Kingston Launches Community Choice Aggregation

Upcoming Rent Guidelines Board Meetings

Join a Board or Commission

CARES Small Business Assistance Program

My Kingston Kids Halloween Fest & Parade

Harriet Tubman Statue Dedication and Events

Roadwork Update for Week of October 31

Drought Emergency Remains in Effect

Mayor's Message:

Dear Friends -

Though we are deep into the Fall season, we are still paving as many streets as possible. This week, we paved Albany Avenue from the rail trail bridge to Flatbush Ave, and from Clinton Avenue to the roundabout project area. Wilbur Avenue from just south of Greenkill Avenue to just north of West O’Reilly was also paved. Next week, Franklin Street and two of the midtown parking lots will be paved. We'll have more paving news soon. 

City Hall will be open to trick-or-treaters on Monday, October 31, from 3:00-4:30pm. City departments will have decorated doors and will be passing out candy to costumed visitors. As in years past, there will be an 8pm curfew on Halloween for all children under 16 years old.

Wishing everyone a fun & safe Halloween! 

-Steve

Kingston Launches Community Choice Aggregation 

City of Kingston is launching a Community Choice Aggregation Program (CCA), which enables municipalities to supply residents and small businesses with accessible and affordable green energy by pooling demand.

The City of Kingston’s CCA program, called Kingston Community Energy, allows the City to purchase clean energy supply at bulk rates on behalf of all residents and small businesses while still maintaining delivery service from Central Hudson. By also including community solar in the CCA, Kingston Community Energy will ensure that all residents, regardless of income level, will benefit from locally generated clean energy. In addition, the CCA will develop home efficiency loans and other wealth-building programs to ensure equitable distribution of clean energy resources.

The establishment of Kingston Community Energy will be a yearlong process, beginning with coordination and approvals through the Public Service Commission, extensive community education and public outreach, renewable energy supply contracting, and monitoring and oversight.

The City of Kingston will host two public information meetings to provide an overview of CCA and Kingston Community Energy:

Public Information Meeting #1

December 7, 2022

12:00-1:00pm

Virtual-only meeting. Register in advance.

Public Information Meeting #2

December 7, 2022

6:30-7:30pm

Virtual-only meeting. Register in advance.

Live Spanish interpretation will be available

During the CCA adoption and after, Central Hudson will continue to be responsible for delivering power, maintaining lines, and responding to outages.

All residents and small businesses will have the opportunity to opt out of the CCA without penalty. Large businesses can join at their request.

For more information, please visit https://engagekingston.com/community-choice-aggregation.

Upcoming Rent Guidelines Board Public Meetings

The newly established Kingston Rent Guidelines Board is holding public hearings and meetings to gather input to inform two decisions:

• The guideline rates of rent adjustments for leases subject to the ETPA
• The guidelines for fair market rent appeals for buildings covered by ETPA

A public hearing will be held on Saturday, November 5, 2022, at 12pm at the Kingston Public Library. The KGB will hear public testimony concerning how the Board should determine the guideline rates of rent adjustments, if any, for leases subject to the ETPA, which commence between August 1, 2022, and September 30, 2023, and guidelines for fair market rent appeals for apartments within the Board’s jurisdiction. Written public testimony can be emailed to [email protected] until November 5.

The Rent Guidelines Board will deliberate over the public testimony and will vote at a Public Meeting on Wednesday, November 9, 2022, at 6:30pm in Council Chambers at City Hall.

For more information and a list of eligible rental properties, see this fact sheet. For additional information about the implementation process and resources in Spanish, see https://hcr.ny.gov/city-of-kingston-adopts-etpa.

Click below to watch the Board's first public hearing. 

Join a Kingston Board or Commission

We're always looking for volunteers to serve on City of Kingston boards and commissions. Currently there are openings on the Kingston City Land Bank board and Live Well Kingston. 

The mission of the Kingston City Land Bank is to foster an equitable community where vacant or distressed properties are transformed into community assets that improve the quality of life for Kingston residents, stabilize and enhance neighborhoods, and create new pathways for social and economic development.

The Live Well Kingston Commission promotes the advancement of a healthy and active community by bringing partners and residents together to facilitate policy, environmental, and systems changes. LWK has 6 Focus Teams: Age Well, Eat Well, Grow Well, Heal Well, Play Well, and Travel Well. The Commission meets monthly on the third Wednesday, 4:00-5:30pm at City Hall.

The board & commissions application can be found here.

Ulster County CARES Small Business Assistance Program

The CARES II Small Business Assistance Program is an initiative funded through the American Recovery Plan Act, which allocates $950,000 for small business assistance with a max. amount of $35,000 to qualified applicants who employ fewer than 25 people with the primary business in Ulster County.

Applications can be found on the Ulster County Economic Development website, and will be accepted from October 31 to December 11, 2022. Funding announcements are expected in early 2023.

Eligible expenses:

• Expenses incurred must be activities located in Ulster County
• Eligible expenses include the purchase of equipment, including vehicles and hardware or software
• Operating expenses such as rent, utilities, or employee payroll
• Fixed assets such as new construction or external renovations
• Other expenses such as daycare, loan application, and closing fees, and bank charges



More info at https://ulstercountyny.gov/economic-development

Halloween Fest & Parade on Saturday

The MyKingstonKids Halloween Fest on Saturday, October 29, is a family fun event for all ages. This year's theme is Monsters Ball, hosted by DJ Frankie Bones with special performances, costumes, music, lots of dancing, and a show stopping experience by illusionist Ryan Dutcher!

The festivities start with the Halloween Parade leaving Kings Plaza near Hannaford and ending at the Kingston YMCA. All community organizations, businesses, churches, individuals, groups and residents are welcome. Vehicles, walkers and bands encouraged. Parade line up is 1:00pm, leaves at 2:00pm and will reach YMCA by 3:00pm.

More about MyKingstonKids Halloweenfest and Parade here. 

Harriet Tubman: Journey to Freedom Event

Harriet Tubman: Journey to Freedom, a 9-foot, 2,400-pound bronze sculpture created by artist Wesley Wofford, will be on display at the Ulster County Office Building from November 1, 2022 through January 2, 2023.

The sculpture will be installed during a program at the Ulster County Office Building (corner of Fair St and Main St) on Tuesday, November 1 from 4:30-6:00pm. More at facebook.com/harambeekingston 

A series of events celebrating Harriet Tubman will span two months throughout Kingston and Ulster County and will reflect the themes of activism, role models, heroes, human rights reparations, freedom, resilience, determination, contributions of strong women, and equality.

Roadwork Update for Week of October 31

Paving: the section of Albany Ave. from Clinton to the project limit of the 587 project was paved today. 

Central Hudson: Main installation will continue for the Lucas Avenue DIP project on Lucas Avenue between Burhans Blvd and Catskill Avenue with detours and road closures.

Franklin Street Complete Streets Project: Construction continues on the north and south sides of Franklin Street from Wall Street to Broadway. Milling and paving next week from November 1-4. During milling and paving, there will be no parking on either side of Franklin Street from Wall Street to Broadway. Parking is available at the Sea Deli lot, 615 Broadway, side streets off of Franklin and on Broadway during this construction.

Remaining work consists of pouring concrete sidewalk, installing bluestone sidewalks and restoration.

Midtown Lots Parking Lots Improvements Project:Construction continues on the Cornell Street parking lot. Fashion Lane through the parking lot is scheduled to be paved next week. The Monkey Joe parking lot is scheduled to be paved next week.The Sea Deli parking lot is awaiting striping.

Wilbur Avenue Repaving Project: Paving from just south of Greenkill Avenue to just north of West O’Reilly is complete. Guiderails will be removed and replaced. The remaining sections of Wilbur will be paved mid-November. 

Wurts Street Bridge: Active construction work is expected to continue through the fall and winter seasons. At this time, Saturday shifts are continuing on an as needed basis and no future night work is anticipated. Current ongoing work includes: pouring remaining stages of concrete bridge deck and continuing with structural steel replacement/repair operations including; sidewalk steel repair, main truss repairs, and preparation for installation of new pedestrian railing system.

Regular Roadwork Updates are posted on the City's website here. More info about paving projects can be found at https://kingston-ny.gov/paving.

Wilbur Avenue paving

City of Kingston Drought Continues