Apparently Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren is making the rounds of private clubs in the area, hoping, I assume, to reach out to business people and get them on board as partners in change. My husband and I invited two of our 'city' friends, Bernie and Cliff, to attend a luncheon at our club, curious to hear what she would speak about, and whether she'd address any of her recent missteps. She didn't mention them, and no one in the audience asked.
I felt a bit uncomfortable when she was preceded by the Baptist Reverend Cherry giving a "benediction." It was then also odd, after that "introduction," that she stood at the podium for several minutes while an overly long and repetitive "happy" video played (as the friend next to me said, "that's one way to fill an hour."). It was Mayor Warren's way of segueing to her proclamation that Rochester is "one of the happiest cities in the nation." By what measure, I wonder? And does that correlate with the city being one of the poorest, as well? Again, no one asked - this was a very friendly audience.
Warren gave a nice enough speech - mostly filled with metaphors and platitudes ("Rochester is "a place that embraces our differences," "Rochester's past does not define our future," "good leaders surround themselves with talented people... I have some great people on my team," Rochester is "rising like a phoenix"). She talked about the city's three basic problems - education (she shared a sad and frightening statistic: 82% of city 8th graders are functionally illiterate), economic development, and public safety, and addressed some of her solutions to each. In terms of education, her hopes are to make Rochester a pre-K model for the country. She also talked about her support for charter schools and their ability to use existing underutilized public schools, as well as the 2-year certificate and workforce development programs at MCC.
She cited the economic development projects of Midtown, Sibley, filling in the Inner Loop (sadly, just with dirt, not with much needed underground parking), and the Port of Rochester redevelopment, and took credit for putting CityGate back on track (even though this, as well as several other projects, were all begun well in advance of her election to office). In terms of public safety, she offered her new police chief (no mention of the odd process of his hiring) as an example, and her greater commitment to community policing (with its commensurate price tag).
She referred to Rochester as a majority minority city, a term I hadn't heard before, but which is extremely apt. Her request for $100million from Governor Cuomo for a new performing arts center reflects her "big dreams for our city." She was questioned about this audacious request at the end, and declared Rochester to be a "city of the arts" in the way that Buffalo is a city of professional sports, Syracuse is a city of college sports, Albany is the state's capital, and NYC is the financial center. I'm not sure that saying it makes it so, but perhaps this is reflected in her logo, which was prominently displayed on the screen: Believe. (Do you believe? Oh please, please believe. If you believe...clap your hands...)
Obviously, with only 94 days in office, it's too soon for her to demonstrate results. I wish she had shared more concrete plans and goals for the city, but that then invites measurement. I thought that Warren handled questions very well. Even though her inexperience has been highlighted in the news, she obviously understands the issues and has thought about how to address them, and she is able to think on her feet. My husband asked a question about how she plans to get jobs to return to Rochester, and she talked about the city's application, due mid-April, to become one of Obama's 12 designated manufacturing hubs (which will receive federal funding for two years).
Mayor Warren promises to be a woman to watch, and if she is able to cultivate the business relationships that are critical to effecting meaningful change in Rochester, and to reach beyond her existing advisor network, she just might gain the the trust of the entire community, and start to turn things around downtown. So I clapped my hands!
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