Transforming Rochester:

In April of 2012, Alex White and David Atias started a free podcast called Transforming Rochester.  You can listen to all of them by subscribing via it's RSS or on iTunes.  Or you can listen here. (Clicking a link will play the mp3 in another window of your browser)

• Why Are We Doing The Marina Project?
• Close Libraries or Tax Fairly?
• Is Downtown Getting Better?
• Voice of the Citizen 1
• Election Results
• Housing Is A Right
• Collegetown Bait & Switch
• Dealing With Corner Stores
• Schools & The City are Interconnected
• Alternatives To Foreclosure
• Police Accountability Committee
• Rochester Public Market "Improvements"
• RPD Needs New Leadership
• 399 Gregory St.
• Cool Down Detail - Proactive Policing
• Rochester's Point System
• Ending Truancy in Our Schools
• City Budget Priorities
• Social Businesses
• We Must Support Local Businesses
• Fair Tax Assessment

Green Rochester Mayoral Candidate, Alex White, tries to stop another round of Corporate Welfare at City Hall. 

Green Rochester School Board Candidate, Lori Thomas at the Rochester Restore the 4th Rally.
Watch and you will be voting Row F in November.

RCSD Board Candidate Debate, July 10, 2013

Mayoral Candidate, Alex White, at the Rochester Restore the 4th Rally
July 4, 2013.

Alex White at the Monsanto Protest at the Liberty Pole

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqAeVFjfElI

Green Rochester Candidates make their announcement

I have been meaning to blog on this for a while now, but things with both Green Rochester and Benny Warr have been so hectic that I haven’t had a chance to sit down to collect my thoughts.  

For those who do not know the situation, on May 1st, Benny Warr was on Jefferson Avenue when members of the Rochester Police Department decided to clear the public sidewalks of everyone.  Yes, you’ve read that correctly.  There was no crisis; marshall law was not enacted.  The police do this in neighborhoods that are mostly inhabited by people of color.  But we will get to get to that a bit further down.

Benny was on Jefferson Avenue in his electric wheelchair when the police told him to leave.  He decided to go to a friend’s house via the bus.  Seems that waiting for the bus was not acceptable to these police officers, so to get Benny off Jefferson Avenue, they decided to arrest him.  Again, we will get to the problem with this further down.  

Some of you may know that in my work with ADAPT, I have been arrested participating in civil disobedience.  Most of my brothers and sisters in ADAPT have disabilities and many use wheelchairs.  I have seen a number of police agencies, both local and federal, arrest people in wheelchairs.  I have never, ever seen a police officer use this technique.  (Yes, this is a link to the higher resolution video of the arrest)

Benny ended up in the hospital with broken ribs and other injuries.  

If you follow Green Rochester, you know that all of the candidates have been working on behalf of Benny and his family.  We were involved in the planning of the rally of support that happened last Saturday and from this incident, we will continue to be involved.  Not only that, we will be using this incident and others that occur on a daily basis to continue to mold our collective and individual platforms to deal with the problems we are having with our public employees who we pay to “protect and serve”.  You can help by signing this petition.

So what problems are we having?

As one of nine members of Rochester City Council, I will work with my fellow council members to stop City Hall's focus on projects over people.  I will advocate, with the help of my fellow Rochestarians, on creating locally and co-operatively owned businesses in neighborhoods. 

I will also work to protect our public employees, the people who provide us with the services we expect in the City.

I will only vote for projects that come without taking money from the City budget in any way.

I will work to make sure that Urban Agriculture becomes part of the City's plan for development.

I will increase transparency of and access to City Council; it's members and proceedings. 

I will work to enact a completely independent Civilian Review Board of our police department, WITH full subpoena power.

Visit my main page regularly as I will be blogging on these ideas and more throughout this campaign.  And please submit YOUR ideas as well.

David Atias was born and raised in the City of Rochester.  A Franklin graduate, David has a Bachelors of Science in History and Masters of Education in Secondary Education from SUNY Brockport.  David has worked for a number of non-profits in the area, including Hillside Childrens Center, St. Joseph's Villa and The Center for Youth.  He has taught in the City School District and various suburban districts as well.  David has served on the boards and steering committees of a number of local groups including Metro Justice, Rochester Roots, Coalition for Justice in Education, Rochester Human Rights Day Committee, the Rochester chapter of Move to Amend, Rochester ADAPT and the Transportation Action Group.

David is currently the Assistant Director of Advocacy at the Center for Disability Rights.  He lives on Kansas Street and is engaged to Evora Sutliff.

City Council Candidate Forums
Posted by David Sutliff-Atias · September 10, 2013 10:09 PM

Crime in the 19th Ward
Posted by David Sutliff-Atias · August 26, 2013 11:20 PM · 3 reactions

Green Rochester in Candidate Forums
Posted by David Sutliff-Atias · July 25, 2013 8:32 PM