OSWEGO – New York State Secretary of State Robert Rodriguez made a special appearance in Oswego yesterday, his stop part of a Downtown Revitalization Initiative (DRI) and Resiliency and Economic Development Initiative (REDI) tour hosted by Oswego Mayor Billy Barlow.
Rodriguez’s visit is part of a progress tour, the Secretary stopping at various localities across state including the Finger Lakes, Central/Western NY and the Long Island region.
“It’s kind of our crown jewel program out of this part of the state,” New York State Deputy Secretary for Public Affairs Michelle Rosales said. “He’s super proud of it and wants to see the progress.”
Over the past seven years, Barlow said Oswego has received over $40,000,000 in grant funding with $12,000,000 going towards the REDI Waterfront Projects; also saying yesterday’s event was focused on the $10,000,000 DRI grant the city received in 2016.
“I’m proud to be joined by Secretary Rodriguez and being able to show him all the things we’ve done here in the City of Oswego,” Barlow said. “I’m going to show the Secretary some of the great projects we’ve done in the last six years thanks to a considerable amount of investment from NYS.”
Rodriguez and city officials toured three of the 12 projects funded by the DRI/REDI grants in downtown Oswego: Haborview Square, Eastside Commons and the Lake Ontario Water Park.
President and CEO of Housing Visions Benjamin Lockwood also attended the event, giving Rodriguez and Barlow a tour of the Harborview Square Apartment Complex. Lockwood is also the developer and owner of Harborview Square.
The building is a 75-unit, affordable housing complex located directly across the street from the Oswego Harbor on West First Street. The complex includes a community room, exercise room and expansive rooftop deck for resident use only.
“The DRI really closed the gap for us, providing financial footing for us,” Lockwood said, adding there is a 10,000 square-foot commercial space located in the lower-front level of the building; the footage still available for lease. The complex has been open for four months.
East Lake Commons, located at East Cayuga Street in Oswego, is a 70-unit, affordable housing complex hosting a community room, laundry hookups and various amenities.
The Lake Ontario Indoor Water Park, when completed, will be linked to the Quality Inn and Suites located on East First Street in Oswego. Barlow hopes to draw more people into Oswego with the availability and convenience of an indoor water park.
“I’m proud to report all 12 DRI projects are completed or near completion,” Barlow said. “The only one is the Indoor Water Park which we will stop by – that will be completed in October.”
Rodriguez spoke of the major enhancements different localities have made with their DRI/REDI grants, inspired by the positive changes he’s seeing within each community.
“As the Secretary, we’re very proud of the downtown revitalization. In 2015, this was one of our firsts as we were coming up with what we thought was a really meaningful and powerful initiative to try and form downtown to really bring [it] back to life. And to be here so many years later – to show that we were able to multiple our initial $10,000,000 investment [and] bring additional state and private funds to make it work,” Rodriguez said. “We’re excited to see what we gather and learn here from Oswego, but more importantly, continue to take this on the road to all the different parts of NYS.”
Today, Barlow will be speaking as part of a panel at the New York Conference of Mayors (NYCOM) Conference at the Marriott Syracuse Downtown Hotel in Syracuse on the City of Oswego’s Downtown Revitalization efforts at 11:30 a.m.
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