Such a deal! You’re subsidizing upscale offices
It is, to quote journalist David Cay Johnston’s book, all “perfectly legal.” MonroeCounty is offering lucrative tax breaks — originally designed to create jobs in distressed, high-poverty areas — to businesses in upscale suburban office parks. Some of them won’t create a single job and haven’t said they ever will. State Assemblymember Richard Brodsky,…
Reader feedback 4.7.2004
Homeless help, big-box sprawl, gay marriage, Green power
Spoiler — or salvation? Defending
The Nader candidacy
Family valued
Home on the Range Well, the marketing was very successful. Lila was dying to see Home on the Range, and maybe I was excited, too. It seemed goofy, with intriguing voice talent, and then there was the hoopla about it being the last, hand-drawn Disney animated feature. As Grandpa Jack Wilcox might say, it’s…
From start to twang
Each day in a dusty workshop on the second floor of a warehouse on Elton Street, art is born — functional art. Art that lives and breathes each time it is brought on stage, or set in a lap, or held closely and simply strummed. It’s a marriage of woods. The notes it renders speak…
Taste wars: the battle of the watercress
The contemporary definition of “epicure” would upset poor, old Epicurus. The father of philosophical materialism, Epicurus did stress the attainment of pleasure, but to him that meant tranquility, not constant gratification of the senses. Ah, well. These days, an epicure means a gourmand, or, “one with sensitive and discriminating tastes” (Merriam-Webster). To many, the…
A ticket out of the minors
It would be nice if PaeTecPark attracts Major League Soccer and makes Rochester a major-league city. Unfortunately, US soccer will probably never be “major league.” MLS won’t draw much more national interest than the Rhinos, and its long-term viability is uncertain. Our real ticket out of the minor leagues is NCAA Division I athletics.…
Moving the Brits to Mississippi
Despite a decidedly spotty, often shabby, occasionally even sordid record, English cinema displays a number of bright moments and impressive achievements. In addition to some quite remarkable directors and a legion of accomplished actors, in certain periods of their history British motion pictures virtually bubble with energy. While showcasing such talents as Alec Guinness…
Also playing…
The Dryden presents on the next two Tuesdays a series of films by Chris Marker. Marker, among other things, is a film essayist, and two recent, well-regarded films will be shown during the first night’s screening. (Two classics will be shown during the second, and will be reviewed here next week.) One Day in…
Also playing…
There is definitely something shocking about watching a major Hollywood heartthrob punch a woman in the face. To witness it on screen, however, is slightly more palatable than, say, seeing it happen at a corner table at Spago. That sock to the puss, along with a U2 song that’s about 25 years old at…
Body count
To honor the war dead and fill an information gap in US mass media, City Newspaper will run weekly lists of American/”Coalition” soldiers and Iraqi citizens killed during the ongoing occupation of Iraq. The totals: 609 American soldiers, 101 “Coalition” soldiers, and approximately 9,000 Iraqi soldiers and 10,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed in Iraq…
The XX files
I don’t care how fast the frickin’ ferry is — it can’t be fast enough for me. LakeOntario is a killer. I’ve developed a fear of it since learning about the thousands of ships that have sunk in the Great Lakes. And that’s if the thing makes it safely out of port. Last week’s accident…
Who raised taxes?
Who raised taxes? You’ve got to give them points for trying. Democrats in the county legislature have written a reform plan called the “Democratic Agenda for Fiscal Responsibility.” The plan calls for funding restoration to 13 programs, including the Baden Street Shelter, Urban League, Baby Love, and city school nurses. Money would be…
Car 54, where are you?
There are areas in the city of Rochester where people are not getting adequate police service. “The inequality of the calls for service right now in some areas compared to other areas, I think, [is] startling,” says City Council President Lois Giess. According to a study commissioned by the Rochester Police Department, there…
School improvement: the price is wrought
When you hear stories about New York State’s urban schools and budget problems, you might assume that only the “Big Five” urban districts (including Rochester) are in a bind. But a new report from the Campaign for Fiscal Equity says, basically, we’re all in this together. Well, most of us. On March 30,…
