I hope everyone who made it down to the Staybridge Suites last Wednesday, November 30th, got a chance to talk to the the Mayor or one of the many people from his staff who were on hand to talk with the public.  I thought the event was well organized and that a lot of useful communication took place.  Several of us asked Mayor Richards to publish a summary of what was brought to his attention and he agreed to do that. 

For those of you who were not there I'll do a quick review of what went on.  Unlike the September 2008 City Hall On The Road at which Mayor Duffy and his staff strolled up and down Chili near Thurston, visiting merchants and talking with people, this event was held in the large conference room at the Staybridge.  The various city departments had display tables set up all around the room and staff members at the tables were there to talk to the public.Mayor Richards set up a table near the podium where he would meet with people who wanted to talk to him and people were asked to take a number so they would be free to roam, look at the displays and talk to the staff until their number was called.

  The Mayor started off the evening by introducing each of the tables and having staff member talk about their department and inviting people to come around to look at the displays and talk.

 The first group introduced was the Rochester Fire Department.  They stressed the fact that this year they were only accepting applications from city residents.

The final group to be introduced was the Rochester Police Department.  Chief Shepard introduced the RPD personnel present to answer questions this evening.  He gave a brief review of what is going on and mentioned that crime is down in the City.  He also said that these favorable statistics don't mean much to those who find themselves the victim of a burglary or other crime.

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Mayor Richards then sat down and talked at length with individuals and groups who had taken a number to speak with him.  As they spoke his assistant took notes.  One of the early groups to speak with the Mayor were representatives of the 19th Ward Housing Committee shown in this picture.  Mayor Richards was very engaged in the conversations he had with everyone and I was impressed with his recall of what had been brought to his attention earlier. When I spoke to him near the end of the evening the subject of the Housing Committee came up and he immediately got back to the many issues on that topic that had been brought to his attention earlier.  When I brought up the issue of free Wi-Fi that the SWCC Communications Committee is looking into he was aware the Libraries and Rec Centers already have it, appreciated the issues involved including the potential it had for leveling the playing field for low income residents in the community who currently can not afford to connect to the internet.  He suggested that looking into what could be done through the schools might be a way to proceed and was going to look into it.  He definitely came across as a problem solver on this and other topics we discussed.  When I touched on the request that had been made to have notes published on the issues that had been brought to his attention this evening he listed all the reasons this was a good thing to do  and assured me they would do that.  Gosh, I could get use to this guy.

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Throughout the evening the rest of the room was alive with people visiting the tables and asking questions.  Many young folks stopped by the table with applications for the fire department.

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City Councilman Adam McFadden was in the crowd answering questions all evening and Councilman Dana Miller also joined the event later in the evening.

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Members of the 19th Ward Crime Alert group are here and talking to the officers in the room.

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The Housing Committee is making full use of this evening!

"Code violations Dave!  It's the code violations we need to go after!"

For the complete set of pictures and captions of the event please see the album: 111130 City Hall on the Road