LIKE BREATHING
“We try to focus on producing quality
music that transcends genres,” says Dave “Davec” Cromwell of his team of
musicmakers, Roc Music Group. That focus has made the four-year-old music
production company one of the best known in Rochester.
Cromwell started RMG in 2002, along
with his brother, Dorian “Big Brother Bass” Cromwell, and long-time
collaborators Anthony “Grand Tone” Simmons, Paul “Paulie Walnutz” Boutte, and Roy
“BattleRoy” Battle. Since then, the
team has become a force to reckon with in the local and national community.
“We’ve had the opportunity to work on gospel artist Kierra ‘Kiki’ Sheard’s and
gospel hip-hop artist DJ Maj’s albums,” says Grand Tone. Both albums were
nominated for a Best Album GMA (gospel music’s version of the Grammy Awards;
held on April 5 this year). “We’re currently working with r&b artists Lil’
Mo, RL from [former r&b group] Next, and Coko from [former r&b trio]
SWV.”
RMG also does community work. They’ve
collaborated with the teen outreach program In-Control (a partnership between
Planned Parenthood, Baden Street Settlement, and the Urban League) to form Roc
Music Business 101 — an internship program to keep local students occupied
and out of trouble. The program meets twice weekly at RMG’s 439
Central Avenue home to learn about the business of
music. All aspects are covered, from talent search to CD sales, all while
developing the students’ skills at the full-time recording studio, fully clad
with keyboards, mixing boards, mics, headphones, the whole gambit. But, it’s
not all fun and games; In-Control filters in workshops on job skills, drug and
pregnancy prevention, and leadership.
Over the years, RMG has evolved into
an artist development and all-around entertainment company. They’ve produced
several live events for the City of Rochester
(Peace Fest, Rochester MusicFest, etc.). And they’ve sponsored showcases for
some of the youths they work with so the aspiring stars can have a venue to
perform the music they’ve created.
The Roc Music Group plans to broaden
its clientele overseas, keeping its main goal in mind: “Without making music,
it would stifle us as human beings,” Davec says. “It’s like breathing —
essential to our lives.”
— jaythreeoh
EMBRYONIC
POLITICS
A
delegation of Rochester area
Catholics, led by Bishop Matthew Clark, joined other New York State Catholics
in Albany last week,
opposing the use of embryonic stem cells in research. They urged legislators
instead to expand the use of adult stem cells which, they said, is “morally
sound and ethically beneficial.”
The
move is in opposition to pleas by the University of Rochester and others
that Albany support
embryonic stem-cell research.
But
the Catholics’ message to legislators doesn’t seem to reflect the attitudes of
most New Yorkers. According to a new statewide poll by Zogby International, 84
percent of New Yorkers support embryonic stem-cell research, and 82 percent say
that public funding for stem-cell research is important to them as voters.
In
a report released in February by the UR, titled “New York and Stem Cell Research,” presidents from more than a
dozen of the state’s leading universities noted restrictions on embryonic
stem-cell research imposed by the federal government. Because of that, the universities
said, Albany’s failure to
fund embryonic stem-cell research will cost the state economically. The report
cites the loss of business development from future research and the loss of
scientists to states offering better opportunities in the field. New York risks lagging
behind states like California, which are
investing in stem-cell research.
“We
are getting further behind the competition for our stake in this emerging
industry,” says Bob Reid of Winegarten & Reid, a lobbyist on behalf of the
organization New Yorkers for the Advancement of Medical Research. “This is a
field where medical science and technology will merge with profound
implications not unlike the advances made in the high-tech industry 30 years
ago.”
“The
positive is that we have this huge pool of bio research talent, perhaps the
largest of anywhere in the world,” says Reid, “but we could lose that talent
because they will go to work where cutting-edge research is actually
supported.”
NYMAR
spokesperson Linda Herman, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease, says the group
has been lobbying Albany for three
years, and the delays have been frustrating.
“The
Assembly is on board,” she says, “but the Senate has been dragging its feet. I
think this new poll should show them that across all political lines and
different faiths, people want this research to go forward. Political delay that
produces nothing is actually worse for them. This is a medical question, a
scientific question. And we’ve done a very good job in the last three years of
helping them [legislators] understand that, but it has taken so long.”
So
far, the Assemblyremains at odds
with the Senate and Governor Pataki on the issue. The Assembly passed a bill
(sponsored by Speaker Sheldon Silver) early in January that would create a New
York State Institute for Stem Cell Research and Regenerative Medicine to fund
the research. It’s been forwarded to the Senate, but no action has been taken
on it.
Later
in January, Pataki and Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno proposed a $200 million
challenge-grant initiative for all types of biomedical and biotech research as
part of the budget. Any project getting that funding would need to pass a state
board of ethics.
“The
plan does not exclude stem cell research [but] there are other things besides
that,” Bruno spokesperson Mark Hansen told City
Newspaper. “We feel that’s the best way to go about it.”
Each
side accuses the other of politicizing the issue.
In
a statement e-mailed from a spokesperson, Assemblymember Joe Morelle said: “It
is a very important issue, but because the governor will not show leadership in
this area it is likely to go unaddressed until next year. I believe we are
missing extraordinary opportunities to extend our knowledge in this field of
science, as well as develop the economy and alleviate disease.”
“We
leave science to the scientists,” counters State Senator Joe Robach. Still,
Robach admits that “anyone who’s paying attention realizes the economic
synergies these research facilities provide.” And though he says he can’t
predict exactly how much it will be, “at the end of the day [Rochester and other
research hubs will] probably get a significant amount of capital,” he says.
— Tim Louis Macaluso,
KrestiaDeGeorge
DIVISIVE DORM
MonroeCommunity
College needs a new dorm —and how that dorm
gets built is shaping up to be a real battle. The issue: labor costs.
The state doesn’t allow community colleges to build dorms
themselves; they have to give that responsibility to a faculty-student
association — the group that also administers athletic programs, food
service, and a handful of other non-academic chores. And for the
faculty-student association to build the dorm, it needs to get the land from
the college.
A project built by the association on land that it owns is
not considered a public works project. That means it’s not subject to public
bidding, the Wicks Law, or the state requirement that public works projects pay
“prevailing wages.”
The MCC project hasn’t escaped the attention of local labor
unions, whose workers stand to lose if it goes forward, or of their Democratic
allies in the CountyLegislature.
And at least in theory, the legislature could block the dorm, since as MCC’strustee, it needs to sign
off on the sale of the land.
At the March 1 meeting of the legislature’s Ways and Means
Committee Paul Haney grilled MCC President Tom Flynn about some of the issues
— like bidding and prevailing wages — that the
arrangement would sidestep. Flynn said the project would cost about $18.4
million and that DiMarco Construction, the same firm
that built the first MCC dorm, would be building a nearly identical one. The
previous dorm, built in 2003, had 40 more beds than the proposed dorm, and cost
$16.3 million. Flynn also said that the project would be “fully bonded through
COMIDA” (the county’s industrial development agency) and therefore would be
required to use local labor.
But Haney continued to push on the issue of public bidding
for the contract.
“We’re confident we have the most cost-effective price,”
Flynn said, at more than one point.
“But until we ask other firms, we don’t know, right?” asked
Haney.
“It’s very costly to do that,” replied Flynn.
It’s tough to even get a second opinion on DiMarco’s price tag, Haney discovered during the course of
questioning Flynn. Since the firm also designed the building, the blueprints
are considered proprietary and aren’t available for public scrutiny.
Haney also pressed Flynn about prevailing wages. That
prompted a response from Republican Legislator Dan Quattro.
“You are going to pay 10 to 30 percent more” with prevailing
wages, Quattro said. “Let’s not lose sight of the fact that these people need
affordable housing on campus.”
Flynn went even further, saying “If we had to pay prevailing
wages we’d have to cancel the project.”
Those are exactly the words labor unions had hoped they
wouldn’t hear.
Speaking to the full legislature at its March 14 meeting,
Rochester Building Trades President Dan Conte his union is not supporting the
project because “it is not subject to the guarantees of prevailing wages for
construction workers.”
At that meeting, the legislature set a date for a public
hearing on the sale at its next meeting, 6:15
p.m. April 11.
— Krestia DeGeorge
UPDATED
Washington
officials appear to be taking Rochester’s
new lead-paint legislation seriously. Senator Hillary Clinton and US Health and Human Services Secretary
Mike Leavitt have tentative plans to visit School 17 on March 27 to talk about
federal funding for lead remediation, says Derrick Hazle, executive director of
the Coalition to Prevent Lead Poisoning. Hazle says his group asked the feds
for $2 million to help both the city and landlords.
City officials and anti-lead lobbyists won a decisive
victory in Albany last week when
the state’s code council OK’d the city’s new legislation. The council, which
reviews local laws deemed more stringent than the state’s, decided that the
legislation was a health, not a political, issue. The new legislation is set to
take affect July 1.
But at last week’s City Council meeting, landlords afraid
that the legislation will be a financial hardship also won a small victory.
When councilmembers passed the lead legislation late last year, they decided
that all Rochester rental housing
would be subject to a visual inspection. But properties inside a target area
where most elevated lead cases were occurring would have to pass a more
stringent dust-wipe test. That rule applied not only to the interior of
buildings but also to open porches, and some landlords said that would punish
them for airborne lead-paint particles they hadn’t caused. At their March 14
meeting, City Councilmembers decided that the porch standard violated federal
regulations, and they made porches subject to visual inspections only.
Democrats are hoping that this year will be for them what 1994 was for
Republicans. And if a change in party control in the House is going to happen,
this region could be an important one. But despite that, when Monroe County
Democrats announced their endorsements for Congressional
races last week, the news didn’t generate much buzz.
In one of the districts —
the 26th, now held by Tom Reynolds — the Dems have yet to officially field a
candidate, though independent millionaire Jack Davis is expected to run again.
In two more, the Dems’ field has already been narrowed to a single candidate.
In the 28th, that’s Hill stalwart Louise Slaughter; in the 29th — likely
facing off against freshman Republican Randy Kuhl — it’s Eric Massa.
That leaves just one primary
where last week’s announcement might hold some sway. In the 25th district, now
held by Jim Walsh, Monroe County Dems endorsed OnondagaCounty’s Dan Maffei over local candidate Paloma Capanna and dark horse Ken
Howland of Cayuga. Capanna did her best to offset the news by issuing two press
releases — one an endorsement from Assemblymember David Koon and the other a
preemptive attack on Bush’s National Security Strategy.
This article appears in Mar 22-28, 2006.
