KINGSTON – The Ulster County Regional Chamber of Commerce conducted its monthly breakfast gathering Tuesday, and the focus was the Ulster County executive race with Democrat Jen Metzger and Republican James Quigley.
Quigley was unable to attend because he tested positive for COVID. Instead, he joined virtually to answer some questions.
Quigley, who served as Town of Ulster supervisor for 12 years, cited his business experience in real estate, such as helping to develop shopping areas in Rehoboth Beach, DE and Myrtle Beach, SC, as being advantageous as county executive.
He said he has also worked with county government to help make the former IBM campus into iPark 87, and try to become a feasible member of Ulster County’s economic community and would continue working to do so if elected.
Afterward, Metzger answered some questions, and she said some her top priorities included affordable housing, the climate, mental health, and addiction problems.
“My top priorities are really the top challenges we face,” said Metzger.
But affordable housing, something she understands growing up without when moving many times, is something she wants to help aggressively tackle.
“This is not something that can be solved overnight,” she said. “It has to be prioritized. There are many towns with zero vacancy rates, literally no places to rent. But not only that, there are no opportunities for first-time homebuyers in our communities, and that’s an issue, too. And we want to prevent people of getting into the situation of foreclosure, too. We need to create stabilization strategies, so people who are in their homes can stay in their homes.”
And land banks, similar to Kingston’s in which abandoned properties are purchased and renovated before being sold to first-time homebuyers at affordable and reasonable prices, is a solution she wants to pursue if she is elected as county executive.
“The land bank, I think would be incredibly helpful,” she said. “This is something I am going to really work on expediting, the creation of a county-wide land bank, so we can prioritize the development of affordable housing on those properties.”
Metzger also favors widely available broadband to ensure there are more people who have than those who have not.
“It is fundamental to educational opportunities, work opportunities and health care opportunities,” she said.
