2 added to committee considering $10M grant
Another member leaves
The city has announced a few changes to the committee that will recommend how Kingston should spend a $10 million state grant.
Aimee Gardner, director of operations for the O+ Festival, and Theresa Widmann, a yoga studio owner and O+ Festival board member, have been added to the Local Planning Committee of the Downtown Revitalization Initiative, said Megan Weiss-Rowe, the city’s director of communications and community engagement.
Also, Weiss-Rowe said, Herzog’s/Kingston Plaza owner Brad Jordan has decided not to serve on the committee.
The $10 million grant was announced by the state in September. Kingston is one of 10 communities in New York to be awarded funding in the second round of the state’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative.
Despite the “downtown” reference, the grant to Kingston is earmarked for improvements to the city’s Uptown business district.
The money is to be spent on improving services, transportation and economic development. In October, more than 100 people came to a public meeting at City Hall to offer opinions about how the money should be allocated.
Possible uses of the money identified in the city’s application for the grant include:
• A privately owned commercial and residential development, with a parking structure, on North Front Street.
• Improving Dietz Stadium, which is jointly operated by the city and the Kingston school district.
• Implementing the city’s Uptown/Stockade Transportation Plan.
• Investing in the planned Kingston Food Exchange, a private project on Wall Street.
• Helping to pay for the Frog Alley Historic Preservation and Park project.
Two public meetings of the Local Planning Committee are scheduled for later this month. The first is to be at noon Dec. 12 at the Old Dutch Church, 272 Wall St. The second, a “Downtown Revitalization Initiative Public Workshop,” is planned for 6 to 8 p.m. Dec. 19 at The Kirkland, 2 Main St. (corner of Clinton Avenue) in Uptown Kingston.
Also, according to WeissRowe, state representatives and city staff will be at The Kirkland from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. that day “for individuals unable to attend the evening workshop to drop in for questions and comments.”
Besides Widmann and Gardner, the committee comprises Mayor Steve Noble; Guy Kempe, RUPCO’s vice president of community development; Jonathan Drapkin of Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress; SUNY New Paltz President Don Christian; Elenie Loizou of the Dietz Stadium Diner and Kingston Uptown Business Association; Dennis Crowley of the Kingston Stockade FC soccer team and Foursquare; and Kale Kaposhilin of Evolving Media Network.
Also, Thomas Keegan of Keegan Ales; Don Tallerman of DragonSearch and the Senate Garage; Kate Heidecker, public information specialist for the Kingston school district; and Jake Salt of the Hudson Valley LGBTQ Community Center.
Also, Jimmy Buff of Radio Kingston; Peter Buffet of the NOVO Foundation; Julia Farr of the Kingston Land Trust; Karen ClarkAdin of Bop to Tottom; Jason Stern of Luminary Publishing; and Micah Blumenthal of CIXdesigns and the O+ Festival.