I came to our county in 2018, and I hope to be here for the rest of my life. I have seen it as a newcomer, as a business owner, and as someone who would love to open a retail space in my home town. I have questions. These questions apply to my town and village, Franklin. But I know that they apply elsewhere. They apply to much of Delaware County.
I have hesitated to ask because I know how some people will respond.
But I want to understand. So I am asking.
I know that my town wants to have more businesses open, more opportunities for jobs for locals and a draw for outsiders with money to spend to choose to spend it here. So why doesn’t the town or village start, at the very least, penalizing owners who don’t maintain their properties?
We have a lot of empty buildings, a few derelict ones, and absolutely zero affordable options for retail space.
The city of Oneonta actually fines owners if their houses sit empty without showing that they are either in construction or actively for sale.
Why don’t we?
We have been fortunate that a few of our remaining storefronts were bought by people who spent the money to renovate them and bring them back to active use. I know there’s more to that, and it’s not all a happy story, but I want to recognize that they didn’t buy the buildings, then let them deteriorate and sit empty.
Part of the problem is historic – Franklin village used to have a thriving center, but fire wiped out a lot of those buildings on one side of the street.
But that’s not the whole story. Let’s get specific.
We have a spacious, village center former auto garage that was sold to an LLC and now sits empty. It could be a market. It is big enough to house a variety of businesses and has the parking to handle it. It’s not available.
There is a former funeral home that is owned by a corporation in Texas. An Oneonta funeral home now hosts funerals it might once have handled. It appears to be unused.
There are any number of homes in the village that are empty – either because of financial issues or something else. And thanks to the village’s rules, any one of them, or all of them, could be retail space.
Of the other few empty retail spaces, either the rents are prohibitive for a small business or they are not available. And that sad, beautiful wreck next to the post office may have a future, but for years it has been a dangerous eyesore that is in the center of the village. And we’ve tolerated it.
So why doesn’t the village do something? I do not understand it.
One of the big challenges is the fact that the village is still without a public sewer system. That’s been a real problem for the one block of commercial buildings, and it’s one the village is going to have to tackle one day. I am told Franklin is the last incorporated village in our county without a sewer system. So far, there is not the will nor the money to address that.
But it’s not our only economic challenge. Without a lively business district, Franklin misses out on visitor dollars as well as local newcomers with children who could enroll in our school. We lose seniors. We lose.
Franklin has so much to offer. The village is a National Historic District. And we’re proud of that. But with some energy and some imagination, combined with the will to do it, we could be so much more.
We have a specialty store now that offers some remarkable products, but we are missing out on all the variety we could have, if we only created the space.
Wouldn’t it be great to have an old fashioned local bakery, a place that smells wonderful every morning? Wouldn’t it be great to have a cafe and coffee shop again? We’ve had a couple, but right now there’s only one option. A locally owned general store that meant fewer trips to Oneonta and a place for local seniors to get what they need at a price they could afford? What about a place for kids to get snacks after school that is a better place to gather than a gas station? A book shop (that’s my dream), a candy shop, a crafts store? There’s no telling what we might have if we made an effort to create the space.
Do not tell me our area can’t support these things. Dollar General thought it could survive here. Visitors come to the Catskills specifically looking for villages that offer unique local businesses. And we made a start, with the existing shops that may not draw local buyers, but DO attract visitors. Why not have both? Look at Delhi. Look at Hamden. They created businesses, they got the word out, and the buzz has drawn customers AND new residents.
This is NOT just about tourism. It can’t be. We need to offer our full time, longterm residents an alternative to Oneonta when they want one. Gas prices are skyrocketing. Some older folks (myself included) would love to drive over the mountain less often. And some simply can’t drive, so they worry they have to leave.
Former businesses have proven that Franklin loves to gather for coffee and a chat in a business that welcomes locals. We supported good breakfast and lunch places when we had them.
We have people who live here full time who wish for these kinds of businesses, and we have other people who live here right now who’d love to provide these services.
If we open more shops, even with our limited stock of buildings, we create a village that can offer the staples the residents need and a variety of shops that visitors could enjoy. A village that, once again, has a busy business district, no matter how small in scale.
The head of the county Economic Development Agency told me finding locations for aspiring local business owners is one of their hardest jobs. Why aren’t communities making it easier?
Until we do something to change, nothing changes.
Susan Barnett
Franklin
