March 26, 2025 Angelica (A) by Maria(M)
M: Hi Angelica! The first question is, what do you love about Rosendale?
A: I certainly am very grateful that I grew up here.I wouldn’t have changed anything. I’m proud of the person it made me and how it shaped me and the community that I had growing up. I felt very seen by everyone. Even as a kid, I felt adults really listened to me and cared about me and didn’t write me off. Especially when I was trying to get involved in environmental organizations and things like that. I felt very supported by everyone.
M: So you found Rosendale to be a supportive community. I’m going to ask a stupid question, but why is that important?
A: I think for a young kid, it’s particularly important. I think it’s important for everyone, but for a young kid, it’s particularly important because you’re just forming your entire view of the world and identity. And every decision, I feel like, carries more weight in what you choose to pursue or explore and what you choose not to. That time during your upbringing, it is very critical to be surrounded by people who are supportive and make you feel good about yourself, make you feel competent.
M: And the whole community made you feel that way?
A: Yes, yeah.
M: Amazing. That’s fantastic. Any other things you want to mention that you love about Rosendale?
A: Yeah, I mean, so many things. I felt very safe and independent. Like when I was a kid, I would bike everywhere, bike from my house down to Main Street, Rosendale. I worked at the Big Cheese in high school. So I’d bike to and fro work, never, ever thought twice about it. Bike to Williams Lake when it existed. I felt very safe. It felt easy to explore. And it felt like it had everything I needed. It was very small in a lot of ways, but it had everything I needed. And it was all very contained, like: the grocery store. It was always very small and, it might be limited in certain things, like the produce section, whatever. But you’d always see local Rosendale people there. It’s not like generally people from out of town going there. And yeah, it just had a little bit of everything. It had the Women’s Studio Street workshop, the rail trail, the Rosendale Cafe, when it was there, the theater, which I love that it’s still there, the Big Cheese, you know, even Stewart’s and the Chinese food place! I honestly have a lot of memories there. So the Rec Center too. I went to camp there. I would swim in the pool. I guess some of what I’m saying right now is that I do like that there are a lot of things that are the same now as when I was a kid.
M: What do you have concerns for Rosendale? What do you feel like needs to be preserved or safeguarded?
A: One of the first things comes to mind when I think about what I love about Rosendale is that it has not changed as drastically as a lot of other communities in general, in America, in Ulster County. And even like friends describing that their hometowns have changed a lot. And I’m proud to say that there are a lot of things about Rosendale that haven’t changed. There are definitely things that have changed that I miss, like the Rosendale Cafe. I generally prefer consistency and things to stay the same, like businesses not leaving because they couldn’t afford to stay open or something like that. Or someone from out of town bought them out or something like that.
M: Any ideas you have for Rosendale? Things you’d like to see. Things you’d like to do? Things you’d like somebody else to do?
A: I really love what’s going on at the theater and I do think that attracts some people my age, millennial age. I have noticed when I’m spending time in Rosendale, it’s generally to either to go on a hike, walk, Joppenbergh, trestle, grab a bite or go to the theater. I guess the theater is doing a pretty good job. But I do feel like sometimes I feel like people my age aren’t hanging out in Rosendale, which I don’t know if that’s necessarily a bad thing. There’s more going maybe out to Kingston.
M: Kingston’s hopping.
A: Businesses [in Rosendale] close earlier. Maybe that’s why it doesn’t attract millennials. ( But I should have thought I might need a minute to think about this.) I think there’s a lot of great programming at the theater.
M: Do you enjoy spending time here?
A: I split my time – I work in Kingston, and I spend a lot of my social time outside of Rosendale. I’m trying to think why.
M: Could Rosendale do things that would make it friendlier to people in your generation?
A: Yeah, I’m trying to think what impact that would have. Perhaps if it was more appealing to people in my generation, perhaps more people in my generation would live and work in Rosendale rather than in Kingston.
M: And what would it take?
A: When I’m spending time in Kingston, it’s to go to the YMCA, I take dance classes in Kingston, I go to shows, like music shows, comedy shows, in Kingston.
M: Well, how about a place to live? Is it just that Kingston’s magnetic because, you know, it’s in the middle of things? Or is, could Rosendale be a more attractive place? I suppose it would take maybe lower rents, right?
A: Kingston has pretty high rents and it still attracts people. So one thing that Rosendale does have that maybe it could capitalize on is its walkability, at least Main Street. Increasing walkability for people that live off of Main Street. Even when I was a kid, biking from, Binnewater, once you leave Main Street, James Street, there’s a good sidewalk network, but outside of that, you might feel… ?? The Trestle trail has helped. But there’s not much shoulder, you might be less inclined. Even as a kid, I remember having thoughts about proposing to the town board more sidewalks. Or bike lanes or something like that.
One thing when I did, when I moved back to the area after finishing college in New York City, my first community that I built was around Pickleball. Because I didn’t really know anyone, a lot of my friends didn’t live here. There were people I knew and recognized, but I was trying to establish a community. And so I love sports, so I would play Pickleball at the YMCA. And that’s where I really met a group of people that were there so consistently. Every day, multiple times a week, I was playing with the same people. And then I started to really build community and do other things, we’ve gone out to eat. And then that snowballed into so many other social connections. For me personally, sports are definitely a big community builder. So maybe some more spaces to do sports? I know that Rosendale is pretty small and sports take a lot of space. But coed recreational sports are definitely a big community builder in the Kingston area. And that’s something that attracts people of all ages. All generations actually. That’s one of the things I loved about it. It was so intergenerational.
