Good old days
As I approach senility, Kingstonians my age are forever telling me Kingston isn’t what is used to be. Nowhere is that more obvious than in the expansion of government.
When I was assigned the job of city-hall reporter in 1967, almost the entire city government was housed in what was then referred to as “city hall” on Broadway. (“New city hall” in the Rondout was still some six years in the future.) The 1875 city hall included the police department (with a two-cell overnight lock-up), city court, the water department and all other city departments. Fire, public works and recreation were housed in nearby municipal facilities and still are.
Should the mayor’s Midtown police building plan be approved, there will be four city buildings where there used to be one. (Former mayor T.R. Gallo apparently forgot to include the water department when he restored Old City Hall in 2000, so the water department, under mayoral pressure, refurbished a vacant building the city owned next door for its new headquarters.)
At the same time the government was expanding like my waistline, city population declined by some 20 percent, or 6000 residents. A lot more government for a lot less people is not a winning formula.
Bye, George
I thought the city put on an incredible celebration of the 200th anniversary of governor George Clinton’s death last week, but I’m glad the next one won’t come until 2039, the 300th anniversary of his birth.
Speakers, for the most part, kept it brief and to the point, though after four or five there wasn’t much else to say about poor ol’ George, our state’s first governor. The county-owned indoor sound system made listening incredibly difficult.
Colorful marching bands in perfect weather livened up this memorable event. Schoolchildren from nearby St. Joseph’s School and George Washington School were enthusiastically delightful.
Assemblyman Kevin Cahill, ever in quest of future votes, mingled for awhile with the kids, telling the crowd he was amazed with their knowledge of the subject.
Perhaps mayor Gallo should have consulted with the youngsters, since he repeatedly referred to the event as Clinton’s birthday. Could it be that our mayor is not smarter than a grade-school kid?
County executive Mike Hein managed to get his favorite word (“incredible”) into the first two sentences of his impromptu remarks. For once he wasn’t exaggerating. This was an incredible gathering for an incredible man, he said, before reading a proclamation from present governor Andrew Cuomo.
About the governor’s non-appearance: boo. Event organizers had reached out to the lietenant governor, Bob Duffy, but to no avail and with no apologies for not showing up. Perhaps Cuomo’s second banana does not fully appreciate his job is largely ceremonial. Ironically, Clinton was first elected as both lieutenant governor and governor in 1777. He relinquished the lesser post, which remained vacant during his first three-year term.
By the time Clinton biographer John Kaminski delivered his post-ceremony address at the county courthouse to a gathering of some 200, I was all Clintoned out. Suffice it to say, Kaminski, a professor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, did yeoman service to his subject.
Oops, I did it again
In last week’s article I referred to Fred Johnston lecturer Tom Ryan as the son of the late Bob Ryan. Dr. Ryan is the son of the late Bill Ryan.
