Highway Dept. Fixed Our Yards (?)

Kudos to Ulster Town Highway Department Superintendent Frank Petramale and his staff for repairing lawns torn up by snow plows from the recent blizzard. I haven’t even met Frank yet, but intend to soon. Now, I’m new in the Town and adjusting to a life where the houses are a little more spread out and there’s no bluestone curbing in front of my house but I have to say I was surprised to see the scars on my lawn raked over when I got home from work the other day. Everyone’s lawn was repaired. I don’t think the town had to do this but trust me, I am not complaining.

I’ve been told the best two jobs in politics are County Clerk and Highway Superintendent because you never have to raise anyone’s taxes and all you do is favors for people as long as you’re in office. Whether or not that’s true I’m not sure but I do appreciate the repairs that were done in my neighborhood. Again, thanks, Frank, and staff.

Back – in “civilian clothes”

Hello, people – it’s been five years since I posted anything here but I’ve decided that, even though I’m not holding office anymore, I can use this site to provide share views and solicit the opinions of others.

We’ll mainly talk about Kingston and Ulster County affairs and sometimes talk about things important to the state and the nation. But we don’t have to restrict our discussion to these areas. As far as I’m concerned, the sky’s the limit, so LET’S HAVE AT IT.

So, why the title? I was inspired a few months back when I used Facebook to complain about discolored water coming from my kitchen tap. The Kington Water Department failed to notify the residents that there was a pretty good reason why our water was brown. They were removing a water hydrant.  What they didn’t tell us ahead of time, they later posted on Facebook in response to my complaint. Cutting and pasting their response below:

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Kingston Water Department

February 3 · Kingston ·

Rusty Water on Moore St. Following a posting on a resident’s personal FB page, we have been alerted to a rusty water complaint from a resident of Moore St. Here is a summary of the events in question:

On Tuesday, February 2nd, the KWD removed a hydrant, originally installed in 1911, on the end of Moore near Cross St. The valve that was associated with the hydrant was leaking and, since there was a new hydrant within feet of the old one, the hydrant and the valve were removed. This was a planned repair and we could have and should have notified the residents of Moore St. We apologize for the lapse. 
Previously, on Friday, January 22nd, KWD responded to an emergency on Moore St which turned out to be a leaking service. We shut down the leak, provided temporary water to the impacted property and they had the service lateral repaired on Monday, January 25th by a private contractor. In response to such an emergency, it is impossible to provide advance notice of our work. The call about water coming up in the street was received at 2:30PM and our staff was on scene until the work was completed at about 7PM that evening. Following our work on both the 22nd and the 2nd, our personnel flushed the hydrants to clear the main of rust, an unfortunate byproduct of these repairs. Despite our best efforts to clear the rust from the system, rusty water is sometimes drawn into private residences. In those cases, it is necessary to flush the plumbing within the home. The KWD has a 24/7 emergency response number: 331-0205. At all times it is answered by an employee of the Water Department. If we had been called by the resident last night, we would have dispatched an employee to assist in resolving the issue. It is impossible for us to monitor the Department’s Facebook page 24/7 and when things are posted on private pages we can’t even respond to the individual. Face Book was never intended to be a place where people report emergencies of any kind. Please, if you experience a problem with your water supply or need to report a water emergency, please call our emergency number at 331-0205 and you will receive prompt assistance. Thank you.

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What I “enjoy” most about this message is the defensive nature of it. At any rate, at least the department apologized for the “lapse,” in failing to notify residents that they’d be showering in  brown water thanks to a project they were doing.

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.

$830,000

The Common Council’s Community Development Committee, which I chair, approved an application for $830,000 in federal moneys that will mainly pay for infrastructure improvement, housing, local agency support and important social programs.

We apply for, and receive, this funding every year under the federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program. Among the highlights for this year’s application: $65,000 for a soundstage in Gallo Park, $15,000 toward lighthouse refurbishment, $10,000 for the Kingston Land Trust, and $50,000 for the Carnegie Library. Funding of course will also support UPAC, the Everett Hodge Center, Family of Woodstock, and as always, sidewalk and sewer repair.

Call 845.334.3924 if you have any questions or concerns. The Council is expected to approve the application at our May meeting.