RochesterWriters

Something that is hard not to take note of, living in the city, is the number of people choosing to ride bikes.   So why, with the new paving and relining of East Avenue, from 4 down to 2 lanes, do we not see a bike lane?  

Today we welcome Mustard Street's newest contributor, Richard Tyson.

Rumblings reach us about Assemblyman Joe Morelle being appointed State Commissioner of Insurance in an Andrew Cuomo admistration.   Certainly he'll continue full speed with his candidacy for Monroe County Executive next year, unless and until such an appointment occurs.

We'll mark Independence Day with some down-and-dirty extremist hate speech, as the mainstream media has trained us to recognize it:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Given the raging torrent of legislative effluent that roars through the open sewer known as the New York State Legislature, you'd think State Senators of character, if there are any, would want to take the rare opportunity to vote for something that will actually do some good, for some people who need it.So why are our Republican State Senators so stand-offish about voting for the bill on Mayoral control of Rochester's schools?

A friend just gave me a copy of Congressman Dan Maffei’s recent taxpayer-funded mailing.Checking out the accomplishments Maffei boasts about, I see a blurb about a grant for $500,000 for repaving a runway at the Williamson Airport in Wayne County.   Next to the blurb is a photo of a commercial passenger airplane on a runway.

It's been nearly two years since Assemblyman Bill Reilich succeeded the legendary Steve Minarik as Monroe County Republican Chairman.

What an embarrassing and awkward press conference it must have been for Democrat Chairman and State Assemblyman Joe Morelle when State Senate candidate Mary Wilmot went on a tirade about the dysfunction in Albany. Poor little Joe, an Assemblyman for almost 20 years and part of the entrenched Democrat Assembly leadership under Shelly Silver, had to stand next to his endorsed candidate and endure her rant about Albany politicians and the need to throw them out.

The recent communique from Rick Lazio's camp denouncing anti-Semite Helen Thomas underscored a problem with the Republican gubernatorial campaign.   They're off message.   They lack focus.   Thomas deserved the denunciation, but it was coming in plentifully from all quarters.

Readers may recall our views on eliminating, or formally consolidating, units of local government such as villages:   do so if you have good reasons, but don't expect it to be the answer to relieving New York's sky-high tax burden.   It won't, because school taxes and state taxes comprise most of that burden.   Remember, depending on where you live in Monroe County, school taxes make up anywhere from 70% to 80% of your property tax bill.