BLEEDING THE COUNTY
I was so glad to read your article about Neil Jaschik (“Growth Without Growth,” July 12). His has been a
consistent voice for reason in this community. His opinions on endless sprawl
while our population shrinks are right on the mark.
Unfortunately, a major project that will only greatly
increase urban sprawl is about to be implemented. The Monroe County Water
Authority is about to begin construction of a new $110,000,000 water treatment
plant in Webster. The final cost is sure to exceed the $110 million currently
estimated. The amazing thing is that there is absolutely no need for this
project — at least in MonroeCounty.
The existing water sources (in Greece
and the City’s Hemlock supply) are more than adequate to serve our declining
population. Has anyone heard of a water shortage or water pressure problem
anyplace in MonroeCounty
in years? The answer is a resounding no!
So why is the Monroe County Water Authority building the
Webster water plant? The announced intention is so it will be able to supply
more water to surrounding counties and expand the water distribution system
into more unserved areas in the adjoining counties.
This is absurd! Believe me, if you run a water line down a road, development will
surely follow, especially business development.
Businesses will not go to areas that do not have adequate
public water supplies. Push those water mains out into WayneCounty, where property taxes are
lower (primarily because of the Ginna nuclear power
plant), and development will surely follow just as morning follows night.
This is absurd. MonroeCounty is broke, but the Monroe
County Water Authority is spending $110 million-plus to bleed people and
businesses out of MonroeCounty.
And because it is an authority, this is happening with virtually no public
input and no governmental oversight.
Paul E. Haney,
Broadway, Rochester (Haney is the Monroe County Legislator from the 23rd district.)
WHERE ARE THE JOBS?
The “Emptied Out” articles on abandoned housing (May 17 and
24) miss the point and dance around what is wrong in most of New York State
(except for the big sucking noise that is New York City).
Jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs: where have all the jobs gone? If
there are no jobs, people cannot rent or own property. They cannot buy goods.
Property owners have little or no interest in keeping their property, let alone
keeping it up. Where there is no money for the populace, there is no future.
Where there are no jobs, there can be no high taxes, whether for the homeowner
or the business owner.
What are your politicians doing? It looks like nothing at
all. A lot of hand-wringing and blaming. Not one lick of movement. Measure
this, measure that. You cannot create home ownership among people who have no
jobs, thus no money.
And there is crime. Gangs, gangs, and more gangs. Then the
sad story from the politicians: that you cannot hire more police because there
is no money.
So let’s see some real reporting. Stir up your citizens and
make them demand more from their government officials. The city should be
trolling constantly for new businesses to come into Rochester.
The government should be offering incentive packages to high-tech companies. New
YorkState has
many colleges that turn out inventive and smart people.
I have always taken pride in saying that I come from
mid-state New York. But I don’t
acknowledge that much anymore. Start using your minds! Bring in the jobs, and
you will have a whole new economy. And your housing situation will begin to
take care of itself.
Marcia W. McLoughlin,
Scottsdale, Arizona(McLoughlin says she left New York
“because there were no good jobs.”)
FOLLOWING ORDERS
The first grievance against King George in the Declaration
of Independence is “He has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome
and necessary for the public good.” George Bush repeats this offense with
his “signing statements.” So is it “our duty to throw off such government,”
as the Declaration commands us?
Bill McCoy, Magee Avenue, Rochester
‘WHILE THERE IS TIME’
Anyone interested in how so many Germans let Hitler rise to
power? And once there, how they let his totalitarian regime take over their
country and cause such devastation? People in Germany
were an educated populace. How could they have let themselves become trapped in
such a situation?
If you want the answer, just look at what is happening in
this country. We are supposed to be a model of a freedom-loving democracy. One
of our rights is the right to a timely trial where we can be judged by our peers.
Looking at the history of totalitarian states, it’s easy to see the necessity
of the right to trial by jury.
Today a number of our citizens and others have been
imprisoned for years without a trial and without charges being brought against
them. We as a country have let the Bush administration bypass our jury system.
Hitler did not grab his power overnight. It happened little
by little. Perhaps every action seemed somewhat justifiable. Maybe this
happened again and again, until finally it took great acts of courage to voice
opposition, even as thousands upon thousands of innocent people were being
slaughtered by the state.
What we see around us is a sorrowful history in the
remaking. I for one will work to change its course while there is time.
Kenyatta DaCosta, Atkinson Street, Rochester
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 — and we don’t publish form letters generated by activist groups. While
we don’t restrict length, letters of under 350 words
have a greater chance of being published. We do edit letters for 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 Jul 26 – Aug 1, 2006.
