Matthew
Friday, local artist and member of the national antagonistic group the Society
for the Representation of Society, has for a long time feared the
marginalization of art. So eight years ago Friday, then a student and now an
art professor at SUNY Oswego, and various other art, theater, and music
students thought they’d cause trouble — for art’s sake. Their subculture
backgrounds gave them the ammo, but also the stigma.
“The problem is, the type of culture
these subcultures produce isn’t always recognized in the way that, say, fine
art is recognized,” he says. “It’s invisible, and it’s not seen as having the
same value.”
So SRS set out to agitate and educate.
“The first thing we wanted to do was
stage most of our events in public as much as possible,” he says, “and do so in
a way that it wouldn’t look like something that was immediately identifiable
as, ‘That’s artwork you hang on the wall; this is music that you’d listen to.’
We think we have public space in today’s society. But public space is so
tightly controlled; it’s very limited.”
At first, SRS threw parties, invited
random graffiti artists, bands, and DJs, and had them collaborate, working off
the inspiration of one another’s art.
But then things got weird and
increasingly subversive. SRS, reacting to local xenophobia, posted 2000 flyers
around San Antonio, Texas, warning residents of giant
border-crossing cockroaches. Then there was the sticker campaign where various
official-looking decals were stuck all over cities across America, warning of surveillance
cameras in bathrooms and electrical shock from payphones and announcing various
businesses as a future site of Starbucks.
“A common strategy of ours,” says
Friday, “is to try to make something that looks just convincing enough.” The
art is in the reaction and chaos the projects create, though the definition is
still somewhat subjective.
“It’s always a struggle for us to find
a venue that’s willing to show what we do as art,” he says. “The other problem we
run into is a lot of the shit we do is illegal.”
For more info, to join, or suggest a project, log onto www.socrepsoc.com.
—
Frank De Blase
Schoolhouse rocked
February break is no vacation for the city school district’s
board members.
They’re
spending this week reviewing the recommendations announced last week by
Superintendent Manny Rivera for closing or
moving elementary schools.
Despite the
media frenzy surrounding the closings — at one point as many as five (or even
10) schools were said to be on the chopping block — Rivera called for
shutting down just a single school, School 37. He recommended that two more
(Schools 22 and 25) be relocated this year, and one more (School 54) next year.
He also recommended that specialty programs housed in a leased building on Hart
Street, including the Young Mothers Program, be
relocated.
One thing
the board won’t be considering is input from yet another public hearing.
There’s none scheduled, says Board President Darryl Porter.
“We had the
public hearings,” he says. “Now it’s time for us to review the superintendent’s
report.”
That the
report contains only one closure has raised some eyebrows, since staff and
programs, not building maintenance, represent the lion’s share of the cost of
operating a school. But Porter contends that the savings from Rivera’s
recommendations total about a million dollars.
“That makes
a big difference,” he says.
One reason
only a single school is listed for closure is uncertainty about charter and
parochial schools, says Porter. Two charter schools up for recertification soon
have not been doing well; in addition, officials of the Catholic Diocese have
talked about closing some of their elementary schools. If those schools stay
open and public-school enrollment keeps, will the district close more schools?
“That’s
something that we’re gonna always have to keep our eye on,” he says, but he
adds that he doesn’t expect any more closures in the next four or five years.
— Krestia DeGeorge
The
bus rolls on
Violence
was the least of Poor People United member Charles Kellum’s worries while
operating their emergency shelter bus. His concerns were more practical.
“The type of incident we foresaw
happening was concerning the propane,” he says. (PPU uses propane to heat its
bus.) And yet Tuesday night, February 15, J.J. O’ Connell, homeless and a
guest, was fatally stabbed on the bus by another homeless man. As if the cold
and the lack of volunteer help and funds weren’t enough, now PPU has to take
further steps.
“What we had to do is go back and look
at what we could do to increase safety so our guests feel safe, our volunteers
feel safe,” Kellum says. They’ll do so by installing a metal detector. In
addition, guests will no longer be allowed to bring their bags on board. More
space has been created to ease crowding, and Kellum hopes to soon have
councilors and medical professionals available.
“There’s a real strong commitment from
everyone,” he says. “The homeless have expressed that they would like us to
continue. The need is still there.”
Kellum says O’ Connell’s family plans
on setting up a memorial fund, with the proceeds going to PPU’s bus project.
—
Frank De Blase
Leading the Dems
When Monroe County
Democrats chose their new chairperson last week, they picked an experienced
politician with deep liberal roots. Attorney Richard Dollinger
succeeds Molly Clifford, whose resignation January 31 took many party leaders
by surprise.
Dollinger was a Monroe County Legislator from 1987 to 1992
and served in the State Senate for the next 10 years. In both seats, he was an
outspoken legislator, and he took solidly liberal positions. He has been a
strong advocate for state government reform.
He says he
sought the chairmanship reluctantly, but he talks about it with obvious
enthusiasm. Leading his party locally, however, may prove to be a bigger
challenge than it was to make his voice heard as a minority state senator.
Local Democratic elected officials often seem to be fighting each other as
forcefully as they are fighting their Republican opposition.
As she
announced she was giving up the position, Clifford blamed fractious elements
within the party. Dollinger must overcome that
divisiveness at a time when tensions are particularly high, with a Democratic
primary assured in the race for Rochester
mayor. He must also help raise enough money for the Dems
to mount strong challenges in the CountyLegislature race, where all 29
seats are up for election this year.
— Mary Anna Towler
Following your money
Eleven area businesses, a law firm, and a major arts
institution are the latest to receive public subsidies in the form of tax breaks approved by the Monroe
County Industrial Development Agency.
COMIDA
approved the breaks at its February 15 meeting. The recipients and the number
of new fulltime jobs they expect to create:
StrongMuseum, for its expansion; 15 new
jobs.
Gastroenterology
Group of Rochester, 125
Lattimore Road, for a move and expansion; at least
two new jobs.
Elmwood
Dental Group, 1950 South Clinton Avenue,
for a renovation and expansion; three new jobs.
Upstate
Roofing Inc., 1300 Brighton Henrietta Townline Road;
the company will buy four new vehicles; two new jobs.
Ernest R.
Kimball Inc. hauling company, 1807 Trebor Road, Webster, to buy a dump truck;
one new job.
Woods Oviatt
Gilman law firm, 700 Crossroads Building, for computer upgrades and equipment;
two new jobs.
Dakksco
Pipeline Corp., 999 Behan Road,
for new equipment; one new job.
Comfort
Care Family Dental Group, 2024 West Henrietta Road,
for renovation and expansion; two new jobs.
Lone Star
Recreation Inc., 557 East Ridge Road; to renovate a former tennis club and
skate park; six new jobs.
Harding’s
Towing II Inc., 90 Centre Drive,
to buy four trucks; one new job.
Green
Meadows-Rochester LLC, D&W Diesel Inc., 20 Saginaw
Drive, for an expansion; four new jobs.
Ontario
Exteriors, 388 Mason Road,
Fairport, to move into a new facility; two new jobs.
85 Allen
LLC, 1 South Washington Street,
to develop the vacant ArtcraftBuilding
in downtown Rochester for mixed residential
and commercial use; 15 new jobs.
COMIDA has
been under scrutiny by the activist group Metro Justice for its liberal
approval of tax breaks — even for companies planning to create only one new
job — and for approving projects for businesses that promise to simply
maintain their current level of jobs.
— Mary Anna Towler
This article appears in Feb 23 – Mar 1, 2005.
