MAIN STREET MANAGER FOR ONE KINGSTON

I am in favor of a Main Street Manager so long as the Federal Grant funds it for just these two years. I have been asked to repeat this since I posted it several weeks ago.

For too long, the City of Kingston has been divided into three geographical regions. I don't have to give great detail where and why. Concerned locals know what I mean.

A little background: Early into my tenure on the Council, we were faced with a parking dilemma. All three districts had different parking regulations which magnified this distinction further. I made it clear to my fellow Councilmen, that whatever parking regulations we approved had to be identical throughout the city.

Why? Because we are ONE city. Since the merger of the many towns that make Kingston, we have been in the same economic boat. Nothing is accomplished when three business districts are fighting over the same limited City, State and Federal funding.

Unfortunately, we suffered through the free [2 Hour - once per day] catastrophe and are currently regulated by the parking meters. Like em or hate em, they are identical throughout Kingston. Exemplifying the ONE city concept.

This is where the Main Street Manager comes in. If there were a single person, for all the business owners from the three commercial areas to work with, with the intent to increase the business friendly atmosphere of ALL of the City's commercial areas, then we will see more of an upswing in the general perception of our city.

Don't misunderstand me, the existing business groups do a phenomenal job with the tools they've been given. But I see the city wide initiative as a more lucrative expense for their efforts.

I should disclose that I do represent a portion of the midtown district and have issues with the lack of attention from the High School down past Stewart's.
You'll notice that this strip, with the original Locust Trees, has had side-walk issues as well as empty store-fronts. We had a neighborhood meeting on this just the other day.

I would also suggest the business community to hire someone of their own choosing. No influence from the city. My reason? The city has been in position to bolster the business community for 100 years...what good has it done?

Sure, the Mayors words regarding the tax shift have merit. We did say that the tax shift would come in small doses at a later time. It will. It will be painful. Until then, this proposal for a city wide merchant leader should prove useful and I am in favor of providing temporary seed money to make it happen.

BUSINESS COMMUNITY GETS PEP TALK

The three business districts in the City of Kingston got together in one setting this Wednesday evening. Well, substantial membership of each district.
The location was the newly renovated Kirkland Hotel on Clinton Avenue.

Reason? As a favor to our newly appointed Alderman Thomas Hoffay, New York City’s Commissioner of Small Business Services, Robert Walsh offered extensive dialog on the ripe opportunity for small business growth in the three districts.

Rob Walsh is the former Executive Director of the 14th St. / Union Sqare LDC and Business Improvement District. He was recruited by the Bloomberg Administration to take over SBS, where he has become a nationally recognized authority on building successful coalitions for the small business community.

With the three business associations struggling to make sense of the economic downturn while their members are trying to break even, the time to merge forces has never been more clear.

Walsh, with his history in the Ed Koch Administration, development history in Charlotte NC, and the renaissance at Union Square, laid out a possible relationship for the successful management of the small business neighborhoods and the level of investment that has to be made to achieve the goals.

I recognized the points he made, having studied the city and it’s neighborhoods for most of one day, and knew he was a quick learner. Tom gave him a crash course on the issues from block to block.

Tom, you did a good job. Now if we can only harness the enthusiasm we saw in your buddy Walsh as we rethink our city’s comprehensive planning project!

Walsh made mention that he would be looking for work after Bloomberg’s term in NYC is over. I bet Mike will bring him and the rest of his team to Albany when he becomes Governor.

KUBA MEMBERS SEEK ANSWERS

Tuesday evening, I had the pleasure of attending a short notice meeting with members of KUBA at the beautiful storefront at Backstage Productions (BSP).

The meeting was orchestrated by Dominic Vanacore and Tom Jacobe. With little notice, about 20 people attended the meeting, including council members Hoffay and Whitlock.

The audience included commercial property owners as well as homestead owners, which broadened the points of view on the tax burden transfer issue; the subject of the meeting.

I have to say, those of us working inside the political bubble make a lot of assumptions when it comes to the greater public’s understanding of issues that directly affect them. Information dispersal failures and public apathy on these matters create a huge gap between those who understand and those who don’t. Shame on us!

The three of us did a fair presentation on the tax transfer up to a point. Then I had to go into a detailed lecture on how we got to this stage, what the possible answers are and who is responsible for the misleading tax letters and where the misinformation is coming from. It was exhausting.

Abel Garraghan, Brian Cafferty and a host of other voices had good points on this dilemma, which didn’t end here. Tom, Shirley and I assured that the Council had plenty of work ahead to provide a compromise on the overbearing tax burden on commercial taxes, and we mean it.

Jesse Smith of the Kingston Times will have more details.