Oneonta's population makes up roughly one third the population of Otsego County, likely employing most of its Susquehanna Valley inhabitants, and more along the fringes of Delaware County. Since so much of Otsego County's population rests in Oneonta, I thought it adequate enough to use Otsego County statistics for the sake of this argument.
Unfortunately, like most of the nation, it seems Oneonta has been rather stagnant of late. Between 2000 and 2008, Oneonta grew by 0.5%, far lower than the 2.7% growth the whole state of New York has experienced. Paltry in either case, the spike between the two numbers is indicative of the lack of incentive to come to Oneonta.
I can imagine the population shift in Oneonta is mainly due to births vs. deaths. In short, it only looks like population growth because older people are living longer here.
I am not wholly opposed to the Oneonta World of Learning, and as far as I'm concerned, as long as it is privately funded, it flies with me. While I'm not sure of its funding status, the point is rather.. pointless, so to say. What's missing is the community's apathy toward our stagnant bubble of a world; even in a depressed state like New York, we could at least exist with the standards set by the census average!
I propose a lack of ambivalence toward the impending disaster that is Otsego, Oneonta, the sleeping folk north-west of the Catskills. Wake up, please; we need business models, industries that aren't taxed to death, and places for our work force to keep themselves happy, not museums these apathetic majority will scoff at while their children are barely kept fed with the hiking unemployment rates and social services benefits packages.
sources:
Census QuickFacts
Census FactFinder
addendum: I added in the sources, which I carelessly left out.
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3 comments:
Too bad Oneonta is so stagnate.
Not everyone is ambivalent about the economic future of Oneonta and Otsego County in general. If you are looking for some concrete ideas, consider the following article from Hometown Oneonta, which summarizes a panel discussion between local leaders and SUNY Oneonta about just that. I attended this panel and was surprised by the ideas presented, particularly by panelist Jim Kevlin.
http://www.hometownoneonta.biz/2009/04/yes-oneontas-colleges-can-do-more-but.html
The addition of college graduates begs the question of how many people are leaving the area, if we only have a .5% population growth over an 8-year period. Student to citizen retention rates are either grossly overstated in that article, or there is a more dire problem that's being ignored.
I'm not doubting the impact of the colleges on Oneonta, but I think pressure for a more Austrian School economic system locally would spur a more solid foundation for growth.
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