Transforming Rochester - Budget Deficit and Stimulus Package

How much of a projected budget deficit is there for Rochester, NY and what should we do about it.  The next stimulus package could help our City, if we use it right.

 

 

Transforming Rochester - Fines, Evictions And Reporting

Are fines the way to change residents' behavior?  Evictions are happening in Rochester.  What should we be doing about it?  A for-profit company really wants us to "donate" to them to save jobs.

-Photo from City-wide Tenant Union of Rochester, NY  https://www.rochestercitywidetenantunion.org/  

Transforming Rochester: November 19, 2020

Designing City, Incentives, Winter Housing for Homeless

Transforming Rochester - RORE & Reopening Schools

Recurring guest, Dave Sutliff-Atias, this time representing RORE, Rochester Organization of Rank and

File Educators, talks about why the City School District should open remotely and how meaningful education can happen from there.

Transforming Rochester - City Council & School Reopening

 

What's City Council going to be voting on in August?  Schools will be reopening soon.  Should kids go to school or should we do distance learning?  What if we change the entire school calendar and focus on outdoor education?

Transforming Rochester - Curfew and Rent

The Mayor's curfew is not only unconstitutional, but won't do anything about the shootings in Rochester.  Again, we need to address the root causes.  Rent has been out of control for Rochester tenants.  What should we do about it?

An Intial Plan to Defund RPD

This is what defunding the police could look like in Rochester:

Presently we have 13 personnel working as security guards in schools. The RCSD is returning these and the mayor does not want to provide them so that would be $1.4 million.

We also have 23 officers in the community policing division which are the officers in the NSC. Two studies have identified these are not only failing to reduce crime but serving no measurable community value. So this is another $2.8 million.

Then there is the management level of the RPD. Presently more than 1 in 5 officers are management. This is crazy. It all starts with the Sergeants who have only 5 officers under them. If this number was expanded to 10 that would reduce 70 supervisors and free up at least $12 million.

Then there is the whole car problem. Studies have shown that car patrols have no effect on crime. None! As we require 2 officers to respond to any incident there is no reason to have only 1 in a car. This would free up more than $1.5 million in car purchases every year. It would also save gas and maintenance to the tune of around $2 million, all without hurting response time or public safety.

So all told this would save at least $19.7 million and would have no effect on public safety.

This would provide the money to allow every library to stay open until 9pm and have Saturday and Sunday hours which would cost around $700,000.

Having all Rec Centers stay open until 9pm Monday to Thursday and until midnight on Friday and Saturday with 6 hours on Sunday would cost around $1.2 million.

Then to increase the number of summer jobs form 900 to 3600 would cost $3 million. This totals $4.9 million which still leave money to hire 140 employees to do social work, drug treatment, anti-gang outreach, and domestic violence intervention. I am sure this would do a better job of reducing crime than the police do.

Transforming Rochester - 2020 Budget Analysis

The 2020 proposed budget for Rochester, NY is not good.  It is based on irresponsible assumptions in terms of revenue and expenses for the City and if passed, will result in years of hardship for us.  We deserve better than this.  Call City Council and tell them not to pass this budget.

Transforming Rochester - Jose Peo on the Corona Virus

Rochester City Council member Jose Peo joins us for the entire show as we discuss how the Corona Virus has affected Rochester so far and what could happen as this crisis progresses.

Transforming Rpchester - City Council and School District Woes

In the first half, Alex and Peter talk about things that are coming up at City Council this month. Then, they talk to School Board member Willa Powell about the current financial crisis at RCSD.  How did it happen and what are the solutions?

Transforming Rochester - NYS Housing Policy And Local Climate Action

Alex & Peter talk about NYS Housing Policy And Local Climate Action.

Photo from http://rochesterenvironmentny.blogspot.com/2016/11/dapl-rally-in-rochester-wakes-up-local.html

Alex White for City Council

Many of you know me as the Green Party of Rochester Candidate, but my work for our city hasn’t been limited to just those campaigns. The city has implemented many of my ideas, from expanded plastic recycling to a Cooperative business initiative. I proposed Police Body Cameras in 2013, and when my proposal was approved I worked with United Christian Leadership Ministries (UCLM) to get them issued to RPS officers. I serve as a member of the Coalition for Police Reform, putting forward effective policies and providing oversight for the program. In 2015, when the budget for the Office of Adults & Careers Education Services was cut, I worked to restore funding and save this crucial program, which helps high school dropouts get the training they need to enter careers to support themselves and their families. Meanwhile I continue to help numerous small businesses navigate permit and ticketing issues with the city to keep Rochester working.

Over the last few decades, Rochester has faced far more than its fair share of problems.  Perhaps most troublesome is poverty and for the last 20 years poverty in Rochester has increased by half a percentage point every year. Presently more than a third of all Rochester residents live in poverty.  On average, black residents earn 75 cents to every white resident’s dollar, and white residents hold nine times more wealth than black residents. Meanwhile, our city council continues to support the mayor plan of giving millions of dollars in loans to already rich developers who build overpriced housing, financially inaccessible to most city residents.

 Education is supposedly the “great equalizer” in the United States, but Rochester schools are the worst in the state, and our city council insists they should be able to improve this with the same tax revenue they had access to  in 2004, irrespective of inflation and a decade and a half of unrestrained depreciation. Our infrastructure is unacceptably unsupported; our roads are riddled with potholes, our public transportation is insufficient, we lack necessary access to parking and bike lanes, and yet we continue to cut funds for road repair and improvement. Our mayor claims crime is at a 39 year low but a black teenager is still more likely to die of a gunshot than all other cause of death. In many neighborhoods residents are too scared to go outside at night.  Meanwhile, our City Council Vice President, the longest serving council member, is going to jail.

For too long we have made the bar too low for our elected officials, and yet they still manage to fall short.  It is time for Rochester to expect more out of our representatives. It is time to support a truly progressive candidate, the candidate who has been working tirelessly on the issues that actually matter in Rochester, a leader with integrity, who is not linked to the past culture of corruption on our city council. It is time for Rochester’s Green New Deal. It is time for Alex White for City Council, and I look forward to your support as we work toward improving our shared home.

Media

Platform

The tax break problem

Endorsements

Environmental policy

Transforming Rochester 132

The Mayor has proposed her version of a Police Accountability Board and it is unacceptable.  Find out why and what you can do about it.  We have all these great ideas to spend money, we'll tell you where the money is going to come from to pay for it all with a lot left over.

Transforming Rochester 131

The City loses lawsuits and the taxpayers pay for it.  We talk about suits past, present, and future. And the Rochester City School District is in serious financial trouble.  What can we do?  We tell you.

Transforming Rochester 130

We have to start changing to renewable energy.  How can we get enough electricity for our city?  It's

a big lift, but needs to be done.  Another way to deal with climate change is free mass transit for everyone.  It also can be done.  We explain how.

Transforming Rochester 129

We talk about gangs in Rochester - how they get people and what can we do about them.  We also explain why it's important to shop locally.  It makes a tremendous difference to our economy.

Transforming Rochester 128

City Council is coming up on Decmeber 18th.  Call 311 to get on the list to speak your mind.  We review the good, curious, & ugly.  We also discuss the past, present, & future of the Rochester Convention Center.  To sum up in one word:  Why?

Transforming Rochester 127

The "winners" of the Amazon Hunger Games has been announced and we're going to be paying for it for a long time.  There's a local example of that trickle-down economics in Rochester that doesn't trickle down.  The closing of the local Thompson-Reuters office gets us talking about cooperatives.

Transforming Rochester 126

We do a quick election recap then discuss the ways the new Democratic majority in the NYS Senate

can help Rochester.  Included are foundational aid for our schools, single payer health care, jobs, and more.  Alex also has a Veterans Day message.

Transforming Rochester 125

Alex is joined by Peter Kline to interview Attorney General Candidate Michael Sussman.  We also talk about the upcoming City Council meeting: the good, the weird, and the ugly.  Call 311 to sign up to speak to Council.