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.