Reader feedback 6.23.04

THE PROBLEMS IN FOSTER CARE

I largely agree with Richard Wexler’s assertions about the
overuse of foster care and the need for other options (“A court’s eugenics
revival,” June 9). However, I don’t see how he can conclude that private
providers of institutional care are at the heart of the problem.

            As a former
employee of Hillside, I can attest to the following: Hillside’s
staff is well aware of the literature showing the weak effect of residential
treatment. For at least 20 years, they have been persistent in seeking out
options to prevent children from entering care or to shorten stays to the
minimum needed to stabilize a crisis.

            They have
used every opportunity to link residential with community-based services and
have been committed to a high degree of family involvement. It is federal and
state requirements that keep them tethered to per-diem payments, not their
blue-chip board of directors.

            And several
years ago, MonroeCounty
passed up the opportunity to access a federal-state waiver program that would
have allowed alternate uses of money earmarked for foster care only. It should
also be noted that Hillside’s residential service is a
regional resource serving many counties in western New
York. It is not dependent on Monroe
to keep its beds filled.

            I know that
entrenched systems are responsible for more pervasive atrocities to children
than poor, incompetent parents. And I am aware that private institutions can
find themselves more loyal to public bureaucracies than they are to families.
This unholy alliance arises not from cronyism but from the need to meet basic
quality requirements like assuring alert overnight staff and 24-hour nursing.

            Ernie Saward — U of R Medical School professor and one of the
founding fathers of managed care — used to say that “form follows
funding.” Private organizations are eager to be innovative — just look
at the range of services they offer — but they are stuck with obsolete public
funding systems that baffle even their blue-chip boards.

            Susan B. Price, Penn Lane, Penfield

            Richard Wexler replies: It is true that
the federal government pours huge amounts of money into foster care and very
little into efforts to prevent it; it is one of the biggest problems in child
welfare. Form does indeed follow funding. But whenever anyone proposes making
this funding more flexible, it is child-welfare agencies that howl the loudest.

            Right now,
the national trade association for public and private agencies, the Child
Welfare League of America, is fighting just such a plan. If Hillside
has been urging CWLA to stop blocking reform, I’d love to see that
correspondence.

            Second,
though the federal government requires a lot of its money to be spent on foster
care, it doesn’t require per-diem reimbursement. If MonroeCounty wanted to create financial
incentives to reduce time in these facilities, it could do so. When Illinois
did this, it cut its foster care population from more than 50,000 in 1997 to under 20,000 today, and independent monitors found that
child safety improved.

            And third,
the best and the boldest institutions are willing to put their own futures on
the line to persuade states to fund innovative alternatives. EMQ Child and
Family Services in Northern California cut its
residential beds from 130 to 30; the remaining children are served more
effectively at less cost in the community. Youth Villages did much the same in Tennessee.

            For more on
the issue of residential treatment centers, I recommend an excellent series in
the Westchester Journal News,
available at www.nyjournalnews.com/rtc.

DOMA’s threat

Shame on State Senators Alesi and Maziarz for co-sponsoring DOMA, the Defense of Marriage Act
(Senate bill 2220). Obviously they have caved in to the conservative Christian
rhetoric of extremism. Alesi and Maziarz
have slapped the faces of approximately 70,000 constituents.

            The people
of this community demand a better response than the idiotic cliché, “One
man-one woman… the right way” or that “Adam and Steve”
nonsense. Have these politicos forgotten about the separation of church and
state?

            The sheer
gall of the Rev. Duane Motley of Spencerport stating that “the government
doesn’t have the right to change the definition.” Isn’t this exactly what
they are trying to do?

            This issue
tears at the heart of the fundamental rights, responsibilities, and privileges
of every tax-paying citizen. Our local senators have made their position clear.
The people of the Rochester area
will make their position known when we vote in the next Senate election.

            OveOvermyer, East Main Street, Rochester

RAISE THE STATE’S MINIMUM WAGE

I am a mechanical-engineering graduate student finishing
thesis work at the Rochester Institute of Technology. The decision to support a
living minimum wage affects a large cross section of the state. Over 1.2
million workers stand to gain from the legislation that State Senate Majority
Leader Joe Bruno refuses to allow to the Senate floor for a vote. Among them
are students who work hard, bury themselves in loan debt, suffering many
financial hardships along the way, and are then offered the
“privilege” of working for $6 an hour to make ends meet at the very
learning institution claiming to support them.

            Not that
the true working poor are less deserving; this is simply an additional
contradiction of the myth that a minimum wage is a handout to lazy, unmotivated
workers.

            On the
contrary, an inadequate minimum wage is a handout to rich service-industry and
retail conglomerates such as Wal-Mart, McDonalds, Home Depot, and Borders,
whose quarterly profits leave the state as fast as they are made. Living on
$10,700 a year may be possible for a 20-something with a donor car from her
parents, no children, and a bright future to look forward to, but it is a dead
end for a mother trying not only to support a child, but to offer her child a
better life.

            Shouldn’t a
fair opportunity for children be something America
is about? No, what America
is about is allowing a bill — supported by all 24 New York State Senate Democrats
and two-thirds of Senate Republicans — to languish yet another year in a
committee, under the control of one man who is, in turn, controlled by those
who would seek to rob our state of our wealth.

            That is the
case — unless you do something about it.

            Evan Kastner, Burwell Road, Irondequoit

JAZZED UP

Thanks for your insightful review of the Rochester
International Jazz Festival (“All that Jazz,” June 16). You are right to point
to the buzz generated by artists such as Cuong Vu,
Raw Materials, James “Blood” Ulmer and Billy Bang. These musicians
show that jazz, far from being a museum music, is an
exciting, vital, living thing.

            We’re in
the midst of an incredibly creative and fruitful time for jazz and improvised
music, and the RIJF should continue to showcase such cutting-edge music.

            Red Wierenga, Gibbs Street, Rochester

SAVING CRCDS

I have been a student at ColgateRochesterCrozerDivinitySchool
since January 2002. As this is a small community, I know virtually every
student who attends, if not by name, certainly by face. I have spoken with
every student at one time or another. At no time has any student expressed the
sentiment to me that “the Ambrose Swasey
Library, its staff, and collections” are “the very reason they chose this
school.” (The Mail, June 9).

            There are
myriad reasons for responding to a call from God. However, I guarantee that a
life of service to the people of God is not based on one’s access to a library.
I’m fairly certain that Jesus, the Prophets, and I’ll wager even Moses had no
recourse to a library. Yet each of these became exemplary servants of God.

            On September 11, 2001, I watched on the
BBC dumbfounded as the second plane slammed into the Towers. Immediately,
Second Peter, Chapter 3, Verse 10 came to my mind: “But the day of the
Lord will come like a thief (in the night), and then the heavens will pass away
with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth
and everything that is done on it will be disclosed.”

            In perhaps
one of the most tragic days our nation has ever faced, I discerned a calling
from God. Surely some of the victims put off something they wanted to do in
their lives until a later time, but that day destiny intervened. I could no
longer gaze up at the “castle” on the hill that is CRCDS and think to
myself, “someday….”

            I own a
farm down in Wayland, New York.
It is the “family farm”; although it will pain her to allude to her age, my
wife has lived there 40 years. I have raised four children there and two
grandchildren. Like any farm these days, the financial stress of maintaining it
is immense. Choosing to study for the ministry has not brought any additional
resources into our checking account. In fact, the opposite is true. However, my
wife and family have supported me 100 percent, believing in my calling.

            It has
become necessary for my family to make adjustments. Due to the strain on our
budget, we are forced to “down-size” by selling our home and some of the
acreage. We will rebuild at a later date on another part of the farm. But the
point is, for the financial survival of my family and farm, barring a miracle,
we must sacrifice the family homestead.

            The mission
of ColgateRochesterCrozerDivinitySchool is to facilitate the
spiritual growth of the people of God in the western New
York area. It is essential that the administration
make the tough decisions necessary to insure the survival of this mission. I
have trusted the faculty to enlighten and enrich my spiritual growth. God has
been with them through these times. I believe that the Spirit that guides my
teachers and mentors is the same Spirit who guides the administration.

            Derek Davis, Warren Hill, Cohocton

TINSTAAFL!

It is great news that Hickey-Freeman will remain in Rochester
with its jobs and positive economic impact and image for our community. So
what’s the bad news? Once again, our state and local governments have
intervened with taxpayers’ money to advantage one firm over others. Maybe the
politicians at least got a new tailored suit for their support.

            New
York taxpayers are kicking in $3.8 million, city
taxpayers are kicking in $1.2 million, for a taxpayer subsidy of $5 million. Of
course, this is a pittance compared to Renaissance Square, the Fast Ferry and
terminal, Pae-Tec Park, Frontier Field, and the
numerous COMIDA projects that hand out tax dollars (or abate taxes for decades)
to the well connected and those wise enough to curry the favor of elected
officials. (And then never even create half the promised jobs.)

            Let’s not
forget the millions spent on buildings and “research” at universities
(InfotonicCenter,
RIT, Strong-U of R, etc.).

            Easily
influenced elected government officials are making the decisions about who gets
tax money, not taxpayers. And to fund the favorite, privileged, connected projects,
all other taxes are higher. Remember
TINSTAAFL: There is no such thing as a free lunch.

            D. Giambattista, Rosscommon, Fairport

LOOKING OUT FOR THE TAXPAYER

Is anyone performing due diligence in the City of Rochester?

            Buffalo’s
Business First reported that the
number of Canadians making overnight trips to New York
dropped 8.2 percent between 2002 and 2003. Spending by the Canadian visitors
fell more sharply, 15.8 percent. The same trend held in the opposite direction:
New Yorkers made fewer overnight trips to Canada
in 2003, with a year-to-year decline of 15.9 percent.

            Despite
this data, we have invested multi-million dollars in the fast ferry in a veiled
attempt to create a market where no demand for such service exists. Yet CATS,
in its pitch to our political leaders, sold a bill of goods based on 400,000
total riders (originally 700,000) for its service, with half of them being
Canadians. Never mind that the Rochester Visitors Bureau states that, on
average, about 60,000 Canadians visit Rochester
every year.

            CATS’
business model is based on a 333 percent increase in Canadian visitors to the
area. Did anyone bother to check the numbers? Was RGTA asking these questions,
and was this why they were shut out of the fast-ferry project?

            Additionally,
we now have reports, which have been long rumored, of funding issues for the
operator of the fast ferry, CATS, and its ability to pay Austal for the ship
itself:

            On top of
this, CATS now wants video lottery terminals not only on the ship itself, but
also in its terminal to help pay for “unforeseen expenses.” Unforeseen
expenses? How is it even remotely possible that CATS was unaware that it had to
pay pilots’ fees of $1.7 million a year to dock the shop in the Port
of Rochester because the boat is
not registered in the US,
or that Canadian customs would want up to $1 million in customs fees? Who did
the due diligence here?

            Or was this
the same process that gave us a $30 million failure known as HighFalls? Or perhaps this was the same
process that has led to an open-air stadium being built right next to another,
funded by the taxpayers? By the way, latest reports show that this project may
have also been ill-planned.

            Is anyone
watching the store?

            Is it time
for the state Attorney General’s office to investigate these heavily taxpayer
funded debacles?

            Bernard J. LoVerde Jr., Brick Landing Place, Webster

REAGAN, REMEMBERED

The other paper in town wanted recollections of Ronald
Reagan, but only this paper would dare to print what my recollections are:

            I was
attending SUNY Geneseo at the time of his presidency,
and my friends and I were concerned about spiraling defense spending and
unemployment. We worried about the political reflexes of a 74-year-old when it
came to pushing The Little Red Button, and about the lack of oversight that
allowed Iran-contra to happen. Reagan might have challenged Gorbachev to
“tear down this wall,” but Gorbachev’s perestroika allowed it to
fall.

            I remember
the years under Reagan not with a carefree optimism but with hopeless anger as
my father and others like him were thrown out of their manufacturing jobs after
systematic union busting. (Remember the air traffic controllers being led away
in chains? So much for “freedom of assembly.”)

            That said,
I do wish my condolences to Nancy Reagan and her family and friends. I wouldn’t
wish the suffering journey of Alzheimer’s on anybody.

            Linda Pratt, Cove Circle, Penfield

I was appalled, as were countless
friends of mine both in and out of Rochester,
when Mayor William Johnson said that former President Ronald Reagan was a nice
enough fellow, but he set us back a lot.

            Who the
heck are you speaking for, Mr. Mayor? MonroeCounty? The City of Rochester?
A tiny wedge of curmudgeon cranks?

            As a
longtime resident of the city, I am sick and tired of politicians like Johnson,
who cannot even give a dignified tribute to probably one of the most beloved
leaders of all time. I read many eulogies, many given by Democrats, and even a
partisan like Dr. William Cook of SUNY Geneseo
admitted to some of Reagan’s successes in office. People can talk about the
Iran-Contra Affair or Reaganomics until they are blue in the face, but Reagan’s
accomplishments and optimism overshadow his personal failings, which is
something Clintonites always contend for their hero.

            Michael Meggison,
Rochester

President Reagan had asked Justice Sandra Day O’Connor to
read a favorite passage of his from a speech by Governor John Winthrop in 1630
to the settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The catch phrase is from
Matthew 5:14: “…Consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill….” Winthrop’s
theme was that if the settlers behaved badly, they would bring shame upon
themselves, their religion, and their god.

            President
Reagan was taken with the pious romance of the Winthrop
speech, but he failed to notice that by 1678 the colonists had accomplished the
dispossession and genocide of the Wampanoags, and
that the Salem witch trials
happened in 1692. Hardly a shining example.

            As for
Reagan’s accomplishments, the appropriate funeral oration should include
paraphrased sentences from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar: ‘I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. The evil that
men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones. So let it
be with Caesar….”

            Ron Johnson, Sutherland Street, Pittsford

WRITING TO CITY

We welcome and encourage readers’ letters for publication.
Send them to: themail@rochester-citynews.com or The Mail, City Newspaper, 250
North Goodman Street, Rochester14607.

            Our guidelines:
We don’t publish anonymous letters — and we ask that you include your street
name and city/town/village. We don’t publish letters that have been sent to
other media. While we don’t restrict length, letters of under
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clarity and brevity. And in general we don’t publish letters (or longer “op-ed”
pieces) from the same writer more often than about once every two months.

This article appears in Jun 23-29, 2004.