use: equipment, mobile stage, sound system, screen/projector
Many of these ideas will be included in the city’s round 5 grant application, which is due on Sept. 15. Round 4 winners were: Schenectady, Fulton, Seneca Falls, Baldwin, Peekskill, Utica, Staten Island, Potsdam, Hornell, and Niagara Falls Bridge District.
There is a small chance Oneida could be chosen to double their money. Participating communities will be nominated by the state’s ten Regional Economic Development Councils (REDCS) based on the downtown’s potential for transformation. Within each region, the REDC will nominate either two downtowns to receive $10 million each or one downtown to receive $20 million — this is because there were no winners in 2020, so the program is doubling up. Rose said she thinks the probability of Oneida landing $20 million is small, but there’s still a chance. It’s more likely that two downtowns will be chosen instead of one, however.
Do you have an idea to revitalize downtown Oneida? Send a letter to the editor to newsroom@oneidadispatch.com. Include your name and place of residence. Letters should be no longer than 500 words.