Newcomers to Kingston, even “native Kingstonians,” probably don’t know who Thomas Cornell was. Dead since 1890, Cornell was Mr. Big in this town. It seemed he owned almost everything – a bank, the water company, railroads, the newspaper, a trolley company, probably most of the politicians of his era. With all this he found time to serve two terms in Congress.

Two city streets are named after him. Cornell Street and Thomas Street, parallel to each other in Midtown off Broadway. What was once the site of the Kingston Coal Company – he owned that too – is now a large municipal parking lot.

His stately mansion stood at the top of Wurts and Spring streets in Rondout. Long gone, like Cornell, the expansive property was named Cornell Park in his honor early in the 20th century. Across Wurts Street large, well-maintained single-family homes look out on the park.

Not counting the magnificent Dietz Stadium, Kingston has at least six other fairly large neighborhood parks. Parts of one of them, Cornell, could soon fall under development.

When I first read the story in the local media, I had two thoughts: If they’re going after city parks, what’s next? Dietz Stadium? And how did I miss this one?

One report detailed an Eighth Ward neighborhood meeting hosted by mayor Steve Noble and ward Alderwoman Ruth Katz. Held some two weeks ago, according to the article, about 50 people from the neighborhood attended, along with a spokesperson for developers. They weren’t writing checks to reserve a condo at the multi-storied buildings developers plan to construct.

One of the more interesting aspects of this would-be development is that the property changed hands several times over the past five years. At one point, an owner offered to sell the 15 acres to the city. A city park held in private hands? Who knew?

Getting wind of this project, a group of neighbors tried to raise the money (an undisclosed amount) to buy the parcel and deed it to the city. City Hall expressed little interest.

It would seem, reading between the lines, that the mayor is at least open to new construction in that neighborhood. Asked if the city would approve a PILOT (Payment in Lieu of Taxes), something demanded by almost all developers these days, he offered only an evasion. Other projects get them, he said in essence.

Developers know this will be a long slog. Their marketing surveys no doubt found there are plenty of people willing to fork over multiple hundreds of thousands for a condo with views of the Lordly Hudson.

As pointed out at the meeting, not every opponent of new construction in their neighborhood is some kind of NIMBY-ist. But this Cornell project represents a distinct departure in what has been a policy of protection of the city’s parks. It is a quality-of-life thing: Kingston’s parks should not be for sale to anyone.

As for raising the cash to buy out developers, why not drop a dime on our state legislators? Senator Michelle Hinchey, D-Saugerties, and Assemblymember Sarahana Shrestha, D-Esopus, have proven adept at sweeping up state funding for hometown projects, especially Hinchey. Noble doesn’t have much of a relationship with Shrestha, but he speaks well of Hinchey.

It’s doable.

Developers are no doubt aware of the uptown Kingstonian’s travails. Even with the mayor on their side, 10 years after the initial announcement of its $50 million project, all they have to show for it is the demolition of a former diner and just-announced plans to demolish the brick warehouse Uptown where much of the project is to be cited.

Let’s go full circle.

Come to think of it, I know what Tom Cornell would say to all this: What the hell are you doing to my park?

Budget Business

The county executive’s budget presentations in October always draw a big crowd, whether held in Ellenville, Saugerties or in legislative chambers in Kingston.

County Exec Jen Metzger pretty much said it all in a 17-page speech that consumed almost an hour last week.

Julius Caesar only crossed the Rubicon once (to a bad ending), but Metzger managed it twice.

First, about a third of the way through her speech, she let it drop that for the first time in about a decade, the county will be increasing its portion of the property tax. Only a year ago, jacking up the tax by 1.5 percent would have been unthinkable. I guess this is what a 19-4 majority does for you.

The exec didn’t say it – it came out at a press conference after the speech – but county sales tax projections are projected to rise by 10 percent next year, to another record of $200 million a year. The property tax, with what Metzger called its slight increase, will total about $76 million.

Truly it is written that If anything happens to that sales tax, county officials will be walking around in barrels with signs that read, “Can anybody spare a dime?”

Metzger didn’t even mention that she was applying some $30 million from the fund balance to the county’s first half a billion-dollar budget (plus $19 million). The number was placed in backup material distributed to media.

Last month, county comptroller March Gallagher reported the available fund balance stood at just over $18 million.

What gives? I asked budget officer Ken Juras. “We took it out of different accounts,” he said.

Gallagher advised later in the day that those accounts could add up to more than $100 million.

I get that federal and state budgets may be tight next year with some costs accruing to locals, but perhaps the question is, why would a county flush with cash have to increase a property tax (by about $1.2 million) increase it once feared ?

If this is an election-year budget, my name is Ward Todd.

And this: When asked if she intended to run for re-election next year, Metzger, who seems to be running all the time, did a little dance and then said, “Yes, I will.”