News Blog

The Nature Conservancy of Central and Western New York, Xerox, and the City of Rochester offered a small but important service during the just-ended Jazz Fest: they provided a water bottle filling station that festival-goers could use for free.

This isn't a radical idea, or a new one. Filling stations have been brought in for various local events, which is a good thing since people should have free and ready access to water at public events. But they have another benefit: the filling stations lead to drastic reductions in the amount of bottled water consumed during these festivals.

The Jazz Fest filling station was open from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. daily at the corner of Gibbs and East Main streets. In total, it distributed about 245 gallons of water, which saved an estimated 1,856 bottles, according to the Nature Conservancy. A spokesperson for the organization says that it hopes to offer the service again next year.

The Rochester Police Department is on my mind these days. Specifically, the police reorg and the city’s decision to outfit cops with body cameras.

When is a reorg not a reorg? Well, according to the police union, it’s when you rearrange the desk chairs and call it a reorganization. The city went ahead with the restructuring without leasing new buildings or having a plan — one that would include cost estimates — for leasing space down the line.

Leaving aside the very fair question of whether “reorganizing in place” is a true reorganization at all, there are also significant questions of cost. A “needs assessment” presumably looking at costs, potential locations for new police stations, etc. is happening now, Police Chief Mike Ciminelli said during a recent budget hearing. But it might’ve been useful to have that assessment before we went ahead with any kind of restructuring at all.

What if the report recommends the status quo: no new buildings? That’s not going to make the police union and, most likely, the public — the two key constituencies in this whole thing — happy; I don’t think it’s going too far to say that most people expected the reorg to put stations in the neighborhoods.

What if the report recommends new stations, but has a big, fat price tag attached? Where’s that money coming from? That’s not a one-shot; that’s cash we’re going to have to find each and every year. The city struggles annually to close multimillion-dollar budget gaps; if the money’s going to the police, it probably means that somebody else’s funding gets cut.

And if City Council members decide that they can’t support a big yearly cash outlay for neighborhood police stations, does that mean that they catch the blame if the reorganization doesn’t “work” — however you define that? Council members were already voicing concerns about police costs — specifically rising overtime costs — during the budget hearing.

Body cameras. The city’s latest budget includes $2 million for a body-camera program. Beyond that, we know little about the city’s plans. How much will the $2 million cover? Where’s the rest of the money going to come from? Will every officer get a camera immediately, or will we have a pilot program first? Who has the authority to turn the cameras on and off? How long will the footage be stored and who gets to see it? The devil really is in the details with these things.

Hopefully, answers are forthcoming.

It is done: New York has officially banned high-volume hydraulic fracturing in the state's shale formations.

State officials announced their intention to ban high-volume fracking back in December, but they also said that they needed to complete a few steps to finish out the environmental review. That's done, and today, the Department of Environmental issued its findings statement. The 40-plus-page long document includes a lot of history and explanation, but here's the passage stating the DEC's decision:

"In the end, there are no feasible or prudent alternatives that would adequately avoid or minimize adverse environmental impacts and that address the scientific uncertainties and risks to public health from this activity. The Department’s chosen alternative to prohibit high-volume hydraulic fracturing is the best alternative based on the balance between protection of the environment and public health and economic and social considerations."

In 2008, when New York started talking about horizontal wells and high-volume hydraulic fracturing, nobody knew a thing about them. Now, it's really hard to go even a day without hearing about fracking's role in the domestic energy boom and fracking's potential to cause severe environmental damage. It's also crept into popular culture, just like the Alaskan Gold Rush and the Texas oil boom. You know you've hit the big time when The Simpsons spends an episode satirizing your industry. 

But the many New Yorkers who fought hard against fracking need to keep something in mind: this is a permanent ban only until someone reverses it. A future governor could tell the DEC to conduct a new environmental review, and the outcome may not be the same.

It'd be silly to pretend that political and public pressure don't influence these types of high-profile reviews, when they clearly do. To ensure that the ban remains in place, fracktivists and their many allies will have to keep pressure on their elected officials.

This story has been corrected. 

If you’ve been buying Club Passes for the Jazz Festival, would you buy one if the Kilbourn Hall concerts weren’t included and you had to pay extra for them?

A survey on the Jazz Festival's app includes that question, and on the event’s last night, it had some festival-goers buzzing. Are the festival’s producers seeking ways to bring in more revenue? Has Kilbourn’s owner, the University of Rochester, raised the rent?

“Nothing of the sort,” says festival spokesperson Jean Dalmath. The producers are “just getting a feel” for concert-goers’ opinion. “We’ve had people suggest making it ticketed with reserved seating, so people don’t need to wait in line and can see other shows instead of waiting,” Dalmath said.

The nine-day festival offers three types of concerts: free outdoor events, ticketed headliner events in Kodak Hall, and Club Pass shows at other venues. The pass, which cost $194 this year, provides free admission to Club Pass events, but there’s no reserved seating or guaranteed entry.

Kilbourn Hall in the Eastman Theatre complex routinely hosts some of the top jazz artists. Consequently, those concerts are frequently standing-room-only, and lines can start forming as early as 3 o’clock for 6 o’clock concerts. And for some concert-goers, a long wait in line is physically difficult. The survey, Dalmath said, will help the producers “assess demand for options.”

This post has been corrected.

Monroe County Young Democrats will hold a panel discussion, “Beyond Marriage Equality: What’s Next for the LGBTQ Community?” at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, June 30, at Bread and Water Theatre, 172 West Main Street.

Last week, the US Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry, and that all 50 states must allow them to do so. The ruling is a major win for LGBT rights.

The panel will discuss several other important LGBT issues, including the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act, the fight against HIV/AIDS, and the oppression of LGBT people in other countries.

The discussion moderator will be Scott Fearing, executive director of the Gay Alliance of the Genesee Valley. The panelists are Rochester City Council member Matt Haag, Pride@Work organizer Bess Watts, transgender community leader Pam Barres, and HIV/AIDS activist Cody Gardner. BY JEREMY MOULE 


We may get more information on Abundance Cooperative Market’s planned move to the South Wedge. Market reps will hold a press conference-presentation on the move at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, June 30, at the co-op’s new location, 571 South Avenue.

The South Avenue location is nearly twice the size of the market's current facility on Marshall Street. The new store will have 7,500 square feet of retail space, with 5,000 square feet for warehouse, administrative, and community use.

The dedicated community space will be for cooking classes, community meetings, and other educational outreach activities.

The co-op plans to exit Marshall Street sometime early next year. BY CHRISTINE CARRIE FIEN 

The US Supreme Court has ruled that same-sex marriage is legal right. The 5 to 4 ruling is a major victory for gay rights advocates and it comes as public opinion has largely shifted in favor of marriage equality in recent years.

Local LGBT and marriage equality activists will hold a rally today in support of the court’s decision in front of the Bachelor Forum, at 670 University Avenue, between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m.

In a 6-3 decision released this morning, the Supreme Court upheld federal subsidies for insurance plans purchased through its exchanges.

Vox has a good summary of the case, King v. Burwell, and some analysis of the decision's impacts. In short, the case had the potential to eliminate a key provision of Obamacare, which was aimed at making insurance more affordable in states that didn't set up their own exchanges. It hinged on disputed language in the Affordable Care Act, which Congress passed in 2010.

House Representative Louise Slaughter, who has been a vocal supporter of the Affordable Care Act, released this statement on the ruling: 

If you want to give city officials your opinion about having Rochester police wear body cameras, you have only a few more days to do it. Community surveys have been circulated for the past two months, and City Council leaders announced today that the survey period will end at 5 p.m. on June 30.

Paper copies of the survey are available at the City Council office in City Hall and at all Neighborhood Service Centers. You can also call and ask that a copy be mailed to you. And the survey is available online at www.surveymonkey.com/r/rochesterbodycameras. 

Questions include whether you want police to wear the cameras, your concerns about privacy, and whether the cameras should be turned off on request.

South District Council member Adam McFadden, who chairs Council’s Public Safety, Youth, and Recreation Committee, said in the Council press release that he believes there is a consensus in the community that police should wear body cameras. “What is most important now,” he said, is deciding how we use them, who has access to them, and working out the details concerning all of the policy and procedures.”

Council plans to hold a public hearing on policy and procedures; details about that meeting “will be forthcoming,” the Council press release said.

City officials are intensifying efforts to revitalize the historic Bull’s Head neighborhood on the western edge of the downtown Rochester. The city issued a Request for Proposals today for a consultant to develop a plan for that effort.

One of several city neighborhoods coping with a high level of concentrated poverty, Bull’s Head “has been a subject of study and discussion for well over two decades,” Mayor Lovely Warren noted in announcing the RFP. The city will use a revitalization plan to seek state and federal funding, which, Warren said, would be used to leverage private investment. The city itself has already scheduled $10.6 million in its capital improvement budget for land acquisition and public-improvement projects in the neighborhood.

The deadline for consultants to submit proposals is July 27. The RFP and other information are posted at www.cityofrochester.gov/bullsheadboa.

New York labor officials are in the middle of a process that’ll probably lead to a higher minimum wage for fast food workers. As they’ve taken public comment over the last few weeks, supporters and opponents of a wage increase have been publicly and aggressively making their cases.

New York’s minimum wage is currently $8.75 an hour, but some activists want the state to set a $15 an hour minimum wage for fast food workers.

But yesterday, the Employment Policies Institute released a particularly callous ad that argued against a wage increase. The ad reads, in bold letters, “Meet the new minimum wage employee” and shows a picture of a McDonald’s customer using a touch-screen ordering terminal. Under the image the ad says “New York can establish a $15 fast-food wage or provide entry-level jobs, but it can’t do both.”

The ad is a display of pure disdain for fast-food workers and it implies that fast-food employers do not value their employees and the hard, often thankless work that they do. It sends a signal that these people – and let’s not forget that they are often college students, working parents, and struggling seniors – are expendable and that they are about as valuable as an iPad. It completely ignores the fact that these chains are profitable because of their employees’ hustle and quick thinking.

There is room for debate on raising the minimum wage; personally, I think $8.75 an hour is way too low, especially for full-time workers. But the Employment Policies Institute ad is demeaning and adds nothing of substance to the dialogue. (Employment Policies Institute is a front group for a restaurant and hotel industry lobbyist.)

It also glosses over a simple reality: If restaurant owners believe that touch screen terminals can replace their front-line employees, they’ll probably put them in place regardless of what they’re required to pay workers.