Rochester School Board Melee

ROCHESTER - Melee, brou-ha-ha, whatever you want to call it, the wackiness on the Rochester City School Board needs to stop. A dysfunctional board does not help the kids, and in case you didn't notice, the kids need help. I ran for school board two years ago and it was an eye opening experience. Not only did I get an up close and personal view of the serious issues involving and sinking the district, I also got a view of how fellow citizens viewed the school board itself. I will share the secret: it is not held in very high regard. It seems as though the general consensus is that you have to be crazy to be on the board. What a shame. Our best and brightest should be on the board. Like they say about computers, garbage in, garbage out. I believe our board could function just fine with a few reforms that I suggested in my campaign.

First off, there should be a joint committee that has both school board members and city council members. The reality is that the city pays a huge amount of money to operate the schools, yet they have no direct say. I don't believe that they need a direct say, but they should certainly have a platform to offer input, ideas, solutions and concerns. Not in a confrontational way like last week, but in a constructional manner suitable to adults elected to public office to do a job.

Second, the budget should be a public vote, like in the suburbs. This gives more accountability to a budget process that is too often left in secrecy. At least this way, the residents can give a general reaction to the board's activities. Essentially, the biggest part of the board member's job is to construct the budget. If the residents don't like it, they have to wait four budgets to show their displeasure. Lets speed that up. More democracy is never a bad thing.

Finally, the mayor should not have control over the district. This is not a knock on our current mayor. I believe the school district would benefit from Mayor Duffy's insight. However, the city has plenty of issues that need to be corrected outside of the school district. The crime rate is too high, home ownership too low, and jobs too few. The city should take care of its own back yard before knocking on their neighbors door. Additionally, since the mayor controls so much in city government, an anti-education mayor may be well thought of enough in other areas to avoid accountability for his poor education policy.

Our founding fathers warned us of the concentration of power in an executive. I share this concern. The school board is evidently quite dysfunctional at the moment. We can not, however, eliminate its role without allowing it to reach its potential. If we fill the board with brilliant minds, and it still can't get the job done, then maybe we explore other options. For now, more democracy is better.

Urban Small Ball

ROCHESTER - My favorite metaphor for our city's renaissance is baseball. Some may say this is because I am into sports too much. I prefer to believe it is just too apt to pass up. Rebuilding a city is better done by playing 'small ball' than swinging for the fences. What exactly does this mean? In small ball, you hit singles, lay down bunts, steal bases, etc. This tends to lead to runs in bunches. Swinging for the fences can offer big rewards, but percentage-wise, more often leaves you empty. Investing in housing stock, cleaning up trash and public art is urban small ball. Fast ferries, stadiums and large scale projects are swings for the fences. Downtown amenities, like a refurbished Manhattan Square Park, are also urban small ball.

Joe "Greatest Coach Ever" Paterno often says, take care of the little things and the big picture will take care of itself. Mayor Bob Duffy must believe this because he has focused quite a bit of energy on quality of life issues. Starting with Clean Sweep, Duffy signaled that if we each take care of our own neighborhoods, collectively the city will improve. This increases the morale of the city, and tends to do so at a fraction of the cost. The good news of the city's revival has come in a trickle. A tidbit here and a tidbit there. This trickle, however, is steady. If it continues, we are in great shape.

The latest tidbit is Manhattan Square Park re-opening its ice rink. This is welcome news for those of us that skate (or try) in the city. It adds a nice little amenity to our lives, especially important in winter when our recreational options are limited. But wait, there's more! Not only has the rink re-opened, the facility has been refurbished. The heating shelter has been expanded to include heated floors and a fire place. I would be sold right there. Yet, the city found that by changing the shape from an oval to a kidney shape, they could increase the size of the rink itself by 30 percent. If all that wasn't enough, the city even bought new skates to replace the garage sale looking stock they currently had. I can't wait to take my first fall, uh, skate around the new rink.

I think we forget, sometimes, how effective smaller quality of life improvements can be to a city and to its overall morale. The news is filled with the large projects, just as ESPN is filled with big home runs and big strikeouts. We should remember that although those things fill the highlight reels, in the end, you win with fundamentals. On the baseball diamond it is advancing runners and scoring runs whereas on the urban diamond it is investing in neighborhoods and small scale projects. It seems our city has finally embraced small ball, and that is why we will win.