Local News

The RPD's policies and procedures for ADA compliance: Are they doing a good job?

Submitted by Rochester Indymedia on Wed, 2013-05-15 21:08
Below are some key points stated in the policies and procedures, of the Rochester Police Department, for people with disabilities. In this case, we've highlighted the issues specifically dealing with people with mobility impairments.

Here they are...

adarpd1.png

and...

flyer for Benny Warr rally

Submitted by Rochester Indymedia on Wed, 2013-05-15 20:44

bennywarr.pdf


bennywarr.pdf

"Not Guilty!" Benny Warr Arraigned

Submitted by T. Forsyth on Tue, 2013-05-14 19:02

On May 14, 2013, Benny Warr entered Judge Stephen Miller's courtroom flanked by his lawyer, Charles F. Burkwit, his wife, Nina (pronounced nine-ah), and other family members and supporters. The proceedings got underway promptly at 9:30am with Warr's arraignment first on the docket.

 

When Judge Miller asked Warr to enter a plea, Warr, in his baritone voice, said, “Not guilty.”

 

In The City Off The Grid - Building Sustainable Communities

Submitted by AlBrundage on Mon, 2013-05-13 00:25

"The Human Face of War"--a workshop

Submitted by T. Forsyth (w/video from Dawn Revette) on Fri, 2013-05-10 12:09

On April 27, 2013, Kathy Kelly, Noor Mir, Sarah A.K. Ahmed, Rooj Alwazir, Fidaa Abuassi, and Mohammed Abbas presented a workshop titled "The Human Face of War" at the Resisting Drones, Global War and Empire convergence in Syracuse, NY.

Part 1 is video of each panelist describing their particular experience.

Watch Now!

"The Human Face of War"--a workshop

Part 2 is the discussion that occurred but in audio format rather than video.

"A Policy of Full Spectrum Dominance" a workshop at Resisting Drones, Global War and Empire convergence

Submitted by SusanGalloway on Thu, 2013-05-09 18:48

On April 27, 2013, Bruce Gagnon presented a workshop titled "A Policy of Full Spectrum Dominance"at the Resisting Drones, Global War and Empire Convergence in Syracuse, NY.

Bruce Gagnon: Stop the Militarization and Nuclearization of Space!

May Day 2013 photos

Submitted by AlBrundage on Thu, 2013-05-09 00:35

May Day or International Worker's Day comes to Rochester May 1 2013.  Marchers met at Washington Square Park and marched up East Ave to the Workers United headquarters.  Speakers from various labor and civic groups spoke at both locations. 

Photos in gallery

Video coming soon!

Disabled Man Assaulted by RPD While Waiting for Bus

Submitted by T. Forsyth, video: Shakur Muhammed on YouTube.com on Wed, 2013-05-08 22:13

On May 1st, 2013, Benny Warr was waiting for the bus in his wheelchair at the intersection of Bartlett St. and Jefferson Ave., near his home. As he was waiting for the bus, a Rochester police cruiser rolled up to the intersection. The officers exited the car and according to Warr, asked him what he was doing.

"I told them I was just waiting for the bus. I was being polite," he said to me in a brief phone interview today.

The next thing Warr knew, he had a face full of mace and three officers punching and wrestling him out of his wheelchair where he was further kicked and beat while on the ground. A savvy citizen, who goes by the handle Shakur Muhammed on YouTube, started recording the incident with her phone just before Warr was violently forced from his chair.

"Clean Up - Cook Out" event for Vee Henry in response to ATF foreclosure battle

Submitted by Take Back The Land on Wed, 2013-05-08 21:03

EVENT: Saturday, May 11 at 12pm,  "Clean Up - Cook Out" event  for Vee Henry in response to  ATF foreclosure battle

Location: 395 Maple St, Rochester

 

        A year ago Virginia "Vee" Henry promised her dying brother Buddy that she would carry on his dream of creating a homeless shelter and youth outreach program in his two story building at 395 Maple Street in Rochester.  Since then, a perfect storm of city cost-saving measures, privately executed tax liabilities, and the possible machinations of a mysterious but well-connected real-estate investor challenged that dream.  But Vee Henry's dedication has not wavered.  This Saturday, May 11 at 12pm, Henry will be hosting a volunteer "Clean Up - Cook Out" event at her beleaguered building at 395 Maple St, Rochester, where volunteers will be repairing some of damage done to her property by vandals during her year long foreclosure battle, and Vee will be available for questions about her case.

Gender Justice, Inclusion, and the Problem with Language for the Women's Equality Agenda in New York State

Submitted by Kaitlin Legg on Wed, 2013-05-08 12:31

original article: http://upandrise.tumblr.com/post/49938349690

New York Women's Equality Ad - "If I Were a Man..."

The NY Women’s Equality Agenda is a policy initiative that NYS Governor Andrew Cuomo announced early in 2013. NY Women’s Equality just unveiled this new video. I invite you to watch the video, read my response below, and share your own response.

Green Party Responds to State of the City Address

Submitted by Green Rochester on Tue, 2013-05-07 09:11

Monday night, Mayor Tom Richards gave an exciting presentation about the
State of the City.  We, the candidates of Green Rochester, feel that the
Mayor presented an excessively positive vision for a City that is
struggling with some very serious issues.  The speech was light on
specifics and had virtually no mention of the underlying root cause of so
many of Rochesters problems: poverty.  Last weekend, Green Rochester
candidates spent time at the Carl Street Urban Farm Project, on the city's
northeast side. The residents of that neighborhood did not paint the same
rosy picture.

We recognize that Rochester is a city beset by many systemic problems,
including poverty, unemployment, homelessness, and a school system
struggling to serve its most basic functions.  According to Green Rochester
candidate for Mayor, Alex White, "Investing $1.7 billion over 3 years in
various development projects has not solved any of these problems.
Poverty, homelessness, and infant mortality are all higher, while our
graduation rate is lower."

City Council Candidate, David Atias added, "Everyone understands what the
problems are. But the people currently running the show seem to think that
the solutions need to come from outside our own community.  We have the
resources to do what needs to be done, but we keep giving them away to
people who don't live here."

"Youth Organizing Against War" a workshop at the Resisting Drones, Global War and Empire convergence

Submitted by T. Forsyth on Tue, 2013-05-07 08:45

On April 27, 2013, Ben Kuebrich, Amelia Ramsey-Lefevre, Claire Bach, Brian Tackett, and Rachel Cary presented a workshop titled "Youth Organizing Against War" at the Resisting Drones, Global War and Empire convergence in Syracuse, NY.

Watch Now!

Youth Organizing Against War

Jalil Muntaqim: Blog #20 Blow-Back?!

Submitted by Jalil A. Muntaqim from Attica Prison on Tue, 2013-05-07 07:47
Blog #20
 
 
Blow-Back?!
Reading the Saturday, April 13, 2013, issue of the New York Times, I came across an article, “Rights Groups, in Letter to Obama, Question Legality and Secrecy of Drone Killings,” byline Scott Shane. The nine-page letter sent to Obama by the American Civil Liberties Union, Amnesty International, Human Rights First, Open Society Foundations, the Center for Constitutional Rights and other groups challenged the U.S. so-called counterterrorism campaigns. A week earlier, I saw a photo of 8 Afghani children wrapped in their funeral shrouds to be buried after succumbing to a U.S. drone strike on a community, allegedly to kill an Islamic militant. When I read the article concerning the photo, it discussed the anguish of the parents of these children, asking the question why were their children killed. The story brought to mind the many babies that were killed by Timothy McVeigh in the Oklahoma bombing. I thought about the police bombing and killing men, women and children of the MOVE family in Philadelphia, and I thought about the babies/children being killed (although disproportionately) between Zionist Israeli and Islamist Palestinians. Needless to say, there are far too many babies/children being victimized in these geo-political or domestic conflicts.

Brofiling: white privilege radically changes the appearance of Tsarnaev bros

Submitted by brofiling on Mon, 2013-05-06 15:29

brofiling: white privilege radically changes the appearance of Tsarnaev bros

This is how brofiling actually works in real life. The Week Magazine ran with this image as their cover sketch.

Just so it is said, clearly and unambiguously: the Tsarnaev brothers are white guys. They are white. The FBI’s own wanted poster for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev lists his race as “white”, but you would never know it from the cover image on The Week.

Getting to know the anarchists

Submitted by Phil Ebersole on Mon, 2013-05-06 15:17

original article: https://philebersole.wordpress.com/2013/04/26/getting-to-know-the-anarchists/

Back in the day (which was before people used the expression “back in the day”), I was reasonably satisfied with the society I lived in. I thought there were four possible ways to organize society—free-market democracy, socialist democracy, Communism and fascism.   The dividing line between the first two and second two was democracy vs. dictatorship; the dividing line between the first and last and the middle two was capitalism vs. socialism.

For me, the key dividing line was between democracy and dictatorship.  I was satisfied with free-market democracy, but open-minded about social democracy.   I recognized the existence of poverty, racism and other social ills, but I thought the United States and other democratic countries were steadily overcoming these wrongs.

Nowadays Communism has vanished from the map of history, and state socialism is fading.  But the forward progress of our free-market democracy has ceased.  Instead we are stuck in a state of perpetual war, perpetual martial law and perpetual economic decline, with impunity from the law for the financial and governmental elite and a police state for everyone else.   There is no longer a bright dividing line between our present system and fascism.

I was wrong in my assumptions about how things were, and I need to rethink my philosophy.  I want to learn more about anarchism, a philosophy based on individual liberty and voluntary cooperation, outside my four-box matrix..

Did the RPD pull a gun on a man videotaping from his porch?

Submitted by Davy V. on Mon, 2013-05-06 15:11

Did Rochester, NY Police officer Pull his Gun on Man After Forcing him Into his Home and Threatening to Arrest him for Video Recording?

By Davy V.

Original article can be found here: http://davyv.blogspot.com/2013/04/did-rochester-ny-police-officer-pull_27.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+DavyV+%28Davy+V.%29

Rochester, NY Police officer:
"If you come out here again I am arresting you!"

At first, the 3 minute and 54 second dark, and somewhat grainy video looks like some ordinary footage of police cruisers, with flashing lights on, at the scene of what looks to be a motor vehicle accident, in Rochester, NY on March 9th.

However, around the 2 minute and 5 second mark of the video, things quickly change.

It is at that point that a Rochester Police officer can be heard telling the man who is recording the video, "Get inside why are you still standing here I know you hear me."

The man, who is in his North Street home, replies, "I understand you and I'm standing in my house and I'm filming an accident that has occurred", when the RPD officer interrupts him and says "Sir I need you to go inside you are standing here and I need you to go inside."

Then RPD officer, who is briefly seen in the video, then shoves the man inside his home as he continues to yell at the man to go inside.

The officer then slams the man's door shut while while yelling "If you come out here again I am arresting you!"

1st Monday Mayhem: Taking a Closer Look at the Women's Equality Agenda!

Submitted by Flying Squirrel Community Space on Sat, 2013-05-04 16:42

This month we'll be discussing the Women's Equality Agenda!

The Women’s Equality Agenda will help ensure that New York’s 10 million mothers, daughters, sisters and wives get a fair shake. This groundbreaking legislative agenda will level the playing field and break down barriers so women can more fully and equally participate in society.

The Flying Squirrel Community Space collective has invited KaeLyn Rich to give a presentation about the agenda. She is the new Director of the Genesee Valley Chapter of the New York Civil Liberties Union and was formally the community affairs coordinator at Planned Parenthood of the Rochester/Syracuse Region, where she was responsible for legislative advocacy, government relations, coalition building and the regional campus organizing program. KaeLyn has also worked at Services to Aid Families, a rape crisis/domestic violence program in Oswego and serves on several local non-profit boards.

After KaeLyn's presentation, the community is invited to engage in conversation about the agenda.

Call for Action in Wake of Bangladesh Building Collapse

Submitted by Labor-Religion Coalition of NYS on Fri, 2013-05-03 22:36

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02548/bangladesh-collaps_2548149b.jpg

original article: http://www.labor-religion.org/2013/04/29/workers-memorial-day-stop-the-murders-of-garment-workers/#.UYj0QYJOk4A

On Wednesday in Bangaldesh, thousands of workers were trapped as the Rana Plaza building – which house six garment factories – crumbled to pieces.  These workers were denied their right to refuse dangerous work: they were told that they would lose a month’s pay if they didn’t report to work the day after cracks appeared in the walls.  Four hundred people have already perished as a result of Wednesday’s tragedy and it remains unclear how many more victims will be found as they clear the rubble.

The tragedy comes days after Sumi Abedin and Kalpona Akter met with New York State legislators and held a public speak out about deadly working conditions of the fire at the Tazreen factory, including locked doors and barred windows.  Their goal was to encourage Governor Cuomo to adopt a Sweatshop-Free Procurement Policy that included fire and building safety measures. (Read about their visit with a local high school class here).

Ending the Fabrication of the War on Terror: Lessons from Africa--a workshop by Horace Campbell

Submitted by T. Forsyth on Fri, 2013-05-03 22:30

On April 27, 2013, Horace Campbell presented a workshop titled "Ending

the Fabrication of the War on Terror: Lessons from Africa" at the Resisting

Drones, Global War and Empire convergence in Syracuse, NY.

 

Part 1 is Horace's opening remarks.

Watch Now!

Ending the Fabrication of the War on Terror: Lessons from Africa--a workshop by Horace Campbell

Part 2 is the discussion that occurred but in audio format rather than video. It is 46 minutes and 18 seconds long, so please give it time to load.

Listen here: http://www.radio4all.net/files/anonymous@radio4all.net/16-1-Horace_Campbell_audio_part_2.mp3

Rochester Free School to Host Open House

Submitted by Rochester Free School on Thu, 2013-05-02 21:03

Rochester Free School

sharing knowledge ~ building community ~ educating each other

The Rochester Free School will host an Open House on May 4, 2013 from 11:00 am – 3:00 pm at the First Universalist Church located at 150 Clinton Avenue, Rochester, NY 14607. This event is free and open to the public and focused on adults (primarily) teaching and learning a wide variety of subjects.

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