By PAUL KIRBY
Freeman staff
Mayor James Sottile is shown in his City Hall office earlier this week. (Freeman photo by Paul Kirby)
KINGSTON ? Around Mayor James Sottile?s office in City Hall, much has disappeared: the photos on bookshelves, framed newspapers on the walls, mementos that once were scattered about.
But the memories of being Kingston?s mayor for nearly a decade will linger for a long, long time for Sottile.
?I have loved being mayor of this city,? said Sottile, who leaves office at the end of this month. ?It has been a dream come true for me.?
Sottile leaves office not sure of what?s next, though he has obtained licenses to sell real estate and insurance. What is certain is that he plans to take a long break from politics.
?I am going to need to unwind ? get out of the fishbowl,? he said during a recent interview in which he recalled the ups and downs, tense times and proud moments of his tenure.
The mayor, a Democrat, has drawn both praise and criticism during his time in office, which began on Jan. 21, 2002, when his predecessor, T.R. Gallo, died in office at age 41. At the time, Sottile was the city?s alderman-at-large, who, according to the charter, becomes mayor in the event of the mayor?s death.
?I remember my first act as mayor was to order the flags at City Hall to fly at half mast for my friend,? Sottile said.
Ward 2 Alderman Thomas Hoffay, a fellow Democrat, said Sottile has done right by the city in a number of ways.
?I have had the privilege of knowing Jim Sottile long before he became mayor of Kingston, and I think he is a great guy with a huge heart and generous spirit,? said Hoffay, the Common Council?s incoming majority leader. Continued...
Hoffay said Sottile should be credited with, among other things, putting the city on firmer financial ground and taking on the repair of failing infrastructure, such as roads and sewer lines.
?He had to right the ship,? Hoffay said.
?His decisions weren?t always popular, but he knew they were the right ones to make and he made them with no apologies,? said Alderman Bill Reynolds, D-Ward 7, the Common Council?s outgoing majority leader.
Sottile has had his critics, too. Kingston Republican Committee Chairman Anthony Sinagra once said he hoped the mayor would run for re-election this past November, arguing that he was so unpopular that a GOP challenger would have a shot at winning.
Sottile ? who won full four-year terms in 2003 and 2007 ? announced a year ago that he would not run again. The man who won the office last month is fellow Democrat Shayne Gallo, the late T.R.?s brother.
Alderwoman Andi Turco-Levin, the council?s outgoing minority leader, said Sottile?s administration has been a mixed bag.
?It?s the good, the bad, and the ugly,? said Turco-Levin, R-Ward 1, who tried unsuccessfully to win the GOP nomination to run for mayor this year. ?There are many things that Jim worked his heart out on, and he did what he felt was best for the city of Kingston.?
But Turco-Levin said clouds over the Sottile administration include continued tax increases, poor planning on property reassessments, no significant movement on developing a city master plan and having to make payments after successful assessment grievances.
?There have been missed opportunities,? said Turco-Levin, who noted plans that never materialized for an Uptown condominium project and a proposed waterfront hotel called the Noah.
Sottile admits those projects were disappointments but points out that he got ?people to the table to talk.? Continued...
He also admits to often getting extremely frustrated and having to ?blow off steam.?
?But I am the kind who would be right back in your office in 10 minutes apologizing,? Sottile said. ?I am a human being. I am a passionate guy.?
At times, Sottile would become angered at something in the media and would dodge reporters? telephone calls. Even so, City Hall under his administration remained transparent, leaving reporters free to get information without hassle and interview department heads at will.
?The fact of the matter is I had no right to tell people they cannot speak to the press,? Sottile said. ?I am not a dictator. I was elected by a community, and the way to get information out to the community is by people talking about what we were doing.?
And Sottile says his administration has done a lot.
He said his success as a politician started while he was alderman-at-large, when he advocated for the construction of a homeless shelter on Thomas Street in Midtown and supported a special tax district to support the Kingston Library.
Seeing the shelter move from a former church basement in the Rondout district to an expanded facility in Midtown, he said, ?was one of my most proud moments.?
He also noted the city was suffering from a $1 million budget shortfall when he took office but that he?s leaving his successor a city with a significantly improved bond rating.
Sottile said he kept his word on pledges to push for new housing of all kinds, affordable and market rate, including in Midtown, where the city partnered with? the Rural Ulster Preservation Co., Ulster YouthBuild and Ulster County Habitat for Humanity. Sottile also insisted that Birchwood Village, an affordable apartment complex on Flatbush Avenue, be open to families.
?I think that if you look at my 10 years, I have been true to my word,? he said. Continued...
Sottile said that pledge is evident in his successes in getting contaminated sites cleaned up and redeveloped. The CVS pharmacy at Washington Avenue and Schwenk Drive and the Walgreens pharmacy on Broadway were built on sites formerly deemed toxic; similarly, a longtime former junk yard on the city?s Rondout Creek waterfront was removed.
Sottile frequently cites as crowning achievements the renovation of the Kirkland Hotel at Main Street and Clinton Avenue, which had stood vacant more than 25 years; water sale agreements with the neighboring town of Ulster; luring a second tenant to the Kingston Business Park off Delaware Avenue; and the establishment of the New York City Department of Environmental Protection?s upstate offices in the former National Micronetics building on Smith Avenue.
Sottile said he is also proud that the Kingston Police Department has been able to keep crime at bay, with the number of reported serious crimes shrinking since he took office. Sottile and former Police Chief Gerald Keller, who retired at the end of October, have said the statistics show serious crime in the city has plummeted during the past decade.
?People wanted me to make decisions based on perception, but I made decisions based on reality in keeping people safe, not on perceptions,? Sottile said.
Sottile calls regrettable a scandal that rocked the city police department earlier this year with the indictment of former Detective Lt. Timothy Matthews on multiple charges stemming from Matthews? alleged theft of hundreds of thousands of dollars in public money.
?It was a very difficult time,? Sottile said.
He said there have been anxious moments as well ? none greater than when New Jersey-based white supremacist Hal Turner held a rally in Kingston in November 2005 in response to an assault on a white Kingston High School student by a black youth.
The demonstration on Broadway, between the school and City Hall, drew more counterdemonstrators than Turner supporters and went off without any violence or arrests.
?It was humbling to have this community come together and have them hear my pleas to stay away, and they did,? Sottile said. ?You just had to stay focused and solid as a rock. You couldn?t show any weakness.?
There also have been some embarrassments during Sottile?s time in office, notably a sexual harassment suit filed against the city by three female employees of the city Department of Public Works.
The women alleged improper treatment in the workplace based on their gender, and a federal jury agreed, finding in favor of two of the three plaintiffs and awarded them a total of $85,000 in damages.
Sottile said his wife, Mary Beth, and son, Jamie, have been a strong source of support.
?I am appreciative of my family,? Sottile said.
The mayor also said he will never forget his time at the city?s helm.
?It is an experience that I will always remember and always be grateful for,? he said.
Source: http://dailyfreeman.com/articles/2011/12/25/news/doc4ef651a030a24963415197.txt
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