Photo of the Hotel Utica
Now see this is what really brings us down. Not only in the eyes of the world, but in our own eyes.
First: We have a website--did you know that? URL: www.cityofutica.com. However, no one is apparently keeping it up and so the information is outdated, therefore incorrect. It also lacks public notices, meeting minutes and annual budgets. Anyone who signs on must think we're idiots. The mayor himself currently uses Facebook to communicate with the public.
The reason? "Making changes to the current Web site is a complicated and cumbersome process, requiring going through the city’s contracted IT employees Angelo Roefaro said."
How tough can it be if someone like me can create this blog?
For more info, check out the article in the Observer-Dispatch. http://www.uticaod.com/news/x589529968/Utica-seeks-to-improve-website
Secondly: We have a hotel, the Hotel Utica. But we have a bad habit of putting the cart before the horse. In the face of businesses, manufacturers and young people leaving the area and none coming in, therefore no tourists--what would they tour?--we renovated the old hotel about ten years ago. Beautiful old lobby. Fine restaurant. I held a family reception there. Great.
I take it back--a lot of people come here for the Boilermaker.
Until we began to hear that the hotel couldn't meet its debts, couldn't pay its taxes. I don't know anyone who goes to the restaurant anymore. Is it any good? Is it there?
So our fine old hotel is in hock and stands there as another example of Utica's misplaced grandiosity instead of its common sense. Again, see the article in the Observer-Dispatch: http://www.uticaod.com/utica/x167303373/Foreclosure-process-begins-anew-at-Hotel-Utica
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