• The Freedom Bus arrived in Rochester just in time for a forum at the Salvation Army, including the Rochester Poor People's Coalition, the Edge of Justice, and the Metro Justice Task Force for Economic Rights. Freedom Rider Miss Morales (of the Poor People's Coalition) was there to welcome us to Rochester.
• From there, we went to a dinner hosted by the Rev. Franklin Florence's Central Church of Christ. The SUNY Brockport Social Work Organization served us the meal (in addition to arranging our housing), and we moved from there to the church sanctuary, where Sister Grace moderated a speakout.

• The city of Rochester went from a budget surplus in 2000 to a projected 45-63 million deficit in 2003. Part of this is the need to pay for construction and staffing of a new $54 million jail. Other money has gone to consultants and politically connected real estate developers.
• The city's response has been to cut social services by 20%. Consultants have proposed saving money primarily by closing 5,000 TA & MA cases, denying benefits to applicants and diverting them to soup kitchens and homeless shelters.
• Rochester is the 11th highest in child poverty in the nation.
• 9% of all children under 6 tested in Rochester had high blood lead levels. Lead poisoning affects over 890,000 preschoolers.
• Welfare Reform has reduced welfare rolls, but more through restricting access than moving people out of poverty. As welfare reform has been implemented, requests for emergency housing rose by 25% countywide in 2001. 20,000 more people were served by food agencies in 2001 than 2000.
• Kodak, headquartered in Rochester, laid of 2,500 workers in 1999 - part of a plan to lay off 18,000 workers, despite a 9% increase in operating profits. Kodak's new factory in China employes workers for as little as $20 a month. The state has fined Kodak hundreds of thousands of dollars for the toxic chemicals it has dumped into the Rochester area.

Links

Rochester Indymedia