I was there to witness County Executive Mike Hein give his final State of the County address, "A Decade of Change," at the SUNY Ulster campus last Wednesday. We will miss Mike, and all the wonderful work he has done for Ulster County and for Kingston. For more than three years, I have worked closely with the County Executive to push through progressive policies to improve the lives of everyone in our community. Mike's legacy will live on here in Kingston, especially with the brand new Restorative Justice Center in Midtown, which was a vision of his that he shepherded every step of the way. We wish Mike well in his new role in Albany, and I pledge to keep our common goals alive as we transition into new County leadership. 

 

On Martin Luther King, Jr Day, many people came out on a blustery, slushy day to the Pointe Church to gather for prayer and song to honor a great leader. Our new Congressman, Antonio Delgado delivered a message of hope. It was heartening to see so many in our community gather to pay respect to Dr. King, and to also make a commitment to serve our community as a force of good and work toward equality. 

As a member of the Ulster County Continuum of Care (CoC), I will be working with local police agencies, community organizations, service providers and volunteers to conduct the 2019 Point in Time Homeless Count. The CoC completes this count as part of an annual application to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which funds over $1 million in homeless housing grants to local human service agencies in Ulster County. The information collected during the count informs the CoC and local municipalities of the need for housing and support services for those that are homeless or in danger of losing their housing.

As I stated during my annual address, my administration is committed to working with all of our local partners to support our most vulnerable residents. I look forward to meeting with the CoC in the coming months to review the data collected and to develop additional strategies to end homelessness in our community. 

 

In an effort to connect with more homeless individuals and families, the Everette Hodge Community Center, located at 15-21 Franklin St. in Kingston, will be open on Tuesday, January 29 from 8:00pm-11:00pm as a welcome center for anyone struggling with homelessness or in danger of losing their housing. Volunteers will be on-site to conduct anonymous surveys and to distribute hot meals, warm clothing, additional food, and personal care items. Human service agency staff will  provide information and referrals to homeless services.

 

The Homeless Count will continue on Wednesday, January 30, at various service-based locations, including Family of Woodstock Walk-in Centers, Caring Hands, Community Action locations, Catholic Charities, and People's Place. Volunteers will be on-site during regular hours at these locations with a short anonymous survey and personal care packages for those that wish to participate. 

I am pleased to announce the projects designated for each business district, which were selected by the community, allocating funds from the first-ever Participatory Budgeting Project: Both Midtown and Uptown voted for community beautification training for youth, while the Rondout district voted for youth programming.

 

The Midtown and Uptown budgets will both be allocated to the YMCA Farm Project to create a new program, which will train local youth to work in areas of community beautification, including landscaping and greenscaping. The program will give a stipend to the participating trainees, who will be planting trees, removing litter, covering graffiti and other community beautification efforts. The program will be up and running this year.  

 

The Rondout district voted to allocate its funds for new or expanded youth programming. The funds will go to the Office of Community Development, which will have an application process for organizations to submit ideas for programming initiatives. These applications will be presented to the Community Development Advisory Board, which will award the grant for projects specifically geared toward youth-based programs in the Rondout area.    

 

Participatory Budgeting is a process in which community members directly decide how to spend part of a public budget. For the pilot project, $15,000 was set aside for improvements or projects in each business district (Uptown, Midtown and Downtown), for a total investment of $45,000. Funds were generated by revenue from off-street parking fees. The Mayor has set aside $20,000 for each district in the 2019 Adopted budget towards another round of Participatory Budgeting.