click to enlarge
Politics is all about power. Yeah, that’s a little cliché, but it’s also the easiest way to explain what’s happened in the Monroe County Legislature over the past year or so. Since Democratic County Executive Adam Bello took office in January 2020, two different power struggles have been playing out in the Legislature, where Republicans hold a one-seat majority over Democrats. Rifts in the local Democratic Party over the selection of an elections commissioner and other matters led four Democratic legislators to break away from their colleagues and form the Black and Asian Democratic Caucus.
The Borinquen Dance Theatre is among 18 small arts groups that would receive emergency funding under a county bill vetoed by County Executive Adam Bello. The County Legislature overrode the veto. Some small arts groups in Monroe County could be in line for two tranches of emergency funding, after political divisions between the county executive and county legislators over financing for the groups boiled over Tuesday. A day earlier, County Executive Adam Bello announced that he had vetoed a bill supported by the majority of legislators that would have sent $136,000 in aid to 18 small arts organizations, and that the county had instead established a $2 million “JumpstARTS” grant program for the groups.
ATV wheels Anyone caught riding dirt bike, ATV, or other so-called off-road vehicle that is not registered for street use in the city would face stiff fines under legislation sponsored by City Councilmember Jose Peo and Council President Loretta Scott. The vehicles are already banned on city streets, but current city law does not outline any penalties for drivers caught using them. Although the vehicles have become far more visible around the city in the last year, their drivers have been met with little to no enforcement. The legislation introduced by Peo would enhance the law by mandating that riders face fines up to $1,000 and their vehicles be impounded by the Rochester Police Department. The vehicles would be held on a fine of $2,000, plus $20 for every day in impound.
WHECTV Created: May 10, 2021 01:03 PM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) Some Monroe County lawmakers are making a new push to get more funding out to arts organizations affected by the pandemic
A trio of county legislators, including Ernest Flagler-Mitchell and Vince Felder, gathered Monday to propose emergency funding for smaller groups that haven t received any funding throughout the pandemic.
This year s budget allocates $1.4 million for the arts. It s an amount organizers say is well below what other western New York counties spend. The proposal would give $131,000 to groups that have missed out on other pandemic funding so far. Monroe County underfunds the arts and doesn’t have an equitable or transparent process for investing in this important part of our economy, Rochester Contemporary Arts Center s Executive Director Bleu Cease said. Erie County, for example, spends nearly four times as much per capita supporting the arts and funds, more than twice a
Apr 28, 2021
Some Democrats in the Monroe County Legislature say two Democrats aligned with the Republican majority stole their idea to score political points.
In a statement, Yversha Roman and Joe Morelle Junior say their bill to keep illegal dirt bikes off the roads was rejected by Legislature President Joe Carbone, in favor of a substitute from Vince Felder and Ernest Flagler-Mitchell.
Roman and Morelle say the new bill added nothing of substance to their own. They say Felder and Flagler-Mitchell face tough primary challenges and wanted to get the credit to boost their campaigns.