At 34 North Front Street, Dom Vanacore, owner of the hair salon Dream Weaver’s Style and Health Center, cut hair as we spoke. One got the sense that during the past 30 years he had opined on the topic of the overhead canopies outside his establishment for so long that all that remained to be articulated was his contempt for addressing the subject.
He had seen the Pike Plan from the beginning of its adoption. He had lived with the result. His attitude had remained consistent Placed prominently in his salon storefront window, a large bright red goat says all that needs to be said.
Mayor Steve Noble and Common Council president Andrea Shaut have proposed removal of the iconic canopies along portions of North Front and Wall streets in the Stockade district. The announcement, released a few hours before Kingston’s April 2 Common Council meeting, registers as the first bonafide small-town drama of the year in Ulster County’s only city
Good news or bad news?
The polarized responses of the uptown business owners to the idea will surprise no one familiar with the controversial canopy.
Ted Lawrence, owner of the instrument shop Stockade Guitars at 41 North Front Street, expressed disdain for the overhang.
”If they’re going to tear it down, this is really good news,” said Lawrence. “A lot of rotten wood up there now. Some of the support poles, they were caving in. Couldn’t support the canopy. It was just a few years ago we started seeing the result of the shoddy construction.”
The wood-frame construction of the colonial-style porticos supporting the overhang casts the sidewalks beneath into perpetual but rain-protected shadow. Rarely hit by direct sunlight, the shops huddle in the gloom beneath the canopy.
“The bigger problem for me,” continued Lawrence, “is that the people who drive by can’t see into the windows. People have no idea that there’s a guitar shop here. They’ll poke their head and say, I never knew this was here and I drive by all the time!”
Polishing the bar at Snapper McGee’s at 59 North Front Street, a bartender lamented the possibility of the loss.
“I think the canopies are really important, especially during the winter and wet months because it’s a walking community,” the bartender said. “And a lot of people who live in this neighborhood also work in this neighborhood, or people who want to visit this neighborhood, and they don’t want to walk around in the rain and the snow. So these businesses along here make the money they do during the bad winter-weather months because of the canopies.”
Maintenance problems
Under an arrangement called the Pike Plan, the canopies designed by Woodstock architect John Pike began to blend in the mind’s eye with the original facades. To some, they became part of what the Stockade District had always looked like.
By the end of the Nineties, the deteriorating condition of the canopies began to generate anxiety. In 2008, congressmember Maurice Hinchey secured $1.36 million of federal money to refurbish the canopies. Kingston added $300,000 in grants and bonding.
In the face of the proffered $1.66 million, the faction of the business community that wanted to see the canopies torn down grew louder. A campaign of guerilla resistance utilizing a spray-painted red goat sigil flourished. Some saw the graffiti injurious to private property. Others praised the symbol as art. Alderman-at-large Tom Hoffay famously declared that the goats were mocking the community. Still more goats appeared.
In spite of the rebellion, the plan to “redesign and refurbish” the canopy pushed forward.
Unfortunately, the renovation was done very badly. Skylights were leaking into the canopy’s roof where standing water was gathering. Adjacent properties suffered water damage.
Supporters of the canopy were abashed, and detractors felt grimly vindicated. Mayor Shayne Gallo, on his way out of office, filed a lawsuit against the renovators. Newly elected mayor Steve Noble carried the lawsuit forward, eventually clawing back $300,000 through a settlement with the contractors.
The haunted canopy remains, as does the fear that — as the previous time – small-business owners would see injury to their bottom lines from a bad job.
Special tax dropped
John Blue’s Bluebyrd Haberdashery has been at 320 Wall Street, since 2011.
“I was here when they did the rehab,” said Blue, “and they did a lousy job. Both streets were closed down for quite some time. And then, when they finished, Central Hudson came in and said, We need to dig back into the dirt again, so they closed it down again. So that’s the problem I have with organizing and doing any kind of demolition or reconstruction in a business district when the left hand doesn’t talk to the right.”
Blue conceded he had enjoyed the benefits of having the canopies, but expects their removal will also have benefits.
“I’ll definitely have to put an awning out,” explained Blue, “because it’s going to change my exposure to the sun and it’s going to affect my product.”
Another bone of contention at one time involved the easement each property had with the city, which under the auspices of the Pike Plan saw all costs associated with the construction and maintenance of the canopies levied as a special tax on the 40 buildings upon which the canopies were affixed.
“We ended that process a few years ago,” said mayor Noble, “[at the end of 2017] when we realized that the reconstruction of the Pike Plan was so terrible that having these property owners pay for it would be unfair.”
Noble estimates the costs for city staff to see to the upkeep upward of $100,000 annually. “This includes time spent by our city electrician, carpenter, skilled laborers and buildings and grounds crews who have to wash the sidewalks because they don’t get rained on,” said Noble, “as well as between $10,000 and $20,000 worth of electric costs, repairs et cetera each year.”
A comment: No comment
Across Wall Street next to the Hotel Kinsley, Raphael Barese, owner of Vincenzo’s Pizzeria and Ristorante, pauses to talk during a break in the lunch rush. He says he chose his spot 15 years ago with the canopy in mind.
“There’s not a lot of parking, you know. A lot of people got to walk, and it’s very convenient on a rainy day, snow day, sleet. You know, makes it a lot easier. I would like to keep it.” said Barese.
He shrugged. “But I go with the flow.”
Just hearing the words “Pike Plan,” other owners wanted nothing to do with this story. At Stella’s Italian Restaurant on Front Street, a gentleman fetched by the bartender who might or might not have been the owner crossed his arms and offered his comment: “No comment.”
If the Noble-Shaut plan for removal garners enough support, the canopies will die as they have lived, contested in their installation, contested in their renovation, contested now in their obliteration.
The mayor brings the proposal to the Finance and Audit Committee on Wednesday, April 10.
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