August 2, 2021
Kingston, NY – Unless a bolt of lightning awakens their conscience or their common sense, the cronies, clueless and cowardly who comprise a majority of the KLDC will vote on Tuesday to transfer city property to the Kingstonian luxury housing development.
This latest step to facilitate the multi-million dollar boondoggle was posted early morning Sunday, Aug. 1 on the city’s website to announce the Tuesday Aug. 3 morning meeting. No doubt the unusually brief 48 hours’ advance notice shields the KLDC, mostly a cabal of real estate interests and insiders loyal to Kingston’s shadow mayor and developer Brad Jordan, from the public opprobrium they rightly deserve.
A segment of Kingston has nicknamed philanthropist Peter Buffett “our new feudal overlord.” But Peter Buffett shares his massive wealth with the people of Kingston, whereas Brad Jordan, the true feudal overlord, is stealing from the people’s meager wallet and re-distributing some of the ill-gotten millions to his high-ranking vassals in the form of rumored pre-construction rights to luxury condominiums.
Fifth Ward Alderman Don Tallerman admitted as much at a Common Council meeting, when he accused the public watchdog group KingstonCitizens of “holding a gun” to his family’s head by espousing opposition to the massive swindle. He suggested, falsely, that KingstonCitizens is “suing the City up and down nine ways to Sunday.” KingstonCitizens is not involved in any lawsuits.
In reference to charter reform proposed, Tallerman said, “Why would we entertain a suggestion from an entity that is holding a gun to our city… If a constituent comes to me with a good idea, and at the same time they’re holding a gun at the heads of my family, no I’m not going to listen to that constituent’s idea when they are holding a gun up at my family’s head.”
Your family’s head??? Don, just how much are you or your family invested in the Kingstonian? Thank you so much for your “service” as alderman, which lasted long enough to ensure that you could help ram through the boondoggle that will benefit your family.
The comment followed a presentation by a YMCA representative who also voiced opposition to the Kingstonian giveaway. The developers are building the luxury project almost if not entirely on the public dime via local tax breaks worth about $30 million, NYS cash grants of $6.8 million, and the rest to be provided from the federal Opportunity Zone tax break.
And how about Ulster County Legislator David Donaldson, who spends half his time at his second home in Florida. Will he too, along with former mayor Jimmy Sottile, have a nice condo that he can rent out for half the year when he’s down South?
A few flies landed in the ointment, though. Article Six of the KLDC charter forbids the Corporation from attempting to “influence legislation by propaganda or otherwise, or participate or intervene, directly or indirectly in any political campaign on behalf of or in opposition to any candidate for public office.”
Mayor Steve Noble, who is a member of the KLDC, publicly endorsed School Board candidates who indicated they would have supported the Kingstonian tax break. The election was seen as a referendum on the tax break. Earlier, a tax break supporter was heard lamenting that the developers’ team could only find two candidates willing to run – both relatives of Donaldson and Deputy County Executive John Milgrim, another prominent tax break supporter. Hey, let’s check their addresses in a few years to see if they’re the proud owners of a spanking new condo. Oh wait, that won’t work: they’ll have Delaware LLCs. We’ll have to watch who parks in the reserved spots of the new $720 a year garage that We the People are paying for.
Another potential issue: did the KLDC provide sufficient advance notice of the meeting? The NYS Open Meeting Law calls for more advance notice, but it was not immediately clear whether that applied to Local Development Corporations.
And how about the discussions held in executive session so that, as the attorney said publicly, rival landowner Neil Bender’s legal team wouldn’t gain information it could use to its advantage?
The web of corruption was first spun at the project’s inception – with emails dating from 2018 discussing how to silence independent voices – and continues to this day with involved city, county and state agencies caught like flies trapped in shrouds of silken thread. It has been a masterpiece of opinion manipulation, with side trips into questionable legal practices and even outright illegality that we can only hope our highest cops will one day investigate and that our higher courts will one day disallow.
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