The footage of the arrest, beating, and subsequent treatment of Christopher Pate is now available for all of us to see, and it is incredibly troubling, in multiple ways. In May 2018 two white Rochester police officers, thinking that Pate, a young black man, resembled a burglary suspect, stopped him as he was walking in […]
Mary Anna Towler
Mary Anna Towler is a transplant from the Southern Appalachians and is editor, co-publisher, and co-founder of City. She is happy to have converted a shy but opinionated childhood into an adult job. She credits a grandfather for instilling in her a love of politics. And she makes no apology for her liberal views.
Posted inNews & Opinion
Looking for America on the Fourth of July
Insisting on adherence to the law is one thing. Failing to provide humane treatment for desperate people is another.
Posted inNews & Opinion
The Dems’ debates: risk and potential
If the candidates focus on issues rather than tearing one another apart, the debates could play an important role in a crucial US election.
Posted inNews & Opinion
City starts planning to remove more of the Inner Loop
City officials took the first step this week toward removing the rest of the Inner Loop slicing through the northern edge of downtown Rochester.
Posted inNews & Opinion
Primary night results
The unofficial results are in: there were a few upsets, some seasoned incumbents also pulled through, and for one City Council seat and one city school board seat, the results are too close to call.
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There’s no one ‘fix’ for the RCSD’s problems
Some of the district’s problems may be too hard to solve without some dramatic reforms and initiatives. We need to talk about that.
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Warren: put state RCSD takeover on the ballot
Mayor Lovely Warren stepped up her push for a state takeover of the Rochester City School District. She wants city residents to vote on the issue.
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A changing City Council faces major challenges
The City of Rochester continues to be a place of sharp contrasts: deep, persistent poverty existing side by side with affluence, college graduates working in tech firms a mile or so from neighborhoods where high-school drop-outs are hanging out on street corners. A medical center’s research labs in one quadrant of the city, drug dealers […]
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Trump, Mueller, and the country’s future
Trump and the Republicans’ attack on the country’s values continues. Impeachment seems futile. And Democrats risk losing in 2020.
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Scott predicts progress, regardless of PAB vote
Rochester took its most dramatic step yet last week in a decades-long search for a better system of police oversight. In a unanimous vote, City Council passed legislation creating an independent Police Accountability Board. The legislation still faces a public referendum, and it will be on the ballot in the November election. But if it […]
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It’s time to let the state try to fix the RCSD
Rochester seems to have squashed a perfectly reasonable proposal: one that could short-circuit the district’s cycle of dysfunction, inject some stability, and give the community several years to talk about options.
Posted inNews & Opinion
Coalition finds pluses, minuses in RPD’s body-worn camera use
Rochester police officers have been using body-worn cameras for nearly three years, and so far, a citizens’ group monitoring the program is giving it “generally high marks.” But city officials need to make improvements in key areas, the group says. The Rochester Police Department began using body-worn cameras in the summer of 2016. In 2017, […]
