But in a city of only 13,000 people, 1,000 people would make a significant difference to businesses, to the tax base, to the level of energy in the city itself, it'd be palpable. Larger cities may not even see the needle move. And as we look at it, as people have looked at it, it's the introduction of that number of people that would be transformative in a city of our size. We've been pretty well static at 13,000 for about 70 years now. Since 1950, something or other, we were just looking at some documentation on this, the city's population has not changed. A lot of people have identified that before.
In an interview with WAMC's Jim Levulis, Drnek explained why he thinks it’s a worthwhile effort.ĭrnek: Well, it's a priority that, in fact, I'm not the first one to take on as a potential direction for the city.
It’s a goal the first-term Democrat laid out in his 2021 mayoral campaign. During his State of the City address this week, Oneonta Mayor Mark Drnek detailed how he thinks the Otsego County city can increase its population by 1,000 residents.