Single Source Recycling on the Way

The City of Kingston will soon embark on a program that will see Kingstonians deposit all of their recyclables – paper, plastic, metal – into one container. The expectation is the city will save taxpayer dollars in tipping fees paid to dump these items in a land fill. Details upcoming.

Campaign Season and the DPW

I’d like to add to today’s Daily Freeman story regarding mayoral candidate Rich Cahill’s idea to lay off two DPW employees.

The people he is referring to are Ed Boyle and Ed Sweeney.  These two are dedicated public servants who, together with Superintendent Mike Schupp, have exhibited extraordinary leadership and skill in guiding a department that is recovering from scandal and big budget cuts.

Some – not all – just some activists from within the local Civil Service Employees Association – agitate on almost a daily basis about everything imaginable.  Among their favorite targets are Sweeney and Boyle.  Cahill, who is seeking the CSEA’s endorsement in his campaign for mayor, knows this.

I don’t begrudge Cahill for the methods he uses to secure this union’s endorsement. He has to do what he has to do.  But this is a bad idea, plain and simple.   Without Sweeney and Boyle, that department would be in deep trouble.

Proposed Dog Park

Advocates for a dog-walking park presented a proposal to Kingston aldermen tonight in city hall. It’s a good idea. We need a place for dogs to run that’s safe and controlled. Aldermen seem to be generally in favor.

Advocates propose to use a swathe of city land between the Kingston Point ballfield and a wooded area near the waterfront. See the picture below – the lower right hand corner of the photo is where the park would go.

Advocates are raising the money themselves to establish the park.

New Kingston

About 50 minutes west of Kingston just off Route 28 is a Delaware County hamlet known as New Kingston. A historic landmark marker explains to passersby that this little community was settled by Kingstonians displaced when the Brits burned the city during the Revolution. How fascinating is that?

Kingston Point Rail Trail

Check out the work the Kingston Land Trust is doing toward creating a rail trail from midtown to the waterfront:

http://www.kingstonlandtrust.org/category/kingston-rail-trail-connections/

I had the opportunity to speak with Gregg Swanzey who’s spearheading the effort to clean up the tracks and  make the old railroad right of way a bicycle and pedestrian trail.  Here’s a fascinating fact: the trail from the water to the top of the hill does not exceed a three percent grade.  This makes the trail usable for those requiring a wheelchair to get about.

Gregg Swanzey and Hayes Clement clean up the trail (photo courtesy of the Kingston Land Trust).

The Kingston Land Trust is seeking to collaborate with the Kingston Trolley Museum which, in its own right, has done invaluable work making the waterfront more accessible to visitors and residents alike, while showcasing Kingston’s rich history in rail transportation.

Aldermen Give Golden Hill the Brush Off

The future of Ulster County’s long-term care facility, Golden Hill, is on many residents’ minds as the county considers privatizing operations there. They are justifiably concerned that costs could rise and care become less accessible.

That’s why Alderman Hayes Clement (D-Ward 9) offered a resolution for the Common Council to consider that calls on the county to keep Golden Hill as a publicly owned facility. The resolution was simple enough: it stated that the Council supported keeping the place open and in public hands.

Signs supporting Golden Hill are sprouting up on thousands of front lawns across the county. Hardly a family in Kingston or the county who needed affordable health care for a gravely ill or dying loved one has been untouched by Golden Hill. The care people receive there is unparalleled. The staff always go the extra mile.

But if you thought the Council was going to vote yes on the question – which to me was a no-brainer – you would have been wrong. Two aldermen – the Council’s only Republicans – voted no, protesting that they didn’t like the procedure the Council followed to put the resolution to the floor for a vote, and needed more time to think about it! The result? The resolution was defeated.

One of those aldermen, Andi Turco-Levin (R-Ward 1) was particularly harsh in her criticism of Clement for daring to bring to the resolution to the Council in the first place. She is quoted in the Kingston Times as labeling his resolution as a “pure political stunt.”

Is it too much to ask an alderman to provide just a little bit of leadership when times are tough, especially if you’re running for mayor? I won’t blame what they did on Republican vs. Democrat politics, because one Republican candidate for mayor, Jean Jacobs, announced her support for Golden Hill – and Clement’s resolution.

It’s a very simple question. Do you support Golden Hill’s mission to provide affordable long term care or not? It’s a question that some politicians apparently aren’t prepared to answer.

Hostile Work Environment

No one in the Department of Public Works was found guilty of sexual harassment in the federal court trial that ended this week in Albany.  However, it was found that a hostile work environment existed in the previous DPW adminstration, resulting in monetary awards for two plaintiffs, Jeanne Edwards and Sondria Soria.  Edwards, who lost her job while the case was underway, will now get her job back.

While I regret everything that has taken place regarding this very unfortunate and clearly avoidable matter, I think it’s safe to say that this kind of thing will not occur again.  There are new safeguards in place that clearly state an administrator’s and employee’s responsibility in the work place.  New rules have been made very clear to everyone in city employment, and a new mechanism is in place to guard against future incidents.

That being said, I don’t think we get anywhere by pointing fingers and blaming this sad chapter on some kind of “good old boys club,” as one alderman did in public statements.  Such commentary does nothing to heal wounds.

Justice has been served.  Let’s learn from this very difficult lesson and be the best we can be.  The taxpayers deserve no less.