Professional Documents
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MinorityReporter
From Information to Understanding
unlivable?
CALENDAR
MinorityReporter
From Information to Understanding
unlivable?
february
How far have we come. Time: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m Location: 1 Lomb Memorial Drive Keynote speaker: Rev. Dr. Marvin McMickle, President, Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School Tickets: $75 general; $50 students. Can be purchased from the City Bureau of Youth Services, 2nd floor of Sibley Bldg., 25 Franklin St., or City Hall Room 202A. 23 11th Annual Black Heritage Gala Time: 6:00 p.m. Location: Rochester Plaza - 70 State St. Tickets: $50 per person, can be purchased from the City Bureau of Youth Services, 2nd floor of Sibley Bldg., 25 Franklin St., or City Hall Room 202A. For more information about the Heritage Gala, call 428-9857 or visit www.blackheritagerochester.org. 24 Baobab Community Dialogue Time: 7:00pm Location: 728 University Avenue Profiled: Race in Civic Circles 25 WXXI African-American Educational Awareness Film Time: 7:00pm Location: The Little Theater The Powerbroker: Whitney Youngs Fight for Civil Rights 28 150 Video Premier Time: 6:00pm Location: 8 Manhattan Square Drive Contact: 585-428-9857. FREE event.
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19 Black Heritage Story Telling Time: 1:00 p.m. Location: Ryan Community Center 530 Webster Ave. Featuring local storytellers
PubLIsHEr
Dave McCleary davemc@minorityreporter.net Pauline McCleary pmccleary@minorityreporter.net Gary McLendon Editor@minorityreporter.net Catie Fiscus ArtDirector@minorityreporter.net Lisa Dumas Delani Weaver Sharese Hardaway SHardaway@minorityreporter.net
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Rochester Mayor not happy with decision to move MCC to Kodak site School 19 gets therapy dog to help reach students ALex White announces run for Mayor Wheeler Coleman named Chief Information Officer for Excellus Bluecross Blueshield Democrats propose gun ban in Monroe County offices
22 Gospel Fridays Time: 12:30pm - 1:00 p.m Location: City Hall Atrium - 30 Church St. Visit our Gospel Fridays page to view video samples from previous years Schedule: Feb. 1: Tina Jackson; Immaculate Conception Choir. Feb. 8: Mt. Olivet Baptist Church Choir . Feb. 15: School of the Arts Choir. Feb. 22: Charlie Wells and the Original Voices of Clouds 22 - 24 Special Olympics New York State Winter Games Time: 8:00pm Location: Riverside Convention Center Over 650 athletes and coaches from across the state will participate in the 2013 State Winter Games, featuring Floor Hockey at the Riverside Convention Center, Figure Skating and Speed Skating at Genesee Valley Ice Rink, Nordic Skiing at Bristol Mountain, Snowshoeing and Alpine Skiing at Swain Mountain. Join us for the 2013 State Winter Games! All events are free and open to the public. Winter Games is one of three annual state games and more than 3,500 total competitions held each year throughout New York. Nearly 850 athletes and coaches will be joining us from around the state. Recurring daily. For more information on volunteering email volunteer@nyso.org or call 1-800-836-6976. Register via Online http://sonewyork.vsyshost.com/ 22 Black Heritage Conference 150 Years Since the Emancipation Proclamation:
Art dIrEctOr
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Claribel Oliveras
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Dave McCleary Lucy Smith-Fulmore advertising@minorityreporter.net Temple Boggs, Jr. Todd Elliott
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For many, Black History not enough from Obama Administration Civil rights leader applaud Obamas new initiatives
Gloria Winston Al-Sarag C. Michael Tillman Rev. Michael Vaughn Vincent Felder Diane Watkins Mike Dulaney Davy Vara Ayesha Kreutz
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For Zions sake, I will not keep quiet...Isaiah 62:1 by Gloria Winston al-saraG Rochester Police try everything to win communitys trust and respect by davy vara Through the Lens of RCTV: July 64, fifty years later by carvon eison
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Rochester Mayor not Happy with Decision to Move MCC to Kodak Site
Republican lawmakers of the Monroe County legislature voted Tuesday giving Monroe Community College (MCC) the go-ahead to purchase a former Kodak site downtown on State Street; but some including Rochester Mayor Thomas Richards are not cheering this decision. Richards said he believes more time and public debate should have been allowed before making a decision. The public did not get a chance to participate in this decision and I fear taxpayers will be left to pay a bill they can ill afford, Richards said. The new State Street site is expected to cost the county $72-million to build. But, just last week Gilbert Winn, Managing Principal of Winncompanies, and owner of the Sibley Building which currently houses MCCs downtown campus made an offer to MCC officials he says would have saved them $18-million dollars. Winn, Friday, February 4, unveiled an impressive new building and a list of its benefits including a dedicated entrance for MCC with everything updated, expanded classrooms, and accessible parking, all at a price he guarantees at $57-million. But MCC officials said the Kodak site was better suited for a campus of the future. It is unfortunate that the Republican caucus of the Monroe County Legislature opted not to take the time to adequately study and address the myriad of questions surrounding the purchase and the operation of the old Kodak site for use by MCC. Richards said in a statement to media. I want to say here-and-now, that the cost to purchase and renovate the Kodak space is just one concern as there is an alternative that is $18 million cheaper. Richards supports the Winn proposal. Citing the operating costs of the Kodak site and how the costs would be funded, he said the college is buying twice the amount of space they need. They are also purchasing an entire heating and cooling plant - not just for their space - but for the entire Kodak Tower complex. MCC will now have to find a way to operate the plant and become a small utility company and not just a college. Democrats in the Monroe County Legislature also voted against the legislation and sought to delay the vote for several months. We want nothing more than to see MCC succeed. As County Legislators, we also have a responsibility to ensure local taxpayer dollars are protected, said Democratic Leader Carrie M. Andrews (D-Rochester). Before voting to approve this purchase, we need to see that the state has contributed its share of $36 million for this project. The State Legislature still has to vote to approve $24 million of that funding and given the states fiscal challenges, we need to make sure were not purchasing a building without the funding to renovate it. Richards says he has a list of unanswered questions. The hard part to understand is that there is no rush needed here. MCC has a new five-year lease at Sibley and there is no one beating a path to purchase the Kodak site.
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also considering her options to run. After decades of struggle we need new solutions that work, he said. It is time to build a government that can implement real sustainable solutions. In the special election for mayor in 2011, White ran on the Green Party ticket winning nine percent of the vote. A Green Party spokesperson said they currently have several candidates seeking endorsement for various races and will soon be starting the interview process.
Wheeler Coleman Named Chief Information Officer for Excellus BlueCross BlueShield
Rochester, NY Excellus BlueCross BlueShield has appointed Wheeler G. Coleman to be senior vice president and chief information officer for the nonprofit health insurer and its parent organization, The Lifetime Healthcare Companies. Coleman has nearly 30 years of experience in information technology with Health Care Service Corp. (HCSC), where he led the consolidation and optimization of multiple information technology platforms and was responsible for IT strategy, enterprise architecture, technology standards, IT portfolio investments, resource and vendor management, the IT budget and merger/acquisition integration. Information technology is critically important to our success, and Wheeler is the right person in the right position, said Christopher Booth, CEO of The Lifetime Healthcare Companies. Coleman, who will begin his new position Feb. 4, will report directly to Barry Thornton, Senior Vice President of Customer Satisfaction and Business Technology. Wheeler has significant experience in leading an organization through changes in people, process and systems, said Thornton. Im very
Alex White
excited about his addition to our company and team. Coleman earned an MBA from the University of Notre Dame and a Bachelor of Science degree in applied data processing from Northern Illinois University. He and his wife, Sharon Johnson Coleman, have two children.
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DEC Commissioner Joe Martens said Tuesday that the deadline will be missed, meaning regulations due to be released Feb. 27 will be delayed. Martens said he expected Health Commissioner Nirav Shahs review to be done in a few weeks. But Martens said issuing of permits for shale gas drilling could begin even while regulations are being finished, if the Health Departments review finds the Environmental Conservation Departments impact study adequately addresses health concerns. But if the Department of Health review ``finds that there is a public health concern that has not been assessed in the (environmental impact study) or properly mitigated, we would not proceed, as I have stated in the past, Martens said. Goldberg said it would be illegal for the state to issue permits before the regulations were finished. ``If they try to proceed without rules, well be suing them in court, she said. Shah said he needed more time to review recent studies. He said his review focuses in particular on the relationship of fracking to the health
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unlivable?
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) Workers who make low wages making hotel beds, ringing up groceries, delivering pizza and tending tables in New York say the proposed hike in the states minimum wage wont erase all their financial worries. But it will help. The priority for that extra 20 dollars month would be probably something other than macaroni and cheese and chicken all the time, said Myrna Capaldi, a single mother in Kingston who makes $8.59 an hour working with Head Start families. Lawmakers in Albany are considering a proposal by Gov. Andrew Cuomo to increase the state minimum wage from $7.25 to $8.75 an hour in July. Assembly Democrats proposed making it $9 an hour after President Barack Obama in his State of the Union address this week proposed hiking the federal minimum wage, also $7.25 an hour, to $9 in stages by the end of 2015. Cuomo has described the current minimum Capaldi. And to pull up to the gas pump and the price of gas has yet again gone up but your hourly salary has not. About 5 percent of hourly wage earners in New York state make the minimum or below (like workers who receive tips), according to federal figures. The proposed hike would also directly affect workers making more than minimum but less than $8.75. Those 747,000 workers make up 9 percent of the states work force, according to an analysis by the labor-backed Fiscal Policy Institute. Who are those workers? wage, which works out to about $15,000 a year for full-time work, as unlivable. Many people making the minimum or a little above it agree. Its pretty difficult to put bread on the table and make sure I have enough gas to get to work, said Opponents of a wage hike note that many are teens with part-time jobs still living at home. But the FPI analysis says more than eight in 10 of the people making $8.75 or less in New York are at least 20 years old. Most are women and almost half these low-wage earners work at least 35 hours a week. In the Bronx a borough with a persistently high poverty rate a state-high 12.5 percent of workers make $8.75 or less an hour, according to the FPI analysis. A number of largely rural upstate counties like Montgomery, Steuben and Essex, also had high rates. Whether rural or urban, people on the low end of the wage scale tell similar stories of never having enough money to keep up. In Queens, Kassandra Guzman, an 18-year-old high school student, works seven days a week and said she still has trouble saving for college after helping her parents pay their bills. Capaldi, who is raising a teen makes a lot of macaroni and shops at Goodwill on Wednesdays, which are half-price days.
Cuomo has described the current minimum wage, which works out to about $15,000 a year for full-time work, as unlivable.
COVER STORY
Its really hard, sometimes we dont even make rent until two weeks after its due, said 20-yearold Joselyn Flower, who lives in the Ithaca area. Flower is an $8-an hour hotel housekeeper who went on maternity leave after she and her partner had a daughter a month ago. He makes $8 an hour, too. They all live in a one-bedroom apartment. The extra $1.50 an hour for minimum wage earners could gross an extra $60 a week for full-timers. How much more people making slightly over would reap depend on whether their employer raises them to the new minimum. It wouldnt buy much, but I would feel the difference, said Brandon Montes, a senior at Fordham University who holds down two lower-wage jobs. Its expensive to live in New York and every little bit helps.
Flower said: Its not going to make it easy, but it certainly will make it a lot less hard. Opponents of the hike, including some business interests, say the increase would actually hurt those lower-wage workers who would get laid off by employers unable to afford suddenly higher payroll costs. Economists have debated that point for years. Opponents point to a peer-reviewed study last year that concluded New Yorks minimum wage increase from $5.15 to $6.75 over two years beginning in 2004 coincided with a roughly 20 percent drop in employment for less-skilled, less-educated 16- to 29-year-olds. The evidence is mixed, said Matthew Freedman, an assistant professor at Cornell Universitys Department of Labor Economics. And if there are negative effects, he added, a hike in the wage does not seem to be as vicious a job destroyer as some fear.
Its not going to make it easy, but it certainly will make it a lot less hard.
-- joselyn floWer
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NoTicE To BiDDErs
Economy Paving company, inc will be bidding the NYS DOT project D262272, bridge rehab at various locations in Monroe & Orleans Counties on 3/7/13. We encourage certified DBE firms to send quotes for services and/or supplies. Plan info is available through the NYS DOT 518-457-6195 or our office 607-756-2819. Please fax quotes to 607-756-4742 or email to jjump@economypaving.com
PuBLic NoTicE
The Village of Mount Morris is seeking proposals from qualified firms or individuals to provide Program Delivery and Administrative Services in conjunction with a recently awarded FY 2012 Community Development Block Grant for Small Business. Proposals are due to be submitted no later than end of business 4:00 PM Monday, March 11th, 2013. M/WBE and Section 3 firms are strongly encouraged to respond. For more information and a copy of the complete Request for Proposals packet, please contact Cheryl Cappadonia, Village Treasurer, Village of Mount Morris, Village Office, 117 Main Street, Mount Morris, New York 14510. (585) 658-4160.
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Civil Rights Leaders Applaud Obamas New Initiatives
By Hazel Trice Edney (TriceEdneyWire.com) - Two Weeks ago, a group of civil rights leaders, led by National Urban League President Marc Morial, threw down the gauntlet, strongly urging President Obama to address the jobs crisis and economics in Americas urban communities. Gauging applause following Obamas Feb. 12 State of the Union address, he is at least beginning to meet the demand. We applaud President Obama for making clear his focus on job creation and preparing our youth for success in college, work and life as the keys to economic prosperity for our communities and country. We echo his call for swift passage of the American Jobs Act, which we believe will level the playing field for many Americans who have yet to benefit from the economic recovery, said Morial in a statement immediately following the speech. NAACP President Ben Jealous agreed. The President knocked it out of the park, he said in an interview. The President understands that persistent poverty and violence are connected. This was a response to our call for clear and real solutions to the jobs crisis thats been plaguing our community. His first State of the Union speech in his second term, the president was pressured by high expectations. With Americas gun violence suddenly spreading from the inner cities into the suburbs with a rash of mass shootings, his challenged was in part to speak to them both with equal compassion. However, an even greater challenge was to address the clearly different causes of the violence one being the economic crisis in Black communities that the civil rights leaders have highlighted. Tonight, lets also recognize that there are communities in this country where no matter how hard you work, it is virtually impossible to get ahead. Factory towns decimated from years of plants packing up. Inescapable pockets of poverty, urban and rural, where young adults are still fighting for their first job. America is not a place where the chance of birth or circumstance should decide our destiny. And thats why we need to build new ladders of opportunity into the middle class for all who are willing to climb them, Obama said in the speech, marked by repeated applause. He continued, Lets offer incentives to companies that hire Americans whove got what it takes to fill that job opening, but have been out of work so long that no one will give them a chance anymore. Lets put people back to work rebuilding vacant homes in run-down neighborhoods. And this year, my administration will begin to partner with 20 of the hardest-hit towns in America to get these communities back on their feet. Well work with local leaders to target resources at public safety, and education, and housing. Most recently, Chicago has become the central point of media attention on gun violence because of the killing of 15-year-old Inaugural majorette, Hadiya Pendleton, whose parents were guests at the State of the Union. They were guests of First Lady Michelle Obama, who had attended Hadiyas funeral. After the speech, the President also went to Chicago, speaking at Hyde Park Career Academy near the site of Hadiyas murder. Theres no more important ingredient for success, nothing that would be more important for us reducing violence than strong, stable families -- which means we should do more to promote marriage and encourage fatherhood, he said, in a deeply personal address. Dont get me wrong. As the son of a single mom, who gave everything she had to raise me with the help of my grandparents, I turned out okay, he said. So weve got single moms out here, theyre heroic in what theyre doing and we are so proud of them. But at the same time, I wish I had had a father who was around and involved. In the speech that was punctuated by light laughter and applause, the President also underscored some of proposals from the State of the Union such as improvements on public safety, education and housing as well as raising the minimum wage to $9 an hour. The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr., who, the week before the State of the Union, called for President Obama to Come home, said he is also pleased with the headway the Obama administration is making in addressing urban crime and poverty. The point is that Chicago exposes the complexities of the urban crisis, which requires some plan for reconstruction because its been so destroyed, Rev. Jackson said in an interview. The issue in Sandy Hook was guns in the hands of a wild man and the gun culture for sport. In Chicago, like Baltimore, like Memphis, like New Orleans its drugs in, guns in, jobs out, houses foreclosed, driving poverty and 4050 percent unemployment. Thats a different combination. Jackson said he agrees with the Presidents ideas on background checks and mental health checks before the purchase of handguns. But theres much more need in Black communities, he said. Urban America requires something far more massive than the lack of guns. He proposes a reconstruction bank with trillions of dollars to rebuild communities. You cannot bring the communities back. You cannot revive the communities on the banks that destroyed them for greed and profit. You need a reconstruction bank. Regardless of what the proposals are, most will need to pass a bitter and divided Congress. In that regard, U. S. Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) encouraged the partisanship to end for the sake of a new beginning. Forty years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stood at the Lincoln Memorial and proclaimed We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. Tonight President Obama stood in the well of the U.S. House of Representatives, and echoed Dr. Kings sentiment. He took up the mantle of Dr. King in declaring, It is our unfinished task to make sure that this government works on behalf
National Urban League President Marc Morial of the many, and not just the few; that it encourages free enterprise, rewards individual initiative, and opens the doors of opportunity to every child across this great nation of ours, Clyburn said in a statement. I applaud his vision, and I look forward to working with the President and my colleagues in Congress to get our country on a path of opportunity through economic development, job creation and investing in education, infrastructure and innovation to move our country forward. For too long, we have been hearing why it cant be done. President Obama reminded us tonight that it can be done, we just have to have the political will to do it.
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OPINION/EDITORIAL
strAIgHtNO CHASER
For those of you sitting around waiting for a revolution perhaps you need to know you are in the middle of one. Thanks to Christopher Dorner, former GLORIA WINSTON AL-SARAG Los Angeles Police Department officer some of the injustices that have occurred within the law enforcement community are about to be corrected. If you have not had your head in the sand then you know by now that Christopher Dorner, an alleged killer is being sought in connection with the murder of two civilians, and one police officer. The events that have transpired since -Sunday, February 3 appeared to escalate on Thursday, February 7, 2013. My intent is not to revisit information that is available everywhere you look. My intent is to discuss how a man who is accused of murdering innocent people by some becomes a folk hero to others. I have monitored and read with great interest over 50 Facebook pages, alone, that have been created either by Christopher Dorner, his supporters, and in very few cases his haters. I have calculated thousands of supporters and those who choose to like him. My first reaction was that law enforcement will never capture this man. He has too may people willing to hide him and support him. Many are unafraid to state why. Their tone is not new, their concerns either. Enough is enough. Law enforcement in most major cities in the U.S. has had their share of complaints, charges of corruption, brutality and racism. For years I supported the concerns of leadership like Rev. Raymond Graves and others, who tried to keep in the forefront the concerns of the Rochester Police Department. After digesting Christopher Dorners Manifesto a six-page letter he wrote and published online in an attempt to clear his name I became closer to understanding the events we are now witnessing. When I discovered one of the victims allegedly murdered by him was the daughter of the former LAPD policemen now turned lawyer who represented him in a failed attempt to appeal his case; my mind quickly revisited the local events that led up to the killing of Alicia McCuller, the incarceration of Michael Florence, and the Rufus Fairwell case. Somewhere there is a scripture that speaks to a child paying for the sins of the father. I dont know this to be the case, or if any of what I am sharing to be fact, but it sure is plenty of food for thought. Nothing is new. Christopher Dorner to me is no more than the re-incarnated spirit of Huey P. Newton co-founder of the Black Panther Party or American Indians Russell Means and Dennis Banks just to mention a few I find to be true modern day revolutionaries. Those familiar with history may recall how Russell and Dennis held the federal government at bay for 72 days, refusing to surrender. Any revolution that is successful is led only by those unafraid to die for what they believe in. That fact alone I am confident has the LAPD concerned about who and what they are dealing with. Not only have they trained Christopher Dorner, he states emphatically he plans to use everything they taught him against them. Sounds like a modern day Spook Who Sat By The Door, (a 1973 film which satirizes the civil rights struggle in the United States of the late 1960 and attempts to focus on the issue of black militancy). Christopher Dorner is considered a hero to many. Some are playfully calling him Rambo, the Dark Knight and other pet names that suggest they would join his army if he was recruiting. Historically, unrest has spawned civil wars.
The views expressed on our opinion pages are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the position or viewpoint of Minority Reporter.
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OPINION/EDITORIAL
R o c h e s t e r s Police Chief J a m e s Sheppard, and Mayor Thomas Richards, have spent thousands of taxpayer dollars on billboards DAVY VARA reading Weve Got your Back! and On the Same Team. These billboards were plastered throughout mostly African-American and Latino neighborhoods in an attempt to buy the communitys respect. When it did not work they tried something else. They came up with Fish with a Cop and several Rochester police officers went fishing with kids in the dirty Genesee River. When it did not work they tried something else. They came up with Skate with a Cop and several Rochester police officers went skateboarding and BMX bikeriding with kids at an indoor skate park. When it did not work they had an idea. They thought... Hey, lets take a few select kids (black and Latino) shopping at Eastview Mall, with funds donated by the community, so officers wont have to spend their own money! The way the RPD looked at it, it would make for great news, having officers taking inner-city minority kids to the mall. But again, that did not work. Chief Shepard then turned to social media. He used Twitter to hold Twitter Town Hall sessions with community
The views expressed on our opinion pages are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the position or viewpoint of Minority Reporter.
CARVIN EISON
During that three-day orgy of anger, the pent-up frustration and disillusionment within Rochesters black community erupted in violence that destroyed neighborhoods throughout the 3rd and 7th wards, further eroded relations between police and the citys black residents, racked up arrest records, injured many and left some for dead. For the first time during the era of civil rights, the National Guard was called out to quell violence in a northern city. Suddenly, Rochesters long-simmering racial tensions could no longer be ignored. The film July 64, a documentary by ImageWordSound, explores this disturbing time through interviews with many city leaders in charge at the time, and through historic film footage and photos. As we approach the 50th Anniversary of July 64, the time is ripe to re-visit the issues that caused a sore to fester and explode within our community
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