Christiana Otuwa spent much of the last school year scrutinizing every potential suspension in the Rochester City School District. Otuwa, who is deputy superintendent of city schools, makes the final decision on whether a student should be suspended. She asks: Does the punishment fit the wrongdoing? Has the student received support services? Is it the […]
Metro Justice
Posted inNews & Opinion
Wage wars
Donating food to a food cupboard is obviously a good thing, says longtime community organizer Alison Clarke, but it doesn’t do anything to address the root causes of poverty and hunger. “People want to do things for people who are poor,” Clarke says, “but they don’t really understand the depth of the issues, where the […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
City schools’ suspensions challenged
A new report examining student conduct and discipline shows that suspensions continue to be alarmingly high in the Rochester school district. More than 54,600 days of instruction were lost due to suspensions during the 2012-2013 school year, the report says. And most of the suspensions were for minor offenses. A second finding is equally disturbing: […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Groups target sub-minimum wage for tipped restaurant workers
In New York, restaurants do not have to pay tipped workers the full $8 an hour minimum wage. Instead, they can pay a much lower base rate — somewhere between $4.90 and $5.65 an hour depending on the job and the employer — but the employer has to make up the difference if the worker’s […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Group says Cuomo should ditch tax cuts, boost school funding
Governor Andrew Cuomo’s 2014-15 budget proposal includes some tax cuts for businesses and New York homeowners, but those measures come at the expense of other important programs, says a group of local union leaders, community activists, and faith leaders. The local coalition is part of a statewide group that’s pushing back against Cuomo’s proposed tax […]
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Mayor talks homelessness ahead of activists’ march
Rochester Mayor Tom Richards and leaders of human service agencies in the city and county held a press conference this morning to explain everything the city does for the area’s homeless. It can’t be a coincidence that members of many social-justice groups, including Take Back the Land-Rochester and Metro Justice, will hold a housing march […]
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Housing march planned
Local social justice and political groups are joining forces to promote the concept of housing as a human right, and to get the City of Rochester to make tackling homelessness a priority. The groups, including Take Back the Land – Rochester, Metro Justice, Band of Rebels, Rochester Against War, and the Green and Working Families […]
Posted inSpecial Sections
The Alternative Fair
Mall-ternative shopping The holidays approach. Fear eats the soul as you contemplate tripping to the mall, or wandering through cyberspace. Wait! There is another way, with real people, real gifts, and childcare! Metro Justice will hold its 25th Annual Alternative Fair on Friday, December 1, from 6 to 10 p.m. and Saturday, December 2, from […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
To the streets: scenes from the protests
Anyone physically close to the Rochester crew that marched through New York City last week knows how determination smells — musty and rank, like a high-school locker room. While many of the 5,000 delegates to the Republican convention stayed in swanky hotels, ate at posh buffets, and saw a Broadway show, many more people […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
News Briefs 2.19.03
Garth eyes new home Staying true to his promise to keep his dance company stationed in downtown Rochester, Garth Fagan is considering the northwest corner of Main and Gibbs streets as a site worth developing for the company’s new dance studio and performance space. Commonly referred to as the old Rascal site, the northwest corner […]
