During my 2019 run for Rochester City Council, East District, I advocated for voters to approve the creation of the Police Accountability Board (PAB). My reasons for such a stance are sadly sill true in 2025. If you’re not sure why we need a PAB, watch my campaign video from that campaign.

That year, over 75% of people who voted, chose to create the PAB. This included voters from every part of the city, from every demographic. And since this election result has been announced, the Rochester Locust Club and various members of City government have waged a war on the PAB, to effectively silence voters, waste taxpayer money, and put our brothers and sisters in the Rochester community in danger of further abuse by the police.

Therefore with the most recent court ruling that effectively shuts down the PAB, I am calling for the current members of City Council to pass legislation mandating the inclusion of the re-establishment of a fully-functioning PAB in the City’s negotiations with the Rochester Locust Club on a contract with the Rochester Police Department.

The PAB must be the entity that voters demanded in 2019, a board with full investigative power and the ability to discipline officers. There should be no contract agreed to by the current or future Mayors that violate the will of the voters.

Furthermore, I am calling for every Mayoral and City Council candidate to call for the same.

Like all of the others on my site, this platform plank will be added to and revised as I continue to listen to more people, do more research, and learn.   But for now, let's start with this "radical" idea: police do not create public safety.  When you look at the research, this idea is not really radical at all.  I know, we've all been trained to make the assumption that the more police there are the more safe we will be, but nothing could be further from the truth.  What will make us safer is making sure that everyone in our community has their basic needs met.  The other planks of my platform addresses how to take care of those basic needs, but for now, let's look at this idea that more police does not make us more safe.

To what end do we want to "ensure" our safety?  Do we want armed guards on every corner?  Is that the kind of life we deserve for ourselves and our children?  Should we presenting out "papers" every time we leave our houses?  That sounds like an exaggeration, but it is the slope we start going down when we bring in more and more armed militia members with badges.  

Kia Boys: Probably the one thing that everyone is talking about are the kids who have been stealing cars.  Have you talked to any of these kids?  I have.  The discussions were very candid.  Most of them assume they're either going to end up in jail or be killed at an early age.  If that is their assumption, why should they care if there are police or prisons?

This is why I call for more library and recreation center hours. The increased cost of this will be taken care of by the lessening of costs for the Rochester Police Department. (I will have an entire platform plank on how to pay for things later.)

Also, making sure these kids’ home lives are more stable, particularly with housing, a universal basic income, universal child care, and more will reduce their need to distract themselves from the hopelessness of racialized capitalism with inappropriate behaviors.

Violence: Almost every night we can watch the local news and the top story will be about a new incident of violence in the City. But if you pay attention, almost every instance involves people who know each other. You and I are generally safe. We have mechanisms in place to handle such situations before they turn violent, but the problem is they are woefully underfunded and not utilized appropriately. That is why I am calling for a doubling of budgets for both Pathways to Peace and the Person in Crisis Team (PIC).

I also want to stabilize funding for the newly created Neighborhood Ambassador Program, which employs those who are dealing with opioid addiction in helping in the community. If you haven’t heard of NAP yet, I highly suggest you check it out.

Other platform planks that will increase public safety: 

• housing
• universal child care
• a public utility
• a public bank (coming soon)
• a Rochester Green New Deal  (coming soon)

Additional links:

How Recreation Programs Can be Used to Mitigate Youth Gang Involvement and Violence

The Benefits of Youth Sports in Child Development

The company that owns the company that owns Rochester Gas & Electric is called Iberdrola.  It is a corporation based in Spain.  They are the only game in town.  They own the wires that bring the electricity to your house.  They own the transformers.  And when you pay your bill, that money goes out of town to that overseas corporation.  When you get a $10,000+ utility bill that is obviously in error, they are ultimately responsible for fixing that issue. Oh, and thanks to the state government, they are promised at least a 9% increase in profits every year.  There is no free market economy here; it is a straight up, government-sponsored monopoly.  What we need in Rochester is a public utility.  All of the transformers, wires, poles, etc., should be public property, run and managed by the City of Rochester with a publicly-appointed oversight board. 

This is not a far-fetched idea.  Many have heard that the town of Fairport does this and their rates and service are better than ours. The state does have a procedure for a municipality to get rid of their corporate utility company and replace it with a public one.  It's no surprise that the procedure is complicated.  But it is doable.  The first step is the most important - we need a feasibility study.

When elected to Rochester City Council, I will propose legislation that funds that feasibility study for the City of Rochester.  And I will include in the legislation that the study be transparent, every step of the way.  

You may have heard that City Council passed similar legislation that required the study to include the County of Monroe with the County paying half.  To no one's surprise, the County said no thanks.  Then in June 2024, City Council voted to hold onto the money that could be used for the study for the City, but not to actually DO anything with the money yet.  What are they waiting for?  What our government always waits for: citizens to get mad enough to show up to City Council meetings for months on end, send countless emails, hold rallies outside in the middle of winter, and still have to beg for them to choose citizens over corporations.  So, I'll say this again:

When elected to Rochester City Council, I will propose legislation that funds that feasibility study for the City of Rochester.  And I will include in the legislation that the study be transparent, every step of the way.  

This entire process will cost us money up front, but the payoff will be tremendous in terms of increasing civic involvement in our community, lowering utility bills, providing better service, and keeping our money in the community instead of sending it to Spain. 

And before Iberdrola starts its misinformation campaign again, all current employees will keep their jobs (though executive positions should be reviewed).  I would insist that those RG&E employees who are currently in a union stay in that union and bring those who are not into the appropriate public sector unions as well.

Questions or Comments?  Email me at [email protected], you can reach out using the form below, there are all my social media links, or catch me on the campaign trail.

This is Artemis.  She's our rescue kitty who came to us from Rochester's Verona Street Animal Shelter.  She adopted my family about 7 years ago.  We were very happy with the process and the condition of the shelter.  A lot has changed since then.  The shelter is a mess.  It's an embarrassment and the mismanagement by the City has created a public hazard. The people responsible for this situation should be voted out / relieved of their duties.  People have been coming to City Council meetings for well over a year to complain.  After all of the complaints they've heard, one member of City Council who is up for re-election this year is having a hearing.  That's the only action that is happening.  Folks have talked to the Mayor, made phone calls, sent emails, and more.  So what's wrong?  If you're on Facebook, I suggest you check out the posts on the Voiceless of Verona Street page.  But for those who are not on Facebook, I'll summarize. 

The shelter currently has no veterinarian.  Why?  Because the City will not pay an appropriate salary for one.  (Shall we look at some of the salaries of people at City Hall?) 

The shelter is underfunded.  They can't pay enough staff to be open appropriate hours. Food and other supplies run out.  How morally bankrupt is that? 

The shelter is overcrowded. The space is too small and outdated.  It's so bad, Verona has to be a "kill shelter" in which animals are euthanized when there isn't enough room. 

The hours of the shelter are not conducive to people being able to adopt animals.  If you're only open during business hours, people who work a 9-5 job cannot come to the shelter to adopt an animal.  

The shelter no longer accepts animals from people who cannot take care of their pets any longer.  This isn't the place to discuss why people cannot take care of their pets, but if they can't, they're not able to take them to Verona, like the person who gave up Artemis 7 years ago.  So in desperation, people abandon the animals.  Notice more dogs and cats on the streets of Rochester?  This is a public hazard.

The shelter has adopted this concept of "community cats", where they won't take in feral cats, but will neuter them (if they ever get a veterinarian again) then release them back onto the streets.  Supposedly, this is supposed to take care of another problem Rochester has - rats.  So our City is not taking responsibility for our issue with rats and is hoping these ignored animals will do it for them. 

This situation is disgusting.  Not only is the way these animals are treated deplorable, but it's unfortunately typical that it takes hundreds of people showing up for years to demand change before anyone in local government does anything.  (This goes for every situation that needs remedy in Rochester, but I will address that later.)

When I am voted into City Council, I will:

• Insist funding for the shelter in the annual budget is increased to an acceptable level.  This includes an appropriate salary for the continually vacant position of veterinarian and money for staffing in order for the shelter to be open more hours.
• Propose legislation that uses an appropriate building that the City already owns to replace the building on Verona Street in order to have adequate space.
• Propose legislation that prohibits a City-run animal shelter from being a "kill shelter" and that abandons the "community cats" concept.

By doing these things, not only will we be doing what is morally correct, but helping create a better Rochester.

As a part of the solution to generations of poverty and inequality, we need universal child care in the City of Rochester.  The details of my plan are below, but first let’s talk about why we need such a thing.

One of the biggest barriers to employment and/or continuing education is child care.  It is well known that the cost of quality child care is unreachable for those living in distressed areas of the city.  If you do not have a quality option for your children, being available to work or go to school is virtually impossible. 

[NOTE: Here we could have a discussion if everyone SHOULD have to work, but that’s a discussion for another time.]

Subsidies for child care go through the County, and that money goes mainly to for-profit child care entities.  Does it help families?  Somewhat.  Is it enough?  Not nearly – and that’s the reason I have chosen to make universal child care a part of my campaign. 

So what would this look like?

The program would start with using facilities we already have – mostly City recreation centers, unused school buildings, and underutilized schools – to create a child care program that is run by the City of Rochester.  This should start as soon as possible to begin to fill in the gaps that the County program has.  From there…

Look at how the City could work with the County to combine resources.

See how the program could share resources with local Head Start programs in the City.

See if there are any privately run, in-home child care programs that would be interested in being incorporated into the City program.

Is this going to cost money?  Absolutely, but I know this; we need this investment in our children in order to save money on the cost of police, jails, and other social programs.  A quality, free child care system in Rochester will help with poverty, crime, and our schools.  It is this fact that will help us locate State and Federal funding. Starting a City-run program will also create jobs that we should insist be union jobs at prevailing wages.

[I will be releasing a platform plank on City finances in the near future.  This will also help explain how to pay for this as well as my other ideas.  When that plank is released, I will put a link here.]

Roadblocks:

State and Federal regulations.  There are government-created laws and rules that determine how child care is supposed to function.  We know from decades of experience that this framework is not working and we (meaning City Council and City Hall staff) will have to organize citizens to put pressure on those in higher levels of government in order to make this work.  And it will take some time, but this crisis is real; our needs are real and we have no choice but to fight for what our children need.  For the benefit of everyone.

[Updated February 9, 2025]  Sometimes folks ask themselves, “What would I have done when Hitler was killing all of those Jews?” Well, now you know. What you’re doing or not doing right now about what is happening in Palestine shows exactly what you would have done in Germany. There are a lot of parallels between what happened there and what is going on in Gaza (and now the West Bank). It’s pretty sad that hundreds of people had to show up to City Council – some refusing to leave – just to get a non-binding resolution passed that was pretty weak.

Like in Apartheid South Africa, a way to help stop the mistreatment of Palestinians on their own land, which has been going on for decades, is to Boycott, Divest, and Sanction (BDS). In fact, Rochester should take a stand against genocide being committed anywhere.

Therefore, as a member of City Council, I will do the following:

1. Propose legislation that changes the City Charter forbidding the City from using taxpayer money to purchase any product or service from any business that supports genocide. This would not only include companies based in other countries, but those originating from the United States.

2. Propose legislation that terminates our Sister City agreement with Rehovot, Israel.

3. Begin the process of creating Sister City agreements with cities in countries that have been effected by genocide such as Congo, Sudan, etc. [NEW]

NOTE: I am ethnically Jewish. I am speaking out and acting against genocide, just like we should be doing in Congo, Sudan, and other places in the world in which racism and capitalism are devastating millions of people. Isn’t genocide a bottom line? Shouldn’t that be the one thing we can agree on no matter what our political party, ethnic background, citizenship, etc.?

References:

Black Agenda Report

Breakthrough News

CounterPunch

Electronic Intifada

The Empire Files

The Grayzone

MintPress News

Sheerpost

Truthout

[Before you read this, check out the article on Rochesterfirst.com.]

So Walgreens is closing their store in the Bulls Head neighborhood.  Here’s what I’m taking from this story: our Mayor is a banker; he’s a capitalist.  And yet he is shocked that a national corporation would shut down stores in one of the most depressed parts of our city.  They are under a legal obligation to do what’s in the best interest of their shareholders – NOT the City of Rochester.  That’s capitalism!

Do you know which pharmacy COULD have the best interests of the City?  The pharmacy that is cooperatively owned and run by local residents, preferably those living in the Bulls Head neighborhood. 

Most of us, even if we pooled our money, would not have the start-up resources to get this going.  Our Mayor in conjunction with City Council could use economic development funds to help get this going, as a no-interest loan &/or a grant.  They sell buildings to rich people for $1 all the time.  And if Mayor Evans’ letter to the CEO of Walgreens begging him not to close the one store works, you know it will be with a ton of tax breaks.

But do we really expect our Banker Mayor to think of something like this?  I know I don’t.  But there ARE people who are currently on City Council who I would expect to appreciate what I’m talking about.  The question is, are they WILLING to advance this idea?  Some of them are up for re-election in 2025. 

If they don’t, I will propose this when elected to City Council.  With your help, of course.

[Updated, February 18, 2025]  Let’s start with a question.  Do you believe that housing is a human right?  I say yes.  Not only that, I fully believe that nothing that people need to survive should be sold for profit.  Food, clothing, shelter, health care, and I’m adding education to that list as well. 

People with power decided necessities for profit was appropriate a long time ago and the rest of us have not come together to change this. 

Every person in the City of Rochester should have an affordable, accessible, safe place to live, period.  We have the empty houses and apartments.  We have “zombie properties” that landlords have given up on.  The only reason our government allows people to exist in Rochester without a place to live is because.  That’s it.  Because. 

With that, when elected to City Council, I will:

-work to create more emergency shelters, particularly for specific groups, i.e., women, LBGTQ+, people in recovery, etc. for the immediate future; particularly in specific areas of the City. These shelters should allow partners to be able to be housed together as well as pets.  These shelters should also have user-friendly policies on allowing prescription medication and certain "drug paraphernalia". It is expected that these shelters will eventually not be necessary if my other ideas are enacted.  But these shelters are needed right now. 

-insist on the use of Eminent Domain to take over abandoned and ignored property, use apprentices working with Union labor to fix such properties, and literally give them to families and individuals who then can focus on other necessities in life.  This would be a modern version of homesteading.

-there needs to be more teeth in how we handle repeated code violations; City government should be moving faster on these violations.  If a landlord is unable to maintain a safe apartment(s), they shouldn't be a landlord.  It doesn't HAVE to be adversarial.  Apartments can easily be turned into co-operative housing. 

-insist that the City government no longer use Monroe County for Area Median Income (AMI) when determining apartments that are “affordable”.  This current formula makes a new $1400/month apartment “affordable” even though it truly is not for most who live in Rochester.  AMI should be for the City only if the project is being built in the City.

-support zoning regulations that require all housing built in the City of Rochester to be done using "universal design" to allow everyone to have a place to live no matter what disability you may have or acquire.

-stop the Rochester Housing Authority from privatizing properties in their possession by converting housing in their stock to cooperative housing, then fund* public housing projects that may include new housing (which takes an extremely long time), but will initially focus on rehabilitating empty school buildings, warehouses, etc., into such public housing. Some of these properties are already in the City's possession, others can be bought, or again taken over by Eminent Domain.  Some of these projects can be used for "person centered housing" in order to alleviate the devastating chronic homelessness we have in our city.

-support legislation that brings strict Good Clause Eviction protection [DONE] as well as complete rent control within the City of Rochester.  (See opening paragraphs)

-propose using City funds and/or find grant money to assist in establishing a cooperatively-run non-profit that would use volunteer contractors (retired, et al.) to help low-income city residents in need of upkeep of their house.  This has been done in other municipalities – Syracuse had one for years.

-work with City Hall to create a fund to help renters who are in arrears with their rent.  There are already non-profits who do this, but they cannot handle the demand.  The need for this fund will reduce dramatically once rent control is finalized in Rochester. 

-work to have senior citizens who own and live on a property in the City of Rochester and meet specific income requirements (i.e. not having enough income) be exempt from property taxes.  [DONE.  City of Rochester just implemented this in 2024 after I advocated for it in my 2019 run for City Council.]

*Later in the campaign, I will be releasing a platform plank that will explain how to pay for these and other ideas.  Money will come from reallocation of current wasteful spending, lobbying for changing of Federal and State regulations, more focused grant searches, and an end to corporate welfare. 

This is a living document.  It will be adjusted and added to as I continue to talk with and learn from others.  What do YOU think we should do about housing in Rochester?