One of the better things the Common Council has achieved in the past 2 years is enactment of the city’s Nuisance Abatement Law, a powerful tool on behalf of neighborhoods and our quality of life.

Learn more about this important but under-utilized piece of legislation at a public information meeting I am hosting at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 1. The session will take place at the Coach House at 12 Augusta Street and will feature 3 guest speakers:

• Gerald Keller, Chief of the Kingston Police Department
• Don Ryan, Chief Civil Officer for the Ulster County Sheriff’s Department, and …
• Shayne Gallo, Corporation Counsel for the City of Kingston

What is the Nuisance Abatement Law?

The law provides a legal process through which a landlord can be held responsible for the criminal actions of tenants, as reported by neighbors. Bottom line: It means that if you are dealing drugs or creating nuisances in a neighborhood, the landlord cannot knowingly allow you to be a tenant on that property.  Through some very effective use of the law in other wards, the Sheriff’s Office and the Kingston Police Department have resolved a number of citizen complaints and evicted known criminals from neighborhoods.

A critical component of this effort is Kingston Landlord Support, a free website  for landlords that posts the names and addresses of tenants who have been issued warrants of eviction by the court system in Ulster County.  When possible, additional information regarding the circumstances of an eviction is included, drawing from the records of the Ulster County courts, Kingston Fire Department, Kingston Building & Safety Division and the Sheriff’s Office. You can visit the site at http://www.kingstonlandlordsupport.org/

The extraordinarily responsive Don Ryan will be providing his contact information at the meeting, but in case you cannot attend (or attend without a pen!), his coordinates are: 

Chief Don Ryan, Ulster County Sheriff’s Office
(845)334-5593
dryn@co.ulster.ny.us

While not the be-all and end-all solution to quality of life issues in Kingston, the Nuisance Abatement Law is a crucial step forward in this fight, and I urge Ward 9 residents to learn more about it Tuesday night, Sept. 1.

(Note: The participation of the guest speakers does not constitute, nor is meant to imply, any endorsement of  any political candidate.)