Last week, state Sen. Michelle Hinchey, D-Saugerties, and County Executive Jen Metzger announced a taxpayer relief plan that had a familiar ring: A 10 percent property tax reduction for local homeowners and for landlords who rent to locals. Some might call those folks voters and this is an election year.

If the idea sounds familiar it’s because county legislature Republicans advocated similar legislation, though on a broader scale. The GOP proposed a 10 percent cut in the overall tax levy — which would come to about $7.4 million — only to be firmly rebuffed by majority Democrats.

One might conclude from that outcome that taxpayers were happy with the county taxes they were paying. Republicans lost four more seats in last year’s elections.

What Hinchey and Metzger seem to be aiming at, though, are the Gotham-based second-homers who they claim (and pretty much everybody believes) are driving up housing prices and rentals at the expense of locals. If so, it would seem a rather convoluted way of going about it.

If someone is willing to pay, say a million dollars, for a property listed at a third of that price by local assessors, they can easily afford to pay the full boat on taxes.

Levying higher taxes on well-heeled second home owners might raise significant money from some towns. How that would benefit so-called “residents” remains to be seen.

Eng’s Big Prize

When he first heard about winning the prestigious James Beard “America’s Classics” restaurant award, Eng’s Restaurant owner Tom Sit didn’t think it was such a big deal, he told staff.

He changed his mind, apparently, when congratulations from all over poured into the upper Broadway Chinese landmark. “The turnout over the weekend was awesome,” one server told us. I know; Phyllis and I waited in line for an hour for a table.

The Eng family came to Kingston in 1927, the year Babe Ruth hit those 60 homeruns. Located on the second floor of a building at the corner of Wall and John streets in uptown Kingston, the restaurant was moved to its present location in 1966. The Sit family took over after Jimmi Eng retired circa 1980.

According to the James Beard Foundation, Eng’s was one of only six other restaurants nationwide to receive its prestigious award.

I hope they repeat next year: with two, you get eggroll.

Pike Area Rolls On to an Uncertain Future

With the final section of the former Pike Plan in Kingston’s Stockade District torn down last week, the dozens of storefronts it protected for some 50 years are certainly more visible. But it sure looks naked and kind of ugly.

But that’s just me. I liked the Pike Plan; I wrote about it when it was erected half a century ago. That it wasn’t properly maintained or repaired led to its downfall.

A number of area business people have formed a committee to discuss the future of their area. As there will almost certainly be a taxpayer component, the committee’s broad outreach is a positive thing. There’s been talk of individual awnings in front of properties, harkening to the area’s mid-20th century look.

If history proves a teacher, all parties concerned, especially the city, had better produce binding regulations on the who, what and when of regular maintenance and repair.

DiNapoli Faces Protesters in Kingston

Speaking of journalism’s who, what, when, where and sometimes how, I was curious, if not annoyed, by announcements heralding state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli’s visit to Kingston that did not contain its location. How, I thought, do you ask people to give you money when you don’t give the location of the event?

Some old-fashioned sleuthing revealed that the comptroller’s advance team didn’t want the location — Little Italy restaurant in Midtown — mentioned before the event so to not alert potential protesters.

As it turned out, local protesters were a lot better at discovering DiNapoli’s fundraiser location than his team was at hiding it. According to eyewitnesses, a small group of drum-pounders greeted guests with chanting as they filed into the restaurant. Another handful tried to shout down DiNapoli as he was addressing a crowd of over 100 supporters.

“Tommy handled it with aplomb,” a Democratic attendee told me. “Freedom of expression is a fundamental right, he said, and went on with his speech.”

Their beef? DiNapoli, like many prominent politicians, accepts donations from AIPAC, Israel’s major lobbyist in America.

Ironically, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of such donations on the basis of the First Amendment’s guarantees freedom of expression.

Footnote: I wrote last week that the DiNapoli event was a fundraiser for County Comptroller March Gallagher. Forsooth! Gallagher hosted the event. She is not a candidate this year, having been re-elected to a three-year term last year.