It hasn’t gotten as much play as the school nurses story, but the county’s 2004 capital budget could be the next big thing. Twice the county legislature has rejected the capital budget, which is essentially a list of projects the county wants to tackle each year. They include road and bridge work, construction projects, […]
Christine Carrie Fien
I'm City's news editor, which means I oversee all aspects of our news-gathering operation. I also sneak in to an occasional City Council meeting and cover Rochester's intriguing and eclectic neighbors. My family has a long legacy here, and I'm proud to continue to represent.
Posted inNews & Opinion
After Amo
The hottest ticket in town is the congressional seat occupied by Amo Houghton. A cavalcade of Republican candidates is courting the 29th district seat, held by Houghton since 1987. Houghton, 77, is stepping down when his term ends this year. In the chase are MonroeCounty legislator Mark Assini; Rochester businessman Geoffrey Rosenberger; Bill […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Car 54, where are you?
There are areas in the city of Rochester where people are not getting adequate police service. “The inequality of the calls for service right now in some areas compared to other areas, I think, [is] startling,” says City Council President Lois Giess. According to a study commissioned by the Rochester Police Department, there […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Cops on trial
Not much has changed in 175 years for Brockport — a picturesque Victorian village on the banks of the Erie Canal. In 1829, Brockport gave itself a police department by writing two constable positions into the village charter. The village dumped the constables a few years later. The positions were restored around 1852, according […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Pennies on the sidewalk
Monroe County legislators have sure taken a pounding over the school nurse fiasco, and they probably deserve it. But those who accuse them of politicizing the problem miss the fact that it was — at birth — a political issue. When then-County Executive Jack Doyle announced late last year that he was slashing the […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
You’re not the boss of me
The Rochester School Board wants a chance to get its own house in order before City Hall calls in maid service. City Council has proposed changing the city charter to dictate, some school board members say, the format the school budget will take. Council needs to make certain requirements, explains Councilman Benjamin Douglas, because […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
More money = better schools?
How much will it take? And who gets it? Those two questions are essentially at the heart of deliberations taking place in Albany following a landmark court decision over school funding. New York City schoolchildren, the court ruled last year, have been denied their constitutional right to a “sound, basic education.” The governor […]
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The war on women
At 15, Andrea Lipomi found herself pregnant and — she thought — alone. “As a depressed suburban teenager with very religious parents, I figured the best thing to do would be to take matters into my own hands,” she says. “So I basically stopped eating for over two months, hoping that my body couldn’t […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Shut up and do something
Everybody is disgusted, outraged, disillusioned, and disappointed. Yet, funding for city school nurses still hasn’t been restored. Last week there were: two press conferences, an ugly Ways and Means committee meeting, a lawsuit, and a phone-a-thon — all about the nurses. Leaving city kids without school health care would be a travesty, everyone said. […]
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Homeless
The first car is just a warning, but the cop means business. The garage-employee vehicle cruised by, blasted a rude reveille, and moved on — a signal to the sleeping men that it’s time to hit the road. The men rise slowly from the garage floor — a concrete bed feathered with free […]
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Seventy-seven pink slips
Feeling like a political pawn: Cris Zaffuto, acting president of CSEA Local 828, which represents all city school nurses and nurses’ aides. Christine Carrie Fien Seventy-seven pink slips by Christine Carrie Fien It’s about borrowing at a lower versus higher interest rate. It’s about pushing expenses into the future. It’s about 77 pink slips. […]
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The Livable Communities myth
Don’t know much about the Livable Communities Initiative? Bet you know even less than you think. You can stop looking for that pot of gold at the end of the LCI rainbow. Not only is there no gold. There’s no rainbow, either. “Bill Nojay [former Rochester Genesee Regional Transportation Authority chairman] basically sold […]
