Faced with major opposition from Uptown residents and business owners, Mayor Steve Noble announced a major revision to his proposal to place payment kiosks in all city-owned parking lots. But he characterized the change, which would in effect suspend payment for parking in the lots for many, as a temporary measure intended to ease the transition.
Congressmen Maurice Hinchey and John Hall are retired. Troubadour Pete Seeger is dead. But it appears the 70s no-nukes movement they championed will finally get its most fervent wish, the closing of Indian Point nuclear power plant in Westchester County.
After three hours of sometimes-emotional public comment from both sides of the issue, a divided council passed the resolution by a 5-3 margin.
‘Why is a property a failed property? It’s because it doesn’t have the income. But there’s no bad property, it’s just lack of investment and bad stewardship. And that’s what’s occurred.’
Think of the middle and upper portions of the Hudson Valley not as New York City’s back yard but as its mirror opposite. Where New York is characterized by a dense sea of humanity punctuated by token islands of green, much of the Hudson Valley consists of islands of people within a still significantly green sea. The two struggle in uneasy complement to each other.
A society that grants rights and privileges to some but not all is unjust; and an unjust society is unsafe for all its members.
The letter argues that the plan, which would raise the price for on-street parking from 50 cents to $1 per hour and for the first time begin charging 75 cents an hour to park in city lots, would do more harm than good. Low-income workers and apartment dwellers would be unfairly burdened, businesses will lose both patrons and employees and visitors would be deterred from visiting Uptown and take their money elsewhere.
The mall’s purchase, expected for several weeks now, comes during a week of dreary news for brick & mortar retail companies.
It may be a non-binding memorializing resolution, but a proposal by Mayor Steve Noble to declare Kingston a “sanctuary city” — welcoming to immigrants regardless of legal status — is generating debate and opposition as it heads to the Common Council floor next week.
“We’re rebuilding. There’s definitely a hunger to act. Politics after all is the constant job of holding power accountable. We’re just trying to figure out what that means.”