Tag: rochester

I used to run PeoplePoweredRochester.com. Since that website is defunct, I’m importing some older posts over here.

WXXI news is reporting that SUNY Geneseo just raised a record-breaking $23 million over the past 5 years.

And it’s a good thing, too, because the state has been slashing the SUNY system to the bone. I was at the SUNY Geneseo commencement this May. I was shocked to the extent that the University President spoke frankly about their finances. He talked about how the state is funding less and less of the school budget, and how it imperiled their mission of a quality education for all.

Public schools are essential to the health of our democracy. Education is a human right, and state and community colleges are the only way we can provide it at an affordable rate. Student loan and grant programs, if they only go to private colleges, will just drive up costs. We need public schools not only because they’re good themselves, but also to keep private schools honest (through market competition!)

In the midst of all this budget cutting, department closing, and tuition-increasing, Governor Andrew “1%” Cuomo is making a big deal of a grand poobah commission to cut taxes.

So after this happened:

The Governor is insisting that everything is peachy. So great that we can start cutting taxes. And thus the “emergency” “we have no choice” cuts to education become permanent.

Here’s what New York’s tax structure looks like (without the temporary top brackets about to expire):

Via tax-rates.org

The top bracket is $20,000! Maybe if we used the same brackets say, say, any other state, we’d be able to cut taxes for the majority of citizens and still be able to offer a quality education to all.

I used to run PeoplePoweredRochester.com. Since that website is defunct, I’m importing some older posts over here.

They have a ton of staff. They explicitly work for social justice and human rights. They go into the homes of farmworkers and tell them their rights, sometimes facing shotgun-wielding agriculturalist landlords in the process.

Yes. There’s a group in Rochester that goes into the fields and faces down farmer-aristocrats to give the workers legal protection. And they’re even government-funded.

The Workers Justice Center comes out of a merger of two different groups just a little while ago. Now, they have an office in Rochester, an office in Kingston, and a small satellite office in Albany. But don’t be fooled – they have contacts and power around the state.

The Rochester group (you might know them by their old name – Farmworker Legal Service of NY) operates out of a nondescript office on the eastern part of Culver road. Their staff includes lawyers, directors, and support. Their staff also includes many people who actually drive down to talk personally to farmworkers day after day. It’s inspiring.

So what does the Worker Justice Center (WJC) actually do? They have six areas of expertise:

1. Anti-Human Trafficking
2. Know Your Rights for workers
3. Domestic Violence legal aid.
4. Workplace Safety Training
5. Advocacy and Lobbying
6. Community Engagement with partners about the above 5 items.

Let’s drill down into a few of these, shall we?

Human Trafficking

WJC has set up 4 different roundtables (they call them task forces) in the state. Each taskforce has local nonprofits, legal aid groups, law enforcement, business groups, goverment agencies, etc. They all work together on human trafficking issues. And this is the real deal – just a few days ago, for example, staffer Renan Salgado just got back from a trip to Mexico on assignment

Know Your Rights and legal aid

WJC shows up to the homes of farmworkers and educates them about the legal protections they do have. Often, workers live on the property of their employer. Those employers don’t like that WJC visits (sometimes to the points of calling police, waving shotguns, making threats, etc), but the law is on their side! Tenants anywhere have a right to invite guests over. Did you know that?

It goes beyond just education, however. WJC has a network of contacts and informants. When an employer abuses their employees – physical harassment, wage theft, abuse, whatever – they meet with the workers and take the case as far as it needs to go – often in court.

Advocacy and Lobbying

Farmworkers don’t have the same rights as the rest of us do. They don’t have the right to collective bargaining, overtime pay, a day of rest, or disability insurance. At least, not in New York. The WJC is part of a statewide coalition to lobby to fix it. Every year, the bill, “Farmworker Fair Labor Practices Act” just barely loses in the Senate. This year, WJC has joined the statewide committee of the coalition to pass it.

The big picture:

They aren’t a union, and aren’t trying to organize workers into one. Instead, they’re building a network of people who can call for help instantly when their rights are being violated. WJC then builds a case with the people under attack, and they jointly decide whether to accept a settlement, fight in court, etc.

“With farmworkers and agriculturalists, it’s David versus Goliath. We always side with David”

The WJC prides itself on always siding with the “Davids” that are farmworkers, and has been known to throw hasty rallies outside police stations to keep people from deportation. At the same time, they still have good relationships with law enforcement through their joint work on human trafficking.

It’s an impressive balancing act that they’re pulling off. So far it’s been working out well. They’re soon going to help setup a new anti-trafficking taskforce for the Southern Tier, and their contacts with workers are so extensive that they’re hiring extra staff to deal with the influx of cases.

I used to run PeoplePoweredRochester.com. Since that website is defunct, I’m importing some older posts over here.

Remember the Metro Justice-led No War in Syria event?

I’ve been to my share of rallies outside the federal building. This was one of the liveliest and most fun. Maybe the visible presence of TV crews helped.

Yes, TV crews! In the legacy media, the event was covered by WHEC, WRDC, the Democrat and Chronicle, and WXXI. Gary McLendon at the D&C has a particularly nice article.

In the grassroots media, AlBrundage wrote a report with our friends at Rochester Indymedia:

Forty or so local activists gathered in front of the US Federal Building on September 13 2013 to send a strong message to Senators and Representatives inside.  “We do not want war with Syria.”  The rally was organized on short notice by Metro Justice and co-sponsors were Rochester Against War and Band of Rebels.

…

Passing cars honked their horns in support of the protesters.  One driver even stopped and offered cash to a demonstrator to support the cause.  How often does something like that happen at an antiwar rally?

The signs was abundant and clear, and my friends at the rally agreed that they were pleased to see new faces there. Good work, everyone.

I used to run PeoplePoweredRochester.com. Since that website is defunct, I’m importing some older posts over here.

So says Aaron Wicks, the only person I know of who came close to calling the primary race correctly.

The bottom line is this: an active, full-throated Richards candidacy remains a longshot and would require Richards to do things with his campaign he wasn’t able to do when he could and did have the open support of prominent Democrats. Without their public support, Richards could rely only on behind-the-scenes efforts, and those could prove to be explosive for all involved. Richards will not actively contest this race on the Working Families and Independence lines. He will not renounce those lines either. He will suspend his campaign, and being the public servant that he is, will continue serving as mayor. Until the end of his term. Should duty call once again, should something unusual come up that explodes that status quo and makes Warren an untenable candidate, Richards will be available to serve again. But I wouldn’t wait for that something unusual.

Notice that he wrote this two days before Richards’ formal announcement.

Tucked into that piece, however, is this little nugget: “one could argue that Warren, as the more liberal candidate, would lose liberal votes to White, the Green Party candidate.”

Is Lovely Warren the more liberal candidate? Actual liberals and organizers I talk to disagree. Her education agenda is scary. And her mentor and patron, David Gantt, is no friend to the left. (For this paragraph , let’s treat liberal and left as synonymous)

I wonder what’s been going on in Alex White’s head through all this.

I used to run PeoplePoweredRochester.com. Since that website is defunct, I’m importing some older posts over here.

I took a stroll through Greentopia the other day. Here’s what I learned:

1. Despite its name, Delta Laboratories, inc, is a local nonprofit that has 2 main functions: organizing thousands of people to clean up streams on Earth Day, and providing environmental education to kids in nearby schools.
2. The new high-stakes testing model adopted in New York this year is already having adverse effects. Teachers are afraid to let their students skip class to go on environmental field trips, because low attendance lowers their stats.
3. The local Sierra Club has 3000 dues-paying members. That’s a ton of people! I had no idea.
4. R-Cause.net, a local anti-fracking email newsletter and website, is maintained through 2 women who use a vanilla gmail account to send mail to 2000 people every week. I tipped them off to the existence of free tools like Action Network. Hopefully that’ll make a big difference.
5. I always knew that Small World Food was a delicious worker-run bakery, but I didn’t know it was so small – there are just 3-4 full time worker/owners and a smattering of interns.
6. ReConnect Rochester (a pro-public transit volunteer group) is run by the same guy, Mike, who writes RochesterSubway.com. Rochester Subway is well-worth your time, by the way.

On a personal note, I also ran into one of my favorite cousins, made some art with little kids, tasted local apples from a CSA booth, drank a flight of beer at the Genesee Brewery, and we were all treated to a a “guerrilla musical performance” by a bunch of volunteers at Greentopia. Festivals are fun!

I used to run PeoplePoweredRochester.com. Since that website is defunct, I’m importing some older posts over here. (Here’s the wayback link to the original)

When: 5pm – 6:30 Thursday
Where: 100 State St
What: Petition dropoff to both Senators opposing war in Syria. Then a strategy meeting about what to do next afterwards.
(Link)

Metro Justice has spent the last couple of months or so setting up their swanky new website and organizing tool. Tomorrow, they’ll have their first test to try it out. First, they’ll drop off a petition they’ve gathered opposing attacking Syria. Then, they’ll convene a strategy meeting to figure out their next steps.

This move is unusual for Metro Justice.

The group, Rochester’s premier broad-left organization, has a history of anti-war activism in Rochester. While it was founded as an allied group to FIGHT, it’s more recently known for its anti-war work. Membership shot up during the run-up to the Iraq War, and for many years Iraq was *the* primary focus for Metro Justice. Over the past few years, however, they’ve taken a new tack.

The new Metro Justice is both more member-driven and domestically focused. In fact, the two are entwined: Back in 2011, they engaged in an intensive internal discussion about values and strategy which ultimately culminated in their 7-point platform: Fight For Economic Justice.

Since then, Metro Justice has mainly taken on campaigns around housing justice, dignified retirement, and health care for all. More recently, they’ve switched to a wholly new integrated database/website/online organizing system. They used that system to blast their membership yesterday, asking them to sign a petition against war in Syria, and then signers were asked to commit to attending a rally scheduled for tomorrow. These are Metro Justice’s new muscles, and they’re flexing them for the first time.

They aren’t just relying on fancy online tools, however. As I type this, members across the city are calling other members and asking them to commit to the rally. These old-school organizing techniques aren’t going to be dropped any time soon.

While the rally and petition dropoff are the headline event, some are more interested in the meeting that will follow. Colin O’Malley, their organizing director, told me in a statement:

The most empowering part of this is that we’re not simply rallying and then dispersing, but committing to building a more thoughtful and dynamic anti-war movement in Rochester. The strategy meeting after the rally is a first important step.

We’ll see how it goes!

I used to run PeoplePoweredRochester.com. Since that website is defunct, I’m importing some older posts over here. (Here’s the wayback link to the original)

The D&C reported in today’s paper that the new Intermodal Train Station will use a project-labor agreement. That means, among other things, unionized construction. Or does it?

The long-awaited “intermodal” station is set to begin this winter, Cuomo’s office said, and the labor agreement will detail eligibility for unions and non-union shops to work on the job.

I’ve sent out a few emails to learn more about the non-union clauses in the PLA. Louise Slaughter, who is generally solid on labor, praised the agreement, so it must not be that bad. Or is it?

As far as I know, project labor agreements are one of the few bright spots for the Rochester-area labor movement. The county (under Republican Maggie Brooks) has historically used PLA’s over the last decade, whereas the city (under a succession of Democrats) only started them under the Richards administration.

I have no idea how common it is for state-funded construction to be under a PLA. Do you?

Yeah, when it comes to labor, Rochester politics don’t quite map the same way that they do nationally.

The fact that he’s actually using project-labor agreements, along with the reality that Lovely Warren wants to dismantle public education, is why I support Richards in the election today.

I used to run PeoplePoweredRochester.com. Since that website is defunct, I’m importing some older posts over here. Here’s the wayback link

Wow. Wow. Warren won the primary, 58% to 42% with all precincts reporting.

What does this mean?

I wonder if the big Warren boost came in part from the growing unrest over awful police practices? The large local rallies and news stories these days regard the police – Benny Warr, Emily Good, Brenda Hardaway, even the Trayvon Martin case led to a march against racist policing.

More thoughts:

This is a defeat both for the institutional left and institutional Democratic party. The Working Families Party and labor unions partnered with the Joe Morrelle / establishment wing of the Dems to take on Lovely Warren.

This is a win for David Gantt.

This is a win for the corporate education privatization lobby.

This is a showcase of the power of an organized African-American community.

Does Richards still run on the Working Families Party and Independence line?

Update 1:

Council Races and School Board: Seems like the incumbents all won.

City News has its take up. It’s a good one.

Brian Sharp (D&C reporter) on twitter says: “Richards spox says tonight likely not the night for Richards decision on staying in the race for Nov #voteroc”

Update 2:

Did I hear someone on WXXI say that Joe Morelle should resign? I can’t see that happening. Not that I saw Warren winning this race either.

Just heard Richard’s concession speech. Nothing about whether he would run again or not – but I wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t.

Will there be pressure on Alex White to bow out of the race now, so that Richards has a better shot at winning?

There was an upset in the Henrietta Republican supervisor primary. The winner was the one *not* endorsed by the Conservative or Independence lines. Good?

Update 3:

WXXI has the Lovely Warren victory speech:

Update 4:

The D&C has their quick reaction article up. It doesn’t seem to say anything we don’t already know.

Commenter Alicia O has a nuanced take: (slightly edited for clarity)

I’m feeling torn about this. I want to see changes and new leadership and it is exciting to see people come together to take a stance against the status quo.

There is a lot to say about it all, but I’m most concerned with education. I’m VERY opposed to many aspects of Warren’s stated position/plan to “improve” city schools. She says in the plan that she supports recruit corporate charters and wants to attract Teach for America to the area. Rochester has plenty of highly qualified teachers in the area. The failure of city schools to prepare students does not have to do with finding teachers, rather, it’s about systemic inequality and disenfranchisement. She is extremely misguided if she thinks more Charters and TFA are the solutions.

However, she also has mentioned great ideas like partnering with Historically Black Colleges and expanding a school’s community. I hope that more informed people can steer her in the right direction and make her realize that supporting privatization is actually at odds with her vision.

Then again…politicians say stuff to get elected, so maybe she was just trying to appeal to everyone in the document. (Vouchers and charters are what supposedly lures more affluent families into sticking around in the city…but what about the promise of public ed.?) Lots to think about.

People can read her education document here. [pdf]

Meanwhile commenter Zora has a more straightforward take:

Alex White should step out of the race for the general election so he doesn’t take votes away from Richards….

Update 5:

Seth Voorhees of YNN (but in a personal capacity) tweets: ”Richards says he’ll take a few days to consider next move, after losing Dem primary to Lovely Warren.”

Meaghan M. McDermott at the D&C has a nice roundup of the suburban races.

I think it’s time to pack it in. What an upset! Definitely a shakeup in the perceived and real power for different factions within the Democratic party of the city. I’m sure we’ll know more in the following few days. Night night everyone.

I used to run PeoplePoweredRochester.com. Since that website is defunct, I’m importing some older posts over here. (Here’s the wayback link to this post)

Today’s primary election day. What races are you watching closely?

I’ve collated a roundup of endorsements from generally left-of-center groups around town. You’ll see it below. If you find others, please send them my way.

Warning: thinly-sourced speculation ahead!

Looking at these endorsements, the two candidates that noticeably escape a consensus are Marlowe Washington and Liz Hallmark.

I don’t know why lefties are split on Washington. With Hallmark, however, I do have a theory.

Rumor has it that Liz Hallmark started her campaign late. So late that she wasn’t able to even apply for an endorsement from the Working Families Party in time. That probably holds true for other endorsement-making bodies as well.

While the Working Families Party has a broad slate of endorsements, it seems that their main push is for the mayor’s race. I’ve run into a few friends who tell me about a joint Democrat/Working Families Party paid canvass for Richards, and I haven’t heard anything about jobs canvassing for the other candidates endorsed on the WFP line.

Word on the street, too, is that Warren, while being happy to win the primary outright, is setting herself up to run again, and stronger, in 2017. Others think she might run on a new ballot line against Richards in the general. I’m skeptical of the latter claim – I doubt she’ll do so notably well in the primary that the addition of Alex White in the race would siphon enough votes from Richards to get her the crown.

I guess we’ll see soon enough!

End thinly-sourced speculation.

Here are the local endorsements:

Working Families Party:

Tom Richards, Mayor
Matt Haag, Rochester City Council
Jackie Ortiz, Rochester City Council
Marlowe Washington, Rochester City Council
Jose Cruz, School Board
Candice Lucas, School Board
Van White, School Board

Rochester Labor Council:

Tom Richards, Mayor
Marlowe Washington, Rochester City Council
Jackie Ortiz, Rochester City Council
Loretta Scott, Rochester City Council
Dana Miller, Rochester City Council
Matt Haag, Rochester City Council
Jose Cruz, School Board
Candice Lucas, School Board

City Paper:

Tom Richards, Mayor
Matt Haag, Rochester City Council
Jackie Ortiz, Rochester City Council
Dana Miller, Rochester City Council
Loretta Scott, Rochester City Council
Carolee Conklin, Rochester City Council
Jose Cruz, School Board
Candice Lucas, School Board
Van White, School Board

Coalition for Justice in Education:

Liz Hallmark, School Board

Diane Ravitch:

Liz Hallmark, School Board

I used to run PeoplePoweredRochester.com. Since that website is defunct, I’m importing some older posts over here. (Here’s the link to the original)

The TED brand of conference is resolutely “apolitical”, to its great demerit. Robber barons rub shoulders with scientists and marvel at technocratic attempts to fix the problems that they themselves caused. Tales of people-powered organizing are only entertained once in a while, and only when the countries affected are safely exotic and far away.

There’s one in Rochester soon. You should go.

Seriously! Here’s an application form.

Here’s why:

The short version:  There will be smart, passionate, and powerful people there. You want to meet them, befriend them, and build alliances. After all, TEDxRochester is quite a different beast from the flagship event.

The longer version:

The speakers at TEDx aren’t the point – instead, you want to mingle with the attendees. Luckily for you, the organizers have spent hours and hours cultivating a guest list of interesting, driven, or powerful people. Young professionals, entrepreneurs, hip young pastors, etc. You want to meet those people. You want to meet them because they’re the competent, passionate people that make amazing members or allies.

As organizers and activists, we fail when we live solely in our own bubble. That’s a fairly anodyne, even boring statement. Let’s take it a step further, though: “As organizers, we need to be engaged in – and even help build – local civic society.”

There are a few reasons why organizers should have a stake in building even apolitical civic society:

1. As citizens organize any kind of group, including neighborhood or charity groups, they become comfortable with participating, funding, and leading. You’ll benefit from those skills and assumptions becoming the norm.
2. Already existing local groups make your life as an organizer so much easier – you can partner with them on projects, or engage with them to try to convince them of your values.
3. A strong civic society broadens the pool of engaged citizens. Engaged citizens are exactly the sort of people you want to recruit.

In short, a civic society is a society in which you can participate. It’s a framework to work in and generates organizations worth partnering with.

So apply!
http://www.tedxrochester.org/register/

More info:

There are, confusingly, two separate TED-branded conferences in Rochester every year – TEDxRochester and TEDxFlourCity. TEDxRochester is the one I’m discussing at the moment – it’s the one with the application up.

TED is the flagship conference in California. It was so successful that local volunteers organize TED-branded events across the country.

I used to run PeoplePoweredRochester.com. Since that website is defunct, I’m importing some older posts over here. Below is the text of the about page.

The situation:
The progressive/populist/people-powered movement in Rochester is stronger than many know, but weaker than it can be.

All too often, liberal reformists don’t talk to radical organizers. Electoral-focused progressives are unaware of grassroots associations. Enthusiastic newcomers aren’t matched with experienced activists looking for new blood. All the while, the great bulk of the city is woefully unaware of our presence. The silos of tactics, nominal ideology, and issue area divide and diminish us.

There’s a flourishing ecosystem of different grassroots groups in our neighborhoods. Dedicated and smart people are experimenting with new tactics and organizing models every day. However, these groups often aren’t aware of each other, can’t learn from each other, and don’t work together. There’s a real lack of movement communication and movement consciousness. We’ll need much more of both if we want to succeed.

Our mission in short:
We want the best parts of the political left in Rochester to grow. We want them to strengthen. And we want them to win.

Our initial strategy:
We’re going to build a community online that consists of the broad left in Monroe County. Organizers and onlookers, center-left and radical left, electoral and direct action. As the community grows in numbers and coherence, so will our power. Specifically, as the community grows, we’ll draw more people to get involved in “meatspace”, connect disparate parts of the movement together, and push existing organizations towards excellence and accountability.

Don’t forget applauding great projects as they happen. That’s also really important.

Our proposed tactics:

• Breaking news
• Introducing readers to the exciting and positive world of people-powered organizations in Rochester
• Asking critical questions from a position of respect and kindness
• Provoking intra-movement discussion and debate
• Explaining or exploring the context of the different news of the day
• Sharing best practices

In short, we will be curious, we will be opinionated, and we will be passionate. Enjoy!

I used to run PeoplePoweredRochester.com. Since that website is defunct, I’m importing some older posts over here. Below is the first post on the site

Hi!

Over the last few weeks, I’ve had an idea kicking around my head that just won’t go away.

We need a lefty media/community/discussionspace … thing in Rochester.

It would need to appeal to:

• Onlookers, and then start getting them involved in local organizing
• Organizers, and push them towards excellence (and being good to each other)
• Legacy media and thought leaders, and showcase the strength (and newsworthiness!) of our different efforts

A bloggy/newsy site seems to be the best way to go about it.

The sort of site you pull up in the morning as you drink your coffee. The sort of site you mention to your political friends because you never seem to stop reading it. The site where dedicated organizers hang out, shoot the shit, and interact with enthusiastic newcomers.

But why?

Because we as a broad left won’t win in Rochester until we become stronger. We can become stronger by:

• Building relationships between leaders of strikingly different organizations.
• Making sure to celebrate our smaller victories along the way.
• Recruiting more members and donors.
• Reaching outside our normal circles.
• Building a culture of collaboration and respectful questioning.

What is this broad left? It’s composed of groups of different tactics, ideology, and issue focus. They often don’t work well together. That division is bad. It leads to weakness and blind spots. Part of the mission of this site should be to restore the broader flag of “broad left” or “people-powered movement”.

This site can help with all that. Or possibly it will fulfill a different function entirely. The best plan is just to do quality work, and see where it leads.

It’s time.