Kingston and Ulster County Residents PLAYED FOR FOOLS AGAIN

OPEN GOVERNMENT ALERT -- Today on Kingston Community Radio, I asked Mayor Steve Noble if he could enumerate the items in his negotiated Sales Tax agreement with County Executive Mike Hein. He said that he could not, because the NY State Comptroller in Albany had to approve of the agreement before the citizens of Kingston and Ulster County could know what is in the agreement. Also, I specifically asked Mayor Noble if there were any clauses dealing with the removal of Catskill Mt.Railroad trains from Kingston in the agreement. He said that he could not give that information. We the citizens of Ulster County are being "PLAYED - ie. played for FOOLS" again. OPEN GOVERNMENT IS A FARCE IN KINGSTON AND ULSTER COUNTY

DON'T BLOW THIS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITY ULSTER COUNTY

Two Big Things Have to Happen SOON to Save the Polar Express (40,000 visitors) in Kingston

1)  Ulster County needs to accept a Proposal from the Catskill Mt.Railroad with or without a larger
Railroad Partner, such as Rail Events for example.

The Catskill Mt.Railroad has the trains, the volunteers and the experience running the local Polar Express events.  A larger railroad partner would be welcomed by the Catskill Mt.Railroad.

2)  Ulster County needs to sign a short term renewal contract with the Catskill Mt. Railroad to extend
the contract beyond the expiration of the current contract on May 31st.  The Catskill Mt.Railroad needs to have this short term contract in place by May 31st so they can begin planning and booking the Polar Express Event in Kingston.

WATCH THE LATEST "Save The Train 2" video on Kingston Time Warner Public Access TV Channel 23 every night at 7pm.

Ulster County Legislature:   Let's not blow this Economic Development Opportunity

The Top Priority for Ulster County Government is Economic Development

The Top Priority for Ulster County Government is Economic Development.  There is some appearance of progress in Ulster County, but a deeper look shows a property tax disaster coming.  The loss of stores at the Hudson Valley Mall and the loss of buildings at TechCity will cause tax assessment reductions for the mall and TechCity.  For we residents, this will cause large tax increases in our town and city property tax and school tax for the City of Kingston, Town of Ulster, Town of Hurley and the Town of Esopus.  I suggest an Ulster County Task Force responsible for Economic Development.  This Task Force should shine light on the efforts, failures and warnings of not paying attention to Economic Development.  Saving money by moving and consolidating county offices is good, but it does not solve the property tax disaster caused by the closing of mall stores and the demolition of TechCity buildings.  We need much more Ulster County leadership in bringing a branch of the Nano College to TechCity.  We need much more Ulster County Leadership in developing a 12-month daily tourist train attraction from Kingston Plaza to the Ashokan Reservoir.  These 2 action items would go a long way toward healing our county economy and tax situation.