A photo of the 122 Vanderbilt St. collapse on Dec. 1, 2023. (Roger Seibert – MediaNews Group file)
ONEIDA, N.Y. — Oneida resident Greg Meyers confronted the Oneida Common Council over what he considers inadequate plans by the city regarding the removal of damaged and dangerous properties at the July 2 council meeting.
The city of Oneida set Monday, July 8 as the scheduled start date for the removal of debris at 125 Oneida St. Vanderbilt Avenue will be closed while the work is being done. The avenue connects Main and Broad streets north of Higinbotham Park. The Oneida Street building was Oneida’s first fire station.
It suffered a partial collapse of an exterior wall on Dec. 1, 2023.
“In Syracuse, they had a building collapse in January on a Monday and by that Friday they had the building removed,” Meyers said. “We had a building on Vanderbilt with a collapsed wall last December and we’re just starting on it. It collapsed 214 days ago! This is terrible.”
Meyers said the collapsed building has caused problems with the building which he owns adjacent to the damaged property.
“I’ve had water in my basement since the collapse. People are complaining to me, asking when the building will be taken down,” he said.
Meyers urged the council to enact a policy towards damaged buildings.
“We don’t wait forever to declare a collapsed building a nuisance property,” he said. “We don’t need to call in the property owner of a dangerous building and have him get his lawyer and keep discussing the situation.”
The debris removal will continue for an indefinite time.
“We do not have a time frame for it to be completed, but please watch our City Clerk Facebook page for updates,” Oneida City Clerk Sandy LaPera said.
Meyers also took the council to task for what he said was their failure to acknowledge of the Mazzullo & Sons Carpet One closure that concluded on June 17.
“We had a business here for 76 years that contributed to city sales tax, property tax, and school taxes,” he said “And no one took the time to congratulate them on their retirement. The only contact was our codes department saying they had to move their retirement sales signs.”
Meyers previously served for 31 years on the board of appeals and tendered his resignation during the council’s April 16 meeting over questions on a radio tower variance in Oneida’s outside district and their handling of the city manager search.
“I can not work for a council that acts in such an underhanded manner. But I am happy with their new approach to finding a new city manager,” he said after the April 16 meeting.
