Wednesday, March 7, 2018

DRI Watch: Elsewhere on the River

At this point, the people of Hudson don't know whether or not the Local Planning Committee approved the slate of projects to be included in the draft DRI Investment Plan and, if a slate of projects was approved, if the controversial Galvan projects were still part of it. As it turns out, the members of the LPC don't have this information either. 

Meanwhile, a little farther downriver, Kingston, also a Round Two DRI recipient, has made the Project Profile section of its Strategic Investment Plan available to everyone on the City of Kingston website.

Besides being available, there are two more things that are interesting about the Kingston Project Profiles. The majority of the projects are public improvements: reconfiguring streets, rehabbing and improving access to parks, upgrading a stadium and a public pool, stabilizing the remains of a historic building. Many of the projects are to be wholly funded by DRI money, a couple of them have a 10 percent match from the City of Kingston, and one or two others will be getting 30 to 50 percent of their funding from other sources--for example, a third of the funding for the project that includes the stabilization of the historic Louw-Bogardus House will come from the not-for-profit Friends of Historic Kingston and anticipated grants.

Also of interest is that the Project Profile section of Kingston's Strategic Investment Plan, which "presents a detailed profile for each of the projects recommended for DRI funding," was made available to the public on February 16. It was five days later, on February 21, that the people of Hudson got access to a "Cliff's Notes" version of the project profiles to be recommended for DRI funding, and we are still waiting to see the actual Project Profile section of Hudson's draft Investment Plan.
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1 comment:

  1. Hearing great things about Kingston. This is a particularly great example of dispersing government handout for the community instead for the chosen few. So it can be done. Just never in Hudson, NY.

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