January 2025 Amanda(A) and Ben(B)
A: Amanda here with my friend Ben, and we are at the Rosendale Laundromat, and this is actually where we met about three years ago, right?
Ben: Yes.
A: So, Ben, thank you for interviewing today. I wanted to ask you, what do you love about Rosendale?
B: I love the scenery. I love how quiet this town is. And the people are weird and fun, and I love that.
A: Yeah. So, how long have you lived in town?
B: Eight or nine years.
A: And where did you live before that?
B: Wappinger’s Falls, across the river.
A: Okay, so you grew up upstate.
B: I grew up in the Hudson Valley, yeah.
A: Why did you decide to live in Rosendale?
B: It was kind of just the situation at the time. I was looking to move back to Ulster County from Wappinger’s, and a friend of mine had a place on Main Street that he was moving out of, and then I just ended up in Rosendale. But that’s not the reason I stayed here this long, obviously.
I love it, so I stayed.
A: Yeah, and can you imagine yourself living anywhere else?
B: I don’t want to live anywhere else.
A: Yeah, me neither.
B: Yeah, I want to stay here. I lived on Main Street for a very long time, and now I live up on Mountain Road, and it’s just very quiet and beautiful.
A: It’s quiet and beautiful up there. A little bit different from living in the village.
B: Very different than living on Main Street.
A: So, tell me, if you could do anything to make Rosendale even better, what would you do?
B: Me personally, or just generally?
A: Both. What do you think would be awesome if it happened in Rosendale?
B: Well, I mean, the biggest thing that I care about is staying here, and I want to live
here forever. So, affordable housing, and just the housing market in general, coming down so that the locals can afford to live here while working in the Hudson Valley. My first apartment was sold, and I had to leave, and I was very lucky to find another apartment still even in Rosendale. So, I’m grateful for that, but I am scared it’s going to happen again, and I won’t be able to stay here.
A: Yeah, your landlord is one of the guys who makes sure that the rent is affordable.
B: Yes, where I currently live, and where I used to live as well, I had very nice landlords who kept the rent reasonable, and I’m grateful and fortunate to have that, but I worry that it won’t always be there, and I will have to leave Rosendale because I can’t really afford
any of the other options here.
There’s not much I really want to change about Rosendale, maybe some specific shops that we don’t have in town here, like, a pharmacy would be nice.
A: Yeah, it would be nice.
B: What else? Yeah, no, I love it. Everything’s great. I just want to stay.
A: All right, did you have anything else you wanted to add?
B: Thank you for the work that Rosendale Heart and Soul is doing. We appreciate it.
A: Thanks, Ben. Thank you for being my friend.
B: Anytime.
A: All right.
