Reader Feedback 10.22.03

Urban threat?

Regarding
“Bob Feeds the Elephant” (October 1): According to Maggie Brooks, the idea that
metro government will bring the city’s perceived problems to suburban doorsteps
is “absolutely ludicrous”; the actual problem is that metro
government “threatens people’s choice of where they can live and where
they can send their kids to school.”

            Huh? What, exactly, is this
“threat” if not the urban bogeyman? Brooks’ language is
unsubstantiated fear mongering, clearly supporting the very statement she was
trying to refute. I would be curious to hear her give a more specific (and less
politically calculated) description of the drawbacks of consolidation.

            Regarding the same article, I was
surprised to see Mayor Johnson quoted phonetically (“wanna,”
“gonna,” “blamin”).
Spelling out these common oral contractions makes the mayor look backward and
inarticulate.

            Melissa
Nicholson, Merchants
Road, Rochester

Johnson
has record and respect

As
the race for county executive heats up, I have to say that I’m puzzled as to
why political commentators consider it a race at all with such mismatched
candidates.

            I first met Bill Johnson at a
political debate during the 1993 mayoral election. As a member
of the audience, I asked him what he would do to improve the city. He looked
straight at me and said: “Nothing. I can do nothing to improve our city by
myself, but we can. I challenge you
to help me better our city.”

            Bill Johnson’s legacy of governing
is a legacy of empowering citizens. He understands that his resources include
not only his staff of devoted managers, but more importantly, local and
national CEOs, agency directors, leaders of the faith community, and ordinary
folk like you and me.

            The years Mayor Bill invested in building
these coalitions have served our community well. The results are visible: a
fast ferry rerouting thousands of visitors and facilitating trade with our
neighbors to the north, a soccer stadium bringing jobs and investment to a
vacant area, a revitalized East End and High Falls, the Neighbors Building
Neighborhood and Renaissance 2010 initiatives, hundreds of new homes built in
the place of abandoned homes demolished at the city’s expense, acres of
community gardens, and the Music Fest. We have made a better city.

            This legacy yields national
recognition. The city won the coveted “AllAmericanCity” designation,
Governing Magazine named Johnson
Public Official of the Year, and the Enterprise Foundation called him “America’s Best Kept
Secret.” Few other mayors of large cities have our mayor’s record of achieving
community goals in a fiscally responsible way. He’s always balanced the city’s
budget and as a result, the City of Rochester maintains a
higher credit rating than MonroeCounty and any other
major upstate city. National leaders have come to know Mayor Johnson a man of
principle, reason and action.

            Such positive national exposure
converts directly into increased business activity and tourist dollars and an
improved economy. When Mayor Bill goes to Albany and Washington on behalf of
our community, decision makers already know who he is.

            As the Community of Monroe is faced
with this important choice this fall, I am reminded of that 1993 mayoral race,
when then-candidate Johnson faced another weak opponent. With his
characteristic straight-forwardness, Johnson responded to his opponent’s slings
by referring to his own published plan for action. In 2003, the Mayor responds
to his inferior opponent with a list of community accomplishments which we all
take pride in.

            What puzzles me most is that this
time the Republicans couldn’t find a candidate with at least some experience in
governing a community.

            I tell my children to judge a person
not by what he says, but by what he does. I don’t know the mayor personally; I
know him by his actions. William Johnson is the only real candidate for CountyExecutive.

            Elizabeth Laidlaw,
Rochester

Change
in Chili

When
the Republican administration strongly supported Jack Doyle’s attempt to get a
Thruway exit in Chili, I hoped it was only a bad error in judgment on the part
of our elected town officials. However, when they supported a commercial soccer
complex on Union Street, an annual
reassessment, giving away a town park, a windmill farm in South Chili, and now
a $14 million indoor sports complex, a pattern of bad choices emerged.

            When they held a Town Board meeting
at 6:30 a.m., when a
78-year-old grandmother was thrown in jail for a zoning violation, and when
public comment at Town Board meetings was shut down and only a truncated agenda
was given to the public, I knew we were in big trouble.

            Our 4-1 Republican Town Board is out
of control. And guess what? Three officials — Michael Slattery, Virginia Ignatowski, and Steve Hendershott
— are up for election on November 4. We need change.

            Chili is experiencing its greatest
growth spurt in its history. Open land is being gobbled up at an unprecedented
rate. Hundreds of apartments are springing up all over town. The only
restaurants we get are pizza shops. Do we really need more convenience stores? Gas stations? Our development is as out of whack as our
current Town Board is. Officials just aren’t listening.

            We need a clean sweep. We need
fresh, new faces, council people who will listen and respect what we want Chili
to look like down the road. The next two to four years are crucial to Chili’s
future. There are no second tries here.

            The Democratic Party has a slate of
energized, knowledgeable candidates who want to do it better. On November 4,
let’s give them a chance.

            Joseph
Kircher, Attridge Road, Chili

Eagle
on display

An
open letter to Howard Eagle: A few days prior to the School Board primary, you
or members of your campaign committee plastered your campaign posters all over
the northeast quadrant of the city. One poster wasn’t enough; utility boxes are
covered with them. I’ve even seen them on the plywood covering up windows of
empty storefronts and houses.

            Driving around and seeing this mess,
I hoped you would not win a spot on the School Board. You certainly wouldn’t be
a good role model for students. If students had glued paper all over city and
private property, they would have been arrested. However, it seems to be ok if
you are running for a seat on the school board. Nice lesson.

            Before the weather gets inclement,
get your committee back together and go out and have a scraping party. After
that, go to each of the city schools and write on a blackboard a hundred times:
“I will not vandalize city and private property.”

            Mary
E. Zeiner, Macbeth Street, Rochester

Writing
to City

We
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This article appears in Oct 22-28, 2003.