Transforming Rochester 18 - Voice of the Citizen 1

Alex White and Dave Atias attended the City's first Voice of the Citizen meeting.  This one was held at the Frederick Douglass Resource Center.  The VOC's are focusing on violence.  Alex and Dave were very appreciative of the voices heard in the packed house, especially the young adults from Teen Empowerment.  The City seemed to focus on police-centered solutions while others, including Alex and Dave focused on jobs, recreation, financial literacy, restorative justice and more.  There are three more, we hope to see you at one.

You can listen to the podcast here or click the link in the column on the right.

How To Reduce Crime

Better Policing Means Less Crime Rochester has 513 police officers and sergeants in the patrol section of the police department. At any time, this means that there are roughly 120 officers on patrol. Perhaps the best way for police to reduce crime through presence or fear of presence. This means that the officers have to regularly patrol areas. If half of the patrol officers on duty at a given time were divided into two groups, neighborhood officers and road patrols, there would be 60 officers for placement in neighborhoods. These neighborhood officers would be responsible for roughly a half square mile area of the city each.

To do this, Rochester would be divided into 5 districts: Northeast, Southeast, Center City, Northwest, and Southwest. We would then have manageable neighborhoods designated for officers to patrol. For example, in the southwest district, there would be one officer in each of the following areas: Corn Hill, Mayors Heights, Genesee-Jefferson, and Bulls Head. Two officers would be in Plymouth Exchange and Lincoln Park and three in the 19th Ward. Each section of the city could easily be divided to provide neighborhood coverage. These officers would be supported by eight cars each with one officer in them and two cars with two officers.

The neighborhood officers would be encouraged to get out of their car and interact with the public, know the neighborhood, write tickets, and develop connections. The road patrols would respond to calls for service and assist neighborhood officers when arrests are needed. This division would allow officers to maximize their presence and provide better coverage to neighborhoods. With three officers for each neighborhood each day their hours could be arranged to maximize coverage during high crime times. As the downtown area is smaller than the rest of the areas, fewer officers would be needed and this would allow for a reserve of officers for special assignments, assistance with problem areas, and coverage of vacancies.

An important part of embedding police into neighborhoods is shifting to techniques such as community policing. This model of police activity is predicated on the belief that achieving safety goals requires the Police to develop a new relationship with citizens. Citizens would have the power to set local police priorities and therefore be involved in efforts to improve the overall quality of life in their community. Community Policing (CP) shifts the focus of police work from handling random crime calls to addressing community concerns. Police would still answer 911 calls and make arrests, but they also act as catalysts, involving people in efforts to police themselves. This is actually a recommended policing strategy of the US department of Justice.

This is just one step though, as in order to prevent crime we need a different tool and one of the most powerful is Restorative Justice. Restorative Justice (RJ) is a philosophy that believes in the power and influence of individual communities to work together toward improving the lives of everyone living in that community. In practice, RJ is collaboration between the perpetrator, the perpetrator's family, local neighbors, the DA, the police, and local government. The mechanism is a community meeting in lieu of a trial where the victim is part of the process and their needs are taken into account.

One of the assumptions here is that the accused is taking responsibility for their crime without a legal defense and will work to make restitution for their crime. This practice has been used in several cities throughout the world with amazing results. It has reduced crime, cured chronic problems like youth violence, and saved money. With a crime rate higher than NYC and rising rates for many violent crimes it is time to realize that we need a different approach. In NYC, “stop and frisk” has neither reduced crime nor made an impact on guns in the streets. In Rochester, Operation Cool Down has failed in the same way and has not made our neighborhoods safer. It is time we implement more effective, humane approaches which have yielded results in places like Santa Barbra, CA and Bethlehem, PA.

Alex White at Rochester City Council

Transforming Rochester 17 - Election Results

This episode, Alex White and Dave Atias discuss the recent election and what the results mean for Rochester.  At the federal level, both major parties still want to cut our safety net and favor the wealthy and locally there was no real change.  Of the 14 state races that touched Monroe County, only 6 of them were even contested.  But there is hope and that is what we talk about.  And remember, next year will bring local elections, where change can actually happen.  Give us your feedback.

You can listen to the podcast here or click on the link in the column to the right.

Transforming Rochester 16 - Housing Is A Right

Alex White & Dave Atias discuss the City's insistance that there is no foreclosure or homelessness problem in Rochester.  We disagree and provide solutions.  The people running this town seem to value rentership over ownership with their "affordable housing" scheme.  That's not the way to get our economy in shape.  The City's website has a place to see what properties are for sale.  Check it out.  Dave also talked about the book, Triumph of the City.

You can listen to the podcast here or click on the link in the right column.

Rochester's Fiscal Future

First the NY Times wrote an article claiming all counties and cities in New York are begging Albany for money as they are facing huge deficits. Then the local D&C implied that Rochester may go bankrupt when discussing Syracuse's financial problems. These could not go unanswered so Mayor Richards spoke to WHEC news and denied that Rochester will go bankrupt in the foreseeable future. Despite the official denial, cities and counties did reiterate their plea for more money from Albany.

This is not surprising as rapidly increasing pension and medical costs and the recently state-imposed property tax cap are putting great strain on most local governments. This combination of rising costs and capped revenue is bound to cause problems eventually. Looking at our community, Rochester is not doing well. Last year we faced a $40 million budget gap and even after help from the state we were still $25 million short. There were some cuts and many people saw their taxes increase as the city raised the assessment of their properties, but the City also assumed sales tax revenue would grow by almost 4% and that the unions would agree to pay some of their medical costs. While sales tax revenue has grown a robust 2.4 % this still left the City almost $2 million short of what was needed and the unions did not give back the more than $3 million the City needed. There is obviously a problem.

With a possible shortfall of $5 million and an expected pension increase of at least $10 million for next year, these are tough times. Fortunately, thanks to the City’s previous mistakes, there is a solution. For years, we have been taxing large properties at far less than the appropriate amount. Many of the buildings like the Merkel Donohue building are for sale for 3 times what they are assessed. Some have recently sold for at least three times their assessed value. What this means is that there are a lot of properties which could be taxed appropriately thus raising funds. The best part is that assessing these properties appropriately would not hurt “job creators” as most of these projects are rental properties like Erie Harbor, Pathfinders Holdings, or Corn Hill Landing. Some of these projects that are described as "job creating" are really just cash cows for the property owners who rent their properties to businesses at market rate. A good example is the Windstream building at the old Midtown Plaza. These deals only inflate profits for the property owner and allow them to unfairly compete for tenants with other smaller landlords.

All told, there are at least $100 million which Rochester could raise from these large properties which have enjoyed substantial tax breaks for years and are paying less than a quarter of their appropriate rate. This does not mean that Rochester should not pursue more state money, nor that we should stop asking for mandate relief, as the problem needs to be attacked from all angles. But there are rich and profitable companies which have enjoyed favorable tax rates for years at the expense of the community. As we have cut hours at libraries, laid off teachers, and cut recreation, many rich people have enjoyed high profits due to low taxes and now would be a good time to end this corporate welfare once and for all.

Tranforming Rochester Podcast - Collegetown Bait And Switch

Alex White and Dave Atias discuss the Collegetown project in the Mt. Hope area of Rochester.  We discuss how the project began and what the residents of the neighborhood were told they were getting in the beginning.  Alex has a theory that Collegetown is not intended to be successful.  But Dave worries that while this will take years to find out the truth, other corporate welfare-funded projects will be imposed on our community.  Let us know what YOU think.

You can listen to the podcast here, click on the link on the right or listen to Rochester Free Radio.