It’s less than 48 hours after the Democratic primary for mayor — the party’s most contentious primary in over a decade — but you wouldn’t know that from a glance around the party’s headquarters. The furnishings are still Spartan at the spacious new digs off University Avenue, but a rack of campaign literature has already […]
Krestia DeGeorge
Posted inNews & Opinion
Designing a renaissance
“Brilliant.” That’s how Heidi Zimmer-Meyer, president of the Rochester Downtown Development Corporation, describes the preliminary design for the most controversial part of Renaissance Square: the bus terminal. Architect Moshe Safdie unveiled his concept for Ren Square at a public forum last week. And while this stage really is “concept,” not completed design, there was major […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Power play
It’s all about David Gantt. It has nothing to do with David Gantt. Or maybe it’s about Eliot Spitzer. It depends on who you ask. In the Democrats’ primary campaign for Rochester mayor, there are the politics you see, and then there are the politics you don’t see. As people take sides, there’s a lot […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
The silent invasion
Six-hundred miles west of Rochester, in suburban Chicago, is a structure that just might save Lake Ontario. Connecting the Chicago and Des Plaines Rivers, the Chicago Ship and Sanitary Canal links up two of the continent’s largest water systems: the Mississippi River and the Great Lakes watersheds. At the bottom of that canal lies a […]
Posted inSpecial Sections
‘What would a safe community look like?’
For starters, here’s what a safe community wouldn’t look like: a 12-year-old gunned down walking home from a friend’s house; a 2-year-old hospitalized after an illegal handgun went off unexpectedly in her home; a troubled 13-year-old nearly killed by a police officer she charged with a kitchen knife. But this summer, these have been the […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Creating the electronic public square
Television in the making: Station staffers Josh Bloodworth (left) and Rick Osborne sweat the small stuff during a live broadcast. CarvinEison and LaToya Campbell chat during a moment of downtime on the set. “Okay, people, let’s focus. How much time do we have left?” CarvinEison’s voice fills the studio’s tiny control room. “One minute,” comes […]
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Say What?
Heading up the local chapter of a major civil rights organization wasn’t something Joe Brown ever set out to do. But when Rev. Norvel Goff Sr., the most recent president of the Greater Rochester Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, abruptly departed for South Carolina in November to care for […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Green plans
It’s surprisingly tough to find full-time environmentalists in Rochester. National advocacy groups tend to gravitate toward centers of media or government like New York or Albany, and even statewide and regional groups pass our city by. At recent hearings for the 48-hour pesticide neighborhood notification bill you could have bumped into the paid staffers of […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Divide or conquer? The Dems’ dilemma
These days, Steve Minarik’s life can’t be easy. Despite clinging (barely) to a majority in the state Senate and to the governor’s mansion, the Grand Old Party is in unstable condition statewide. And things are likely to get worse; polls of almost every conceivable match-up show Republicans ceding the governor’s position and failing to steal […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
(Tele)vision quest
Public broadcasting’s getting plenty of attention these days, nationally and locally. Corporation for Public Broadcasting chair Ken Tomlinson made headlines by applying political pressure to the Public Broadcasting Service to correct a perceived liberal bias in the network (see “What Next,” June 8). That incident and a push by local activists to influence public-radio programming […]
Posted inSpecial Sections
There’s no need to follow the beaten path
Okay, so Western New York may not be Bend or Boulder, or even Lake Placid. But for the precious few months that summer visits these parts, the discerning outdoor enthusiast can find plenty of challenges. If you know where to look, that is. Whether you’re new to this area or just tired of hoofing it […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Judge not
Memo to Bob Duffy and Tim Mains: Joe Morelle’s got your number. Morelle’s held the Democratic Party’s top job for less than two weeks, but he’s not waiting to build political capital before twisting a few arms. Exhibit A: Deb Crowder. Crowder was one of four people vying for the party’s nod to seek a […]
