ANNUAL MEETING NOTES - ICE OUT - MAJOR STEP IN STAMP PUSHBACK

ANNUAL MEETING NOTES

Saturday’s Annual Meeting was well attended, despite the cold and snow - and we were well fed as well! As planned, there was opportunity for people to chat over bagels and coffee before the business meeting at tables highlighting some of the most important campaigns and committees, and to do more in-depth planning and discussion over lunch afterward. Over the next few weeks those campaign and committee meetings, and their results, will be shared with members and friends who were not able to attend. Throughout the day, staff and Council stressed the importance of member engagement in the vital work we do — and many present rose to the occasion, volunteering to help respond to the current moment. We agreed to plan a Volunteer Engagement/New Member Orientation session for Sunday, February 15, 12:30-2, hosted in a hybrid format. 

At the business meeting, candidates for the 2026 Council introduced themselves before the balloting, which resulted in the election of Luis Torres as President, Maggie Rex as Vice President, Crescenzo Scipione as Secretary, Colin O’Malley as Treasurer and Kelly Cheatle, Ryan Corrigan, Jillian Evans, Graham Hughes, Kinra Johnson, Gabriel Marcano, and Ashley Messer as At Large candidates. The 501c3 and 501c4 budgets were also passed, with some discussion of the fact that they reflect a plan to leave the premises at 389 Gregory Street at or before the end of the lease next September. While the Genesee Coop Bank has been very accommodating and helpful as landlord, their plans for an elevator will not come to fruition for some time, which leaves our upstairs offices and meeting spaces inaccessible to some members. Council is in contact with an organization willing to donate space that would meet our needs. Our staff transition is not yet complete, but a candidate has been identified by the Hiring Committee and we expect an announcement soon. Luis expressed to the gathered members his heartfelt thanks to Michi for the excellent work they have done building up the RED Committee and, Luis said, educating him personally on balancing urgent organizing needs with the human needs of the staff and volunteers doing the work.

And for this week’s committee profile, I am excited to report that several people have joined the new (or rather, renewed, this being a perennial challenge) Communications Committee. Over lunch we planned several innovations to make it easier to invite more people into the work of creating this weekly newsletter, which all agreed has been a success so far. We are, with this publication, reviving the moribund Metro Justice News blog, so that people who prefer to receive the newsletter by RSS feed rather than email can do so, and everyone can easily access previous newsletters. Look for the link on the Metro Justice website! The Committee has taken on as its second priority the update of our trifold brochure, a project that has been waiting for - and we hope has now found - a critical mass of motivated volunteers to share the design and content work. Look for more on this in future newsletters. We still need more help with communications, especially if you are comfortable with Canva. If you like to talk, like to write, like to post on social media or create graphics, please join the committee!

ICE OUT 

The first Nationwide General Strike supporting anti-ICE organizing in Minnesota and across the country will not be the last! On Friday January 23rd, Minneapolis held a general strike protesting the continued ICE presence there, and over the course of last week a call went out for people and businesses across the US to join a nationwide strike in sympathy. Rochester organizers scrambled to heed that call. Many small business owners faced the difficult decision of whether to close, and made their choice based on their own best judgement of how to balance solidarity with Minnesota businesses against harm that could result to themselves or their clients, especially those already living close to the edge. Between Tuesday and Friday, several events took shape, and were carried out into the weekend. The first was a protest rally organized by PSL 50501, and Indivisible Outreach along with other activists. About 70 people gathered with signs and bullhorns in front of the Federal Building on Friday afternoon. The chants and statements gathered enthusiastic response from people in passing cars, some of whom lowered windows in the freezing cold to wave and call encouragement. One speaker was a visitor from Minneapolis, who thanked the crowd for turning out in support. Another rally was held in Fairport, organized by G.R.I.T.. 

The climax of the day was a Community Wake for all our neighbors killed by ICE, held at Baber A.M.E. church on Meigs Street. Originally planned as a potluck in the church basement, the growing crowd was moved to the larger sanctuary, and filled it completely, with people standing at the back and in the vestibule. Some latecomers had to be turned away when the legal limit for occupancy (400 people) was reached. The speakers were powerful, including Pastor Simmons, who in his welcome to the community brought out a chorus of “Amens;”  Cassandra Bocanegra of the New York Immigration Coalition, who read the names of people who have died in ICE custody and made sure the assembly added the Rochester Rapid Response hotline (585-420-6471) to our phone contacts; and Jalil Muntaqim, who drew the line of continuity from slavery, through today’s carceral enslavement of BIPOC people, to the current administration’s violent crackdown and lying mischaracterization of all non-white immigrants as criminals. The evening closed with singing, led by three local activists who shared two songs that encapsulated the need to see the hurt, yet find strength and peace in each other even as we continue the fight.

The solidarity rallies continued through Saturday, including a protest at 12 Corners hosted by the First Unitarian Church and a car caravan starting at the Public Market. Despite 7 degree weather many came to tie ribbons in the trees and on railings, around the icy fountain, and up and down signs at Saturday’s Red Ribbon Campaign action that happened at the Farash Building at noon, to participate in the Global Day of Solidarity with Palestinian Prisoners held in Israeli prisons. Speak Up for Palestine articulated the connections between the process of dehumanization that is happening here with Trump et al and ICE, to the extreme cases of that same process of dehumanization practiced against Palestinians. Trump and ICE, like other tyrannies, target journalists, healthcare workers, children, mothers and those who defend or speak out, in a blatantly similar pattern. 

We mourn the death of international law, and impunity for demagogues and war criminals. We mourn for people held in dangerous conditions, tortured, or killed outright, including healthcare workers, reporters, women and children, and men who have committed no crime, in Palestine, here in the U.S., and around the world, wherever might is making right and everyday people are targeted as “criminals.”  We hear and recognize the cries, whether from an Israeli prison or a Texas detention center, to “Let us OUT!.” Prisons operate “out of sight, out of mind,” and it is critical that we don’t allow those trying to survive these dire circumstances to be left alone. So we know we must work together to turn this

heartbreak in the lives of so many innocent people and families into a national convulsion here in the US, to bring it out for all to see and feel. Not everyone in Rochester was affected by this weekend’s actions; we have a lot of work to do. A true Nationwide General Strike will take considerable sacrifice, organization, education - and practice. To overthrow a tyranny, ordinary people need to learn or relearn the skills of standing up, walking out, training as a marshal, bringing food, checking with neighbors, asking what is needed next. This weekend made a good start.

MAJOR STEP IN STAMP PUSHBACK

Our voices are helping the Tonawanda Seneca Nation (TSN) push forward in the fight against the new monster STAMP data center! This is the new plan, replacing a smaller proposal that was withdrawn after public outcry, proposed by STREAM US Data Centers and its financial backer, Apollo Global Management.  If you remember, in late December the Board of Directors of the Genesee County Economic Development Center (GCEDC), which facilitates the STAMP project,  voted to authorize GCEDC (itself) to act as “lead agency” for purposes of SEQR Environmental Review of the new plan. This means they would conduct the environmental review of their partner’s plans for a huge, noisy, water-hungry project to be built far from city centers - right next to a fragile nature preserve and the sacred grove central to TSN ancestral indigenous lands and culture. 

The Tonawanda Seneca Nation immediately demanded that the NY Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) dispute GCEDC and take on the lead agency role. More than 800 allies - including Metro Justice and many individual members - joined them. And this advocacy - which included letters from the Orleans County Legislature, the statewide environmental coalition NY Renews, the Sierra Club, and the editorial board of The Buffalo News - had an impact. While the DEC declined to take lead agency status, the letter from DEC to GCEDC establishes critical new requirements of GCEDC acting as lead agency: 

1. For the first time, DEC is directing GCEDC to conduct a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) for the STAMP site as a whole and for data centers specifically. This guidance represents a meaningful turning point for environmental review at STAMP and answers the Nation's decade-long call for a robust SEIS for STAMP.
2. DEC also states that this SEIS must include consideration of the results of a noise study that STREAM US Data Centers has promised to conduct (but hasn’t conducted yet), and must include detailed analysis of impacts from both construction and operations of the massive data center complex. 
3.  DEC points out numerous gaps of information and inconsistencies in the plans that STREAM has submitted so far, and has raised numerous important additional details that STREAM and GCEDC will have to provide in order to complete SEQR review.
4. DEC states that GCEDC must analyze how a massive data center providing just 120 jobs is consistent with the original goal of the STAMP site to provide 9,000 jobs. 
5. DEC makes clear that GCEDC's environmental review cannot be completed until it assesses cultural and environmental justice impacts to the Tonawanda Seneca Nation. DEC emphasized that GCEDC must assess whether and how the proposed data center would have "an adverse impact to the Tonawanda Seneca Nation's Territory as a property of religious and cultural significance," and can do so only after consultations between DEC and the Nation and review by the State Historic Preservation Office. Again, DEC has finally responded to a demand the Nation has been making for the last decade. 

Stay in the loop! Sign up for their email list to receive periodic updates and calls for needed action. Successfully fighting Goliath corporations requires many small, hard-fought wins - but together we can bring the monster down.

EVENTS CALENDAR

Wednesday, February 4, 8am the GCEDC STAMP Committee meets at the MedTech Centre, 99 MedTech Drive, Batavia. RSVP here. They need to see the community out in force! (and yes we know it’s early)

Wednesday, February 4th, 12pm-2pm OR 8pm-10pm on line Organizing for Power will host online training on Structure Tests in a brand new programming stream. Structure tests are a powerful union organizing tactic - they are harder to implement in community organizing, but good to know about!

Thursday, February 5, 4pm the GCEDC Board of Directors meets at the MedTech Centre, 99 MedTech Drive, Batavia. RSVP with us. They need to see the community out in force! The meetings are shameful but we have fun connecting in the lobby when it’s all over.

Wednesday, February 11th (rescheduled!), 7pm Ain’t No Back to a Merry-Go-Round, showing at the Little Theater, is the untold story of the first organized interracial civil rights protest in U.S. history using never-before-seen footage. Links to the current day are clear and poignant. (This screening was rescheduled due to the storm, and any previously purchased tickets will be honored for this date.)

Friday, February 13th, 7:30pm On Film and the Program for Dance and Movement are proud to present, at Spurrier Hall, a new performance entitled A Body, Land, and War from acclaimed dancer Eiko Otake which combines dance, video projection, and storytelling in an exploration of the body's interactions with catastrophe. The performance is free for students with ID and $10 for general admission; tickets can be purchased here.

Saturday, February 14th, 9:30-11:30 am Eiko will also be hosting a movement workshop open to all the following day. More information can be found here.

Sunday, February 15th, 12:30-2 pm Volunteer Engagement/New Member Orientation in person at 389 Gregory Street and on line (but in person will be the most fun!)

Thursday, February 19th, 8pm ICE MELT fundraiser at Lux Lounge! DJs Black NASA @nappyboi_nasa andGaby Baby @gabyxbaby will be spinning beats, and ALL proceeds will go to @workerjusticecenter Client Assistance Fund. Can’t make it? Donate here.

Saturday May 9 Metro Justice Annual Dinner (save the date!)

It's always a good time to check your membership status in our new portal as well! You should be able to log in and see your donation and dues history at the link here. (But please let us know if you have trouble!) 

DESKTOP ACTIONS

What to do if the Insurrection Act is invoked in Minnesota With the Insurrection Act looming, now is the time to learn how it might unfold and the strategic ways to respond — including the power of ridicule. Check out this article from last April by Daniel Hunter

If you want to help the front line activists in Minnesota, StandWithMinnesota.com is an excellent vetted directory

https://nydignitynotdetention.org/take-action While New York likes to pride itself as a safe, welcoming space for immigrants, the state is still doing business with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to tear apart New York families. This is possible for two reasons: ICE needs detention facilities to cage immigrants, and New York allows state agencies and private entities to contract with ICE to meet that need. This bill (S. 316/A. 4181) would end that practice.

Use this one click email to support the “New York for All” Act, which would prohibit police officers and other state entities from questioning individuals regarding their immigration status. This act is also key to passing universal healthcare in New York, as well as many other needed reforms. Make sure you have signed, to keep people safe and help communities thrive.

Keep East End Green This petition, to save the East End Green from development, has been up for a while and is at 507 signatures. Let’s blow up the numbers this week, for this petition, and go on to help save or bring more valuable green spaces across the city. So take a quick minute to sign today!

Take action in support of key New York State food policy legislation! Contact your state representatives to urge support for the Predatory Marketing Prevention Act, which would curb the targeted marketing of unhealthy food and beverages to children and communities of color.

LEARN MORE! (This section replaces the Book of the Week)

Check out Freedom Trainers, a resource for training in nonviolent non-cooperation that we will explore in a later issue. Here's a timely offering: https://freedomtrainers.net/so-the-national-guard-is-or-might-be-coming-to-your-city/ 

Podcast: Paul Krugman and Gabriel Zucman conversation on economic inequality in the context of the US appearance in Davos. Zucman explains the meaning of the Anti-Coercion Instrument (ACI, a.k.a. the “EU bazooka,") though he considers it unlikely that the 15 votes needed out of 27 EU members will be there to impose this package of economic weapons against the US. Zucman points out that the US economy has not been doing spectacularly better than the EU as claimed, and US net foreign income is now negative due to debt. The two economies are similar in size, and income growth for residents has been similarly slow for both, though Europeans get better health care. By contrast, there has been enormous growth in wealth inequality in the US. During the Gilded Age, the top .0001% of households held 4% of the wealth while today the top 19 families (a comparable number) hold 12% of the total.

Check out the Solidarity Research Center (SRC), which is pleased to announce that the Municipalism Learning Series (MLS) will be transitioning to the Institute for Social Ecology (ISE), effective February 1, 2026. These offer valuable trainings!

If you have questions, ideas, or news to share, reply to this email!

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In solidarity,

Alice Carli
https://www.metrojustice.org/

Metro Justice · 389 Gregory St, Unit A, Rochester, NY 14620, United States

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