Written by Matthew Daneman for the Democrat & Chronicle.

Business process outsourcing firm Maximus Inc. — with offices in Victor, Fairport and suburban Buffalo — expects to consolidate those locations into a Pittsford site and add 100 positions over the next year.

Toshiba Business Solutions is planning for a 6,500-square-foot expansion to its Henrietta location that will see it adding six full time-equivalent positions over the next three years.

The County of Monroe Industrial Development Agency on Tuesday approved tax breaks for those projects, as well as major renovations to the Mall at Greece Ridge and Rochester’s Strathallan Hotel. But much of Tuesday’s meeting revolved around approvals given four years ago to a Henrietta project.

A group of protesters from western New York labor and social justice groups attended COMIDA’s monthly meeting Tuesday in downtown Rochester, pointing to the Ward’s Natural Science Esablishment LLC tax breaks as emblemic of a dysfunctional Industrial Development Agency system in New York and asking that the COMIDA board rescind the breaks.

The science education materials supplier in 2008 received $259,000 in county tax breaks for a 52,800-square-foot addition to its Henrietta site. The project was expected to generate 24 jobs.

Ward’s late last year closed its warehouse operations in Tonawanda, Erie County, after IDA tax breaks there expired, and is moving that work to Henrietta. Approximately 40 people were laid off. The end result, according to the protesters, is tax breaks for shifting jobs around western New York, not creating them.

“We’re not oppposed to helping companies succeed with subsidies,” Metro Justice president Paula Hansen said before a standing-room-only crowd. “Those subsidies need to be used to build a better future for our community.”

Ward’s spokeswoman Noel Vache said the Tonawanda location still employs more than 70 in such roles as customer service. The moving of the warehouse operations to the larger Henrietta site had to do with greater business efficiency and “nothing to do” with tax break issues, Vache said. The Henrietta facility will see some “incremental” hiring due to the Tonawanda consolidation, Vache said.

Half a dozen protesters spoke at the meeting, bemoaning what one of them termed “corporate welfare.” “You guys enticed a company to come to Rochester … at the cost of economic development that could have happened in Buffalo,” said Occupy Buffalo member John Washington. “You guys aren’t corporations. You shouldn’t be competing with one another.”

COMIDA did not directly address the protesters’ demand or criticisms. But COMIDA Executive Director Judy Seil said that Ward’s Henrietta employment has grown from 208 in April 2008 to 257 as of the end of 2011 — exceeding its job growth requirements sevenfold.

Virginia-based Maximus has more than 220 offices nationwide, including six in New York state.

$226,000 worth of sales and mortgage tax breaks tax on renovations to 3750 Monroe Ave. to house Maximus.

Among the COMIDA projects approved today:

• $3.6 million in tax breaks for renovations at The Mall at Greece Ridge as it demolishes the soon-to-be vacated Bon-Ton store and remakes the space into smaller retail and dining.

• $226,000 in tax breaks toward the renovation of 3750 Monroe Ave. as Maximus Inc. looks to consolidate its Victor, Fairport and Amherst operations into the Pittsford location and create 207 full time-equivalent jobs over the next three years.

• $620,000 in tax breaks for construction of a new Bryant & Stratton College campus at 846 Long Pond Road in Greece.

• $272,000 in tax breaks for a 15,000-square-foot expansion of Qualitrol Co.’s Fairport Road facility in Perinton.

• $507,000 in tax breaks toward $10.6 million in renovations to the Strathallan Hotel in Rochester. The renovations will include an indoor pool, a two-level fitness center and a small number of additional rooms to the 150-room hotel.

• $156,000 in tax breaks for a 6,500-square-foot expansion of 180 Kenneth Drive in Henrietta as Toshiba Business Solutions consolidates its Atlantic Avenue and Metro Park offices there.

Industrial Development Agencies (IDAs), New York’s main job creation tool, are falling asleep on the job. Instead of using our precious tax dollars to make smart investments in companies that create good jobs, they’re giving away the store to irresponsible companies that shift jobs around instead of create them.

We recently found out about this outrageous example in Western NY. Ward’s Natural Science, a division of VWR has collected tax incentives from the Erie County IDA (ECIDA) going back at least since 1971 for a facility in Tonawanda. More recently, VWR started collecting tax breaks from the nearby County of Monroe IDA (COMIDA) for their warehouse in Henrietta. The company has collected $800,000 in tax breaks so far from its 2001 and 2008 deals with COMIDA in return for creating seven jobs. After the company’s subsidy deal with ECIDA expired in December, VWR announced it was closing the Tonawanda location, laying off 41 workers, and consolidating operations in Henrietta.

Tell COMIDA to hold VWR accountable!

IDAs are not supposed to fund projects that merely shift jobs from one part of the state to another. In this case, public money—which we could be using instead to pay for the services we all rely on—is subsidizing a net job loss for New Yorkers.

COMIDA also should not support a company that’s been gaming the economic development system in New York and beyond for years. Since VWR was bought by a private equity company in 2007, they have stepped up their game. In California, VWR is raking in tax breaks as they eliminate good union jobs in one part of the state and “create” lower quality jobs in another. In Pennsylvania, VWR is being subsidized to buy new furniture while downsizing their workforce at a new headquarters office.

IDAs should look at the big picture and protect the public interest when entering into subsidy deals with companies. They also need to periodically review just how well companies are living up to their end of the bargain. Thousands and millions of public dollars are at stake.

Take Action!

Come to Albany with Metro Justice to demand a high quality public education for all students.  We will be rallying with hundreds of parents, students, teachers, and community members from across the state that understand that our public education system isn’t able to get its job done when it is constantly under-funded.  We will demand that high needs districts get back what has been cut from them in the last two years.  We will demand an end to competitive grants, which only reward schools with great grant writers.  We will demand that early childhood education be funded throughout the state.

WHERE: Albany, NY The bus will leave from 167 Flanders Street in Rochester.
WHEN: Wednesday, March 14th. The bus will leave at 7am and return around 8pm.
HOW MUCH: Free!

Rally to Make Verizon Pay Their Fair Share!

Did you know that Verizon paid less in taxes than the average family of four in New York State last year?  Even worse, they’re not alone! Some of the largest corporations get away with paying nearly nothing in state income taxes each year.

In the case of Verizon, they made $33 BILLION in profits.  In the meantime, New York State is struggling to find the revenue to provide a quality education to our children, or to pay for medical expenses of the poor and elderly.

Why is it that there never seem to be enough money for the basic human needs of the 99%, but that there seems to always be enough to give a huge tax break to the 1% and their corporations?

In times like these, when the 1% aren’t paying their share, it means that the burden of keeping the most basic functions in society operating gets left to rest on the poor, working families, and the middle class.  We can’t continue to allow corporations like Verizon to run off with all the wealth!  Our state isn’t broke, we’re just not taxing those that earn the most!

WHAT: Rally to demand closure of corporate tax loopholes
WHERE: Verizon at 1190 University Ave.
WHERE: Monday, February 20th, noon
WHO: Organized by Metro Justice and the Band of Rebels

Health Care is a Human Right Teach-In

Why is it that in the United States there are over 50 million people living without insurance and at the same time, medical bills are bankrupting America?

In many other countries throughout the world, they pay less per person on medical costs and ensure full health coverage to all of their citizens.

The health system in the United States was built with the first priority of enriching the 1%, that’s why!

We need to begin building a movement that demands that health care be a recognized human right.  There are systems of health coverage that can make sure that everyone in the country receive proper health care and that will actually save our cities, states, and federal government BILLIONS of dollars.  Come find out more and how you can get involved in the Fight to make Health Care a Human Right!

WHAT: Teach-In on Single Payer Health Care
WHERE: Dugan Center, 15 St. Mary’s Place
WHEN: Saturday, February 18th, 1-3pm
WHO: Event sponsored by Metro Justice, Interfaith Health Care Coalition of Faith in Action, Physicians for a National Health Plan, and Single Payer NY

We need an education system where all students have a real chance at college or careers.  Education in New York State today is an apartheid system.  Some children are winners and others are losers.  This isn’t because of the effort put in by those students, but is structure into the very way New York funds its schools.

If you attend school in the right district, opportunities are easy to come by.  If you’re not in one of the wealthy districts in the state, everything will be a struggle for you.

Funding cuts over the last two years have cut nearly $3 Billion from our states schools.  But the cuts alone weren’t the main problem.  High needs schools and average needs schools saw larger cuts than wealthy districts! You can find more about our slide towards inequality in this report by the Alliance for Quality Education.  More needs to be done to make up for the cuts our schools have faced over the last two years.

We need to make early childhood education a greater priority across the state.  We know that pre-k is a valuable program.  It doesn’t need further experimentation, it needs adequate funding!  Read more about the importance of early childhood education in this report, also by the Alliance for Quality Education.

Please, help us fight for a high quality public education for all students in New York. Join us for our Education Lobby Day in Albany on March 14th. The bus is free, but your participation is priceless!

Join Metro Justice to FIGHT for Housing as a HUMAN RIGHT in our city!

Every person has a right to adequate housing. But right now, in Rochester, there are 500 to1000 homeless people on any given night in our city, while 2,800 homes sit empty. And after receiving billions of dollars in taxpayer bailouts, banks continue to make more of our neighbors homeless, with the support of our city officials and resources. At the same time, programs to assist struggling and homeless families are being cut.

It’s time to fight back! It’s time to build a movement to fight for our right to have homes for our children, our neighbors, and ourselves. It’s time to fight foreclosures and evictions, to build community control of land and housing, and to force our city to see that protecting the RIGHT TO A HOME IS A PRIORITY.

This year has seen people all over the country insisting that the rights of 99% of hardworking people should not be sacrificed for the profits the wealthiest 1%. The FIGHT for HOUSING JUSTICE is embedded within that struggle, and within Metro Justice’s Vision for Economic Justice.

THIS IS OUR MOMENT IN HISTORY, AND THIS IS OUR FIGHT!

JOIN US!

WHAT: Housing is a Human Right Campaign Meeting
WHERE: Metro Justice, 167 Flanders Street
WHEN: Friday, February 10th, 5:30pm

From Democrat and Chronicle of January 22, 2012

Andrea D. Ploscowe
Guest essayist

Now that the city has renewed its agreement with Occupy Rochester, granting a two-month extension of the 24/7 encampment in Washington Square Park, I wanted to share some thoughts on this latest episode in Rochester history, from my personal perspective as a local homeowner, small businesswoman, and member of Occupy since October.

Many people have been perplexed by Occupy’s refusal to appoint spokespersons or have “leaders.”

Think about what our culture does to leaders. We spotlight someone who seems exceptional. We tout him or her as the latest, greatest thing, with a bombardment of media coverage and investigative exposés. Inevitably, we extract the one mortifying secret that bursts the bubble of hype. Then we shrug off the disgraced leader and anything he or she stood for as “nothing to be taken seriously.”

Leaders that go up must come down. So, Occupy has no leaders. This approach pushes the issues to the forefront and, paradoxically, makes everyone a leader.

Many people have expressed exasperation at Occupy’s refusal to set forth demands.

A discreet list of demands plays well in the short-attention-span theater of the mass media, which reduce the list to one set of talking points among many shouting heads. In a decentralized movement, representing 99 percent of the U.S. population, uniformity across the board is impossible. Instead we form Working Groups and get to work.

With the issues as our leaders, members of Occupy Rochester have teamed up with a wide range of local organizations to bring pressure to bear on matters such as fraudulent foreclosures, hiring the new Rochester schools superintendent, obtaining moratoria on hydrofracking, worker justice, investigation and prosecution of the housing bubble fraud, restoring Glass-Steagall, urban farming and homesteading, bringing living wage jobs back to western New York, etc.

Encampments across the country are networking in support of a constitutional amendment to outlaw corporate personhood and to get corporate money out of elections.

That is why we need a 24/7 encampment, to keep the dialogue and action on these critical matters ongoing and accessible at all times. When the problems go away, the people will go away.

The park is open to all who wish to use it, including the side inhabited by the Occupiers. Occupy Rochester is an open movement. All Rochesterians are welcome and needed. Please come join us!

Forty-eight citizens of Rochester peacefully endured arrest to get these urgently needed conversations and actions started. In passing the First Amendment to the Constitution, the framers foresaw the great common good that would issue from free and open dialogue among citizens in the public square. The members of Occupy inside and outside Washington Square Park stand as the direct descendants of the framers’ vision.

Ploscowe is a resident and homeowner in Rochester’s Park Avenue district.

To begin the 2012 “Tuesday Topics” series of the Friends & Foundation of the Rochester Public Library, Metro Justice’s Organizing Director Colin O’Malley spoke on the topic of “The Occupy Movement”.  The talk was meant to dispel some of the misconceptions that many have had about the Occupy Movement and to offer a perspective on the nature of that movement.

The video can be watched here:

At our Annual Members meeting we will elect our new council, vote on a new budget, hear reports on the past year’s activities from President Paula Hansen and Organizing Director Colin O’Malley.

Special Presentation: Occupy Wall Street and Movement Making with Nelini Stamp.
Nelini is an organizer with the Working Families Party and has been a key organizer in Occupy Wall Street.  She has participated in the occupation of Zuccotti Park since Day 1.  She will share her experience, lessons, and thoughts on movement making.

We hope that all members will attend, participate in the conversation and find out about the various ways that you can help Metro Justice build a powerful movement for social and economic justice in Rochester.

Not a member? You can always become one here.

WHERE: First Unitarian Church, 220 Winton Rd. South
WHEN: Saturday, January 28th, 1-3pm