This week's calls to citizenship include the following events and activities. (All are free and open to the public, unless otherwise noted.)
Gov. Eliot Spitzer wants to change the state's school-aid formula, providing more money to needy urban districts like Rochester's, but Republican legislative leaders are opposing the change. State Senator Joe Robach and Rochester Superintendent Manuel Rivera will discuss the current aid formula at a town meeting at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 22. The meeting, which is sponsored by Metro Justice, The Alliance for Quality Education, Citizen Action of New York, and the Public Policy and Education Fund, will be held at the Roger Robach Community Center, 4650 Lake Avenue. Political analyst Dr. Mike Cohen will discuss life in Israel at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 21, part of a series sponsored by the Jewish Community Federation. Cohen, a 22-year officer in the Israeli military, will speak at Temple B'rith Kodesh, 2131 Elmwood Avenue.Larry Glazer, CEO of Buckingham Properties, and Pat Tobin, vice president of Christa Development Corporation, will discuss plans for new housing, office, and retail space on the site of the former GeneseeHospital, on Tuesday, March 27, from 11:45a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Hyatt Regency, 125 Main Street. The event is sponsored by the Rochester Downtown Development Corporation. Reservations: 546-6920.Deborah F. Mullen, dean at Chicago's McCormick Theological Seminary and a member of the Genesee Valley Presbytery from 1983 to 2003, will return to Rochester as keynote speaker at a "Christian Faith and the LGBT Experience" community forum. Mullen's talk, "A Place at the Table," is sponsored by a group of local faith-based organizations. She will be speaking at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, March 25, at Third Presbyterian Church, Meigs Street and East Avenue.
