Comment Archives: Stories
Re: “Analysis finds racial disparity in pot arrests”
Hi MJN - I live in the city's northeast quadrant and I see open-air marijuana sales on the corner near my residence continually, despite arrests made just earlier this week. No I don't believe that the sellers or buyers are dumb or blind. I believe that the sellers are well-motivated and accept the risk willingly. Buyers prefer the convenience of being served right in their cars. Both groups likely have a sense of impunity because police enforcement is rare and inconsistent. Sometimes the police will run some low level harassment (e.g. circling around or maybe idling nearby), but very rarely will they exit their cars. The offenders were involved in some street violence requiring an emergency response just this last weekend and the police chief had within recent weeks also called out the specific street name as a known problem spot, these things being what's most likely prompted the recent arrests.
I'm not actually convinced that drug trafficking and use are quite as prevalent outside of the city as within it. Maybe it is, nevertheless it's only within the city that the law is openly flaunted and it's only within the city that the drug activity correlates to ongoing violence.
The truth is that many people do use marijuana discreetly and without drawing undue attention to themselves and those people maybe go undetected for many years. Other people associate with street gangs, commit various crimes open. Especially when violence flares up, police are forced to respond and, after patting people down, oftentimes the thing which police can most easily charge is marijuana possession.
Re: “Medley Centre's long odds”
This is reminiscent of the multi-year long farce that Bill Johnson was engaged in with the various developers who were going to re-invent Midtown. Or the fiasco with the Wilmot’s shell company and the Sibley Building. Those both ended badly. And Medley Center will go down the same drain. And once again the taxpayers will be left to pick up the tab for our elected leaders pipe dreams.
Re: “Analysis finds racial disparity in pot arrests”
Lincoln DeCoursey – So your common-sense explanation as to why 650% more inner city black youths than white youths get busted for pot possession in Rochester is because there are fewer places to sell weed unobserved then in white neighborhoods so the blacks, completely ignoring how many of their number are being arrested, continue to be more open about it? Must be their eye sight and hearing are also more defective then those faculties in whites because so many of them apparently don’t see or hear the cops coming.
Re: “PHOTO: From East Broad Street at night”
Just think, If Bobby Duffy were still mayor he might have had the roadway torn out and the Broad Street aqueduct "rewatered” by now and we could be listening to frogs croaking in the deathly silence of downtown Rochester.
Re: “PHOTO: From East Broad Street at night”
Nice shot. The full panorama here is really nice.
Re: “"Before Midnight"”
More video reviews! I love this. :)
Re: “Medley Centre's long odds”
Are you aware that the developer receives a refund from the state for his PILOT payments by virtue of Medley being located in an Empire Zone? The Syracuse Post Standard has published the amount of these refunds for several years, via a searchable database on their website -- data through 2010. I asked Empire State Development for the amount for 2011, and it was nearly half a million dollars. So, it's not fair to say that Congel has paid his PILOT payments. The taxpayers of NY have paid his PILOT payments. By my estimation, NYS has refunded him (or the previous owner) over $2.5 million since 2007, while the project paid slightly less than that in PILOT and property taxes. Add this to whatever tax write off he is getting for depreciation on the building, and he is making money on this situation.
Re: “RESTAURANT REVIEW: Swan Market”
I am a semi-regular at Swan's and have had the sampler platter many times. Delicious every time. Never have I; seen it listed as, heard it referred to as or thought of it as a "German garbage plate".
Re: “ROCK | East End Festival”
Thanks for pointing out the error, we have corrected it in the text above. Apologies for the mistake.
Re: “"Before Midnight"”
I like walking with Dayna and Adam!
It certainly makes me want to check out the film.
What lovely discussion without too much spoilage.
Thanks for this!
Re: “RESTAURANT REVIEW: Swan Market”
I've always been fond of the Beechwood neighborhood, and this looks like a great excuse to visit more often. Thank you for bringing this bright spot to our attention. Would love to see more highlights from this quadrant.
Re: “Medley Centre's long odds”
"If he walks away and that place goes dark, we'll receive no taxes," D'Aurizio says
How is that possible? If the PILOT is terminated, he would still own the property, would he not? Would not he still be responsible for taxes on the property's actual assessed value?
Re: “Stratford Festival”
You're absolutely correct, Stratford Fan. We've corrected the article. Thanks.
Re: “Running out of time”
The "innovation" that Urbanski claims to want has been possible for more than a decade under the Living Contract provision of the RTA contract and the school-based planning team policy, no further governance change is legitimately warranted. (Unless the goal is more power for the RTA.) Under the Living Contract, teachers at any school can vote to waive provisions of the contract to make it more flexible, innovative, or student-centered, they just haven't done it. The School-based planning Policy gives schools unprecedented autonomy and teachers and parents decision-making rights . (These aren't advisory bodies, they are deliberative.) Few, if any, of these SBPTs have used this authority to build "community schools" or otherwise innovate, even though they've always had the power to do so. We should all be skeptical of Urbanski's latest "innovation" idea that is frankly, nothing more than a power grab disguised as reform. The latest in a long list of his Trojan horses.
Vargas' remedy of "conversion charters" is equally empty, but also gives the allusion of change, the latest in a long line of Superintendent "reformy" moves. The only substantive change that conversion charters will bring is to governance: the school-based planning team will be replaced with a board that may or may not include parents and teachers. Same contracts, same work rules. (Charters in name only.) The public should also be skeptical of Vargas' new calls for school autonomy given that he dismantled the student-based budgeting, the "gold standard" in practices to support school autonomy. He also appears to be unwilling to take full advantage of the new state teacher evaluation law to make staffing decisions based on effectiveness, rather than seniority, another key principle of school autonomy.
In either case, parents will be relinquishing their decision-making rights and getting very little, if anything in return. Let's hope they do their homework and don't buy the snake oil that either is peddling.
Re: “Stratford Festival”
You should know that Tom Rooney, not Brian Bedford, plays the role of Angelo in Measure for Measure.
Re: “Analysis finds racial disparity in pot arrests”
Mr. Christopher,
Have you read "The New Jim Crow"? Have you even taken some time to go to YouTube and listen to Michelle Alexander talk? Have you done the comparative studies and analysis regarding impact of the War on Drugs" and the minority community? The problem is not that the police give some latitude to minor offenses, it's the serious consequences and disparity that happen to some people and not others. Before reading the book, I held the notion that policing was being done fairly across the board. Maybe, maybe not. Numbers don't lie. And please don't quote Abraham Lincoln to me ("Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics"). There are no sets of numbers you can look at to show a different interpretation of the facts.
As for the ". . . favorable consideration in the corner of African Americans - and pretty much only them? What has that done to middle class educational opportunities in the city? And what has this condescension/pity done for African American students?" I can refer you to any number of my past posts and comments. These are issues I've been hollering about for years now. I would NOT call it "favorable consideration." I call it "social promotion", and it is pernicious and evil in the way it has eroded the educational situation in the city. Condescension and pity have only led to our current state of 5% college readiness at graduation. I am 100% behind higher rigor, keeping back kids who can't do grade level work, and getting the quality of our graduates to a point where far fewer of them have to spend all their college financial aid on remediation and fewer than 10% drop out in the first semester (it's over 25% now).
I respect greatly the work of Bill Cosby and Thomas Sowell and William Raspberry and Cornell West. The fact remains that you can preach all the "responsibility" you want. RESEARCH HAS SHOWN THAT RATES OF DRUG USE/DEALING ARE STATISTICALLY THE SAME AMONG THE WHITE COMMUNITY AS THE BLACK COMMUNITY. I intentionally bolded all that, because the point doesn't seem to be sinking in - the laws are race neutral, enforcement is not. Look at the percentage of our population in jail, then do a demographic breakdown. If you want to try to convince me that the black community is that much more drug using and violent than the white community (please adjust for poverty) you'll have to use actual science.
I do not think that very many police or DAs wake up in the morning and say "I'm gonna bust me some black people today." I think that the whole society has been adversely impacted by race and past racism, and that racial stereotypes persist in media and in people's minds causing UNINTENTIONAL bias in action. We see what we want to see, and act on that, rather than taking a step back and asking if we can believe our eyes, or if we've got some sort of impairment that makes our vision blurry - through no fault or our own.
It's not an attack to say "This is happening." It's not me saying "Police are racist." It's me, and Michelle Alexander, and Ice-T, and any number of other people trying to get people to realize the unintentional - but real - disparity and the socially devastating impact this unintentional disparity is having.
End the War on Drugs now! It's been a failure and has resulted in the social oppression (intentional or not) of an entire community.
Re: “Analysis finds racial disparity in pot arrests”
Yugoboy,
How can talk you so confidently about your vision of racial oppression (admittedly backed by an academic industry to maintain it) when you are daily exposed to enormous overt racism concentrated amongst one group? And which group would that be? Wouldn't an objective case study of racism concentrate on the experiences of recent immigrants, and perhaps particularly from Africa, and where they see racism coming from? And out of which group is the most inter-group violence coming from?
You want to talk about race then put the RCSD cards - which you embody - on the table. For how many decades now has RCSD put favorable consideration in the corner of African Americans - and pretty much only them? What has that done to middle class educational opportunities in the city? And what has this condescension/pity done for African American students?
As for suggested readings your timing is good. You might try NYT's 6/11 "Chicago Tactics Put Major Dent in Killing Trend" for pertinent police activities. Or also the Readers Pick comments for NYT's 6/11's "The Effects of Race-Neutral Admissions". Perhaps you could encourage your students to read some recent work by Bill Cosby or Thomas Sowell.
Finally, thank you Lincoln DeCoursey for some finely written points.
Re: “Analysis finds racial disparity in pot arrests”
Hi Yugoboy - I guess where the difference of opinion is that you're saying that the the state is "targeting" city dwellers with intent to hold them down in society. I just don't see this as plausible. I'm inclined to believe that law enforcement in all municipalities does an honest, impartial job of enforcing the law according to local community standards, showing discretion as appropriate.
Yes the city does have a stronger police presence than in the suburbs, but city police commonly overlook small infractions as an exercise of discretion. In the city, minor criminal activity is more likely to be ignored or responded to with a warning or with a less-robust investigation due to more lenient community standards and due to stretched police resources. Rural and suburban police are most apt to prosecute minor crimes to a greater extent due to more-stringent community standards and a lack of other things to do. At least this is what I think, I may be wrong but I suspect that many who have been on both sides of the fence do hold this general view.
Personally, I live in the city by choice and view city living as a luxury, not anything to be risen out of. I understand that I am probably in the minority view in that respect. Fortunately we do have free choice to live and raise our families where we prefer, whether in the city or the country. Even with limited means there is affordable housing in rural environment and, to an extent, in the suburbs also. I don't believe that anybody is trapped in the hood by the state.
Re: “Medley Centre's long odds”
You should hire Virginia Borden Maier. We already know the mall is dead.