This after the city just awarded the Hodge, under the new leadership of the YWCA, $50,000 in community development grant money which is derived from federal taxpayers’ money.
There are several things wrong with this picture. First, Alderman Whitlock, who works for the YWCA and is paid by the taxpayers to serve as a city employee, should recuse herself from the vote on this request due to conflict-of-interest issues. Second, the YWCA must have gone and checked out the building before it accepted it from the city, therefore they should have known the building has suffered from years of neglect, water damage, mold and rot even though the city is responsible for the upkeep of the building in its contract because it still owns the building.
In retrospect, I also see that the mayor is now asking to borrow another $100,000 to remove additional asbestos and landfill at the King’s Inn motel on Broadway. This after the Common Council already gave $100,000 for this exact purpose — how much is this dump going to cost me, the taxpayer? Enough is enough and we have no more to give City Hall. Our taxes are the third highest in the state and for what? To cut city services down to nothing — heck, the storm drains up and down Downs Street are so plugged up that the rain just floods out the street and nearby homes. I guess there’s no money to fix or unplug them? Who is going to pay to have the rot removed from our homes? Not the city. We now know that the city of Kingston taxpayers pay 71 percent of the Safety Net cost, way over our fair share and people still wonder why we do not want Safe Harbors in the middle of Midtown? Isn’t this close to where Save Them Now wanted to put up ex-cons as well?
We have learned that homeowners are over-assessed on the value of our homes by almost 25 percent which means we are all overpaying our share of property taxes, which trickles down to overpaying our school taxes and our county taxes. So why, as I drive through our city, do I see garbage-strewn streets and center medians and sidewalks covered with tall grasses, weeds and wild shrubs growing up through them, but there seems to be no money to take care of that?
Let’s not even get into how over budget the Pike Plan. Who do you think is going to have to cover that cost? Us, the taxpayers. All this and we can’t even sell our homes and get out of Kingston because they’re not worth anything anymore or we owe more than they’re now worth!
Mr. Mayor, Common Council, get back to basics and take care of the taxpayers needs. We want a clean city, paved roads, basic city services and good police and fire protection. You keep approving $100,000 here $10,000 there — it all adds up and next year, when you want to increase our taxes again, we’re going to say no, that’s it, we have given all we can afford to give. Or maybe we should all move into the Kings Inn to live and seek help at the Hodge Center ourselves. Sounds like their floors are going to be nicer then my own.
Matthew Ryan
Kingston
So long, Syd
Oh no, Syd, don’t go … don’t they get the same movies out there in Michigan? Couldn’t you do the reviews from there?
OK, moving on is good, so I wish you sincere congratulations and good luck. If you teach as well as you write reviews you’ll be working with a lot of very lucky kids. But you will be sorely missed; for 50 years I’ve been reading all those New York critics (including The Times, The New Yorker, New York magazine, and others) and for consistency of intelligence, insight, taste and humor I would rely on your opinion any time. You successors will have big 3-D glasses to fill. Good luck.
Tony Marshall
Bearsville
Join the family! 
