Did you enjoy your two-month respite from local election news? I hope so, because that’s over now. On the national level, people started sizing up 2016 almost the second the 2012 elections ended. Hillary Clinton can’t buy a pair of shoes without people reading ulterior motives into the purchase. “Hillary bought flats today — a […]
Tom Richards
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Mayor: city will not go all out for theater
Don’t expect the City of Rochester to swoop in with a sweet offer to convince RBTL to build its new theater in downtown Rochester. If RBTL is serious about going to Irondequoit, Mayor Tom Richards says, it’ll go with his blessing. “I’m trying to be consistent with respect to what I think the civic responsibility […]
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[UPDATED] Yes, Rochester really would let RBTL go to Irondequoit
UPDATE: In a voice mail earlier today, RBTL board chair Arnie Rothschild said that the league has never attempted to raise money for a new theater, because city officials have never come out and said they want the theater. RBTL wouldn’t fund raise, he said, until the city made the theater project a priority. Rothschild […]
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Reckoning day nears for MCC campus
The future of Monroe Community College’s downtown campus might become clearer next month, or not. A year ago, the college’s Board of Trustees voted to move MCC out of the Sibley building in downtown Rochester. Board members recommended purchasing and renovating buildings in Kodak’s State Street complex, transforming that property into the new Damon City […]
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Presidential election boosts local candidates
Local political observers say they’re not surprised that incumbent Democrat Louise Slaughter beat Republican Maggie Brooks, the Monroe County executive, in their Congressional contest. But they are surprised, they say, by Slaughter’s margin of victory. According to unofficial results from the Monroe County Board of Elections, Slaughter bested Brooks by about 15 percentage points, 166,342 […]
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Truancy crackdown gaining steam
Rochester Mayor Tom Richards is proposing that the city kick-in $15,000 to support the school district’s new initiative to battle chronic truancy. That would be matched by $15,000 from the school district, and $10,000 from United Way. City Council will begin vetting the proposal next week. Poor attendance and high truancy rates are widely believed […]
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No handouts; just justice
Monday’s New York Post carried a story with this title: “Broke Cities Beg Gov Dime and Dime Again.” Cute headline. But the Post was talking about us. And it was quite an insult. According to Post writer Fredric Dicker, Rochester, Yonkers, and Syracuse “are ‘close to bankruptcy’ and are looking for a bailout from Gov. […]
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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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Richards says Post was wrong
Rochester Mayor Tom Richards says NY Post article is inflammatory and the city is not going broke.
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NY Post makes scary prediction for Rochester
Wow — unsettling news from the New York Post, if it’s true. Post columnist Fredric U. Dicker wrote today that “several of New York’s biggest cities,” including Rochester, are close to bankruptcy and “looking for a bailout from Gov. Cuomo’s administration.” Dicker says the mayors of Yonkers, Rochester, and Syracuse have been involved in “secret […]
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Sibley theatrics make everyone look bad
So what are we to make of the bit of political theater that played out yesterday over the Sibley building? For starters, I feel sorry for the mayor. He’s from the private sector, after all. He’s used to accomplishing things. In government, everything takes longer, costs more, and has a way of pissing everyone off. […]
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County on defense over Sibley deal
Mayor Tom Richards says the county is playing politics with the Sibley building sale.
