Hmmm, oh no !! an old historical home,we need a new historical home.... And the library is just fine the way it is now. Try Wikipedia.....

the city sold the parcel to a private indavidual then refused to let him do anything with it .why have annother decent property on the tax books when you can just jack up taxes on everyone else

I would like to see this area stay residential and have single family homes occupy the site. The Main Street of Oneida should be beautiful! It can be again. It is a shame the city has been paralyzed on this issue for so long. Now that the eyesore has been torn down, thanks to former mayor Hedglon, I hope the city will be able to move forward and be able to take ownership of the property. All this "due process" is long overdue!

True, it wasn't Kathy who called the kids on cancer corner smoking" punks" and delinquents", it was another poster. Kathy merely suggested the police infiltrate the crowd with "undercover" and I guess what would follow ,start jailing teenagers.Nice thought, a round up of kids right in front of the school..There is a problem there, but the perception that smoking teens are drug dealing/using teens is false and dishonest,My kid does NOT smoke but has friends that do,she occasionally will go to the corner before school just to talk to some of the kids who do smoke. She's an honor student and no delinquent, or punk, and those who accuse the kids there of being so might want to watch the slurs they bandy around. I went to West Genesee in 72, they had a smoking corner too, and guess what? 40 years later, for all the hand wringing, its still there.You want to slow down smoking?, make it illegal, and stop hypocritally taking the taxes that smokers shell out.

well i disagree with the assessed value of these lots. in 2004 i looked at a 100 year old victorian house on Main St. directlty across from the old Jr High. the 2000+ sq ft house was on the market for 135k but did not sell because it was way over priced. that was BEFORE the houseing market/credit collapse. so the assessor is going to tell us that two vacant lots are worth as much as a house and garage? give me a break. i demand to see Lonnie Stedmans credentials, i demand to know what her house assesses for... oh wait she is a renter he doesnt own a house ... my bad. as for the library i think that they should do the envirmentally correct thing and recyle an existing building for their use. i am sure they can get a grant for a beautifican project.

What does the cost to tear the former school down and dispose of the debris have to do with the decision to let the library have it? Do they really think it's worth have a million dollars now just because the previous owner stuck them with it after promising he could fix it up? On top of that, according to the mayor, he stripped all the copper and anything else of value out of the building, leaving nothing but garbage and hazardous materials we had to pay to dispose of. Both parcels were accessed for around 85k back in 2004, and that was before property values sank through the floor,but according to the Dispatch,the previous owner paid a measley 7400 for the school lot, but now that the library needs a bigger lot to build on the property is solid gold??.. And finally, why, oh why is the city attorney, who I'm sure has access to far more money and far more personal info then I do incapable of finding and suing the guy who stuck us? The mayor has been quoted as saying the owner "fell on hard times" . Not to be harsh but we all have had hard times but I bet that wouldn't keep the town from suing US if we owed them. Anyhow, he's not destitute,he has assets, it took me a whole 20 minutes to find at least one major property he owns in Syracuse, a multi unit motel, of all places. Attach his property, anything the town can get, recoup some of our losses. I refuse to see why we the taxpayers got stuck because the city is too lazy or stupid to find this guy and make him pay.The town attorney said" We haven't heard from him in months" Cool, I guess now I don't have to pay my taxes,because as long as the town of Oneida doesn't hear from me, I guess I don't owe them, right? Sure.

What does the cost to tear the former school down and dispose of the debris have to do with the decision to let the library have it? Do they really think it's worth have a million dollars now just because the previous owner stuck them with it after promising he could fix it up? On top of that, according to the mayor, he stripped all the copper and anything else of value out of the building, leaving nothing but garbage and hazardous materials we had to pay to dispose of. Both parcels were accessed for around 85k back in 2004, and that was before property values sank through the floor,but according to the Dispatch,the previous owner paid a measley 7400 for the school lot, but now that the library needs a bigger lot to build on the property is solid gold??.. And finally, why, oh why is the city attorney, who I'm sure has access to far more money and far more personal info then I do incapable of finding and suing the guy who stuck us? The mayor has been quoted as saying the owner "fell on hard times" . Not to be harsh but we all have had hard times but I bet that wouldn't keep the town from suing US if we owed them. Anyhow, he's not destitute,he has assets, it took me a whole 20 minutes to find at least one major property he owns in Syracuse, a multi unit motel, of all places. Attach his property, anything the town can get, recoup some of our losses. I refuse to see why we the taxpayers got stuck because the city is too lazy or stupid to find this guy and make him pay.The town attorney said" We haven't heard from him in months" Cool, I guess now I don't have to pay my taxes,because as long as the town of Oneida doesn't hear from me, I guess I don't owe them, right? Sure.

My understanding is that no hazardous material remediation was conducted on the Main Street lot after demolishing the school building (1970's?). This may limit the potential uses for this land in the future.

you know how many homeless is in oneida how about low income housing project's like the brewer apartment's

A new Library is like building a new buggy whip factory. While I can see the nostalgia of wanting to create such a beautiful structure to commemorate our past... we ought to be thinking about digitizing our media and selling the space for residential building lots.