If you did not attend last Thursday’s Common Council’s Public Hearing in person or online about the proposal to close/abandon Fair Street extension and hand it over to the Kingstonian developers, you may have read about the chaos. For the first 2 hours technical problems cut off sound intermittently. Many in person speakers went unheard by those online, and many online speakers had to leave before they were able to speak. There were a deluge of chat posts demanding an adjournment and rescheduling so all comments could be heard, which the Council steadfastly ignored.

It was clear however that the opponents of the handover of Fair Street extension had some strong arguments, while supporters of the Kingstonian repeated the project’s often touted expected benefits, without addressing the issues raised by the proposed street closure. These included traffic flow problems; the importance of the street to uptown residents and cyclists; and how building over the bluff will destroy the historic character of uptown. There were also questions about the legality of the handover. The Common Council will accept written comments through 5pm Monday December 6th but will vote on the proposal the following day. Send any comments to emtinti@kingston-ny.gov

The residents of Kingston, with the exception of the uptown business owners and their allies, have repeatedly shown they do not want this monstrous, outdated development, conceived when Kingston faced very different challenges from those it faces today. Residents have shown their opposition at public hearings, through their school board, and in recent elections, but the developers and, it seems, our elected representatives, are unwilling to be influenced by strong and clearly articulated public opinion.