Business View Civil and Municipal | Volume 2, Issue 6

55 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 2, ISSUE 6 ONEONTA , NEW YORK think we are positioned very well through this pandemic right now,” says Otsego Chamber of Commerce Interim President Al Rubin. “I think we have a lot of creative people within our business community really looking to cater to what the market might bring.” The Chamber of Commerce is also working hard to make Oneonta an ideal place for businesses to relocate. “I think the pandemic has really shown us that collaboration between the economic partners and the municipalities, such as the City of Oneonta, are very important in building public and private partnerships to really encourage businesses to come here and also encourage the things that businesses need – a good workforce, good housing, things like that,” says Rubin. “Everyone is being pushed to be on their game right now. We are doing our best to engage as many people in that process and continue to build synergies with people that are going to have the most impact. We are all focused on being results driven and time is somewhat of the essence right now. It’s almost like a race for communities like ours to try and get the potential piece of that pie that’s out there for us. And I think we are engaged and ready to move forward with that mindset.” The city has plenty of room for new business. They jointly operate a business park with the town of Oneonta, which has up to 40 acres of developable property. And they are also working on developing a new business park which will be called The Oneonta Rail Yards. “That park is one of the larger available vacant pieces of property within the city,” says Jody Zakrevsky, CEO of Otsego Now, a group of agencies in Otsego County focused on development, capital, and the arts. “The park consists of about 78 acres, 37-38 are fully developable. It includes green space for biking and walking trails that we are planning.” The new business park is located at the former site of the world’s largest roundhouse, which