Local News

Amid death threats, a change in venue, and pro-Israeli groups applying pressure to stop Rev. Graylan Hagler from speaking on the connections between the Palestinian struggle for justice and the Black Lives Matter movement, Christians Witnessing for Palestine and the Rochester chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace were able to secure a different speaking venue after his invitation to speak at Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School had been rescinded. His tallk, "Connecting the dots: Ferguson to Palestine," was given on September 24, 2015, at The Historic German House in Rochester, NY.

Rev. Hagler spoke earlier in the day at the University of Rochester. Rochester Indymedia filmed that talk and did an interview with one of the student organizers. Both will be featured on Rochester.Indymedia.org later this week.

At The Historic German House, Rev. Hagler spoke to a rapt audience of 150+ people who listened to him drop truth and justice as he made the connection between the oppression of the Palestinians by the Israeli state and the oppression of black and brown people in Amerikkka by the police.

Part I -- introduction and Rev. Hagler's talk

Part II -- Q & A session

Ever thought of something that would make Rochester better or that we once had.  Did you think it odd that we had to cut library hours? Well the reason we can not afford these things is that Rochester's Democratic leaders have given out millions in corporate welfare.  Here is a little video about this but the buildings it shows are just the tip of the iceberg.

original article at: http://www.rochestersubway.com/topics/2015/09/filling-in-zoning-part-2-residential/

Filling In: Zoning Part 2, Residential

By Matthew Denker

Hope your heart is still racing from our introduction to Zoning last week, because this week we’re talking about residential zoning in Rochester!

Contrary to common knowledge, residential zoning isn’t exclusively for residences (nor is commercial zoning exclusively for commercial – it’s a good place to build apartments, in fact). That said, Rochester has 3 specific residential zones that we’re discussing here. Grab your bow tie and let’s go…

Overview

As mentioned already, Rochester has three specific residential zones. No bets on what they are, because you could probably guess them. In order, they are:

• R-1 Low-Density Residential District;
• R-2 Medium-Density Residential District; and
• R-3 High-Density Residential District.

Perhaps surprisingly, residential zoning accounts for nearly 50% of the land area in Rochester.

Oh, I’m going to spoil the whole article right here (but read on anyway!) – There’s not a huge difference between these zones and high-density is a generous description for R-3. Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s get down to business and talk about each zone specifically.

REMOVE THE CLOAK OF SECRECY! POLICE TRANSPARENCY NOW!

Rochester, NY -- Enough Is Enough, a local anti-police brutality organization, invited Robert Freeman, the executive director of the New York State Committee On Open Government to come speak about New York Civil Rights Law 50-a and how it negatively impacts the public's right to know about public officers who can stop us, question us, arrest us, use force on us, and possibly kill us: the police.

On this day 52 years ago--a Sunday--September 15, 1963, the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama was bombed by four members of the Ku Klux Klan killing four little girls. The four Black children were Addie Mae Collins (age 14), Carol Denise McNair (age 11), Carole Robertson (age 14), and Cynthia Wesley (age 14).

Video produced by R-IMC videographer R. Barnabas.

Earlier this year the US signed a historic deal with Iran to assure its compliance with the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty which will prevent it from developing nuclear weapons.  The treaty was negotiated with the United Nations Security Council members The US, UK, France, Russia and China along with Germany and Austrailia.  Germany's participation is especially important because much of the technology for Iran's peaceful nuclear power uses comes from Germany.  The treaty makes a strong distinction between peaceful nuclear power and nuclear weapons, and enforces it through

Hello. My name is Abasi Kitt. I’m currently a Transit Operator at the Rochester-Genesee Regional Transportation Authority (RGRTA). During my first career with this company, I got an approval letter in early November 2009 and started training on November 30, 2009 as a city bus driver. By January 2010 I had completed training and had my own rout as a part-time operator. On September 20, 2010 I was a full-time operator. Driving city bus was and still is the best job that I ever had. I get to do something that I’m good at and get to help the community as well by shuttling people who need a ride to where they need to go.

On February 10, 2011 I took a Fire Fighter exam and scored 100%. Although I really liked my current job I had a feeling that I could better serve my community by being a firefighter. In the spring of 2013, the City of Rochester Fire Department contacted me about joining the summer recruit class of 2013. What that meant was that I would be a Conditional Firefighter on the condition that I passed a roughly six month academy class that had two parts. The first part being a medical because Rochester firefighters are now required to be emergency medical technicians (EMTs). The second part was regular firefighter stuff. Any how I knew that I had to get my affairs in order with my job at Regional Transit Service (RTS). At the time of my decision RTS was still under a contract book effective from January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2014. I believe we are still under that contract currently. On page 11, article 17 the last sentence said: “Employees off on a leave of absence shall not take any other employment without the consent of the Company and the Union." Upon understanding that I went to talk with Amalgamated Transit Union Local 282 President Jacques Chapman in the spring of 2013. I told him that I wanted to take a leave of absence to join the firefighter academy. He (Jacques Chapman) told me that I should lie to the company. He told me to tell the company that I was taking a leave for another reason. I didn’t agree with that. Later on that spring of 2013 I saw Janet P. Snyder who is the Director of Labor Relations at RTS. I told her about my ambitions to become a firefighter and requested to have a leave of absence. She said that she would get back to me. About a week later my direct manager; the Director of RTS Bus Operations Michael Capadano said that I have about two weeks to write him a resignation letter if I wanted to join the firefighter academy. So with a heavy heart I wrote my letter of resignation on June 23, 2013. My resignation was accepted July 3, 2013 and my last day of work was July 5, 2013.