Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Diane Watkins on July 15, 2011 at 1:33pm

It's an election year.

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Permalink Reply by Mark Sweetland on July 15, 2011 at 10:41pm

I agree with Diane's assessment. I think things are not worse than they have been in the past, maybe even better. 

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Permalink Reply by John Boutet on July 16, 2011 at 1:07am

The minutes from the June 29th, 2011 19th WCA Public Safety/Street Watch meeting have been posted.  Unfortunately John Borek posted them in the "Text Box" of the 19WCA Public Safety Committee group rather than in the Discussion Forum, consequently no posting announcement went out and the posting was not time stamped.  Looking back at my notes John posted it on the July 12.

The meeting notes have an excellent review of the comments Adam made on June 29th.  You were also there so hopefully if you see any omissions or errors you can mention them.  I don't recall if anyone at the meeting said Rochester has "lost control of its police force" but if the words were not said, the question was probably in more than one mind there.   I've heard Chief Sheppard say he wants a close working relationship between the officers on the street and the community they protect.  Everything he has said I fully agree with and applaud and he spoke to a lot of the same needs Adam talked about at the last meeting.  When we have the Emily Good case followed by the ticketing of cars parked at a rally for Emily, the question of who is in control sounds like a valid question.  It was certainly one that crossed my mind.  Hopefully the investigation will clear this up.

As for the Lieutenant and Crime Prevention Officers we are fortunate enough to interact with at the many meetings we attend and in PAC-TAC, they are assigned to the NSC to work closely with the community and establish a good relationship with the citizens they work with.  I imagine some self select in or are picked for the assignment because of a good personality fit.  I'm sure a few whose temperament was not compatible have self selected out of the NSC and found a better fit elsewhere in the department.  Officers who are not assigned to an NSC are running all over the east side or the west side of the city and do not have the opportunity to get to know the people they are protecting.  They get to know the bad guys a lot and their fellow officers.   If I did that for a few years I don't think it would end up giving me a more balanced view of the community.  Getting back to a neighborhood policing model would avoid a lot of problems.

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Permalink Reply by Leslie Phillips on July 16, 2011 at 2:16pm

First the disclaimer: I'm a white woman who has not been able to attend any of the public safety or neighborhood meetings and who never heard of Emily Good before her recent run-in with the police. I agree with the others who replied with the point of view that there is a political aspect to  Mr. McFadden's letter. Re Margy's feeling that reading the letter leaves her with a desire to leave the city altogether: I've seen this reaction in several organizations that I belong to. Someone reacts by withdrawing (or wanting to withdraw) due to something someone else has said or done. This type of reaction strikes me as extreme, out of proportion to the stimulus. Plus, it does not help. Re racial profiling: of course it exists, is wrong, and should be stopped. Re Emily Good: Many people are too quick to assume she is completely right and the police are completely wrong. I suspect there are issues and valid points to be made on both sides.

 

Leslie

 

Leslie

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Permalink Reply by Margy Meath on July 16, 2011 at 2:57pm

Thanks for the response Leslie - just to clarify: I simply expressed my *feeling* and not my intent or plan. I purposely posted that part of my response as I know that MANY people frequently hear about things happening here and respond with wanting to 'give up', move on, move out, disengage, etc. I am not someone who does that easily or frequently - if anything, I allow myself to stay in situations far longer than I sometimes should!! One of the things that sometimes happens in our neighborhood is that people express a feeling/concern and are criticized by others for being 'anti - city' or 'giving up' - or, far worse- are sometimes accused of being racist in their intent.  I have a number of neighbors who have 'given up' or simply withdrawn in order to save their energy, their sanity or because they simply have other things that are demanding of their time. 

I agree with you that thinking in extremes is generally not helpful especially when discussing situations during which one was not present (i.e. the Emily Good case, the Willie Lightfoot arrest to name the 2 most recent/public events). 

I have just returned from a 5 day 'conference' on the topic of inclusion/community. I know that the answer to strengthening our community occurs when we work TOGETHER and when citizen voices are heard, listened to and when the strengths of the community are mobilized. I also know that this does not occur because politicians make it happen - it happens when the community creates space for multiple perspectives and voices. It happens when there is an appropriate balance between citizen concerns/groups and institutions.  Politicians, the police, the city, etc clearly play an important role in whether our community is safe and welcoming but we (people who live here/neighbors) are the most important keys to making change happen and it is my sincere hope that the Thurston Street Watch meeting is not being used to further anyone's political agenda or capital! 

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Permalink Reply by Adam McFadden on July 17, 2011 at 8:07am

It's nice to be talked about. lol... Diane is right it is an election year but appearantly that is the only time any of us have seen her. As for my letter it had nothing to do with politics and I hope that you at least read it completely. We (the council) have been following citizen complaints for 6 years and in the last couple of years we have had some really bad arrests resulting in numerous lawsuits which we know we are going to lose. Four months ago I requested a report that would describe OGA, Resisting Aressts, Riding without Bike Bell, riding without bike reflectors, and disorderly conduct arrests for the last year. These arrests had no felonies connected to them. There were 583 in one year 95% of these were black males under the age of 25. Also, I reviewed the NYS Dept of Justice report that put Rochester on notice for being the highest arrester of blackmales under the age of 15 in the state. Combine that with the 1000% increase two years ago of kids being arressted in school which no one said anything about until I pulled that report after going to see a kid arrested at Charlotte for being in a hall sweep.

 

Sheri and Mark our community is small enough for for you to just ask what the letter was about. The public outcry I refered to is the hundreds of  emails and calls my office received afterwards.

That letter was addressed to the Mayor, Police Chief, and Council President who all agreed with my assessment. If the letter was politics then why are they implementing everything I asked for? I have been at this for a long time and our community's relationship with police was better under the old system. I didn't release it to the press as you can see it was dated almost three weeks ago. I would ask that you not be afraid to communicate. I am not perfect and I don't get caught up on this job like you may believe.

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Permalink Reply by Diane Watkins on July 17, 2011 at 10:57am

I'm not sure who the "Us" is, but I see many of the folks on Location19 at grassroots meetings and events that I participate in. mostly action oriented, youth driven issues.

Adam is correct in that I will be more active in the political activities since I am running for the South District Council seat. I am running because I have the same frustrations that are expressed on this forum.

We, the citizens are expected to grovel to find out what is going on, when our elected officials are paid to keep us abreast. They assume that most of us "wouldn't and don't understand it", so they don't feel obligated to let us know what they are doing.

If a sitting Council member has “been doing this for a long time” and has “asked for a Strategic Plan for 4 years”, and they still have not received it, how effective is that person at the job of providing checks and balances for the City?

The public has every right to know about all of the communication that has been going on about such serious issues. Citizens have a right to expect more from the “chair of public safety for our city” than letters and emails sharing their concerns.

Racial profiling is a serious issue and I am confident that it is real. As a community, we absolutely must deconstruct this problem and deal with the root causes of it. Chief Sheppard realizes this fact and I believe that he, the police union and fellow citizens should be allowed to deal with such serious issues in a dignified and professional manner, not through media grandstanding. 

Over the last 2 years, officers from the Rochester Police Department (RPD) have been working with young people through Teen Empowerment; building strong and personal relationships. Programs like these need to be replicated.  Organizations such as Action for a Better Community, and Metro Justice have sponsored professional development on Structural Inequalities and Racial Justice; officers could participate in these workshops with citizens. We have the ability to design video reporting of suspected cases of racial profiling so that independent reviewers can make decisions about the issue based on individual actions of officers instead of lumping them together into one unruly bunch.

The Applied Research Center (www.arc.org) has published a report on how large funding organizations; somewhat like the City of Rochester, can formalize explicit language and actions in every aspect of its vision and mission in order to educate all members on how to view their work through a racial justice lens and eliminate misunderstanding throughout the organization.  This work would include the RPD.

We must have civil conversations with the police and convince them that they are not always right. There are many ways that people in this community can work to address this community problem without making Chief Sheppard appear incompetent and calling the entire police force rogue or "out of control".

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Permalink Reply by Adam McFadden on July 17, 2011 at 12:09pm

Diane,

 

You are playing politics everyone across location 19 and the ward recognize that. No one knows you or who you really are.  I will not use location 19 to address the motives of you now showing up. Good luck making the ballot.......

FYI

I have civil conversations with the police. I am aware of Teen Empowerment because I sponsored the legislation to fund it. My brother works with the ABC program you are talking about. You need to attend council meetings and budget hearings to understand what is going. Hopefully after the race is over you will show up like many in the community do not because they are running for office but because they really do want our community to be better.

Sheppard is competent and a personal friend. If there was an issue with the letter, I would ask why are they implementing everything I asked for? As for why did it take so long to get a strategic plan is because what they call a strategic plan is tactics not a plan. 

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Permalink Reply by Tony Karakashian on July 18, 2011 at 2:30pm

You're running for the South District seat?  Good luck with that.  I know nothing about you aside from what I've read in this post and it's obvious you're clueless.  This is most evident in that you're replying to a post by Adam, denigrating his communication with his constituents, in a forum where he's communicating with his constituents.  

 

Tell us, Diane, as someone who's so in touch with what's going on in the 19th Ward, why is it you've only been on here since March, while Adam's been here and very actively participating since 2009?  

 

BTW, Emily Good?  The only mistake the City made was letting her ever see the light of day again.  I watched the whole video, the police should've arrested her long before they did.  I applaud their patience in dealing with the insane.

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Permalink Reply by Diane Watkins on July 18, 2011 at 6:22pm

Hello and thank you for the opportunity to introduce myself to you.  My husband and I have owned a home in the 19^th Ward since 1993. I was born in the city of Rochester, and I graduated from Edison in 1985. September will begin my 21^st year as educator in the RCSD. Although I teach Social Studies, I am a Social Scientist. I have a Master’s degree and completed all coursework for an Ed.D in Teaching, Curriculum and Change at the U of R.

Much of my community activism has included, sitting on school based planning and building committees, I was President of the Wilson PTSO; which I had a major role in restricting the organization and writing the by-laws. I was a teacher’s union rep. & I advised the student government.  Some of my work while teaching at the JMSE building was to write a pilot program for teachers to use as a part of the SWCC Grow Green program.

You are correct in that I am making a major shift entering the politic spectrum.  I feel as if this is the right time for me to shift to a form of advocacy; one in which I will have a greater impact on the lives of my students by advocating for their needs of their families.

I hope that you and others will give keep an open mind when it comes to the year’s campaigning. Democracy works best when citizens have a choice. Thanks for your well wishes of good luck.

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Permalink Reply by Tony Karakashian on July 19, 2011 at 2:15pm

So, you're a teacher who has lots of experience with teachery-stuff?  Great.  The entirety of your post was about yourself, how 'bout a little about what your platforms are, what you believe you can change and how you plan on going about it?  You mention wanting to be an advocate for your students...what about the rest of us in the 19th?  You mentioned in a previous post "deconstructing" racial profiling..how would you go about that?  What can you accomplish as a council person that you couldn't do as an activist?  Have you worked with City Council at all to provide solutions?  Participated in any of their committees?  Pick one problem (not education related) facing the city and tell us your detailed plan to fix it.

 

Choice is a good thing, but only when it's worthwhile.  Unfortunately, you're limited by our way of governing to be only able to run against Adam...a council person I feel has done well by his constituents and the entire city.  I would need many good reasons to replace a good man and councilperson with someone else.  We just did it recently with the Mayor, we don't need to do it again so soon.

 

I can understand the desire to effect change, but how much change do you think a newbie's going to accomplish in the next term compared to someone who knows the ropes and politics involved?  For example, Adam had to explain to you what city council can and cannot change...have you read the city charter prior to running for office just so you know what the job entails?

 

Look, it's great you want to get involved.  In fact, we're looking at having the organizer of the Monroe County Green Party at this year's TEDxRochester to give a talk on "Why everyone should run for political office".  It's a great idea to get folks more involved with how their community operates...but if they're completely ignorant of it to begin with, well...we get what we have now. Being a social studies teacher means you have a firm grasp of the 10,000 foot view, but the reality on the ground is often significantly different from what our country's ideals are.

 

You're probably a very nice person and might just be good for the city.  If I thought for a second you could provide a single percentage higher value than Adam, I'd walk to every door in the Ward on your behalf.  But for right now all I'm hearing in your posts is "me me me".

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Permalink Reply by DeWain Feller on August 13, 2011 at 9:33pm

Both Adam and Diane and fully qualified to run for City Council, and both are dedicated to our community.  Both deserve respect, and both are obliged to be respectful of others.  It is important that discussions on this forum remain civil and focused on facts-- there is enough mud slinging and polarization today as there is, and we don't need it in our community forum.

 

We need officials at City Hall who have a ground-level understanding of schools as much as we need experience in other issues of importance to our city.  We also need a full, open, and honest discussion of community issues during every election, and that discussion only comes about when we have several serious candidates for office.

 

BTW, the 19th WCA does not endorse any candidate or party.  We do, however, want more discussion and focus on our neighborhood's pressing issues.

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