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As we talk about Rochester’s downtown filling with cranes, and the city taking over the school district, and Gov. David Paterson announcing he won’t seek election, it’s easy to miss anything that isn’t shouting for our attention. But here’s a piece of very quiet news that may be just as important to our region as all the rest of it: There doesn’t seem to be any fallout from the failure of Renaissance Square.
After the fairly spectacular (and public) way the rug was pulled out from County Executive Maggie Brook’s signature project, and the hostility on the part of City Council to the way the project had been handled, I thought for sure that there would be a seething resentment about to boil over into a feud. It’s not as though we have a history of taking the high road on things like this.
But it seems the low road is closed. Partisans on both the city and county side have been surprisingly consistent in their assessment that both the city and county administrations still have a strong “no feuding” policy in place. While there are no high-profile cooperative projects in the works right now, the two governments continue to work collaboratively on a number of public safety initiatives such as jointly updating their tech infrastructure and developing the county’s crime lab, and are even looking to merge their civil service agencies — creating one point of contact and set of rules for people looking to work for local government.
It’s not that everyone — or even anyone — is happy with the way the Renaissance Square project went down. There’s grumbling, resentment and hurt feelings. But no one seems to want to make it an excuse for a fight. Brooks, in particular, has apparently instituted a strict “no insulting the mayor” policy that sets a clear tone and set of expectations. If you don’t understand how big a step that is from the days of Jack Doyle, you weren’t around then.
We can use the quiet. Because while the city and county aren’t feuding with each other, they each have a new set of problems to deal with.
Monroe County has prospered in part because it’s had a strong relationship with Albany in the past — but right now our very Republican county government isn’t reaching out effectively to our very Democratic state government. Maggie Brooks and Bob Duffy have a great working relationship, but Maggie Brooks and Sheldon Silver? Maggie Brooks and David Paterson? Maggie Brooks and whomever’s in charge of the Senate-now? Not so much.
As we talk about Rochester’s downtown filling with cranes, and the city taking over the school district, and Gov. David Paterson announcing he won’t seek election, it’s easy to miss anything that isn’t shouting for our attention. But here’s a piece of very quiet news that may be just as important to our region as all the rest of it: There doesn’t seem to be any fallout from the failure of Renaissance Square.
After the fairly spectacular (and public) way the rug was pulled out from County Executive Maggie Brook’s signature project, and the hostility on the part of City Council to the way the project had been handled, I thought for sure that there would be a seething resentment about to boil over into a feud. It’s not as though we have a history of taking the high road on things like this.
But it seems the low road is closed. Partisans on both the city and county side have been surprisingly consistent in their assessment that both the city and county administrations still have a strong “no feuding” policy in place. While there are no high-profile cooperative projects in the works right now, the two governments continue to work collaboratively on a number of public safety initiatives such as jointly updating their tech infrastructure and developing the county’s crime lab, and are even looking to merge their civil service agencies — creating one point of contact and set of rules for people looking to work for local government.
It’s not that everyone — or even anyone — is happy with the way the Renaissance Square project went down. There’s grumbling, resentment and hurt feelings. But no one seems to want to make it an excuse for a fight. Brooks, in particular, has apparently instituted a strict “no insulting the mayor” policy that sets a clear tone and set of expectations. If you don’t understand how big a step that is from the days of Jack Doyle, you weren’t around then.
We can use the quiet. Because while the city and county aren’t feuding with each other, they each have a new set of problems to deal with.
Monroe County has prospered in part because it’s had a strong relationship with Albany in the past — but right now our very Republican county government isn’t reaching out effectively to our very Democratic state government. Maggie Brooks and Bob Duffy have a great working relationship, but Maggie Brooks and Sheldon Silver? Maggie Brooks and David Paterson? Maggie Brooks and whomever’s in charge of the Senate-now? Not so much.
The Democratic Party in Monroe County is in the midst of a civil war. It’s no secret that the Democrats who control the city and sit on the County Legislature have never gotten along with the Democrats who run the school district — the city has had a string of mayors who ran a tight ship, while the school district is a classic patronage mill dispensing jobs, funds and attention to the connected. It thrived because taking it on was the one serious risk to re-election that a city Democrat could take.
Duffy’s plan to put the city under mayoral control has made that cold war hot, and whoever wins the battle, the war for the soul of Monroe County’s Democratic Party is finally on. The school district is surrounded. Both Joe Morelle and David Gantt have sided with City Hall. Still, if the school board can rally grass-roots support (which looks to be happening) expect the political equivalent of house-to-house fighting. It’ll get ugly.
Are these serious problems? Absolutely — but I’ll take them over the city and county being at each other throats any day. There’s a long walk ahead of us back to stability, let alone prosperity, but at least we’re not tripping each other as we go.
Benjamin Wachs writes for Messenger Post Media's print and online editions. Read his work at www.TheWachsGallery.com.
