Twelve Tribes property, downtown plan criticized at meeting
Source: The Daily Star
26 January 2017
ONEONTA — The fate of Market Street parcels owned by Twelve Tribes members and criticism of a proposed food and beverage center were raised today at a public hearing held by the Otsego County Industrial Development Agency as part of eminent domain procedures.
No further eminent domain action was taken by the IDA, and its Chief Executive Officer, Alexander “Sandy” Mathes Jr., said talks on acquiring the property at 23, 25 and 27-33 Market St. would continue with Twelve Tribes members.
The IDA’s offer of $150,000 for the property was too low, according to Lee Beane of the Twelve Tribes, who said after the hearing that he hoped discussions would be re-opened.
“We want to come to an agreement,” Beane said. “We can’t be hurt, that’s all.”
The hearing was required under the state’s eminent domain process, which the IDA initiated as part of work for the proposed Mohawk Valley Food and Beverage Innovation Center, an economic development project that officials said could be the cornerstone of the Oneonta Downtown Revitalization Initiative.
Separately Thursday, the state’s Restore New York Communities Initiative awarded $477,915 to the city of Oneonta for the Innovation Center, a partnership project between the city and the IDA.
COMMENTS
My advise is to take the property by eminent domain and build a park for children where no abuse is tolerated and where the 12 tribes are not allowed. They don’t deserve to exist! Don’t give them any money for it, just tale it. According to some former members, like ourselves, the leader Yoneq amasses large amounts of money for himself. People don’t realize that is going on. We fled from them with them chasing us to get us, as their slaves, back. Yoneq will one day, when he leaves his body in death, will find his final judgement to be very unpleasant because he will be headed, not to the kingdom of heaven. but to a deep dark fiery place for deceiving and for stealing the lives of “his believers”. Mind control at its worst!
I was witness to one young girl being beaten with a 2 X 4 until it broke her tailbone. You call that building the kingdom? What was her crime? Oh my, she wasn’t washing things fast enough! She was being diligent, but just not fast enough! Did she receive medical care? NO. Did anyone hold that person accountable? NO All of the elders are smooth talking abusers. Again, tar and feather them and run them out of town. I know MUCH more than this, but for now this should provide you with a little inside report from someone who saw and was disgusted!
As a former member for 7 years who one day woke up and realized my family was deeply caught in a dangerous cult my advise is: CLOSE THEM DOWN AND RUN THEM OUT OF TOWN. They really DO BEAT THEIR CHILDREN TO THE POINT OF CHILD ABUSE. Women are treated worse than dogs. KEEP YOUR CHILDREN AWAY FROM THEM and for heaven’s sake KEEP YOURSELF FROM JOINING THEM. There is serious abuse behind the smiles and the dancing. While living there I got seriously sick from rotten food and bad water that they fed to their slaves. In the restaurants you would think that they lived like kings and queens –it is a lie because as a cook I was forced to serve 50 people millet and bread for breakfast regularly with one egg for the whole group scrambled in. That way they could say it was millet and egg! Forget bringing the building into compliance. They are seriously dangerous. We gave them our land, our steady stream of money, and all that we had because they told us that they would take care of our family. REALLY? I remember asking for a pair of underwear and they told me to go to the free pile downstairs and pick out a pair of used ones??? Sick! When I left I found out that they did not pay even one of my bills leaving me with a credit score of 0. How do you recoup from that? Its been many years now, but they are run by a evil man who does live like a KING with money coming out his eyeballs and the rest of the group outside the elders are just his slaves. Building the kingdom of heaven. I think not!
Use some of the money to get sprinklers installed in the buildings on Main from Chestnut to Elm. Grant some, loan some, but require compliance within 10 years. The downtown blocks are old buildings probably with concealed opennings in the fire walls between buildings. A midwinter fire on a windy night could overwhelm our excellent fire department. The historical and architectural value of these buildings cannot be replaced by foam and stucco structures like the Clarion and SFCU.
Planners can plan, but they need experienced entrepeneurs to guide them to economic reality. To get developers to develop open the regulatory doors wide.
Put money into Oneonta’s landmark businesses before more close down. How about subsidizing good restaurant cooks.
Let us not forget that this building is permeated with traces of benzine and other carcinogenic chemicals from its car dealership era. It must be completely destroyed and removed.
@Kimmy Traces – plural noun:a very small quantity, especially one too small to be accurately measured.
“his body contained traces of amphetamines”
This proposal seems to rely heavily on the craft beer market. But there are reports that growth in the craft beer market is starting to slow as more and more craft beer producers are coming online. How will this slow-down in the craft beer market affect the overall plans? And when did they change the name of the project from “Susquehanna” to “Mohawk Valley”? Oneonta isn’t in the Mohawk Valley. Doesn’t that present some marketing and communications challenges?
$150,000 seems like a pretty lowball figure for the lynchpin property in a project estimated to have a total cost upwards of $17 million.
Good post. Mohawk floored me.
I have two questions first isn’t site a bit out of the main stream traffic who will know it’s there?
What about all the other food and drink businesses already in the area ? We do not seem to have a shortage of either !
