The Bandstand AGAIN

The Mayor went on the warpath the other day, complaining that for a second time aldermen rejected a transfer of$50,000 in federal grant moneys from the Carnegie Library reconstruction project to pay for the construction of a bandstand in Gallo Park in the downtown waterfront.  He accused certain unnamed aldermen for having hidden agendas, and for saying no to the transfer because they’re not getting blacktop for streets – in his words – that don’t need it.

He was aiming this criticism at me of course as I have been complaining for some time that streets in the 7th Ward such as Lincoln St., Hayes St., portions of Tubby, Ulster and Rondout streets haven’t been paved in decades.  I have been successful for many years in getting streets in my ward blacktop, that is until the last few years when the Mayor determined that the streets I wanted paved didn’t need it.  Frankly I’d like to hear him tell that to the people who live there.

But the main issue – despite his latest outburst – isn’t so much that he’s neglecting the streets in the 7th Ward, but it’s about funding the Carnegie Library.  The money in question comes from the federal Community Development Block Grant program.  Yes, we are allowed to “reprogram” the money from the library to the stage project, but is that very wise?  What if we don’t get sufficient funding next year when the time comes to apply for the next grant?  I never got my questions adequately answered, which is why I supported the idea of tabling the measure until my concerns – as well as those concerns of four other aldermen – are addressed.

Re$ycle

I had Mayor Sottile on the air with me this morning as I cohosted my monthly show on Kingston Community Radio.  We discussed – or tried to – his concept of doing a pilot program with County Waste to pick up Kingston’s recyclables.  It’s an interesting program which involves providing containers to residents and then letting them mix all of their recyclables in the one container.  There will be no need to separate cans from cardboard and such.

Just when he was warming to the subject, marina owner and local businessman Scott Harrington called in and started to ask the mayor several leading questions about why the mayor (and Harrington) think having a sound stage at Gallo Park is such a smashing idea.  I’ll discuss that in another post, but my point was, the Mayor ran out of time and didn’t complete his thoughts on the matter.

But here’s what we know so far.  Sometime before the end of the summer, approximately 700 residents will take part in a pilot program to see how it works.  The company will be doing all of the pickups using the containers they provide.  The mayor says if it turns out to be successful (ie causing residents to more fully comply with our recycling goals) he will propose that the program go citywide.

The rub, I imagine, will be the CSEA, which may protest that jobs will be taken away from public employees.  The Mayor has said that won’t happen – that the employees will simply be redeployed to other needed work such as storm sewer repair.  The devil’s in the details, but I think I speak for everyone when I say I’m looking forward to seeing how this works.

Recycling is not only good for the environment, but it reduces the amount of money the city has to pay in tipping fees for sending its waste to the landfill.

Park in a Poke

The new uptown lot after the garage was torn down, courtesy of Stinemire Engineering.

Kingston, with the help of the Daily Freeman, has a tendency to focus on day-to-day issues.  Rightfully so, we get upset when basic things go wrong.  Yard waste pick up might be the most recent example.  Snowplowing, and how to do it right or wrong is another.  Pot holes.  Speeding traffic.  Things of this nature.

Another one is parking, or lack thereof.  I’d made a comment to Freeman reporter Paul Kirby recently about how the parking local development corporation, created under legislation I authored, had not done anything since 2006 when the mayor signed the legislation into law.  I mistakenly added that I didn’t think he’d appointed anyone to this board.  I was wrong as it turns out on the second point, but I thought this mainly because under the mayor’s leadership, the commission hasn’t met once.  Not once.

So, Kirby turned this issue into a story (he’s just doing his job after all) and the mayor used this opportunity to attack me personally.  He’s done this to me before and to others.  One of his favorite refrains is to openly and loudly question someone’s “leadership.”  While I accept responsibility for comments I made in error, I see no reason for the mayor to continue to behave the way he does.  There is no reason for him to constantly blow his temper and attack people who question him.  This kind of behavior to me is not the hallmark of good leadership in any sense of the word.

But getting back to the issue, if Kingston – led by the Parking LDC – decides we don’t need to alleviate parking congestion in either the Rondout or Uptown business districts, then so be it.  At least the LDC will have made some kind of decision, issued some kind of opinion, in the three years since the Mayor appointed its members.

PS – I bet none of the members even knew they were appointed to the LDC in the first place, until they read today’s Freeman story, which, BTW, can be found here:

http://dailyfreeman.com/articles/2010/07/11/news/doc4c394e6b1fee2127966280.txt

Freeman – Profile on the Mayor

The Daily Freeman did a profile on Mayor Sottile’s record for 2010 today in the June 27 editions.  I’m more accustomed to stories written about an executive’s first 100 days or a summation of the executive’s accomplishments during a given calendar year, but the Freeman wanted to do this mid-year piece on him.  Here’s what I’m reported as saying in the story:

“’I know he works very hard, and I know he cares about the city, and he has, over and over again, made tough decisions to get us through these tough times,’” Reynolds said. “’However, he needs to work on his communication skills. He needs to stop getting into shouting matches with constituents. He needs to be more visible on the streets and in neighborhoods.’”

“Reynolds said the mayor has worked diligently to move a large-scale housing project at the Hudson River waterfront into position and extend a pedestrian promenade along the Rondout Creek. Reynolds also praised the mayor for establishing the Block by Block program.”

Minority Leader Andi Turco-Levin meantime hit him for the assessment re-evaluation process and mistaken overpayments to the county for the safety net program.  Here’s a link to the story, which includes video of Sottile, Turco-Levin and me.

http://www.dailyfreeman.com/articles/2010/06/27/news/doc4c26d84e16082490938974.txt

Fire Fighters Union Approves Part-Timers

The Kingston Professional Fire Fighters Association (KPFFA) approved a contract revision permitting part-time dispatchers to work in the department.  They did this in part to help smooth the way for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grant Chief Rick Salzmann secured.  The Council’s Finance Committee approved acceptance of the grant by a 4-1 vote last week, with Alderman Landi dissenting.

I expect the Council will now overwhelmingly approval accepting the grant in the wake of the union vote.  The KPFFA has demonstrated once again it is willing to work with city officials to help keep costs down.  The FEMA grant, which allows the city to hire more firefighters with federal money, will help to hold down overtime costs, which conservatively hover around $100,000 annually.

Bullets Over (420) Broadway

The City of Kingston has had its share of gun violence. And to be sure, the problem has not even come close to what people are experiencing in Newburgh and other similarly-sized cities. And it is a problem that the KPD has handled very effectively in my opinion.

The department is run by the very able Chief Keller, who answers to the city’s police commission. The person who presides over this commission is none other than the City Mayor.

This is why I was aghast at his comments in the Daily Freeman today in this ongoing and nonsensical debate over his desire to spend public dollars on a second gazebo for Gallo Park. Opining incorrectly that aldermen who oppose the gazebo have unfairly criticized the proposal, comparing the criticisms to “bullets” being fired at him, he was quoted: “‘They ought to be careful because those bullets may ricochet and…you just might get hit.'”

Huh? Are you serious, Mayor? We might get hit with bullets? That’s hardly the kind of thing any clearly thinking public official should EVER say, let alone the mayor of a city who also happens to run the police department!

This mayor tends to say things before he thinks, but even for him, this was at best outrageous and at worst, a little scary.

No Gazebo

The Council’s Finance Committee tabled a request by the mayor to pay $4,000 for a gazebo he wants installed in the waterfront’s Gallo Park.

While we can see the merits in the proposal, we don’t believe it’s a wise use of public dollars when we’re struggling to maintain such parks as Forsyth and Hutton with limited resources.

Yard (Waste) Sale

Get yer yard waste here !!

Sellers and buyers alike in Kingston’s first citywide yard sale will be excused for their annoyance over having to navigate around barrels and piles of yard waste that haven’t been picked up in three to four weeks in some places.

Taxpayers are rightly scratching their heads:  What is the point in having a waste pick up service paid for by taxpayer dollars if the waste isn’t going to be picked up?  And as Kingston embarks on its first citywide yard sale, what kinds of thoughts are people going to come away with?  Can’t you picture someone who traipsed down here from, say, New

Baltimore to check out our yard sale talking to a neighbor when they returned home?

“How was Kingston’s big yard sale, Mabel?”

“Well it wasn’t bad … except for the piles of YARD WASTE that I had to trip over.”

Bad first impression, that is.

But as I thought about it, I had an idea: maybe enterprising Kingstonians can bundle their yard waste and sell it as media for someone’s compost heap!  What the heck?  And maybe they can get a two-fer: make money selling their yard waste, AND THEN demand (rightly) a reduction in their taxes for the service they did NOT receive!

No, I’m Not Joking….

The Mayor has inexplicably directed DPW Chief Schupp NOT to catch up on yard waste pickup. Maybe he’s hoping people will start there own little curbside bonfire? Stay tuned!