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| ABOUT KNGG
WHAT WE BELIEVE
KINDERHOOK'S VISION In his recent biography, "Shattered Love," published by Harper Collins Publishers, New York, NY, the actor Richard Chamberlain wrote that having toured the United States in the Broadway musicals, "My Fair Lady" and "The Sound of Music," he proclaimed: I was surprised to see, in all this traveling around, how homogenized our country has become. City after city, state after state, the same malls with the same shops and Cineplexes selling the same movies, and clothes repeated themselves everywhere. Apart from Boston, Portland, and maybe San Francisco it seems like we’d keep getting on planes, fly a thousand miles, and then land in the same place. KNGG Believes that Kinderhook can save itself from over development and retain its rural charm and historic buildings. We believe there is a lot of room for "good growth" in Kinderhook. We believe that with good planning, Kinderhook can retain its individual qualities. Good Growth for Kinderhook is an approach that seeks to sustain a high quality of life for residents living in the Town, whether in rural areas or the villages. Good Growth will provide an alternative to wasteful sprawl and prevent loss of the Town’s unique and distinctive historical and agricultural characteristics. Good Growth is the process by which the Town, rather than an outside developer, determines its future by clarifying goals and creating specific guidelines that can create a process that makes development decisions predictable, fair and cost effective. A good example would be the Routes 9/9H corridor study. Good Growth will save the Town’s most valuable, natural, historic and rural resources before they are forever lost. This includes the protection of open space, farmland, natural beauty, critical environmental areas, clean air water and historic landmarks, many of which are on The National Register of Historic Places. The Kinderhook area is fragile because all historic landmarks and rich organic soil are irreplaceable and valuable. For instance the areas such as those near the Van Alen house where artifacts dating back 3000 years were recently discovered need to be preserved. We are citizens concerned about the possible loss of these qualities of life for our community. 19 Acres of prime farm land containing the best soil Columbia County has to offer is now lost to a strip mall that the Widewaters Group has been approved to put in a Hannaford market and other stores. It will be more sprawl and the top soil will be lost to asphalt. The question still asked: Will our well water be in danger of contamination? Sara Richards told the Planning Board, "Sprawl attracts more sprawl. Unfortunately she was right. Since she spoke, we now have a Stewarts gas station (next to McDonald's), a Dunkin' Donuts under construction, and a CVS application is pending all at the roundabout at the intersections of Route 9H, US 9, State Farm Road and the entrance to the Widewaters strip mall. What will the impacts be from from these projects be, not only on the traffic, but on the Town as a whole? What will happen to our air quality if LaFarge Cement, just across the Hudson River (7.9miles) in Ravena NY burn tires as fuel as they have proposed to the DEC? KNGG seeks to provide information to educate the community about these dangers and to promote Good Growth practices for Kinderhook. In pursuing the KNGG Mission, KNGG will not attack the person(s). KNGG will attack the problem. Won't you join us? TO VIEW THE KNGG MISSION STATEMENT click on "Mission Statement." * * *
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