SCHOOL JOBS STILL DISPUTED The Rochester school district’s review of employee complaints, which was greeted with applause a month ago, has dissolved into anger, with some employees and clergy vowing to take their fight further. Superintendent Manuel Rivera had reviewed the cases of 27 former and current employees who said the district treated them unfairly […]
Metro ink
Posted inNews & Opinion
Metro ink – 1-10-07
PUCCINI WITH POPCORN If you’ve longed to hear the soaring arias at New York’s Metropolitan Opera but couldn’t find the time or money, now’s your chance. Through a partnership with three of the country’s biggest movie chains, some of the Met’s biggest stars are coming to a big screen near you. Late last month, the […]
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Metro ink -12-27-06
THE IMPERIAL MARCH While you ring in the New Year, Darren Blum will be prepping for his first Imperial March. Blum, a Rochester native, will be marching in the 118th Rose Bowl Parade in Pasadena, as one of 200 Imperial Stormtroopers, the infamous white-helmeted baddies from the “Star Wars” movies. Led by “Star Wars”creator and […]
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Metro ink – 12-20-06
PAYING FOR POLICE It was entirely predictable: When the county budget was approved last week, it was by a 17-12 margin — the ratio of Republicans to Democrats in the CountyLegislature. Still, the meeting wasn’t entirely devoid of interest. Democrats proposed four amendments, which were either voted down or declared out of order. Mostly they […]
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Metro ink – 12-13-06
PLAYING BY THE BOOK The inner vault of the Sibley Library at the EastmanSchool is a cool, arid room housing rare books and manuscripts. When visitors walk in, they often ask to see the oldest thing in the collection. Archivist David Peter Coppen is happy to oblige. He pulls down the Rochester Codex, a book […]
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Metro ink – 12-06-06
AN ARMCHAIR ARCHITECTURAL TOUR The Landmark Society of Western New York’s newest offering, “Historic New York: Architectural Journeys in the EmpireState,” is more than your typical, pretty coffee-table book. It’s also a tour guide to more than 100 architecturally and historically significant sites throughout the state. Five years in the making, the 225-page book captures […]
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Metro ink – 11-29-06
DEPARTURE The fight to keep one of the airport sculptures in its original location is over. Construction on the new business center where Nancy Jurs’ “Triad” once stood is proceeding, and Jurs says she was notified last month that her sculpture had been removed and stored. The notification came after she sent a letter to […]
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Metro ink – 11-22-06
WATER PLANT HEARINGS SET The state Department of Environmental Conservation will hold two public hearings on November 30 on the Monroe County Water Authority’s controversial plan for a new plant in Webster. Technically, the principal issues have to do with the water the plant would suck in from LakeOntario: an average of 35 million gallons […]
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Metro ink – 11-15-06
PLAZA PLANS? Why would the City of Rochester want to buy MidtownPlaza? For several reasons, maybe. But chief among them is fear. Fear that the wrong developer might buy it. City Council was to vote last night on approving an option to buy the massive complex. According to the terms of the deal, $250,000 gets […]
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Metro ink – 11-08-06
CHANGES AT THE D&C The local Gannett operation may be bolstering penetration by adding new publications every few months, but that doesn’t seem to be steering readers back to its core product. The most recent circulation figures are out and the Democrat and Chronicle followed the national trend, circulating 214,908 papers on Sundays compared to […]
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Metro ink – 11-01-06
BLEEDING BEECH TREES The grand historic homes built in the 1800’s by prominent Rochester families make East Avenue one of the city’s most alluring streets. And some of that attraction is due to the old trees that span the lawns of these grand homes. Among the most beautiful is the European beech (fagaceae sylvatica), but […]
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Metro ink – 10-25-06
Metro ink HELPING CITY TEENAGERS Before Coty Harris joined TeenCity at the Thurston Street YMCA, he says, he spent his time “just hanging outside walking up and down the street.” “I got nothing at home to do,” says Coty, a freshman at WilsonFoundationAcademy. Others, like Ayonna Titus, a seventh-grader at Frederick Douglass Preparatory School, say […]
