Blumenthal: “… just take a chance on something different”
KINGSTON – All 11 speakers signed up for Tuesday night’s public hearing on Ulster County’s 2018 proposed budget spoke strongly in favor of one point in the plan. County Executive Michael Hein wants a Restorative Justice and Community Empowerment Center in Kingston.
Great idea, said several, including Micha Blumenthal.
“We’re all well familiar with the systems that have gotten us right here today,” Blumenthal said. “If you think that nothing is wrong, then you have no need to vote for this. If you think something is wrong, some part of you thinks something is not right, right now, then really, just take a chance. Take a chance on something different.”
Erica Baron, a Unitarian Universalist minister in Kingston, noted recent legislation signed by the governor, raised the age of adulthood in the criminal justice system.
“I believe that we need to balance the value of teaching children to take responsibility for their actions and their impacts on others in their community with the value for caring for our children as children and recognizing that their brains are still developing, that they might not have the capacity for impulse control or the awareness of consequences that adults have.”
Additional budget hearings are Wednesday night at 6 at the Shandaken Town Hall, and 6 Thursday night at the Gardiner Town Hall.
Adoption of the budget $324 million budget, which as presented contains a slight tax reduction, is expected at the December 19th annual meeting.
