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The defining moment of Sarah Palin's political career-at least up until this past Friday-was probably one that took place while she didn't even hold elected office and occupied a place largely outside the public eye.In 2004, two years after leaving the office of Mayor of Wasilla (a town of fewer
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If you could overhaul downtown, what would it look like?Think back to the last time you were in a thriving, vibrant urban environment. Maybe it was a neighborhood like Soho in New York, a waterfront area like San Antonio's Riverwalk, or a plaza in a European capital."What did you like
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The wind is blowing the snow everywhere.Into my face. Down the back of my jacket. Into the camera lens.The wind is also roiling the waters of Hemlock Lake, which I'm trying, vainly, to photograph.Every so often, a gust dies down, revealing ravines on the far shore (the western one) studded
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Joe Morelle must think he has a pretty good shot at becoming the state's next comptroller.Last week, the state assemblymember from Irondequoit announced that he was stepping down as chair of the Monroe County Democratic Committee. In a letter e-mailed to party members and in a statement on his website,
Opinion
Details, details, details.All campaign long, reporters badgered Eliot Spitzer to be more specific about his policy agenda, especially about government reform.Last week, in Spitzer's first State of the State address, they finally got those details --- or at least more than he had offered previously. And while his speech was
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It's the holy grail of renewable-energy research: a liquid fuel that can be harvested sustainably, burned cleanly, and doesn't come from an unstable part of the world.And maybe, just maybe, it will be manufactured at a plant near you.The fuel in question is ethanol. Specifically, cellulosic ethanol. Ethanol is an
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A 14-year labor dispute at the Democrat and Chronicle may be winding to a conclusion. But it's not the conclusion members of the paper's newsroom union wanted.In early December the reporters, photographers, copy editors, and other newsroom employees who make up the Newspaper Guild of Rochester voted to reject a
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The ferry is officially gone. Kind of.The city hasn't closed on the sale, but at least the boat has left Rochester.The ferry departed abruptly for Shelburne, Nova Scotia, on Thursday. The city will pay about $300 a day to dock it there; that's cheaper, according to city officials, than it
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Midterm elections may have just wrapped up, but the next round of campaigns is already getting under way. In November 2007, there'll be elections for county executive, County Legislature, and Rochester City Council district seats, and the rumor mills are already churning, particularly about the Council races.All four district seats
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Not long after it was founded, the Judicial Process Commission found itself lacking an editor for Justicia, its newsletter. The JPC's Ginny Mackey asked Clare Regan, ‘Would you take it one for two or three weeks?'" recalls Gordon Webster, a minister at Rochester's Downtown United Presbyterian Church.Regan, who died last
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The budget may have dominated last week's County Legislature meeting, but there was one other important bit of action.The County Legislature gave the Monroe County Water Authority its go-ahead to borrow money for a proposed eastside water treatment plant. The plant has already sparked controversy, most recently at a public
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One major link in the region's trail system just got a lot closer to reality. On Monday, Mayor Bob Duffy announced $2.2 million in grants to build a trail in a former railway right-of-way in northeast Rochester. The trail runs southward from Seneca Park to a point on St. Paul
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It was entirely predictable: When the county budget was approved last week, it was by a 17-12 margin --- the ratio of Republicans to Democrats in the County Legislature. Still, the meeting wasn't entirely devoid of interest.Democrats proposed four amendments, which were either voted down or declared out of order.
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It's mid-November, not long after the midterm Congressional election. The sun is shining in Fairport, but it's cold out, the first real cold snap to threaten the long Indian summer. Louise Slaughter is home and is recovering from a bout with the shingles. But she's about to head one of
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The Democrat and Chronicle newsroom union has overwhelmingly voted down a contract offer that the paper's management has described as its "firm, final, and best." The Newspaper Guild of Rochester rejected the contract by a 51 to 4 vote on December 1. What happens next? This is where things
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A plan to build a bigger Rite-Aid at the corner of Monroe Avenue and Goodman Street is back. But that doesn't necessarily mean it'll succeed. "It certainly is a better plan than the one we saw in the summer," says City Zoning Director Art Ientilucci. But that's far from a
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Four people. That's how many showed up to speak on December 7, at the only hearing on the 2007 Monroe County budget prior to the County Legislature's vote. That vote was to take place on December 12, as this issue of City Newspaper was going to press. But given the
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Democrats in the Monroe County Legislature aren't happy. They've had Maggie Brooks' latest budget in their hands for about a week. And while they have some major concerns about it, they're also unhappy with the local media, which they say haven't reported extensively enough about budget issues.In a press conference that
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The city's pilot curfew will continue at least for another two months."To date, the curfew is shaping up like we expected it to." That's what John Klofas, RIT criminologist and director of the city's Public Safety Initiatives Center, told City Council members at a special meeting last week called to
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It may have been a weekday afternoon, but the November 30 public hearing on a proposed new water plant was packed.More than 50 people filled a room at Penfield Town Hall to comment on the plant, which the Monroe County Water Authority plans to build in Webster. The authority, which
