Ten candidates, four seats. The ballot might be telling you that broad changes are in the offing for Rochester City Council this election season. But don’t believe the hype. Change and City Council don’t necessarily go hand-in-hand. Democrats dominate voters in the city of Rochester. And City Council, to a member, mirrors its constituents. Aside […]
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Town supers near the finish line
With the primaries safely in the past, most Rochester-area suburban elections are over before they’re over. Whoever was lucky enough to win the Republican endorsement can coast. But there are still some town elections worth watching — because a particular primary turned the tables, or because a race involves issues that may resonate beyond […]
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Sizing up the battle for school board
There are 10 candidates running for four open seats on the Rochester School Board this year. Four Democrats will face off against four Republicans, an Independence candidate, and a candidate running on the Working Families line. The Democrats — Malik Evans, David Perez, Willa Powell, and Shirley Thompson — were profiled in City Newspaper‘s […]
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The great race: Maggie Brooks vs. Bill Johnson
Read more about “The great race” in the News Articles section here This year’s campaign for county executive is a crucial one. Monroe County is faced with major budget problems, a weak economy, loss of manufacturing jobs, small population growth, and a decline in the population of young adults. Because current County Executive Jack […]
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Bill Johnson
William A. Johnson Jr. was elected 64th mayor of the City of Rochester in November 1993. He was re-elected without opposition in November 1997 and won a third term in November 2001. Under Johnson’s leadership, the City of Rochester has initiated a variety of innovative programs, including the Neighbors Building Neighborhoods Program (considered a […]
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Maggie Brooks
Maggie Brooks was appointed county clerk by Governor George Pataki in April 1997. She won a full four-year term later that year and was reelected in 2001. As county clerk, Brooks oversees a $54 million a year operation that includes the county’s downtown lands records office, which handles legal recordings and filings, along with […]
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Bill Johnson Chart
TAXES Maggie Brooks and Bill Johnson have diametrically opposed views on this issue. Johnson says although property-tax increases would be a “last resort,” he can’t rule them out because economic growth won’t happen fast enough to solve the county’s financial problems. Freezing the property tax levy — the amount the county takes in — as […]
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Maggie Brooks Chart
TAXES Maggie Brooks has vowed to continue County Executive Jack Doyle’s policy of freezing the property tax levy — the amount of property tax money the county takes in. The result has been continuing cuts in the county property tax rate. The policy is crucial, she says, to attracting and maintaining businesses. It’s also, she […]
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Toughing it out for DA
Since the Nixon era begat the “modern ‘get tough’ movement” — to use the Sentencing Project’s term — the criminal justice system has been rough on people. A new Sentencing Project study says the US rate of incarceration in 2002 hit “a record high” of 702 inmates per hundred thousand population. Russia took second place, […]
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Sleight of hand
It’s not so much a feeling of desperation; that implies a certain quickness — a racing, clinging quality. No, the mood in the St. Paul waiting area is slower, somehow. Men sleep. People wander in and out, checking the jobs-posting boards — nearly empty at 3:30 p.m. on this particular Friday — and to […]
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Medicaid: costs as benefits
Here’s one about a gift that keeps on taking. Last month Citizens for Justice released a study of federal tax cuts and their effects over the next six years. New York, says the group, stands to gain $78.2 billion over that period from the cuts, more than $4,000 per capita. But because the cuts force […]
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Uniters, not dividers: the towns evolve
Is “bi-lithic” a word? The play on “monolithic” may not be in the dictionary, but it should be available for this year’s elections. The word would neatly describe the city-versus-suburb dynamic that undergirds various contests — county executive, district attorney, and even some town supervisors — making this locality appear like two stone fortresses […]
