News Blog

Columbia Care has been awarded a state license to establish a medical marijuana growing and dispensing operation at Eastman Business Park.

The company plans to lease 204,000 square feet in a Kodak film-manufacturing facility built in 1921. It announced the seven-year lease agreement with Kodak and Eastman Business Park in June.

Under the state's medical marijuana law, which was enacted earlier this year, the State Department of Health awarded licenses to five companies to grow and dispense marijuana products. The department announced the five winners today, and Columbia Care is the only operation that'll have a Monroe County presence.

Columbia Care will also set up dispensaries in New York, Suffolk, and Clinton counties. The company has licensed medical marijuana operations in five other states, and also does research work.

 

Jamie Romeo said last night that her first move as the new chair of the Monroe County Democratic Committee will be to reach out to party "stakeholders," from the volunteers who go door-to-door on behalf of candidates to the donors who provide the cash the organization needs to run. Many Democrats may not know her well, she said, and she wants to change that.

Romeo, who's been MCDC's executive director since January and was chief of staff for former State Senator Ted O'Brien, starts her new role today.

Democratic committee members from across the county met last night and voted for Romeo, who lives in Irondequoit. She was the sole chair candidate for the job. Romeo received enthusiastic nominations from the floor; Irondequoit Town Board member David Seeley called for a unanimous ballot for "one of Irondequoit's finest."

"There's no doubt there will be challenging days ahead," said Alex Hipolito, vice president of the Monroe County Young Democrats and MCDC's political director, during his speech nominating Romeo. "But if you've known Jamie, she's not one to shy away from challenges."

And there are some major challenges facing the party. It's heading into a big local election year, and the county party's bank account is very low. Privately, some Democratic leaders worry that means headquarters won't be able to help much with Sandy Frankel's campaign for county executive, or with potentially competitive County Legislature contests.

The party also has internal divisions, power struggles, and personality conflicts, which often materialize in primaries. There were subtle signs of the division last night; some key black city committee leaders who are aligned with Mayor Lovely Warren and State Assembly member David Gantt didn't show up for last night's vote. 

Romeo said that the county party has come out of much tighter spots, and that it has good candidates and campaigns for a critical election year. And as executive director, she's already had some involvement with those campaigns, she said, so the transition should be smooth.

"Part of my nature is to find a solution to problems," Romeo said after the meeting.

But Romeo, who is 30, also sees her election as a chance for the next generation of Democratic leaders to step up, take on some responsibility, and be held accountable for their decisions. Last night, she wasn't the only one thinking that way. Several committee members of varying ages approached her and told her that they're excited to have a young person at the helm.

Romeo replaces Dave Garretson, who is stepping down as chair for health reasons.

The Rochester school board is grappling with a new state education law involving receivership for failing and persistently failing schools. According to the Regents' EngageNY website, the intent of receivership is to address the barriers that have prevented some school leaders from turning around failing schools.

The barriers include: governance, school leadership, teachers, union contracts, and so on. Certainly the case could be made that barriers do indeed exist in a large bureaucracy like the Rochester school district.

But you have to ask, did lawmakers create a law that essentially undermines the democratic process and silences the same parent voices they claim they want to hear?

A quick recap of school receivership: In a failing school, the superintendent, as the receiver, is given two years to improve student achievement. In a persistently failing school, the superintendent is given one year.

Rochester schools Superintendent Bolgen Vargas, as the receiver, has the power to review and make changes to the school budget, create or change school programs and curriculum, require all school staff to reapply for their jobs, and even convert the school to a charter school or a community school.

But most unusual is the ability to supersede a decision by the school board — what the law calls “supersession.”

Vargas says that he will not make staff reapply for their positions or make any dramatic changes to staffing.

But a key component of any receiver’s state-approved school intervention plan is parent and community engagement. And as school board member Mary Adams pointed out at yesterday's monthly business meeting, engagement must be more than notification of a public hearing. Any intervention plan must go beyond merely notifying parents and the community that the school is in receivership. According to the law, stakeholder input must be part of the intervention plan.

But if democratically elected voices for parents and the community have been undermined and dis-empowered, as Adams put it, is there a risk that community engagement is minimized and even overridden? Despite the good intentions of lawmakers in Albany, it now becomes even more important for board members to speak out and raise questions, because the community may not know that its input isn't optional. It's required. 

This post has been corrected

The Rochester school board will hold a public hearing on the Contract for Excellence, which provides state funds for programs intended to improve student performance. The hearing is at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, July 28. The superintendent’s plans for extended school days and All City High School are examples of how contract funds are used. 

The hearing will be followed by the board’s monthly school board meeting at about 6:30 p.m. BY TIM LOUIS MACALUSO


This morning, Vice President Joe Biden will be in Greece to officially announce that the Rochester region has been chosen as the future home of a Department of Defense-backed photonics manufacturing institute.

Biden will make the announcement at 11 a.m. at a SUNY Polytechnic Institute research facility in Canal Ponds Professional Park. The event is not open to the public.

Last fall, the DOD announced plans to form an Integrated Photonics Manufacturing Institute; the Obama administration has established institutes for a few other high-tech manufacturing fields. The department solicited applications, and the Research Foundation of SUNY submitted a proposal on behalf of the University of Rochester, Rochester Institute of Technology, SUNY Polytechnic Institute, and a group of about 90 other universities and industry groups.

The institute will be backed by $110 million in federal funds, and New York State officials have pledged another $250 million. The institute will have its administrative headquarters and lab space in the region; no official decision has been made on where the spaces will be located.


Monroe County Democrats could vote on a new party chair on Wednesday.

Current chair Dave Garretson is stepping down at the end of the month, and the county Democratic Party’s executive committee set Wednesday as the day to vote on his replacement. But few names are circulating to replace Garretson. Several Democratic sources have mentioned MCDC Executive Director Jamie Romeo as a possible successor, at least on an interim basis. 


On Tuesday, a state wage board will meet to finalize a report on its recommendation for a $15 an hour minimum wage for fast-food workers. The meeting is at 8:30 a.m. at State Labor Department offices in New York City.

The wage increase, which has to be approved by the state labor commissioner, would be phased in over several years. In New York City, the wage would increase each year until it maxes out at $15 in 2018. In the rest of the state, the wage would increase to $9.75 at the end of this year, and then increase about $1 a year until it hits $15 an hour in July 2021.

The recommended increase would apply to fast-food restaurants with more than 30 locations across the country. BY JEREMY MOULE

Vice President Joe Biden will visit the Rochester area on Monday to officially announce that the region will be home to a Department of Defense photonics institute.

According to a report by Gannett's Albany Bureau, Biden will make the announcement at Canal Ponds Business Park in Greece. The business park is home to a former Kodak building, now owned by SUNY Polytechnic Institute, that has been converted into solar cell manufacturing and semiconductor labs. As of Friday morning, no official schedule or notice had been issued by the White House, though Biden is scheduled to make another announcement with Governor Andrew Cuomo at 2:30 p.m. in New York City; it appears the VP will probably come to Rochester in the morning.

Last year, the DOD announced plans to form an Integrated Photonics Manufacturing Institute, and solicited applications for it. The Research Foundation of SUNY submitted a proposal on behalf of the University of Rochester, Rochester Institute of Technology, SUNY Polytechnic Institute, and a group of about 90 other universities and industry groups. The institute will be backed by $110 million in federal funds, and New York State officials have pledged another $250 million. The institute will have its administrative headquarters and lab space in the region.

House Representative Louise Slaughter and Senator Chuck Schumer forcefully lobbied for the Rochester application. On Wednesday, ahead of an official announcement from the White House, Schumer announced that the Rochester application had won.

A state wage board has recommended that the minimum wage for some fast-food workers increase to $15 an hour, eventually.

The board, which was convened by Governor Andrew Cuomo, approved a package of resolutions this afternoon calling for the wage increase. The state labor department commissioner will ultimately decide whether to order a higher minimum wage for the fast food industry.

Under the recommendation, the wage increase would be phased in over several years. In New York City, the wage would increase yearly until it hits $15 in 2018. In the rest of the state, the wage would increase to $9.75 at the end of this year, and then increase by about $1 a year until it maxes out at $15 an hour on July 1, 2021. (The state's minimum wage is $8.75 an hour.)

The board also recommended that the increase apply to fast-food restaurants with over 30 locations across the country. That total would include corporate-owned stores as well as franchises.

Board member Kevin Ryan, founder of online retailer Gilt, said that businesses would face a significant expense increase if the state requires a higher wage. The board recommended phasing the increase in for that reason, he said.

Fast-food workers and their allies across the state and country have pushed for higher wages through the Fight for $15 campaign. They've argued that large fast-food chains are making substantial profits but pay workers so little that full-time employees struggle to support themselves and their families.

"When an industry will not correct itself, the government has to step in," said board member Mike Fishman, secretary-treasurer of Service Employees International Union.

[UPDATED 3:45 p.m.] House Representative Louise Slaughter released the following statement:

For more than three years, I’ve been leading our region’s effort to convince the Obama Administration to create a photonics manufacturing institute and build it in Rochester. With remarkable research universities, robust manufacturing capability, and the most talented workforce in the country, the Rochester region is truly the nation’s leader when it comes to photonics. Three years of tireless work is nearing the finish line but I won’t be celebrating until an official announcement is made by the Department of Defense. I’ve been proud to work with many partners on this exciting opportunity and am especially grateful for the support of the University of Rochester, RIT, Majority Leader Joe Morelle, and Governor Andrew Cuomo. I look forward to sharing more details with the community in the days ahead.

Original post: The Rochester region has been selected by the Department of Defense for a new photonics institute. A statement from Senator Chuck Schumer follows this story. 

Last year, the DOD solicited applications for an Integrated Photonics Manufacturing Institute. The Research Foundation of SUNY submitted an application on behalf of the University of Rochester, Rochester Institute of Technology, the SUNY Polytechnic Institute in Utica, and approximately 90 other academic and industry groups. And today, Schumer said that the application won, according to a Democrat and Chronicle article. A formal announcement from the DOD is scheduled for Monday morning.

Schumer and Slaughter have aggressively supported the Rochester application and both have emphasized Rochester's deep roots in photonics and optics. The federal government is providing $110 million to fund the institute, while the state has pledged $250 million.

The institute will essentially have two components: administrative headquarters and lab space. No site has been chosen for either aspect.

Senator Schumer’s statement on photonics:

“This announcement is a job-creating game-changer for Rochester and firmly puts the region on the map as one of the global leaders in photonics and manufacturing. By combining the academic and research resources of the University of Rochester, Rochester Institute of Technology, and SUNY Polytechnic Institute together with the hundreds of New York photonics companies in Rochester and beyond, Rochester will be able to lead the way in this cutting-edge industry with some of the finest minds in the world.

“I am pleased the DOD selected Rochester to lead this photonics institute, and I am confident our universities and their local employment partners will do an outstanding job representing our state. This is a win-win-win that will boost New York manufacturing, connect Rochester area students to potential future employers and bring good-paying manufacturing jobs to Upstate New York.” 

State Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia released the names last week of 144 New York public schools that are either “struggling schools” or “persistently struggling schools” as of July 2015 — these are the lowest-performing schools in the state. The announcement came in conjunction with a trip she made to Rochester and Buffalo. 

Fourteen Rochester schools made the list. Four of them are persistently struggling schools: Charlotte High School, East High School, Monroe High School, and School 9. Buffalo's list is longer: 20 are struggling and five are persistently struggling.

But the list is only part of Elia’s message to parents, teachers, and school officials in the region. The real thrust of Elia’s public relations tour was to talk about receivership and state takeover of schools. The Buffalo News’ Tiffany Lankes summed up Elia’s blunt words to the Buffalo school board in a recent article, “Education Commissioner to Buffalo: Fix your schools or I will.”

Elia was referring to a new state education law that allows her to place failing schools in receivership, initially with superintendents, whose job it is to turn them around. Superintendents only have a year to show significant improvement, but they also have increased authority to make sweeping changes in those schools, such as staffing and operational changes. And under the law, superintendents have the ability to override objections to their plans from school boards — the elected entities that hire and supervises superintendents.

If the superintendents’ plans don’t work, Elia could turn to the school boards and instruct them to find an outside receiver. In Buffalo, however, she said that someone will come in under her authority to fix the five persistently struggling schools, according to the Buffalo News article.

Elia didn’t level the same type of threats while she was in Rochester. That may be because plans are already under way to address each of the persistently struggling schools. Superintendent Bolgen Vargas said late last year that he intends to close Charlotte. The University of Rochester has taken over management of East High School. And School 9 and Monroe both have turnaround plans involving increased instruction time.

Monroe, for instance, will open its doors in early August instead of September.

Still, the state data concerning these types of schools is revealing. With few exceptions, nearly all of the schools are in urban districts serving mostly economically disadvantaged minority students. Many of these schools are deeply segregated, often working with large numbers of English language learners and special education students.

For instance, 91 percent of the students at Buffalo’s Elementary School of Technology – one of the persistently struggling — are poor.

Hempstead High School on Long Island has a white student population of just 1 percent.

The real question in all of this is whether receiverships will work and how. The SED in its reform efforts has made some pretty public belly flops lately. There have to be some superintendents and school board members around the state saying to themselves: "if Elia and the SED think they can do a better job, then go for it!" Maybe it’s time for the bureaucrats in Albany to be held accountable.

But that dare is likely wasted because Elia probably doesn’t mean that the state will literally run these schools or fix them. She knows better. She’s almost certainly referring to converting at least some of them to charters.

A controversial proposal to build an Aldi discount grocery store at the corner of North Winton and Blossom roads will be in front of the City of Rochester's Zoning Board for consideration this week. The proposal is number eight on the board's agenda for the meeting, which beings at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, July 23, in City Council chambers at City Hall, 30 Church Street. 

Supporters like the idea of a discount grocer within walking distance. But opponents say that Aldi would be a poor fit for the site and that there are other grocers nearby, so Aldi is not needed. The proposal is opposed by the leadership of the Browncroft Neighborhood Association. BY CHRISTINE CARRIE FIEN 


The Rochester school board’s monthly business meeting which was scheduled for this coming Thursday has been rescheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, July 28, at the district’s central office, 131 West Broad Street. BY TIM LOUIS MACALUSO 


When the Village of Pittsford’s planning and zoning board meets at 7 p.m. today, it’ll begin hearing an appeal of a decision made by the village's Architecture and Preservation Review Board on the Westport Crossing project.

In December, the APRB rejected Mark IV Development’s proposed designs for the 167-unit apartment complex on a canalfront brownfield off of Monroe Avenue. The board said that the proposed buildings are out of scale – too tall and too big — with the rest of the village.

Mark IV disagrees and says that the buildings are consistent with a special-use permit previously granted by the village. But village officials disagree.

The highly-controversial project is caught up in a tangle of lawsuits. As part of one lawsuit, State Supreme Court Justice John Ark ordered the village planning and zoning board to hear the developer’s appeal of the APRB decision.

Odds are, however, that the appeal won’t go in the developer’s favor. Historically, Pittsford’s boards have been very aggressive in holding developers to village codes and design standards. BY JEREMY MOULE 

For years, Monroe County Democrats have been feuding their way toward trouble, and now they may be facing the consequences.

At the end of the month, Monroe County Democratic Committee Chair David Garretson is stepping down because of "personal concerns regarding health and family," he said in a press release. The MCDC will meet on July 29 to vote for a new chair, though no names are circulating yet.

But turnover at the top — Garretson just took over the job in September — is only part of Democrats' problem: the party is heading into a big local election year and it's almost broke.

Last week, campaigns and political parties across the state had to file their finance reports for the first six months of the year. MCDC reported that it has approximately $62,000 in the bank — the lowest first-half balance the party's reported since at least a decade; the state Board of Elections doesn't have filings prior to 2006 available online. The less cash the party has on hand, the less it has available to spend on important contests, such as the county executive's race.

"We're going to be focused on that, definitely," says MCDC vice chair Jim Vogel. "We're going to come out of this all right. I'm confident of that."