POUGHKEEPSIE – The City of Poughkeepsie government is working towards updating its comprehensive plan and a committee has been established to gather public input. PK4KEEPS is the community-based group that will be hosting meetings in the coming weeks, including one held earlier this week to gather ideas for the plan’s revisions.
The updates to the 1998 City of Poughkeepsie Comprehensive Plan and the Zoning codes that haven’t been updated in 40 years were announced in May and reported on here. PK4Keeps is coordinated by the city’s Department of Planning & Zoning with support from its planning consultants, czbLLC and Ingalls Planning & Design.
At the center of PK4Keeps is a Steering Committee of Poughkeepsie residents who represent a wide range of backgrounds and community sectors. Together with feedback solicited from the broader public throughout the process, they will shape PK4Keeps to reflect the community’s vision and its willingness to make that vision a reality, according to PK4KEEPS.
Chef Brandon Walker is a member of the PK4KEEPS steering committee and owner of Essie’s Restaurant. He said community involvement is vital.
“We are working to get input from the community so we can gather the suggestions and bring the data back to the full committee to shape the plan.”
Don Minichino, a Poughkeepsie resident and commercial realtor, is a member of the steering committee.
“Progress comes from within, especially over the last five or six years,” he said. “There’s been a lot of new development coming into Poughkeepsie and we want to make sure that the longtime residents and businesses here get to have their voices heard.”
Poughkeepsie resident Diamond Mina, an advocate for affordable housing in Poughkeepsie, which she says is almost “non-existent,” attended Monday’s meeting and was dissatisfied. “I felt mislead by the PK4Keeps initiative once the meeting began. It came across as another occurrence of the City of Poughkeepsie Administration and Planning Department lacking a true understanding of what equity and inclusion really mean.”
Mina expressed her displeasure with the process. “It was clear to many of us that the outsourced consultants consider myself and the very people they chose to run the steering committee as a check off their list to guarantee payment.” Mina also shared her sentiments during the meeting that was held at the Trolley Barn on Main Street.
Additional information, including future meeting announcements, can be found here.
