Reader feedback 8.6.03

Metro works

Once again county Republicans are showing their disingenuousness
and ignorance. Eight town supervisors demonstrated on the steps of City Hall on
July 24 in an effort to discredit Rochester Mayor and County Executive
candidate Bill Johnson, and confuse the voters about his position on metro
government.

                  Greece
Supervisor John Auberger’s remark that metro government “doesn’t work” is the
epitome of this ignorance, because in fact it does work. It works in Nashville.
It works in Indianapolis. It works in Miami-Dade. And it works in Louisville,
just to name a few places where it has brought down taxes and the cost of
government — two issues these hypocritical Republicans like to champion.

                  Ironically,
in most communities where some form of metro government has been adopted,
including Louisville, it’s been Republicans who have championed the cause.
Metro government is in fact not “bigger” government, it’s less government, a
concept that a true conservative would embrace.

                  What
these town supervisors are really afraid of is losing their power and their
little kingdoms. They’re afraid that any form of metro government will
eliminate the need for them and their inefficient, taxpayer-gouging
administrations.

                  In
reality — and this, I think, is the source of what some people perceive as an
inconsistency on Johnson’s part — consolidation, i.e., metro government,
would likely best be accomplished by keeping the towns and villages in place,
but with a much smaller role limited to the more local concerns. A majority of
municipal functions would be turned over to the metro-level government, where
they can be done at much lower operational, capital, and administrative costs.

                  The
consolidation of local government services recommended by Center for
Governmental Research, and adopted by the Council of Governments, essentially
is metro government, or at least the start of it. But it was backed into
without a well-thought-out plan. The hope of these Republican supervisors is
that they would get some of the money-saving benefits of metro government while
saving their less needed jobs.

                  What
they fail to see, however, is that this is just a bass-ackward approach to the
metro-government model, where their role and function would gradually diminish
while their salaries stayed at the same high level as long as they could get
away with it.

                  Louis T. Amico, Bardin Street, Rochester

Public broadcasting is in decline

Money may not be the root of all evil, but it’s the root that’s strangling public broadcasting. As
a fan of both PBS and NPR and as a current member of WXXI, I feel frustrated at
this steady decline.

                  Over
the years, the number of original quality programs has decreased while the
number of repeat broadcasts has increased. The number of fund drives, fund
programming, and fund appeals has increased to the point where it seems as
though we have short periods of uninterrupted programming sandwiched between
relentless appeals for money.

                  I
thought NPR had escaped this decline, but now both AM and FM have begun to show
signs of erosion: repeating shows in place of original ones, constant musical
fillers in the middle of talk and public affairs programming, and of course the
disturbing increase of commercials.

                  What
started out as commercial-free television and radio has become anything but. If
it looks and sounds like a commercial, it is
acommercial. Even if it’s short
and “tasteful,” it’s still a commercial interruption. Superficial marketing is
superficial marketing, whether the slogan is “Rochester Made for Living” or
“Dare to Be Interesting.”

                  Stations
like WXXI shouldn’t take most of the blame for this decline. They’re trying to
survive in tough economic times. As the Democrat
and Chronicle’s John Pitcher pointed out recently, the federal well has
been drying up for some time. State and local subsidies are flat. More than
ever, the (economically insecure) public is asked to help foot the bill. The
dare-to-be-digital campaign is knocking at the front door.

                  It’s
a sad commentary on our society that our elected representatives do not give
greater financial support of public broadcasting and its ability to enhance the
cultural life of this country.

                  Perhaps
the best we can hope for is that voters will remember this at election time.

                  Rick Taddeo, Irondequoit

Why we watch

I don’t think George Grella’s frothing vitriol is remedying
the situation he complains about — a pop culture he sees as hollow and as
contributing to the world’s downward spiral. What I’m more angry about is his
scathing condemnation of the average filmgoer as a mindless puppet of the whims
of movie CEO’s. Grella’s disdain will deter people from doing something about
the problems with pop film culture he aptly points out.

                  I
agree that pop film culture needs to be reformed: to do more to let budding
independent directors with new fresh talent add their creative juice to the
popular consciousness, and to not let a film’s sensation potential, rather than
its quality, determine whether to release it. But Grella doesn’t take into
account why people go to see these films.

                  I
like to watch action-adventure, sci-fi, and other blockbuster movies. I get
plenty of intellectual questioning, emotional stimulation, and philosophical
debate from real life. I watch media to escape my arduous everyday life, not to
have its hard edges bite into my mental flesh.

                  Grella
criticizes modern-day everyday life, but alienates and blames the victims of it
— the very people needed to counter it. I don’t need a movie that has earned
Grella’s seal of approval to tell me the world’s going to hell in a handbasket.

                  Phillip Miner, Cullens Run, Pittsford

                  George Grella’s response: It seems that
when I analyze a movie that falls into the category of art, foreign, or independent
film and suggest something negative, I am accused, usually with the addition of
personal insults, of being a slobbering, stupid barbarian, and probably
unwashed at that. When I analyze some popular film, using the same standards, I
am accused, again with some personal touches, of being an effete snob. It’s not
easy being George Grella, but I hope to continue all the same.

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This article appears in Aug 6-12, 2003.