Just doing his
job
Ron
Harris has been manufacturing and encoding CD-ROMs for the federal government
for almost two years. But before he could do his job properly, his machine had
to be outfitted with a super-sized computer screen, because he is nearly blind.
Harris
says he had to get so close to the original touch screen to see it, he would
accidentally hit the buttons with his face or hands.
He
is one of more than 70 blind or visually impaired people with a manufacturing
job at Rochester’s Association
for the Blind and Visually Impaired-Goodwill on South
Clinton Avenue. In addition to manufacturing
(jobs performed on contract for both local and international companies), there
are other job programs, including retail (staffing for the used clothing store
across the street), call-center staffing (ABVI-Goodwill answers over 10,000
calls a week for the EPA’s National Lead Information Center hotline), and food
service (the ABVI-Goodwill Hospitality Group provides meals and snacks to
daycare centers, schools, and senior centers).
For one of the ongoing manufacturing
jobs, workers build fluid transfer manifolds, which are subassemblies for
medical imaging machinery. The subassemblies — made from molded plastic
piping and other parts — need to be precisely made, and there are 900
different configurations. The workroom, empty on a recent visit, has 900
corresponding fixtures — patterns made with nails and plywood — hanging
from the walls. With the fixtures, workers can make their parts by touch.
“Where there’s a will, there’s a
way,” says Joseph Kells, sales and marketing manager.
Kells says that ABVI-Goodwill’s accurate work with
the subassemblies has helped the contracting company reduce its repair costs.
He hopes successes like that will help break down stereotypes about what blind
people can and cannot do.
Back
in an all-white, pressurized room, Ron Harris doesn’t think he’s moving
mountains. He watches his screen, listens to the machine, presses a few
buttons, waits for a stack of CDs to come out, and packages it. “That’s about
it,” he says, and shrugs.
ABVI-Goodwill
is located at 422 South Clinton Avenue. For info:
232-1111, www.abvi-goodwill.org.
— Erica Curtis
Devilish
design details
Our
newspaper was going “out the door” to the printer November 25 as Rochesterians gathered downtown to hit the Rochester Central Station proposal head on. It looked like the
meeting, part of the public comment process for the station’s environmental
assessment, would be a big draw.
The sides certainly were drawn
beforehand on big questions like these: Is the designated site the right one?
What will happen to the 19th-century buildings on the northwest corner of Main and Clinton? Is the
station needed at all?
Of course, political maneuvers have
largely bulldozed any alternative to the plan, which was pumped shamelessly by
RGRTA chair Bill Nojay and friends until most elected
officials caved. Still, it was surprising to get a statement from the local
chapter of the American Institute of Architects that essentially boosts the Nojay plan. Especially after local history- and
architecturally-minded people had begun organizing to save the Main-and-Clinton
buildings.
On November 20, after a long
internal process, AIA Rochester said it “supports the proposition… but
with some concerns.” The group wants the new transit center to maintain
“connectivity with pedestrian foot traffic” (sic), use
“appropriate design elements” (possibly incorporating features of the
old buildings, which would be demolished), and preserve “environments that
enhance our experience.” But the AIA’s bottom
line is this: “The new bus terminal/station provides a fresh start for a Main Street resurgence
and a step towards growth in the development of greater Rochester.”
It’s
necessary “to move forward with a plan,” says AIA president-elect
Allen Rossignol. “Something needs to be
done.”
Somehow we’re reminded of what was
thought decades ago about the real Central Station — the Claude Bragdon masterpiece that was demolished and later replaced
by the “enhanced environment” of the current Amtrak
quasi-whistle-stop. (The Bragdon station’s archways
are the model for Nojay’s grand design.) But at least
discussion on the proposed station will keep going after the November 25
meeting. The AIA statement says the group’s Urban Design Committee will soon
host a “design and planning event for Main Street”
(date/time and location TBA).
Architect Joni Monroe, head of the RochesterRegionalCommunityDesignCenter, puts
emphasis on this ongoing public process. It will be essential to hold a design charrette for downtown redevelopment, she says. “The
issues,” she says, “are much more far-reaching than the transit
center site.” She adds the CommunityDesignCenter will soon
bring local leaders together to brainstorm a way forward.
God forgive us
Looks
like Bob Lonsberry may be trying to martyr himself all the way to state
office.
In a column last Friday, November
21, the former WHAM 1180 AM host announced a dual intention: to be rehired by
the station that fired him for making racially offensive remarks about
Rochester’s mayor on the radio; and to explore a run for state assembly. The
column appeared on Lonsberry’s website,
www.boblonsberry.com.
“It was more than a job and more
than just a radio show,” writes Lonsberry about his
time at WHAM. “It was part of people’s lives, including my own, and it has been
illogically and unfairly destroyed.”
As a potential candidate, Lonsberry lists among his pet issues: property rights,
agriculture, the economy, sportsmen’s interests, and gun-owners’ rights.
“Oddly, the events surrounding my
firing have not damaged my position in the community, but clarified and
enhanced it,” he writes. “My firing, in fact… would probably be a positive
issue in my campaign and contribute to making it successful.”
A New York state
assemblyman who believes calling African-Americans orangutans is A-OK and would
be a “positive issue” in his campaign? Sounds about right.
Not.
Medi-stabs in the back
Over
the weekend, media reports dwelled on the decision by AARP national leaders to
back the Medicare “reform”
bill, which adds a prescription drug benefit — but more generously
benefits the drug companies, and worse, subsidizes the drift toward Medicare
privatization. Don’t forget, though, that legislators are ultimately to blame
for this pre-Thanksgiving turkey, which was passed by the House November 22
(220-215) and the Senate November 25 (54-44, with two not voting).
Here’s how our Rochester-area
legislators stacked up. US
Senators Chuck Schumer and Hillary Clinton, both
Democrats, voted no. Representative Louise Slaughter, D-Rochester, also voted
no. Representatives Jim Walsh, Amo Houghton, and Tom
Reynolds, all Republicans, voted yes.
Some footnotes about legislators who
are among the Democratic presidential hopefuls: Representatives Dick Gephardt and Dennis Kucinich both
voted no, as did Senator John Edwards. Senators John Kerry and Joe Lieberman
were recorded as “not voting.”
Sounding off
City
Newspaper’s music
listings have undergone some changes, starting with this issue. We’ve reverted to our
old practice of listing by band, underneath subheadings for the style of music
they play. Venue addresses and phone numbers are included with each listing.
And classical music is now listed under “classical” in the general music
listings. Comments? Write to themail@rochester-citynews.com.
Correcting
ourselves
In Herbert M. Simpson’s review of GevaTheatreCenter’s Pyretown (City Newspaper, November 19, 2003), he wrote that actor Chris
Thornton does not use a wheelchair off the stage. In fact, both Thornton and his
character are wheelchair-bound.
Also, the Critic’s Choice section of
Best of Rochester issue (City Newspaper, November
5-11, 2003), included some erroneous information about jazz pianist
Marian McPartland. McPartland
was part of Rochester’s music scene
in the ’60s and ’70s, often spending time with friend and composer Alec Wilder.
Her concert with trumpeter Byron Stripling was a WPOP concert, and not part of McPartland’s jazz series.
This article appears in Nov 26 – Dec 2, 2003.
