Citizen Participation?
We've tried everything possible to engage the City regarding the curfew issue. We were in the process of working with the City Council's Public Safety Committee to find a compromise that would truly benefit the children of Rochester. However, before that could happen, Lois Geiss, in her capacity as President of the Council, chose to release the bill from committee. This ensured that nothing would stand in the way of the Mayor's will — not Citizen activists, and certainly not the Public Safety Committee, whom the Mayor publicly criticized for doing their job as legislators. We have collected here the majority of our attempts to create real, meaningful Citizen participation in City government. Unfortunately, the Mayor and his allies on the City Council don't want Citizen involvement. They listen, and make a show of taking City Hall on the road — but when you try to meaningfully engage them on an issue, the silence is deafening. We have answered every one of the Mayor's arguments. We have given 14 reasons a curfew is a bad idea — and not one of those points have been addressed. Even the attempt by City Council members to ask questions was treated with disdain — the Mayor described the legislators' questions as "inappropriate", "unacceptable", and "showing weakness." Perhaps if more people asked the Mayor for answers (Phone: 428-7045) we might finally get a response.
Speeches from City Council Meetings Max Kessler on October 18, 2005 doc rtf Max Kessler on August 22, 2006 doc rtf Jeff DeToro on July 27, 2006 doc rtf Christopher Edes on October 18, 2005 doc rtf Christopher Edes on August 22, 2006 doc rtf Christopher Edes on September 19, 2006 doc rtf Alternative Proposals Submitted David Ahl's Proposal doc rtf Christopher Edes' Proposal doc rtf Letters to the City Council Christopher Edes on August 9, 2006 doc rtf David Ahl on July 31, 2006 doc rtf David Ahl on August 3, 2006 doc rtf David Ahl on August 8, 2006 doc rtf David Ahl on August 17, 2006 doc rtf David Ahl on August 8, 2008 doc rtf David Ahl on August 18, 2008 doc rtf