ANOTHER BUSY WEEK

There is quite a bit newly in the rear view mirror this week, as we look back on the 1199 informational picket demanding a contract from Rochester Regional's Unity Living Center, the Really Big Lobby Day in Albany (see below!), an 1199 press conference on Medicaid, and a Healthcare Town Hall in Geneva that looks forward to those we are planning soon in Rochester and Buffalo.

US VERSUS THE PROFITEERS

This past Tuesday, March 10th, Rochester for Energy Democracy (RED) was busy attending the massive Defend NY event in Albany, as well as a Monroe County public hearing. One was a huge coalition effort of over one thousand New Yorkers from across the state, advocating for a slew of issues including protection from ICE, progressive taxation, and defending environmental justice. The other was a heartened demand from RED to our local legislature, advocating for greater accountability for RG&E and a study for a real alternative to a profit-sucking utility company. Both of these events are part of larger movements across NY, of people fighting for the means and justice to power the future.  Read more about this!

HERE COMES ANOTHER ONE

Proposed billboard on Monroe and Canterbury / 60' cell tower / 936 Portland Ave - same scale

Over the past few years a coalition of neighborhood organizations has fended off three proposed digital billboard variance attempts and succeeded in protecting Cobbs Hill Park with the first Preservation District in over 30 years. Over the summer, Ames Grigg and neighbors in NorthEast Rochester protested the erection of a 60’ broadband-carrying (high intensity, high volume) cell tower at 936 Portland Avenue - and won as well. This month both of these zoning variance applications have been resurrected, and the cell tower (revised for a smaller footprint but same purpose) could be approved as soon as March 30th - and could then be used as a precedent for other carriers to build more and larger broadband cell towers in other residential neighborhoods, without having to ask. Ready to defend our neighborhoods against the megacorporations who increasingly prey upon them? Sign up here, and read on. 

UPCOMING EVENTS

DAILY 5:30-6:30 pm West Main and West Broad Streets (by Nick Tahou's) Stop for an hour at the NO ICE TERROR camp, to help raise awareness of the ICE detention center the federal government wants to locate in the Keating Federal Building 

Monday, March 16, 7-9 pm March Council meeting 

Tuesday, March 17, all day Huge healthcare coalition Lobby Day in Albany for the New York Health Act! Car with one space left leaving from 19th Ward at 5:30 tomorrow morning. Click here if you want that seat! 

Tuesday, March 17, 7-10 pm Screening and discussion at RIT's Sustainability Institute, 190 Lomb Memorial Drive of Earth's Greatest Enemy, A documentary exposé of the world's biggest—and most unaccountable—polluter: the US military. Learn the environmental cost of having a military Empire with Abby Martin.

Wednesday, Match 18, 6-8 pm Rochester for Energy Democracy planning meeting at the Metro Justice Office

Thursday, March 19, 5:30-9 pm Zoning Rally and Press Conference, followed by Speak to Council, to demand a moratorium on large electronic installations (cell towers, billboards) until neighbors have adequate input into the planning process.

Thursday, March 19 12:30-2 pm Elder Justice Meeting email [email protected] for zoom link

Saturday, March 21, 9am-4pm at East High School, the Rochester Urban Agriculture Working Group is holding the 2026 Rochester Urban Agriculture Conference, a day of learning and connections featuring interactive workshops, community knowledge sharing, Fruition's Gift of Seed Experience, gardening tables and displays, and more! Click here to register! Please make sure to select what workshops you are interested in attending so we can place them in appropriately sized rooms  

Saturday, March 21, 6-9pm Fundraiser concert in Newfield, NY with 100% of proceeds going to legal fees to oppose an AI Data Center on Cayuga Lake. 

Monday, March 23, 7-8 pm Healthcare Committee zoom meeting meeting to plan Rochester and Buffalo Healthcare Town Halls. Click here for zoom link.

Tuesday, March 24, 4:30-6:30 pm Member and Volunteer phonebanking, at the Metro Justice office and over zoom. Help us make calls to grow our membership and engage volunteers. We are in an all hands moment both locally and nationally — so we need to engage everyone we ca in the fight for justice here in Rochester. No prior experience is required and phone banking is a tremendous help to us as an organization — we'll set you up with everything you need. 

Thursday, March 26th, 7-8:30 pm Protecting Human Rights 2026, a gathering at First Unitarian Church, 220 S. Winton Rd., sponsored by the GRCC Faith in Action Network and The Interfaith Alliance of Rochester

Saturday, March 28 is the next No Kings Rally, in 3 Rochester locations: 9:30-11:30 am at Pittsford Village Four Corners;  10-11 am in Gates, on the sidewalk near Home Depot; 12-3 pm Genesee Gateway Park, Mt. Hope & Alexander

Wednesday, April 1, 4:30-7 pm Metro Justice Union Happy Hour at Three Heads Brewing This one's for union members! Ring in better weather with us over beers and snacks on a weekday afternoon. Consider this a chance to get to know Metro Justice's 2026 Council (many of whom come from the world of organized labor here in Rochester) and our new Staff Organizer, Carlton Huff — as well as comrades from different sectors of the union world! This is distinct from our past happy hours that have been part of our Labor Advisory Council — so no dues required! We'll have another of those soon, but this one is strictly a social event.

Saturday, May 9, 5-8 pm Metro Justice Annual Dinner, AFSCME Hall, 1956 Lyell Ave (just east of 390 Lyell Ave. exit)

DESKTOP ACTIONS

New:

Add your name to the letter to New York Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie to bring the Packaging Reduction & Recycling Infrastructure Act to a vote! This Act would greatly reduce the amount of single-use packaging that we pay for - in money, health and climate. 

Help end federal violence against Cayuga Nation in central NY: information link and gofundme link

Still Important:

Check out Rochester's new draft food system plan! Click here to check out the draft, provide feedback, and sign up for a virtual public meeting to learn more.

Tell Governor Hochul to pass NY4All with this one-click email tool. And call her office regularly at (518) 474-8390. NY4All would prohibit both formal and informal collusion between local police and ICE/CBP in perpetuity. Hochul has proposed her own legislation which only covers formal collusion for the next 3 years: Hochul’s proposal is weak and irrelevant, New York must pass NY4All into law.

The Campaign for New York Health is doing ongoing work with collaborators to push for passage of the New York Health Act, the best response our state could make to the disastrous healthcare cuts by the Trump administration. Sign our petition to legislative leadership here, and use this tool to email your Senator and Assemblymember.

Governor Hochul wants to roll back critical parts of NY’s climate law. But you can’t change the rules because you’re losing the game. We know that weakening the law will undermine our climate commitments and force New Yorkers to pay higher and higher energy costs. NY Renews has provided a 1-click letter to State Senate and Assembly leadership demanding that they hold firm in protecting the climate law and New York communities!

Do you know where your birth certificate is? Three voter suppression bills (the SAVE Act) in the federal House and Senate would force Americans to present a passport, birth certificate, or other citizenship papers in order to register to vote in federal elections, and are clearly designed to deter millions of people from casting their ballot in our democracy. Click here to send an email to your federal representatives.