Putting Midtown Back On Track

There can’t be a safe, thriving Kingston without a safe, thriving Midtown. It starts with that simple fact and the realization that Kingston will thrive or decline as a whole, not as a patchwork of neighborhoods — some safe and secure, some not.

Spend any time discussing quality of life issues with law enforcement professionals, building inspectors and legal experts – as I have – and the steps we need to take in turning around Midtown and other problem areas become pretty clear:

• First and foremost, we need to re-establish a dedicated police unit, walking the beat in Midtown, much as we had with the very successful Midtown Stabilization Unit that tackled a crack-fueled crime wave there in the 1990s. Some say this is impossible, given the existing police-union contract and its provisions for time off. I say, Nonsense. The next Mayor, working with the PBA and a new police chief – one dedicated 100% to community policing – has to lead the way in putting more of our police professionals on the streets, especially in problem neighborhoods. Task forces and shared services are very important tools in the fight against crime and gangs, but the one proven approach is more KPD officers on the street. I am dedicated to making that happen.
• We need to expand the Block by Block program, making it a full time, year-round approach to coordinated clean-up of problem areas. And we need to back up that commitment by steering more of Kingston’s annual Community Development Block Grant funding to objectives tied to the Block by Block program. It’s an approach that’s working in certain neighborhoods of Albany. We can make it work in Kingston.
• We need to crack down on derelict landlords whose tenants abuse neighborhoods, by tightening fines for building code and nuisance-abatement violations. The laws are in place; we need to make more aggressive use of them, particularly against the relatively small number of landlords responsible for a large portion of the blight and misbehavior that is bringing down entire blocks and neighborhoods. I also plan to make public the names of property owners who have been cited, and the addresses of the property they own.
• Effectively prosecute cases against derelict landlords. Bottlenecks in tracking down title holders slow us down in the hunt and prosecution of derelict landlords and other property owners. We need to figure out ways – part-time help and redeployment of existing personnel, for starters – to unclog those bottlenecks and make more problem-makers face the consequences of their neglect.
• We need to set bond requirements for bad-faith landlords who hide behind “LLC” shell companies, refuse to comply with landlord registration laws or fail to register a local contact person. Other cities have done it. We need to figure out how we can force the landlords who don’t even comply with landlord registration – approximately 20% — to live by the law or lose their “right” to be slumlords in Kingston.
• Bring to life a Business Improvement District for the Broadway corridor. A BID for Broadway is a small but critical first step, I think, toward transforming the area and restoring its historical role as a major center of Ulster County employment. BIDs bring together businesses and residents together to invest in much-needed supplemental services – from sidewalk cleanup to additional security, streetscape beautification and festival programming. They’ve worked wonders not just in high-profile spots like NYC’s Times Square, but in smaller communities like Middletown, as well. One other benefit: a BID could leverage what’s being done at City Hall for economic development by providing an additional agent for seeking public and private grants for Broadway improvements. In essence, we could expand our approach to winning hard-to-come-by monies with a savvy BID team. The current BID proposal for the Broadway corridor would levy a relatively modest “median” annual fee of $300 per business in the BID zone. (The annual fee for a homeowner would be a nominal $1.) I think it’s well worth it, and my responsibility as Mayor would be to make sure the BID delivers a lot more value than $300 to every business in the district, day in and day out.
• Create more positive opportunities for neighborhood kids. I am proud to have worked this summer with my Common Council colleague, Ward 4 Alderwoman Shirley Whitlock, to launch the first annual Clean Up Squad. (See pictures below.) The week-long program brought together more than 30 Kingston children and teen-agers to clean up Midtown streets and build community pride, in exchange for the opportunity to earn stipend for back-to-school needs. It was great to see not just the results but the lessons about community pride and hard work that the participants took home afterward. A small step, sure, but when replicated in small ways around the city, it’s the type of step that can move a whole community far forward.