But I am also a Kingston parent and while I myself benefited so completely from my bike childhood, I would not have wanted my own son to ride either the clogged and trafficked streets of Kingston or the high speed rural back roads near my home.  I would have loved however, to have put him and his friends on tens of miles of safe untrafficked paved and gravel paths so that he too might experience the joys and relatively safe adventures of being on his own on a bike.  "Here's $15. Ride to Winchell's Corner or Rosendale or New Paltz for the day".  And as a former youth basketball coach and soccer program director I watched in dismay as almost all of the kids I saw taking delight in early youth sports programs had no place to enjoy continued activity as they grew into middle school, a few of them making school teams, and then no more leagues for the rest of them.  My commitment to a new generation of safe relatively free range kids was my primary and perhaps still most deeply held reason for my efforts on behalf of the rail trail project. 

I am also a critical thinker.  I have an MBA in International Management, a Ph.D in Administration and Policy Studies, and teach economics and management at the college level.  I have a career that has included being a manager in a corporate setting, a manager and financial director for a not-for-profit, college teaching and administration, and  over 20 years as an associate with a management consulting firm.  When I was first introduced and invited to participate in the Ulster Rail Trail Project, I knew nothing about it or about the U&D corridor or its background or controversy, but I began to do research, examine studies, look at comparable situations, walk and drive to different points of the corridor, and have countless conversations, including those with experienced urban planners, trail designers, engineers, and even railroad personnel.   

I do not consider myself a ‘trail person’, as much as an analytical citizen who cares about the future of Ulster County and the city of Kingston, and who has reached the conclusion, from my analysis, that the segmented approach presented in this document which was initially proposed by the Executive Branch of the County and voted into policy by Resolution 275 of the County Legislature, is the best upcoming use of the corridor as the current railroad lease expires.

This website is an attempt to communicate the essence of what I have discovered.   I welcome respectful ongoing dialogue about the information contained within it.

You can contact me at buildthegateway@gmail.com

Dr. William Sheldon