What is the Business Alliance of Kingston?
The Business Alliance of Kingston (BAK) is an umbrella group that represents business and property owners from the Uptown, Midtown and Rondout commercial districts.
In November 2009, BAK engaged a consultant team to support our efforts to improve Kingston’s business districts. With the team, we completed a Needs Assessment of our business districts that included interviews with local stakeholders, an on-line community needs survey, and a series of focus groups with property owners, residents, businesses and artists. These efforts have allowed us to identify where the consensus lies among stakeholders and to define a set of services and improvements that businesses, property owners, residents and city officials agree will improve the business environment.
What did our analysis uncover?

The Needs Assessment found that there is significant consensus that disinvestment in the commercial districts is hurting the entire community – and something needs to be done now. We believe that this represents an opening to address the condition of the commercial environment. Residents, businesses and property owners now see a clear link between their property values, their business profits and the quality of the commercial district. They agree that in the short-term, Kingston requires on-going marketing and promotion, sanitation and security measures, and physical improvements, particularly in Midtown. These improvements can be addressed through the creation of a BID (see sidebar).
To date, BAK has received NYS Main Street and City of Kingston Community Development Block Grant funding to help address these concerns. These funds are slated to expire within a year and are a temporary band-aid, not a long-term solution. We must secure sustainable funding and develop a plan of action to address the on-going needs of our commercial areas before Kingston suffers further disinvestment. We have determined that a BID is most viable way to achieve these objectives.
At this time, we believe it is most feasible to pursue a BID in the Midtown and Rondout commercial districts to support an enhanced level of services and improvements to those areas.

Where do we go from here?
The next step in this process is to inform the community about our efforts and to advance the creation of a BID. We have prepared a District Plan that BAK will present to local stakeholders over the course of a series of public meetings (beginning 5 p.m., May 3, 2011 at 721 Media Center), and through mailings and media outlets. This Plan will then be published and submitted to the Common Council for Municipal Review and ultimately, approval.
We look forward to working with our local stakeholders in advancing this effort.

Questions?
Patrice Courtney Strong - pcourtneystrong@gmail.com 914-388-7412
Nancy Donskoj -  kingstonmsm@gmail.com      514-3998

Board of Directors:

Uptown: Joe Fitzgerald, Tom Jacobi, Kevin Quilty

Midtown: Teryl Mickens, Mike Piazza, Pat Courtney Strong

Rondout: Ann Loeding, Larry Zalinsky, Sandy Henne

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On March 18th 2011 Pat Courtney Strong, the president of BAK and Nancy Donksoj, BAK's Main Street Manager presented the goals, accomphishments and future plans for the Business Alliance of Kingston at the CPC's Hudson Valley Main Street Summit that took place an the 721 Media Center in
Kingston NY.

To see the full report click here

Accomplishments: 

Marketing:

Kingston Happenings Events Calendar