Mike “Pugsley” Conti, 41, is a Kingston native and founder of the Pugsley’s Traditional Barbershop franchise. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Kingston Wire: How did you or your family come to Kingston?

Mike Conti: My mother moved here with my father, probably ’79, ’80 somewhere in there. She took a teaching job at George Washington [Elementary School] and then retired from there 30 years later. My father took a job at the telephone company, right in the old telephone building on Broadway.

KW: What do you like about Kingston?

MC: It’s almost that thing where you’ve been waiting on line for a long time and you don’t want to wait anymore, but you’re so invested you don’t want to leave. You build relationships; I played music a ton growing up and I’ve played with the same people from ninth grade, through my 20s and even now. You can get better weather in other places, but I’m invested in my friendships. I met my wife in high school, so I wasn’t looking for anything there. She dipped for a little while, went to FIT, but then she came back here. Now she’s got a job in the school system and I’ve got this barbershop that’s been here for a decade. So I’m not going anywhere, not anytime soon at least. That’s probably on the other side of my career.

KW: What would you like to change about Kingston?

MC: When you’re invested in a town like I am in Kingston you want to see the sidewalks busier. You want to see fun new people doing great stuff. Then when it happens people are like, “I miss the way it was.” I don’t feel that way. I mean there’s always some portion of the population that’s less thoughtful so the more people you have the more less-thoughtful people you’re going to have. So are there people who don’t know how to use the sidewalk or treat the crosswalk like it’s a sidewalk, sure. But you can’t complain about that stuff if you want the positive stuff that comes along with it. I feel like most of the conversations I have in here are about that — just people griping about bullsh-t.

KW: How did the pandemic change Kingston?

MC: New people, new things, but the housing thing is ridiculous. I was already in the [housing market] when this happened so I don’t have much to complain about. Someone who isn’t in the market, that’s a different conversation. The people like me who are invested, who want to stick around but aren’t in the market are kind of screwed. Same with rent. Look, I’m a landlord, but I got [a rental property] at a do-able price so I charge a do-able rent. That’s just how I do it.