This Victory Garden located on the west lawn of City Hall, is probably the only spot where the inhabitants feel secure in their place. The people inside, not so much.If you didn't think the Council was facing a tough budget battle before, you know now. When have you ever heard of City Hall letting employees go? Oh, that would have been last year.
Two were brought back in the last minute, only to have one dismissed a few months later. Get ready for the next round of dismissals because there will be people walking out the doors in all the departments this year. Perhaps sending a whole department off to the county looking for work.
The Mayor told the Freeman: “City Hall will not be immune if it comes to layoffs, we are going to share the pain equally, across the board.” He has had some talks with the other Aldermen about some of the positions. He hasnt asked me.The retirement incentive has had some mild success in getting our numbers down, but government in general is still perceived as our only large employer in the greater Kingston area. [That and the medical facilities] That perception has got to change.
Sottile went on to rehash the past focus on Economic Development, Registrar’s Office, Human Rights, and the Clerk’s Office. All have their limitations and with Kathy not feeling well, the Clerks Office is strapped as it is.
The public is screaming for something to be done with the Fire Department while begging for more Police Officers. You know there will be cries for better street maintenance, garbage pick-up and snow plowing this winter. So where else do you turn?Wait! Lets focus on the stop signs on North Front Street. Yeah, that will help.
13 comments:
Hey its always tough laying off, but it is going on all over the country and they too didnt want to lay off people either. We have to trim down our fire dept., it is out of control and having a deputy registrar, a deputy clerk are two luxurys we cant afford. We will have to be OK with THE Registrar and THE Clerk.Thats how it is done in other municipalities why not here? Also, why do we need TWO cleaners in Ciy Hall? Thats a bit much isnt it?
Need extra "eyes and ears" for the police dept? Then form an auxiliary police unit under the City's civil defense office. No guns carried, please...just portable radios while on patrol.
Do I see pot growing in that garden?
Well Mike i am glad to see that you have stayed out of "stopsigngate", all of those people are an embarassment.
I hate to jump on anyones bandwagon but there is alot of call for restructuring of the fire dept, and that is a reasonable request.
We do not need 4 fire truck and 10 people for a person that falls on the sidewalk, its a bit overkill.
I for one would favor more police and judges to clean our streets of the filth that has taken advantage of UC "lets feed and house them all" mentality.
We need to invest our time and money into business and business people, not prisoner and social services!
No wants to walk down that path and be called extremist but how many more people can we have living off of the system before it buries us all?
Kingston has become the hang out for all social service cases and the few taxpayers left behind that are depending on a few people in charge are footing the bills!
We need to cut back on the money that is wasted taking care of the people who wont contribute (notice I said wont...there alot of people that are trying and need help and i am all for paying for them) the ones that are sitting on our streets taking thier checks from the system need to find another haven, then there will be no budget issues!
The streets are unrepaired, littered and unpainted after 10 years of unrestricted tax increases - we need to get rid of the managers and elcted officals.
The transfer station would be a start. We have curbside pick up and the RRA is only a short distance in the other direction. Being no lines are being painted (Broadway, Foxhall ave) they should go also.
Environmental educators we could do with 1 less.
City hall only needs one cleaner, part time dog catcher, part time registar, and do away with Finkle and company sivce they haven't done there job in years.
The Emperor will not consult anyone except his own infallible self on anything, a concept born of the Roman Catholicism he was raised with and has publicly fawned over in his career. Every once in awhile he makes noise about listening to other voices and defending the right of others to hold a differing opinion, but he really doesn't mean it. He is "Bishop Sottile" at heart after finding a chance to be bishoplike after so many years of laity status.
Listen--this guy only looks out for himself. The only thing he's missing is a mitre on top of his head. It's a funny substitute for real leadership--well let me rephrase that, it is NO leadership masquerading as such. When was the last time he walked through fire for someone else? Exactly. This is what we have in Kingston, at least until January 1, 2012. One hopes that his twitter and bluster and lack of any leadership, including the disingenousness on many things involving city finances, is at least survivable until then.
Sottile/Noble/Reynolds have made a mess of this City. Not one of them have a clue about the poor tax payer. Reynolds works in Albany and is out of touch with the City's problems, remember all he was concerned with were train whistles. Noble just passes on the higher taxes in this City to his customers. Sottile votes himself a raise to cover his taxes.
Now the working people will have to pay for the mistakes they made at the polls. Layoffs will mean less people to plow the streets, pick up the leaves, did anyonne say mandatory leaf bagging, fight fires and crime. Maybe Finkle and Murphy will come off the golf course to help out.
Sottile always said that no ideas to cut costs were forthcoming - "the silence is deafening" he said - when you speak only to developers, contractors and City Hall appointees what do you think you would hear? - the sounds of people leaving the City is loud - pay attention.
The layoffs are not the only way to get some money. Let take the cell phones away from all city workers, because they have C-B's in the cars and trucks and a dispatcher!
Lets enforce the city codes. Lets take away stant work and have the labors and truck drivers do more!
Get everyone that works for the city to give back $5.00 a week. These are the things we need to look at. To take people off there jobs is a wripple effect to the county. How much does the Mayor pay the lawyers in this city because of his dum acts!
Dear Neighbors,
What services and programs in the city of Kingston do you cherish and wish to be protected during the upcoming budget cuts coming to Kingston?
You comments will be collected and shared with the common council and mayor's office in the coming months. You can comment on the blog, but we encourage you to get a dialog going on your Ward Yahoo! Group.
Visit: http://kingstonnavigator.wordpress.com/2009/09/03/saving-important-programs-in-these-tough-times/
Thanks.
Rebecca Martin
Give up the Jeep!
We do not need two cleaners at city hall, and the deputy registrar can be reduced to part time.That position, the deputy registrar, is a joke for crying out loud.We also do not need a dog catcher. We have to start trimming some of these positions out of city hall,we must begin to prioritize.
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