RUPCO officials and members of the Tamaqua Area Community Partnership meet in Kingston

KINGSTON – They have similar goals like their keeping communities vital and helping to ensure there’s enough affordable housing and health care for their residents, and Friday the Rural Ulster Preservation Company (RUPCO) hosted a group from Pennsylvania hoping to enhance their community.

Members of the Tamaqua Area Community Partnership, from a community in Pennsylvania’s coal region, visited Kingston and wanted to see what RUPCO is doing to help Ulster County.

“This is an opportunity for us to learn from them. And to have a dialogue about some of the things we’re doing,” said Kevin O’Connor, RUPCO’s executive director. “It’s helpful. It’s nice to meet others who are struggling trying to do some of the things we’re trying to do.”

The group from Tamaqua toured Kingston’s uptown section, Broadway’s midtown section, the Rondout waterfront and other parts of the county to see what they could take home for their residents.

“We heard about all the good things they are doing in Ulster County,” said Micah Gursky, who led the Tamaqua group.

Gursky said affordable housing and historic preservation can help enhance Tamaqua, a much smaller community with about 6,000 residents. And he was especially impressed by Kingston’s efforts to keep the city’s uptown section vital for businesses and residents. “A lot of the basics of community revitalization are similar,” said Gursky. “It’s exciting and invigorating to see what they are doing here.”