There are some bragging rights you’d just as soon avoid, some things you wish you were wrong about. Rolf Pendall has as much right to say “I told you so” as anyone, except maybe Buffalo Bills naysayers. But like a prescient Bills fan, he’s not in an enviable position. Pendall, who’s a city and regional […]
Krestia DeGeorge
Posted inNews & Opinion
Following the money and the benefits
To some people, it’s just another way government can help the business community improve things for all of us. For others, it’s a form of corporate welfare, public money headed to those who need it least. The County of Monroe Industrial Development Agency, an arm of county government, provides assistance to businesses that are expanding, […]
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Questioning casinos
A December 16 panel discussion about what a casino in downtown Rochester might be like showed at least one thing: The issue is still in the forefront of many people’s minds. A crowd of well over 100 gathered at the Rochester Riverside Convention Center for the session, which was convened by Rochester Mayor Bill Johnson. […]
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Your next big gamble
If you’re like most people — about 70 percent at the time of this writing — you’ve put off making a decision about your electricity supply until the last possible minute. Well, the last possible minute has arrived. After December 30, Rochester Gas & Electric will automatically make the decision for everybody who hasn’t made […]
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Hurt and anger in the neighborhoods
“Anger is a secondary emotion. The first emotion is hurt. Our kids are angry, but initially they are hurt. They’re in excruciating pain; they have nothing to look up to, nothing to look forward to.” Those words came from one of the many speakers at a December 7 community forum, attended by about 60, mostly […]
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Switch hitter: A lefty gets it right?
Bill Smith still remembers the moment he began to think that one of his Democratic colleagues in the county legislature might make a good Republican. Recalling a casual policy discussion he was having with Chris Wilmot, the Republican majority leader describes Wilmot’s dialogue as “very lucid and a very insightful analysis of what the core […]
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Great Lakes, cold feet: Ontario backs off water deal
Great Lakes basin officials and environmental groups on both sides of the US-Canada border are worried about the fate of their water. But while all involved agree that more protections are necessary, Ontario officials made waves November 15, when they announced they won’t sign the most recent draft agreements aimed at providing those protections. […]
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City school district eyes a downtown landmark
The historic Bevier Building could be the new home for some of the staff at the Rochester school district’s central office. Krestia DeGeorge In 1910, when the Mechanics Institute was looking for more space, there were no statutes protecting historic buildings. That’s how the Rochester Institute of Technology’s predecessor was able to tear down the […]
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The future of death
Shortly after 2 a.m. Friday, the state of North Carolina executed Frank Chandler by lethal injection for the murder of 90-year-old Doris Poore. Less than 10 hours later, beside a tree planted in front of the downtown Hall of Justice, a group of about 20 Rochesterians gathered with Chandler and others like him in mind. […]
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Closing time for city schools
Tucked away between Hickory and Gregory Streets in the city’s South Wedge neighborhood sits a beautifully restored school. Students no longer attend classes here, though. The building’s classrooms have been given new life as upscale condominiums. What was formerly an administrator’s office was recently advertised for a price just south of six figures. Reused buildings […]
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Libraries lose
Accused of using one-time funds to support libraries in a partisan and unequal manner, Republicans in the state Assembly are striking back, saying it’s Democrats who are politicizing the issue. Both the Senate and Assembly originally restored cuts made by Governor George Pataki to libraries and library systems in the 2004 state budget. But when […]
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Ailing in Upstate: part two
That’s the finding of Losing Ground: Income and Poverty in Upstate New York, 1980-2000, a Brookings Institution report released earlier this fall by Cornell University City and Regional Planning Professors Rolf Pendall and Susan Christopherson. The pair found that taxes and other basic costs are rising here, while wages fail to reach national averages. Poverty […]
