Residents and officials recount life at the Dietz Street Lofts

Mar. 22—Patio furniture and snow shovels. A padlocked bicycle. A crumpled blue blanket with snow in the folds. Copious amounts of nut shells.

These items decorated the porches of the various ground-floor apartments at the Dietz Street Lofts on Friday.

Life at the Lofts — a four-story residential building at 34 Dietz St. with a mix of artist lofts, handicapped accessible units and low- to middle-income apartments — has had its ups and downs since move-in started in late July, as Lofts residents settle into living in downtown Oneonta.

In light of another low-income housing project that's being proposed for downtown Oneonta — the development of 27 Market St. by Rehabilitation Support Services Inc. — people are coming forward with their accounts of what it's like to live at the Lofts.

Some of the residents' stories recount troublesome experiences. Others are hopeful that a true neighborhood can still emerge.

The 65 apartments at the Lofts are a mix of units — 40 one-bedroom units designated as artist lofts and 24 two-bedroom apartments designated for middle-income residents. Seven units are slated for people with mobility impairments and three units for people with hearing or visibility impairments.

Another apartment is reserved for an on-site building superintendent. The building is managed by Kearney Realty Group.

A representative from Kearney did not return a request for comment Friday.

From the inside

Property manager Alicia Viatore said Friday, March 22 that the building is pretty much fully occupied but still accepting rental applications. Only a couple of apartments are open, and they are "spoken for," she said.

Nearly half of the residents are artists, Viatore said, but she declined to say how many apartments are designated as artist lofts, adding that filling 40 units with artists was the hope, but the apartments weren't saved for artists.

While the building experienced "some less than ideal circumstances for awhile," she said, "the residents are really starting to look out for each other and their homes. A lot has settled. We've come a long way."

Maureen Daly, 60, has lived at the Lofts since September in an artist unit. She also receives Section 8 housing vouchers, but believes she is counted as an artist resident.

Daly submitted a letter to the city Common Council March 14 that detailed what the Lofts look like "from the inside" and "what happens when an artificial 'neighborhood' is created when ... [64 households] coalesce into a relatively small space in a very short amount of time."

"The beginning of any new Section 8 project is fraught with unavoidable conflict and messy assimilation," she said in the letter. "From Day 1 it has been unpleasant and sometimes frightening ... I've learned that it takes multiple years for a new housing project to regulate itself into a pleasant living space."

She said that she has submitted 18 incident reports to building management, but that they are "slow to react." She said she has observed drug activity in the parking lot, dealing going on during the day and needles on the ground.

The Daily Star did not see any needles but plenty of cigarette butts on the ground during a cursory look through the Lofts parking lot Friday.

Daly also said that a community bathroom in a hallway was padlocked after people left behind "the stench of feces and the detritus of drug paraphernalia."

Dinner parties

Lofts resident Owen Thaxton, 37, said Friday that he moved into the building hoping to connect with his neighbors through activities hosted by building management, but that has yet to happen.

"I would like to see more cooperation between the company and the community of Oneonta," he said. "I'm looking for this apartment complex to put people in touch and connect us with each other. Make it a place where you can get excited about ideas that your neighbors are sharing with you, then go out and graffiti a big mural in downtown Oneonta."

Kyle Davis, 29, is Mayor Mark Drnek's liaison to the Lofts, a role he took on after becoming interested in city government.

A resident of the Lofts since September, he said that the fourth floor is "a pretty cool place to be."

"We have had several events," he said Friday, "dinner parties with neighbors, and a little bit of artist collaboration."

About a dozen such parties have been organized by the residents but approved by management, using both apartments and communal space.

One thing the Lofts does need is time, he said. In the Lofts' first few months, he noticed a lot of loitering, but not violence or drug deals.

He said that some of the troublemakers have since been asked to leave, a proactive move by building management.

"The superintendent has been on top of it," he said. "Thank you to [the superintendent, who was not identified] and Alicia [Viatore] for your hard work."

Police info

Building management has been working with the Oneonta Police Department, and tenants are encouraged to be proactive and call law enforcement.

Police Chief Christopher Witzenburg generated a report on police calls to the Lofts since it opened for the Town Hall meeting Feb. 27.

The report showed that police responded to 62 calls to the Lofts, as compared to 45 calls to the Wilber Park Apartments, 40 calls to the Lettis Apartments, 24 calls to the Mayrose Apartments, 23 calls to Oneonta Heights, 15 calls to Hillside Commons, 14 calls to the Academy Arms Apartments and 11 calls to the Woodridge Apartments in the same time frame.

By similarly located streets: police responded to 84 calls to Church Street, 166 calls to Spruce Street, 129 calls to Ford Avenue, 133 calls to Center Street, 133 calls to Maple Street, 139 calls to Dietz Street and 167 calls to Elm Street.

"We have visited the Lofts on our own this year far more than we have been called there," Witzenburg said Friday via email. "As I mentioned at the Town Hall, this is a new neighborhood. It's going to take time to find those most invested in their neighborhood and willing to provide stewardship. In the meantime, we're trying to keep our presence known until we reach stasis and the tenants are more comfortable. It's our newest neighborhood."

In January, police took a walk-in complaint from an ex-girlfriend regarding an aggravated harassment in which she received a threatening text while at home at the Lofts, but the suspect was never at that location.

In February, police conducted an assignment aimed at increasing visibility during a two-week period concluding March 3, Witzenburg said.

Since March 3, police were called to respond to three non-criminal calls: a report of someone smoking in an apartment, a person who was going door-to-door and a request to speak with an officer from a person who came to the station — no response to the Lofts for that call.

Police have made three arrests made at the Lofts.

In August, police made an arrest subsequent to an physical domestic dispute and order of protection violation. In December, police arrested a male for being disorderly.

On Feb. 23, police arrested a male on a second-degree harassment charge stemming from an incident that happened Jan. 25 at the Lofts. He was charged with second-degree burglary and third-degree criminal tampering, but not in connection to activity at the Lofts.

Baking center on the way

Oneonta's Planning Commission approved the site plan application in November 2019, the day after the city Common Council approved the sale of roughly a half-acre of the two-acre Dietz Street parking lot for $257,500.

The council approved the project in July 2019 for $16 million, including $1.47 million from city of Oneonta Downtown Revitalization Initiative funds — part of a $10 million state grant awarded in 2016.

Construction on the building began in April 2021, after the COVID-19 pandemic delayed groundbreaking that had been slated for 2020.

The building took over about 70 or 80 parking spots of the municipal parking lot there, but left between 250 and 300 spaces in that lot, according to Daily Star archives.

Hartwick College's Baking Innovation Lab of the Center for Craft Food and Beverage — formerly called the Grain Innovation Center — is on track to open in early summer in the south end of the building, funded in part with a $180,000 grant from the Mohawk Valley Regional Economic Development Council.

Several wooden crates, cardboard boxes and a large metal machine were observed Friday inside the future lab.

James Kellerhouse, Hartwick's vice president for institutional advancement and external relations, said in a statement Friday that there were some delays due to electrical wiring supply chain issues, but there is a meeting with the developer next week to finalize the timeline.

"We've already hired staff and are in constant communication with New York state authorities and the Appalachian Regional Commission to update them of our progress," Kellerhouse said. "We're looking forward to the regional and national programs and activities the lab will host and excited about having a presence in downtown Oneonta."

Eighth Ward Common Council member Don Mathisen, who represents all the people in the building, likely was the person going door-to-door that police were called about.

He said that he was in the Lots the weekend of March 16 and 17 gathering signatures for his ballot access petition. As a council appointment, he needs to be elected to the council in the fall to retain the position.

He said that the "vibe is similar to that of a public housing project," which he is familiar with after living in New York City for many years.

"I would say the general demeanor is tense," he said. "The residents seem suspicious, untrusting and unfriendly. No one was smiling."

He said that a woman screamed at him, called the police and demanded they arrest him.

The officers, who arrived quickly, "were what I would call 'tough guy professional.' They looked me over, questioned me and allowed me to stay. My sense was they had been there many times before."

Drnek — whose mayoral term postdates the approval of the Lofts, which happened under former Mayor Gary Herzig — said Friday that there is a "genuine community that is forming in the Lofts," which gives him confidence in the long-term success of the building.

"To be clear, and reiterating what I continue to say," he said, "that success requires the assistance and support of all parties. That includes the building management, the city and the tenants. We need the Dietz Street Lofts to be a safe and welcoming addition to Oneonta, and I am confident that it will be."