City of Rochester Communications Burear

New data released by the U.S. Census shows Monroe County is aging and growing more diverse.

Between July 2010 and July 2012, the total population increased .4 percent to 747,813.

There are fewer children in Monroe County. The number of children under 18 dropped 3 percent to 163,317. The number of people 65 years and older went up 6 percent. The median age of residents ticked up slightly from 38.5 to 38.6 years. The national median is 37.4.

The number of white residents went up .1 percent to 582,417. The number of black residents went up .9 percent to 119458. The Asian population increased 2 percent to 25,505. The number of people of Hispanic origin, which can include more than one race, went up 4 percent to 57,150.

Links of the Day:

- The Senecas and the state could be close to ending their stalemate. Could a Rochester casino be part of the deal?

- Does Cuomo REALLY want campaign finance reform? I promise this is not a dry read.

- A downstate superintendent is retiring for ONE DAY only so he can collect his pension.

- There are a lot of dead fish in the Erie Canal.

- Brighton’s diverging diamond has reduced accidents. I hate it because it’s too highway-like for a regular road. Narrowing streets and slowing traffic also reduces accidents.

- Lockport refuses to name a park after a fallen officer and suggests her friends spruce up a fountain in her honor, instead.

- Anthony Weiner sounds like a very insufferable man in this New York Times profile.

- Is forced fatherhood fair?

- Meet Edward Snowden’s acrobatic, pole-dancing girlfriend.

Source: Brookings Institution

Rochester is doing pretty well when it comes to high tech jobs. Brookings Institution found Rochester ranks among top one-third of metros in percentage of STEM jobs. STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. Brookings decided to include STEM jobs that require technical skill, but do not require a bachelor’s degree, such as machinists and auto techs.

The chart above makes it clear why we care so much about STEM jobs. They pay more. The people in STEM jobs also invent things. These innovators are crucial to growing companies.

This is why I wish our local and state government would focus more on attracting STEM jobs than casino, retail and call center jobs.

(Buffalo is not so hot on the STEM front.)

Links of the Day:

- “There is no saving me.” Edward Snowden knew the risks.

- Booz Allen employs 25,000. Nearly half have top secret security clearances.

- Has the United States become the type of nation from which you have to seek asylum?

- Joining the ACC is a financial windfall for Syracuse University athletics.

- “Across the country, schools & school districts are overreacting to risk.”

Source: Confronting Suburban Poverty in America

We’ve heard a lot about how poverty in the suburbs has grown over the last decade. The Brookings Institution crunched the numbers and has a startling statistic: Poverty in Rochester’s suburbs went up 73.5 percent between 2000 and 2011. There are more poor people living in the suburbs than the city. 

Brookings tells the Buffalo News, “The growing number of poor in suburbs can be partly explained by a rise in low-paying retail jobs, loss of good paying manufacturing jobs and shifting availability of affordable housing…”

The shift has implications for housing, transportation and schools. Brookings urges communities to assess the way it meets the needs of the poor. You can read more about suburban poverty on a website for a book written by Brookings experts on the topic.

Have you noticed the shift in more poor residents to the suburbs?

Links of the Day:

- The statewide texting and driving conviction rate is only 44 percent! In other words, fight that ticket.

- A Democrat and Chronicle columnist predicts Bausch + Lomb is in for a rough ride. (The CEO has a $77 million parachute!)

- The power of the free market: Cabela’s moves into Erie County without tax breaks.

- The Washington Post has a raw story of grief, in a profile of parents of a boy killed at Sandy Hook. Despite so much support, they’re terribly alone.

- Rent-to-own tire shops are springing up, preying on the poor.

- The Amish are getting fracked. They don’t believe in lawsuits – and the energy companies know it.

- A woman writes back to Harvard 52 years after admissions letter questioned how she’d balance school and home.

As a lifelong swimmer, I’m a huge advocate of all children learning how to swim. It’s a potentially life saving skill and it’s also wonderful for exercise and recreation. Sadly, swimming is not a priority at our elementary and high schools. In addition, the city has been installing splash parks, which I fear discourage learning how to swim.

This summer, the City of Rochester offers FREE swim lessons to children and $20 lessons to adults. (Download the registration here.) I often swim at the Genesee Valley Park pool and I’m amazed at how empty the pool is on a 90-degree day. (Entry is $1 for children and $3 for adults.)

The Y also has excellent swimming lessons programs.

Let’s take advantage of the city’s great pools and jump in!

Links of the Day:

- Heroin deaths in Rochester are surging. In Buffalo, heroin deaths are links to heroin-fentanyl cocktails.

- The call center closure in Albion demonstrates why call centers are bad economic development. Too easy to open and close. There’s little investment.

- Macy’s at Walden Galleria is expanding to accommodate Canadian shoppers.

- An imagined apology letter from Obama to Bush: “I was critical of you about so many things I now, myself, am doing.”

The day she was arraigned in Penfield.

When Megan Merkel was arraigned in Penfield Town Court last summer, she sobbed to the judge she had no one to bail her out. The bail was only $25,000 cash or $50,000 bond, an amount not out of reach for most property owners. She had no one in her life to help.

During that short hearing, it was revealed she didn’t have custody of her two children and had previous convictions for minor thefts.

I remember feeling sorry for this 23-year-old woman who’d made some very bad choices. Her young life was a train wreck and was about to get a lot worse.

After spending 10 months in jail, Merkel was found guilty of driving drunk, but acquitted of vehicular manslaughter. The district attorney took a big gamble with the manslaughter charge. Police said from the start Merkel’s friend threw Heather Boyum into the path of the car Merkel was driving. The jury’s decision was incredibly easy to predict.

Merkel has since given a public apology.

In a discussion on my Facebook page about Merkel and forgiveness, someone wrote:

“I absolutely don’t accept her apology and I never will. There is not one courageous bone in her body. This is self serving so she could actually leave her house in this community. She’s the most hated person in all of Rochester, NY. Rot in hell, Merkel.”

In many online discussions, Merkel and her co-defendant have been referred to “white trash.”

I don’t find it so hard to have compassion for Merkel. I don’t find it so hard to want her to lead a good life. I don’t find it hard to accept her public apology.

If we don’t forgive her, who can we forgive? Several thousand people in our community are convicted every year of drinking and driving. If we don’t forgive their mistakes, for which they pay a hefty price, an awful lot of people would be friendless and jobless. Whether you know it or not, these are your family members, friends, neighbors and coworkers. Forgiveness is not the same as condoning the behavior.

Some asked if I would have so much compassion if Boyum was my teacher, sister, friend or mother. I’ve covered many trials and spoken to many heartbroken families. I think there is no real remedy when bad things happen to good people. What’s done is done. All we can hope is that the truth comes out and the system delivers an appropriate penalty. Nothing, however, can reverse a tragedy. We only have power over how we choose to grieve and move forward.

Even though reasonable people think otherwise, a jury found Merkel wasn’t responsible for Boyum’s death. She still faces sentencing for the driving infractions. But she has and will face a penalty for being “the most hated person in Rochester.”

As a community, we can do better.

The assembly voted this week on a bill that would legalize the drug for medical uses. (Read the bill here.)

Rochester lawmakers voted along party lines. Democrats Harry Bronson, David Gantt and Joe Morelle voted yes. Republicans Bill Reilich, Bill Nojay, Mark Johns and Brian Kolb voted no. The bill passed and is now in the hands of the senate.

The governor remains opposed to medical marijuana, but says he has an “open mind.”

Medical marijuana is legal in 18 states and Washington, D.C. Colorado and Washington have legalized marijuana for recreational use.

I believe it’s only a matter of time before marijuana is 100 percent legal in all states for recreational and medicinal uses.

Links of the Day:

- “By introducing the bill, Cuomo is putting a referendum on abortion before the state Legislature.”

- A Syracuse man’s murder conviction was tossed because of a 49-hour police interrogation.

- A quadriplegic woman is accused of running a gun and drugs ring in Syracuse.

- The AMC in Webster is banking on recliners.

- Amazon plans a big expansion into the grocery business, even fresh foods. (I buy all my cereal online.)

- Bazil served children mimosas by mistake. Their parents are furious and say the kids were hungover the next day.

I assume Rochester no longer is Soccer City USA.

— Bob Matthews (@BMatthewsSports) June 2, 2013

The Rhinos are in a big funk. The Flash are not filling the seats, even with Abby.

How did we go from Soccer Town USA to Soccer Town Sometimes?

The Flash are not even drawing 3,000 per game. That means nearly one out of five seats are occupied. Attendance is below the league average. The Rhinos are not doing much better.

The Democrat and Chronicle’s Jeff DiVeronica (check out his blog for all things soccer) and I chatted about attendance a couple nights ago. He speculates marketing and ticket prices are factors. (The Rhinos charge $10. Flash charge $13.) For the Rhinos, the product is also an issue.

DiVeronica and I reluctantly had to admit something else that is playing a role in soccer’s decline in Rochester. The new stadium never captured the hearts of the public. DiVeronica and I agree that there are things the city can do to better connect the stadium to Frontier Field.

What can Rochester do to get back its title of Soccer Town USA?

(By the way, it’s Wambach’s 33rd birthday. Happy Birthday, Abby! Read why Canadians don’t like her.)

Links of the Day:

- It’s frustrating this article on the success of a Rochester charter school does not mention it has no children who speak English as a second language and far fewer students with disabilities than the Rochester City School District. Furthermore, charter schools have the ability to kick out students who don’t meet their standards.

- What would make Wegmans open a store in Batavia? (Very hypocritical of CEO to say he doesn’t support retail tax breaks when he’s a beneficiary.)

- A former Colgan Air executive talks about serious safety concerns before the 2009 crash in Clarence.

- The average New Yorker eats 13 pounds of yogurt a year compared to 60 pounds for the average European.

- Albert Paley’s Rochester studio is preparing for a major art installation on New York City’s Park Avenue.

- 33 years of CNN – a video for each year.

His plan would allow private start-up companies that locate at select colleges to pay no income, property or sales tax. Cuomo believes this would spur investment and create jobs.

There are several problems with this approach. First, the rest of us will be paying the taxes these companies are avoiding. Second, the plan hurts municipalities desperate to fill vacant office space and generate property tax revenue. Third, competing businesses get no such benefits, creating an unequal playing field. Fourth, the program could invite abuse. 

A report out this week claims doling out tax incentives in the name of economic development has had dubious benefits in New York State, but has cost taxpayers $7 billion. Critics say trying to lure jobs from other states is nothing but a costly shell game.

Economists across the political spectrum are extremely skeptical of Tax Free NY. The Post-Standard reports it’s unprecedented:

(Tax Foundation’s Scott) Drenkard said such targeted tax breaks make the tax system unfair and ultimately hurts, not helps, businesses.

“Carving out special tax breaks for certain favored businesses is destructive to the economic playing field,” Drenkard said. “A much better option in the long run is to go with broader tax bases and as low a tax rate as you can make while still maintaining necessary government services.”

The right-leaning Empire Center in Albany criticized the program for similar reasons.

(Syracuse University Professor John) Yinger says virtually all the research he has seen, and that he and his students have conducted, on targeted tax breaks shows they simply don’t work — especially those that hope to attract businesses in from other states.

“In New York we have a dizzying array of tax breaks with no evidence they help, and now here’s a new version,” said Yinger, who teaches courses in public budgeting and researches the effect of taxes upon behavior. “I think it would be just be another source of inequity in our tax system and would do nothing to help promote economic development. You’d do much better improving our schools and infrastructure than giving tax breaks to businesses who would be in the state anyway.”

Links of the Day:

- New York found “shocking” violations at Rochester area daycare centers.

- “In Monroe County, the media coverage of trials is a patchwork, depending to a degree on the whims of a judge.” 

- ABC News profiled a tough school in Philadelphia. This could have been written in many urban schools across the country, including Rochester.

- A teacher was reprimanded for telling students they have a constitutional right not to fill out a school survey on their drug and alcohol use.

- Another sign the U.S. war on drugs is a big failure is the falling price of illegal drugs on the street. 

- Immigrants subsidize, rather than drain, Medicare.

- This is surprising. More people are cutting the cord on home Internet than television.

- Garden Aerial is for real.

Dedicating the Soldiers & Sailors Monument in Washington Square Park on May 30, 1892

Women stand around flower-covered grave on Memorial Day in Mt. Hope Cemetery. Photograph taken around 1905-1915

Civil War veterans march down Main Street for Memorial Day Parade in 1908.

Flowers from the Rochester Carting Company loaded up and ready to go for the 1909 Memorial Day Parade.

Boy Scouts marching in the 1911 Memorial Day Parade on Main Street.

Memorial Day ceremony at Iola Sanitorium in 1911.

Pearl Ford of Hazlewood Terrace celebrates Memorial Day in 1912.

Women and children honor unknown soldiers at Mt. Hope Cemetery in 1913 for Memorial Day.

Civil War vets hold their tattered battle flags in 1916.

World War I veterans march in 1920′s Memorial Day Parade on Main Street.

Links of the Day:

- Economists are slamming Cuomo’s tax free zone proposal.

- Field tests will be given out again in the coming days to New York students, raising concerns they’re being used for corporate profits.

- Asian carp, round gobies, spiny water flea and mussels threaten Lake Erie’s health 

- The rise of the fourth branch of government – the administrative state.

- New York City hospitals are bracing for a spike in births nine months after Hurricane Sandy.

- “The little things, like standing up and being able to pee.”

New York State could pave the way for self-driving cars.

Assemblyman David Gantt, chair of the transportation committee, has introduced a bill (read it here) that would allow the testing and operation of autonomous vehicles.

California, Nevada and Florida all have laws allowing self-driving cars. The technology, spearheaded by Google, raises a number of issues, as this TIME magazine article points out:

There are some compelling reasons to support self-driving cars. Regular cars are inefficient: the average commuter spends 250 hours a year behind the wheel. They are dangerous. Car crashes are a leading cause of death for Americans ages 4 to 34 and cost some $300 billion a year. Google and other supporters believe that self-driving cars can make driving more efficient and safer by eliminating distracted driving and other human error. Google’s self-driving cars have cameras on the top to look around them and computers to do the driving. Their safety record is impressive so far.

(snip)

That is a reasonable concern. If we are going to have self-driving cars, the technical specifications should be quite precise….

How involved — and how careful — are we going to expect the human co-pilot to be? As a Stanford Law School report asks, “Must the ‘drivers’ remain vigilant, their hands on the wheel and their eyes on the road? If not, what are they allowed to do inside or outside, the vehicle?” Can the human in the car drink? 

Gantt’s bill calls for a study period in New York. The commissioner of motor vehicles would propose laws and regulations to the governor by February 2015. The bill was introduced a couple weeks ago and is still in committee.

Links of the Day:

- Rochester area residents and police are worried kids will disrupt festivals all summer. 

- President Obama nominated Ann Marie Buerkle to a $155,000-a-year post.

- New York high school students will be paid to develop new high school equivalency degree. Meanwhile, kids subjected to field tests get nothing.

- John McCain wrote an editorial calling for a la carte TV programming.

- Why David Simon, creator of “The Wire,” is against legalizing pot.

- What Jane Saw: An art gallery visited by Jane Austen, put on line for virtual tours.