Taylor Bruck is the acting Ulster County Clerk, the City of Kingston Historian and host of “Terrific Tuesdays” on WGHQ. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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

TB: Both sides immigrated here. My mom’s side around 1910 and my dad’s side around 1880. My mom’s side, the Italian side, came here to work in the brickyards and my dad’s side, the Irish side, came to work on the [D&H] canal. They owned a little general store in Esopus.

KW: What do you like about Kingston?

TB: I’ve always loved Kingston for a lot of reasons. I think geographically we’re in a kind of Goldilocks zone; we’re close enough to New York City to be able to access all of the amenities there but we’re nestled right here in the mountains. I’ve always liked hiking and cycling and I don’t know that there’s a better place that really has the best of both worlds. You can really get super-easily not just to New York City, but to Boston or Philadelphia without any of the downsides of living in a major city. We never struggle to find stuff to do. There’s always places to explore, ruins down on the Rondout. We never had a lot of money, so we just spent most of our time walking around the streets of Kingston exploring.

KW: What would you change about Kingston?

TB: I think in the last five years you’ve seen a really pronounced change. A lot of the places we used to enjoy exploring are just becoming more commercialized. Like the brickyards, we used to hang out there all the time. It just costs more money to do more things now which I don’t think is necessarily a bad thing. But for young people without money, where do they go? We used to hang out at the mall, but I don’t see them doing that anymore. I think change is good, but I think you’d have to be blind not to see the kind of changes the city has gone through in the past few years.

KW: How do you think Kingston will be different in 10 years?

TB: In the next 10 years I don’t know if it will be much different. Kingston has always had this trend where when change happens it kind of plateaus. I’m hopeful we’ll see new construction, new housing. I love the new businesses coming here. I hope that continues, but I hope the pricing doesn’t continue in the direction that it has been. I see a lot of old Kingston families and folks who were born here who simply can’t afford it. It used to be people left because they thought there wasn’t much to do around here. Now they’re leaving out of necessity. I’m hopeful that trend is starting to peter out and we can find a new equilibrium. I really like the mayor’s idea of building new housing at the business park off of Delaware Avenue. I think there’s some good ideas in the new zoning code and I’m hopeful in the next 10 years we’ll see more single-family housing, more affordable housing and just more opportunities for people to stay here.