Mayor Steve Noble and his Democratic opponent Frank Waters share their thoughts about governing the City of Kingston

The interviews below were conducted separately, with Frank Waters on May 30 and mayor Steve Noble on June 2. The interviews have been edited lightly for space and coherence.

Forty-eight-year-old, South Bronx-born community organizer Frank Waters will face off against current two-term mayor, 41-year-old Steve Noble in the June 27 Democratic Party primary for mayor of the City of Kingston. Early voting begins June 17.

Rokosz Most: Why are you running?

Steve Noble: When you are in city government, you realize that things take a long time to get accomplished. One of the things that we started working on in 2018 was our new zoning code. Basically we’ll look later at this, they’re going to be like this was mayor Noble’s vision for our city to get this done. And we are about to get it done, I hope, in the next couple of weeks. It takes a commitment. And I think that that’s why, before I ran again, I really wanted to make sure that I had the commitment in me. and I do.

Frank Waters: The community, primarily. It came from a variety of people, not just my friends, but from people from government on down, seeing my leadership, seeing what I’ve done in the past, seeing what I’ve created and how I have a knack and the skill set to bring people together from all walks of life. And folks felt that I would be great in the position of mayor to continue to do that. 

RM: I listened to your debate, Frank, when they asked you the question the question about asylum seekers coming here and you said something interesting. You said that we needed to take care of home first. And I thought that was really interesting. You’re not gonna get a lot of Democratic candidates saying that. I’m curious if you wanted to expand upon that idea?

FW: For me, it comes down to common sense. There’s people leaving Kingston over the last few years, moving to other towns because they can’t afford living here. They’re being priced out. So how do you bring more people in and you don’t help the ones that are already here? Regardless of what political party you’re in, people are struggling. Let’s take care of the folks that are here and take care of our home. And then if that happens, again, if in the future people need a place to come we will be in a better position. It’s never going to be perfect, I understand that. I’m not naive, but it can be better than it is. When I moved here ten years ago, it was much better than it is now. I just feel that for the people that are here. We need to make sure that we are delegating resources properly.

RM: How do you see that balance of helping people that are already here, that also need the help as well as the asylum seekers? 

SN: I think as a mayor, if the state wanted to come in and create an emergency shelter on a ball field, and be able to bring in all of the facilities to be able to help, you know, for a couple of months to be able to accommodate people before they’re able to then find permanent housing anywhere in the valley. We can’t say no, and I think that we’ve always welcomed people here. 

I will say that if anyone that shows up in Kingston, whether they come on a busload from New York City, or they came because they have relatives that live here, our police department is going to respond to them, the fire department’s going to respond to that. They can sign up to do our parks and recreation programs just like everybody else. And we have municipal IDs that we make available at city hall to get an ID. I think that we’re here to help. I think we’ve been able to prove that we’re doing everything we can to offer housing. And so we continue to provide incentives for housing, but it’s not an easy, easy solution.

RM: On the housing subject. Do you have an opinion about the government-owned or government-managed housing as opposed to the kind of private-public relationship that seems to be really popular everywhere right now? 

SN: So the general philosophy at the federal government is to transition public housing to this other Section 8 model. Because what has happened over time is that the federal government has disinvested from public housing. So there’s basically no money available to do major capital repairs. The state is giving out what they can which is not a lot. In order to really make these projects, basically rebuilding [existing buildings], you have to be able to get new sources of funding. the low-income tax credit program that the state has, is what is now allowing. Like Stuyvesant Charter that we’re renovating now, and you know, Rondout Gardens, which is next up on the list. as well as new housing, like the Energy Square and the Lace Mill, all of those take advantage of the low-income housing tax credit program, which really makes this work. 

And so now, that’s why the switch. And so if Section 8 is a program that people are familiar with. Some of them are transferable and some of them are the place-based, so they stay with the unit. And other ones are that if you find another apartment and somewhere else in Kingston, you could also then move.

RM: I know that public housing has gotten a bad name from the Seventies and Eighties, but it looks like privately operated housing has caught up.

FW: If we are able to manage it and run it and people are part of the decision-making process and once it’s created and people can have a way to participate in it and we can feel comfortable that it’s going to be run the proper way … then we don’t have to worry about profit being the ruler of the decision-making process. right? Because that’s not what this is for. I mean, we could talk about that another time, but profit is a big factor in a lot of the unfortunate things that are happening in housing. And if we can eliminate that by taking leadership and ownership of these initiatives, I’m definitely all for that.

RM: I was gonna ask you, because I know it’s been almost eight years in office, if you still enjoyed going out and knocking on doors. That’s how you take the temperature of the community, right,?

SN: Exactly. I’ve been doing it for the last couple of months. I like to knock on doors. I like to be out there. It’s good to talk to people where they are and to really be able to understand what issues are facing them.

FW: I’m having a great time, I’m knocking on doors. I’m talking to different types of people here, and you know, people’s challenges and people’s ideas. They both are just as important, and I’m just going continue to do it until the very last day.

RM: Anything you want to add?

SN: just reminding people to get out the vote. Early voting starts in just a couple of weeks. It’s gonna be right there at the Andy Murphy Neighborhood Center. Sunday, June 17, through the 25th.

Early voting will take place June 17-25 — 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 17-19, noon to 8 p.m. June 20, 9 a.m. to 5p.m. June 21, noon to 8 p.m. June 22, and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 23-25.

Locations for early voting will be at the Mescal Hornbeck Community Center, 56 Rock City Road, Woodstock; Midtown Neighborhood Center, 467 Broadway, Kingston; the New Paltz  Community Center, 3 Veterans Drive; and the Shawangunk town office building, 14 Central Ave, Wallkill.

Residents will be able to vote at any of the early voting locations. On primary day, June 27, voting will take place at poll sites in the home districts.