Rally at County Legislature Tuesday

Rally at County Legislature Tuesday

A rally to “stop Doyle’s war on the poor” will be held on Tuesday, June 1, from 5:00 to 6:00pm at the County Office Building, 39 West Main St. Organizers are protesting the devastating effects of a reorganization of the Department of Social Services, which was purported to save the County $30 million, but instead has imposed severe eligibility requirements that deny assistance to people with legitimate claims. Moreover, DSS workers are expected to manage an unreasonable workload.

Regarding the impending rate hike by Rochester Gas and Electric, Mrs. Morales of the Poor Peoples’ Coalition stated, “ RG&E is getting rich off the backs of the poor, and by doing so is making more poor people homeless. We cannot afford these high utility costs. It’s not right. It goes against our human rights. Our gas and electric will cost more than our rent.”

Rochester, once a leader in the abolitionist and civil rights movements, has become a slum of poverty, suffering and despair. Rochester ranks eleventh in the nation for child poverty. Ninety percent of city school students qualify for free school lunches. Seventy-five percent of city high school students drop out.

Rochester is the sixth worst U.S. city for affordable housing. Fourty-five percent of city tenants pay more that thirty percent of their income for rent. Slumlords calculate rent to consume the entire cash grant of welfare families. Fifty percent of city school children move to a new apartment during the school year. Rental properties with code violations are not often cited, as building inspectors are being used for drug enforcement. City planners are diverting urban renewal funds for a fast ferry to Toronto in order to attract tourists, while trying to get designation as a “drug trafficking area” to be eligible for other federal funds.

Monroe County had a deficit of $65 million last year, while $50 million was spent on jail expansion. Eighty percent of the jail population is non-Caucasian. It costs taxpayers $30 thousand a year to incarcerate one person. For $20 thousand that same person could attend college. The average welfare cash grant is about $3,000 per year.

The rally is being organized by the Poor Peoples’ Coalition, which advocates for the poor on issues of welfare, housing, domestic violence and justice.