Green Party Responds to State of the City Address

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."

The candidates of Green Rochester are running on a platform that focuses on
investing in people not projects.  "There is a difference between building
a building and building a business," says White.  Green Rochester does not
think that the current policy of tax breaks and assessment deals for big
businesses is how Rochester can seriously address poverty, homelessness, or
the problems in our schools.

Rochester has serious problems that need serious solutions.  The Mayor's
address, while hitting some good notes on education and providing some
flash to the evening, did not lay out a realistic vision for Rochesters'
future.  Rochester can solve its' problems, but the solution is the new,
vibrant, community-based leadership offered by Green Rochester, not the
status quo policies enacted by the current political machine.