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Mary Anna Towler on March 10th, 2010
WXXI, in partnership with City Newspaper and WDKX, will present a live, two-hour forum on April 1 on mayoral control of the Rochester school district.
Panel members will be Mayor Bob Duffy, School Board President Malik Evans, and Joseph Viteritti, a Hunter College professor who has done extensive research on
Opinion
Mary Anna Towler on March 9th, 2010
Political scandals are nothing new, and no political party has a corner on the market. But these are our scandals. They're more than embarrassing. They'll hurt our state and our politics. And, unfortunately, they'll have an impact far beyond our borders.
David Paterson. Charlie Rangel. Eric Massa (whose story gets stranger
News Articles
Mary Anna Towler on March 8th, 2010
In this week's mail for some city residents: a survey asking their opinion on mayoral control of the Rochester school district.
The survey, which is being conducted by the Center for Governmental Research and local opinion-research firm Metrix Matrix, is being mailed to 2000 Rochesterians.
It's the second recent poll on the
Opinion
Mary Anna Towler on March 3rd, 2010
A mayoral-control bill is still being hammered out in Albany, and presumably one could be announced any day. (Unknown factor: Governor Paterson's personal distractions. And I haven't seen any sign of enthusiasm among Upstate senators.)
But I wouldn't place a bet right now on whether Rochester mayors will control the Rochester
News Articles
Mary Anna Towler on February 26th, 2010
The Rochester School Board will hold a public hearing on mayoral control at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 9. President Malik Evans called for the hearing this morning. It'll be held in the third-floor conference room of the district's Central Office Building, 131 West Broad Street.
Opinion
Mary Anna Towler on February 24th, 2010
Suburban shopping malls pretty much define local retail now, so it's easy to forget that at one time, Rochester had a fierce core of retailers who believed, heart and soul, in the importance of downtown - so much so that they devoted their time and reputation to it and, sometimes,
Opinion
Mary Anna Towler on February 16th, 2010
Watching the drama surrounding a new theater for the Rochester Broadway Theatre League, sometimes I feel as if I'm watching a game of chicken.
Clearly, both RBTL and City Hall want the theater group to stay in the city. And city officials seem to agree that the Auditorium Theatre can't be
Opinion
Mary Anna Towler on February 9th, 2010
It looks less and less likely that we'll get health-care reform - not just this year, but anytime in the foreseeable future.
That's a tragedy, not only because we so badly need reform but also because of what its failure means. Thanks to a Senate rule and the Republicans' intention to
Opinion
Mary Anna Towler on February 2nd, 2010
It's no surprise that the debate over mayoral control is emotional. And since that debate will go on for a while, can we all agree on a couple of things?
1) Let's tamp down the anger. Anger is destroying public discourse all across the nation, and it's not helpful.
It's easy to
Opinion
Mary Anna Towler on January 26th, 2010
Back in the days of Richard Nixon and the Vietnam War, it wasn't uncommon to hear friends talk about moving to Canada. Not young men hoping to avoid the draft: people who were so dismayed about where the country was heading that they weren't sure they wanted to call the
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Mary Anna Towler on March 12th, 2010
At last, a piece of good news out of Albany.
Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is recusing himself from the investigations of Governor David Paterson, turning the job over to the highly respected Judith Kaye, the state's former chief judge.
It's a mystery why Cuomo ever thought he should head the investigation. Everybody
News Blog
Mary Anna Towler on March 11th, 2010
This should be interesting.
Republicans in the House of Representatives have agreed to ban earmark requests, one-upping House Democrats, who had promised to ban them for for-profit companies.
It's a good show. Now we'll see what their colleagues in the Senate do.
I'm all for them banning earmarks. And as painful as it
News Blog
Mary Anna Towler on March 11th, 2010
Maybe it'll all work out. Maybe Scott Congel will get his financing, and he'll build that grand new development on top of the ruins of Medley Centre and Irondequoit Mall.
But the bad news keeps trickling out.
This morning's D&C reports that the Town of Irondequoit, the East Irondequoit Central School District,
News Blog
Mary Anna Towler on March 10th, 2010
The news about the Rochester school district's latest graduation rate was no surprise; it had been expected for months. But that doesn't make it any more palatable.
For the 2008-2009 school year, the "on-time" graduation rate - for students who complete high school in four years -was 46 percent, a decline
News Blog
Mary Anna Towler on March 9th, 2010
He may be our little curiosity, but Eric Massa's story has quickly become high entertainment in the media. And I admit it: I can't stop reading the stuff.
He's been dominating the news on Politico. He's in the Times. The Washington Post. The Guardian in the UK.
And today's there's this on
News Blog
Mary Anna Towler on March 9th, 2010
Like many liberals, I've been impressed with Eric Massa. I was glad voters in his district sent him to Congress two years ago.
And I realize it would be hard for a shrinking violet to be elected to anything.
But this has gotten too weird for my comfort.
Massa says he's been the
News Blog
Mary Anna Towler on March 8th, 2010
The Center for Governmental Research and a local opinion-research firm, Metrix Matrix, are polling a sample of Rochester residents this week on mayoral control. A previous poll, commissioned by a coalition of mayoral-control opponents, surveyed only parents, so this poll is taking the pulse of a broader public.
Both polls, I
News Blog
Mary Anna Towler on March 8th, 2010
Given the amount of really bad news he's being hit with, Governor David Paterson must have taken comfort in The Daily Beast's piece Friday morning.
Reihan Salam's "What Paterson Got Right" reminds us that there's plenty worth praising about our governor. Despite the very serious allegations against him, wrote Salam, Paterson
News Blog
Mary Anna Towler on March 5th, 2010
Opponents have been dominating the discussion about mayoral control, but late yesterday afternoon Mayor Bob Duffy hit back at one group.
Members of the area Students for a Democratic Society organization had organized a press conference and march yesterday to highlight one of their contentions: that Duffy hasn't given students a
News Blog
Mary Anna Towler on March 4th, 2010
We'll find out soon whether Democrats - seemingly under siege no matter where they turn - can get anything done with health-care reform.
At the moment, too many of the fractious Dems are holding out for their personal ideal bill, whatever it may be. But two things are crystal clear: not
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