The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)

TACKLING TOPICS

Rossi talks Hotel Oneida, hens, downtown business

ONEIDA, N.Y. >> Oneida Mayor Rick Rossi spoke to a number of topics including an update on the former Hotel Oneida, and a pair of downtown businesses. During the City Council meeting, he also announced a public hearing on hen ownership in the city.

City manager Douglas Selby also spoke to sidewalk snow removal and ways for residents to better communicat­e with the city government.

The council will hold a public hearing on Tuesday, Feb. 20 in council chambers at 6:30 p.m. regarding introducti­on of a local law regulating the harboring and ownership of hens within the city.

“This is not a vote on the law, but a time for residents to express their opinions. Bot those who want hens and those who do not want hens,” Oneida City Attorney Nadine Bell said.

Melissa Mannix runs Backyard Chickens for Oneida, a group that wants to promote private ownership of chickens on residences within the city.

“Local towns including Lenox have allowed a certain number of chickens on private property and we’d like to see that here,” she said during the council’s Jan. 2 meeting. “We want to have chickens kept responsibl­y. They would be confined to yards and not allowed to roam on streets or wherever else they could be a nuisance.”

Backyard Chickens for Oneida has a Facebook page with more informatio­n.

Rossi congratula­ted Napoleon’s Cafe on their recent re-opening. The cafe is located at the corner of Main and Madison streets.

“It’s always good for people to shop local,” he said.

Rossi also announced the addition of a formal barber school to Oneida Barbershop, the business he coowns with his father, Angel Vargas Jr., on Railroad Street

“The shop will be a formal school with student loans and scholarshi­ps available,” he said.

Rossi said progress has been made on constructi­on talks on The Oneida. He and several city officials went on a virtual tour Monday of the Hotel Syracuse. The tour showed what the completed Oneida would look like.

“The people of Oneida are going to be very happy with what they’re getting,” Rossi said.

The former Hotel Oneida is located at 181 Main St. on the corner of Main Street and Lenox Avenue. It was built in 1925 and opened in 1927. Visitors included former President John F. Kennedy. The hotel was converted into a restaurant and hotel in 1982 but had fallen into disrepair and was closed in 2009.

Oneida received $10 million credited towards downtown projects on Dec. 7 2021 through the state Downtown Revitaliza­tion Initiative. The city was one of the Central New York region winners of the fifth round. City officials had submitted 11 projects for state approval. The city will split the cost of the projects with money provided through the DRI.

The city received $2.9 million to renovate the vacant Hotel Oneida.

“Local towns including Lenox have allowed a certain number of chickens on private property and we’d like to see that here. We want to have chickens kept responsibl­y. They would be confined to yards and not allowed to roam on streets or wherever else they could be a nuisance.”

— Melissa Mannix, of Backyard Chickens for Oneida

Oneida city officials and developers had announced the Hotel Oneida will be renovated, ready for business, and renamed “The Oneida” by September 2024 at a press conference in January 2023.

The project will be paid for through New York State’s Downtown Revitaliza­tion Initiative and will cost an estimated $8.8 million to complete. When The Oneida opens it will contain outdoor dining for warm weather months, a Shaughness­y’s Pub restaurant and 19 apartments through the building’s upper three stories. Shaughness­y’s will employ 54 workers, 18 fulltime, in its dining and catering business when it opens.

The council voted to authorize Selby to retain survey and appraisal services to subdivide the city-owned parking lot at the intersecti­on of Cedar Street and Lenox Avenue. The action will anticipate parking space needs when the Oneida opens for business.

“We are not eliminatin­g the parking, but transferri­ng it closer to the hotel,” Selby said.

Selby took time during the city manager’s comments period to clarify some issues regarding sidewalk snow removal. That service begins when an inch or more of snow falls on the sidewalks. The city focuses its sidewalk snow removal efforts on Lenox Avenue and Seneca, Main and Broad streets.

Selby also said city workers often practice on empty sidewalks to know where to find obstacles and avoid property.

“I want to thank our residents for being diligent to clear their sidewalks when it does snow,” he said. “Even if the first priority of our plows is to clear the streets and the snow sometimes ends up back on the sidewalks.”

Selby also spoke to new communicat­ion options between city government and residents. This may be found in a new “notify me” prompt at the top of Oneida city’s homepage, https:// www.oneidacity­ny.gov/.

“We have options that may be clicked to receive emails about upcoming events,” he said. “These include council meeting agendas, our monthly newsletter, press releases and public hearing notices,” he said.