News Blog

The coalition developing the Finger Lakes Regional Sustainability Plan will hold a public meeting from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, January 16, at RIT’s Golisano Institute for Sustainability.

When it’s finished, the plan will outline actions for improving the long-term sustainability of the region’s communities and natural resources, planners say. It’ll include recommendations for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, using energy more efficiently, and using more renewable energy. The plan will also include information on current greenhouse gas emissions and energy use.

The plan is being developed by a group that includes the region’s counties, the City of Rochester, some local governments, and planning agencies.

Other regions across the state are developing similar plans, and they’ll all be competing for funding to implement their recommendations. The state is setting aside $90 million for regions to implement the plans.
More information: www.sustainable-fingerlakes.org. Jeremy Moule

Rochester Police Chief James Sheppard will hold the second in a series of one-hour Twitter town halls at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, January 15. You can ask the chief questions on any topic and offer comments on policing in Rochester. Participants in the first town hall, held last week, asked about children’s safety, policing initiatives in certain neighborhoods, human trafficking, and other subjects.
You must have a Twitter account to participate in the town hall. Follow #rpdchief. Town halls will take place every Tuesday in January.

Sheppard is a busy guy this week. The police chief will also appear alongside Mayor Tom Richards in the second Seeking Solutions to Violence public meeting. It’s at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, January 15, at the Carter Street Community Center, 500 Carter Street.

Seeking Solutions public meetings are being held in each of the city’s four quadrants. Citizens are asked to discuss violence under four broad categories: open-air drug sales and drug houses; gangs, guns, and the culture of violence; bullying and truancy; and house parties.

Citizen suggestions will be recorded and, according to a press release, used to “enhance the Rochester Police Department’s long-term violence-reduction strategies.”

Additional Seeking Solutions meetings are scheduled for January 29 and February 5.

Surely you’ve noticed all the bulldozers and construction activity downtown. The center of our city is changing — Midtown, the Sibley building, various housing projects — and here’s your chance to help shape that picture. The City of Rochester is seeking citizen input on a new master plan — essentially a planning strategy — for downtown.

The public input meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, January 16, at City Hall, 30 Church Street. It will include a presentation on downtown planning efforts since 2003 and will focus on the ideas and concerns of current and prospective downtown residents. Christine Carrie Fien

The Rochester school board is seeking parents interested in serving on the board’s committees for the upcoming fiscal year, July 1, 2013 to June 30, 2014.

The board has five committees, each led by a commissioner: audit; community and intergovernmental relations; excellence in student achievement; finance and resource allocation; and policy development and review. Though they are non-voting, volunteer positions, the intent is to bring parental representation to the committees and the issues that are being addressed.

All RCSD parents are eligible to apply, except those employed by the district or those who have a financial interest in the district’s work. More information and an application form are available by calling 262-8525. Applications are due by Friday, March 15, and each committee will select a parental representative by Tuesday, April 30. Tim Louis Macaluso