I am running for an at-large seat on the Rochester City Council in 2025.  Here, social media, and in person, we can talk about problems our city faces and solutions.  Those in power have already used or are in the process of using solutions I've advocated for over the years.  For example:

• Senior Citizen Tax Exemption (NEW!)
• A City of Rochester Bank
• A public utility
• A City Compost Program
• Children’s Savings Accounts
• Planting fruit trees in public spaces
• A department at City Hall to spur cooperatively-owned businesses

Dump RG&E

The company Iberdrola is a corporation based in Spain.  They own the company that owns the company that owns Rochester Gas & Electric.  They are the only game in town.  They own the wires that bring the electricity to your house.  They own the transformers.  And when you pay your bill, that money goes out of town to that overseas corporation.  When you get a $10,000+ utility bill that is obviously in error, they are ultimately responsible for fixing that issue.  Though as we've seen many times, fixing such an issue takes an inordinate amount of time and hassle.  Oh, and thanks to the state government, they are promised at least a 9% increase in profits every year.  There is no free market economy here; it is a straight up, government-sponsored monopoly.  What we need in Rochester is a public utility.  All of the transformers, wired, poles, etc., should be public property, run and managed by the City of Rochester with a publicly-appointed oversight board. 

This is not a far-fetched idea.  Many have heard that the town of Fairport does this and their rates and service are better than ours. The state does have a procedure for a municipality to get rid of their corporate utility company and replace it with a public one.  It's no surprise that the procedure is complicated.  But it is doable.  The first step is the most important - we need a feasibility study.  click here to read more.

Housing

[Updated on February 18th]  Let’s start with a question. Do you believe that housing is a human right? I say yes. Not only that, I fully believe that nothing that people need to survive should be sold for profit. Food, clothing, shelter, health care, and I’m adding education to that list as well.

People with power decided necessities for profit was appropriate a long time ago and the rest of us have not come together to change this.

Every person in the City of Rochester should have an affordable, accessible, safe place to live, period. We have the empty houses and apartments. We have “zombie properties” that landlords have given up on. The only reason our government allows people to exist in Rochester without a place to live is because. That’s it. Because.

With that, when elected to City Council, I will:  click here to read more.

Rochester Needs Universal Child Care

As a part of the solution to generations of poverty and inequality, we need universal child care in the City of Rochester.  The details of my plan are below, but first let’s talk about why we need such a thing.

One of the biggest barriers to employment and/or continuing education is child care.  It is well known that the cost of quality child care is unreachable for those living in distressed areas of the city.  If you do not have a quality option for your children, being available to work or go to school is virtually impossible. 

Subsidies for child care go through the County, and that money goes mainly to for-profit child care entities.  Does it help families?  Somewhat.  Is it enough?  Not nearly – and that’s the reason I have chosen to make universal child care a part of my campaign. 

So what would this look like?  Click here to read more.

The City of Rochester Must Stop Genocide

Sometimes folks ask themselves, “What would I have done when Hitler was killing all of those Jews?” Well, now you know. What you’re doing or not doing right now about what is happening in Palestine shows exactly what you would have done in Germany. There are a lot of parallels between what happened there and what is going on in Gaza (and now the West Bank). It’s pretty sad that hundreds of people had to show up to City Council – some refusing to leave – just to get a non-binding resolution passed that was pretty weak.

Like in Apartheid South Africa, a way to help stop the mistreatment of Palestinians on their own land, which has been going on for decades, is to Boycott, Divest, and Sanction (BDS). In fact, Rochester should take a stand against genocide being committed anywhere.

Therefore, as a member of City Council, I will do the following:  Click here to read more.

Walgreens is Closing - An Opportunity

So Walgreens is closing their store in the Bulls Head neighborhood. Here’s what I’m taking from this story: our Mayor is a banker; he’s a capitalist. And yet he is shocked that a national corporation would shut down stores in one of the most depressed parts of our city. They are under a legal obligation to do what’s in the best interest of their shareholders – NOT the City of Rochester. That’s capitalism!

Do you know which pharmacy COULD have the best interests of the City?  Click here to read more.

We Must Fix the Verona Animal Shelter

The shelter currently has no veterinarian.  Why?  Because the City will not pay an appropriate salary for one.  (Shall we look at some of the salaries of people at City Hall?) 

The shelter is underfunded.  They can't pay enough staff to be open appropriate hours. Food and other supplies run out.  How morally bankrupt is that? 

The shelter is overcrowded. The space is too small and outdated.  It's so bad, Verona has to be a "kill shelter" in which animals are euthanized when there isn't enough room. 

The hours of the shelter are not conducive to people being able to adopt animals.  If you're only open during business hours, people who work a 9-5 job cannot come to the shelter to adopt an animal.  

The shelter no longer accepts animals from people who cannot take care of their pets any longer.  This isn't the place to discuss why people cannot take care of their pets, but if they can't, they're not able to take them to Verona, like the person who gave up Artemis 7 years ago.  So in desperation, people abandon the animals.  Notice more dogs and cats on the streets of Rochester?  This is a public hazard.

The shelter has adopted this concept of "community cats", where they won't take in feral cats, but will neuter them (if they ever get a veterinarian again) then release them back onto the streets.  Supposedly, this is supposed to take care of another problem Rochester has - rats.  So our City is not taking responsibility for our issue with rats and is hoping these ignored animals will do it for them. 

When I am voted into City Council, I will: Click here to read more.

Dave Sutliff-Atias for City Council
https://www.daveforchange.org/