Oneonta Professor Seeks Otsego District Seat

Catherine Nardi, an Otego resident, is a communications and media studies professor at SUNY Oneonta. As a single mother raising a child in District No. 3, she has a unique knowledge of the wonderful opportunities and the formidable obstacles her friends and neighbors attempt to balance. Catherine Nardi appreciates the beautiful - and in some places pristine - natural environment that offers clean water and fresh air - and hundreds of ways to enjoy leisure time.

However, for many in hard financial times it is difficult to make ends meet. Many people work two jobs and still have to choose between food and medicine. Mothers and fathers go hungry so they can buy their kids a warm winter coat. It is no wonder so many people have turned to heroin to forget their hardships.

“I believe that most people are mostly good,” Catherine Nardi said. “Give them access to basic necessities and good people become better.”

Catherine Nardi believes that communities should work together to ensure that all families are fed, have heat in the winter and have access to health care and education.

“People should be free to pursue happiness instead of being tied and bound to the endless cycle of poverty. People who have their basic needs met – food * clothing * shelter * heat * and medicine - they are creative, happy, and productive.

“Healthy families anchor healthy community, and healthy community are productive communities.”

Catherine Nardi said she has a moderate, Jeffersonian view of policy making.

“We came to this country to free ourselves from tyranny,” Catherine Nardi said. “Freedom, on the scale we enjoy it, is very American. We should be free to make a family with a partner who loves us, we should be free to say what we think, and we should be free to discover things about science, religion, art and society we never knew. But with great freedom come great responsibility and we must take responsibility for our great resources and protect them from greed. We must make sure that every one of us, from the greatest to the least of us, has the opportunity to prosper from this great nation.

“America has always been great.”

As a community, Laurens and Otego are facing several difficulties and many possibilities.

“Together we are Laurens and Otego and the possibilities are endless.”