‘ENOUGH IS ENOUGH’
Ulster County and city of Kingston unveil anti-violence initiatives in wake of shootings
Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan and Kingston Mayor Steve Noble said Tuesday that it’s time for elected officials to take action to end the proliferation of local gun violence.
“We are here to say, ‘enough is enough’ with the cycle of gun violence in our city and our county, and something has to fundamentally change,” Ryan said during a press event outside the Ulster County Restorative Justice and Community Empowerment Center in Midtown Kingston. “... Each of us, as elected officials, our most sacred responsibility is to protect the safety of our residents, and we have not done enough to do that, and we are going to step up our game.”
Noble, speaking after Ryan, said violence “is not going to continue here in Kingston, and we are going to do everything in our power to work with the community” and to “bridge the divide that exists between the community and law enforcement.”
Ryan — who also was joined at the event by Ulster County Sheriff Juan Figueroa, county District Attorney David Clegg, Kingston school district Superintendent Paul Padalino and county Human Rights Commissioner Tyrone Wilson, among others — introduced three initiatives aimed at minimizing gun violence: a gun buyback program known as Groceries for Guns;
participation in the statefunded Gun Involved Violence Elimination (GIVE) program; and Lights On Kingston, a recreation program in which schools will be open to young people “at times of greatest risk.”
In speaking about the GIVE and Lights On Kingston programs, Ryan noted the Sunday afternoon shooting death of Erick D. Crawford, 38, on Liberty Street in Kingston, just a block from where Tuesday’s event was held; a shooting in a New Paltz bar on Saturday; and the accidental fatal shooting last week of Kingston High School senior Raymond D. Robinson, 19, in an apartment on Broadway in the city.
“I know you all know this, but I think it’s important that you all understand the frequency and the level of devastation that is now plaguing our community,” Ryan said. “... This is unacceptable, and we need to take urgent action to address the cycle of gun violence . ... We have more work to do, but we’re starting that work now.”
The GIVE program, which will operate with a $240,000 grant from the state, has a “specific focus on reducing gun violence and saving lives,” Ryan said. He said the funding will benefit the Kingston Police Department, the county Sheriff’s Office, the District Attorney’s Office and the county Probation Department. GIVE, according to the state Division of Criminal Justice Services, “targets 17 counties outside of New York City reporting high rates of shootings and violent crime ... and provides state funding to 20 police departments, district attorneys’ offices, probation departments and sheriffs’ offices.”
“Those agencies use the funding for equipment, overtime, training, technical support and personnel, including crime analysts and prosecutors,” according to the division.
Ryan said the Lights On Kingston program — the product of the “creative genius” of Wilson, the county human rights commissioner — will “open up our schools at the times of greatest risk and provide a safe haven for our young people.”
Wilson said during Tuesday’s event that he was “so excited to be able to talk about this ... program,” which he said is modeled after successful similar programs in Chicago and Newark, N.J., both of which had “a serious amount of gun violence” affecting children.
“We have to stop this. We have to put the guns down,” Wilson said. “We have to start the process of healing, and we cannot do this by ourselves, meaning this is not just a police issue. Let’s take this time to embrace our kids ... and I know we all feel their pain.”
Clegg praised the Lights On Kingston concept.
“At-risk youth is something we have to focus on,” he said at Tuesday’s event. “You have to catch these young men and women before they’ve crossed that line, and that line is very easy to cross, as we see in our community.”
Starting in June, and running throughout the summer, Lights On Kingston will be held from 6 to 6 p.m. Fridays at Kingston High School and will include such offerings as basketball, dance and video games, according to Ryan’s office.
The program will be a partnership among the city of Kingston, the Kingston school district, the AfricanAmerican cultural group Harambee and the Ulster County Youth Bureau, and local restaurants will provide food to participating students.
The program will be funded with $45,000 from Ulster County’s Project Resilience.
In the Groceries for Guns program, according to Noble’s office, the Kingston Police Department will give out Hannaford supermarket gift cards in exchange for guns, no questions asked.
The program, which starts Friday, will provide gift cards worth $25 for any nonworking gun, pellet gun, air rifle or replica; $200 for any rifle or shotgun in working condition (any caliber); $300 for any working handgun; and $400 for any working assault-type rifle.
Additionally, anyone who provides information that leads Kingston police to the location of an illegal gun will be eligible for a gift card, and the tipsters may remain anonymous.