Welcome to Rochester for Energy Democracy (R.E.D.)!

RED is our campaign to takeover Rochester Gas & Electric and turn it into a public, not-for-profit, local, and community-controlled utility. At our biweekly organizing meetings, we discuss aspects of our strategy to win, determine collective action items, and delegate work. This committee is the heart of our campaign, and a great way to get involved to make a difference and meet our community of volunteers leading this fight. 

We meet at the Metro Justice Office from 6-8 PM. Please RSVP below! We welcome folks bringing snacks and drinks to share if you would like to do so. 

For some background on RED: For-profit, investor-owned utilities like RG&E keep raising our rates, only to neglect maintenance of the grid and expand fossil fuel infrastructure. On top of that, oil and gas continue to lobby against a fast and massive transition to renewable energy. As a result, we all pay more than we should in energy bills while the continued use of fossil fuels pushes us towards catastrophic environmental damage. 

In R.E.D., we believe that in order to combat the climate crisis and ensure environmental justice in the long-term, we must fundamentally transform our energy economy. We need to build an energy system that meets the needs of communities instead of meeting the greed of distant investors and CEOs. We also need a shift to energy that is 100% clean and renewable. We believe this is possible if we takeover RG&E with a public, local, and community controlled utility. This will give communities a say in what kind of energy we use, whom we get it from, and how the money we pay is used to benefit our community. Furthermore, everyone could only pay what is necessary to develop and maintain energy infrastructure, taking millions in profits for investors and CEOs out of the picture. We can also make sure that all jobs associated with the utility are local union jobs that pay family-sustaining wages with benefits. 

A community-driven energy system needs the involvement of people in our community to succeed. To join us at our next meeting, please RSVP below!

Directions to our office:

- Our address is 389 Gregory Street, Unit A. 

- We're located in the same building as the Genesee Co-op Federal Credit Union. Go the door on the Cayuga St. side of the building, with a key pad on the door handle. Enter, go to the second floor, and turn right to see Unit A.

Have you had enough of RG&E profitting off of failure for decades? Join Metro Justice in calling for a tried and true solution: a public utility! 

There's an answer to this problem with RG&E, and Metro Justice has been calling for it with our Rochester for Energy Democracy Campaign. We can turn RG&E into a public utility within the City of Rochester and Monroe County! Public utilities across the nation are proven to be more affordable, reliable, renewable, and economically beneficial to their local communities than private utilities. Rochester area residents have a chance for a real solution - NY state law states that with an implementation study and a positive referendum, RG&E would be forced to sell to the public. 

It's time to call on the County Legistlature to take the RG&E crisis seriously and take the first step towards a solution: allocating up to $1 million for an implementation study on taking over RG&E in Monroe County and turning it into a public utility. This money would go towards a joint fund with the City of Rochester, so that the City and County are partnering to commission the study. This study would give us a comprehensive road map for establishing a public utility that is affordable, responsive to your needs, local, renewable, and invested in our local workforce and economy.

The County Legislature has the power to stop $108 million a year from bleeding out of our community to line RG&E's shareholders' pockets despite gross mismanagement. They owe it to residents to act on the RG&E crisis, and they need to hear from you to do so! 

The next County Legislature meeting is Tuesday, February 14th at the Monroe County Legislature Majority Office (39 W Main Street, Rochester, NY, 14614). The Public Comment period begins at 6 PM, so please plan to arrive by 5:40 PM if possible so that you have time to park, go through security, and find the Chambers. 

To join us:

- The first step is to RSVP below to let us know you're coming! Whether you're speaking or coming to show to your support in the audience, we want to know that you'll be joining us! 

- We highly encourage you to sign up to speak: hearing constituents share their RG&E stories and directly call on them to fund a study for a public utility is most effective in moving County Legislators take action. To sign up to speak, you must call David Grant, Clerk of the County Legislature, at 585 753-1950 to register to sign up to speak as soon as possible. If you sign up to speak, please email Mohini Sharma ([email protected]) and Michelle Wenderlich ([email protected]) to let us know! 

You will have a strict 2 minutes to speak, and people will speak in the order in which they signed up. Please plan to end your remarks with a call to the County to allocate up to $1 million for an implementation study for a public takeover of RG&E in Monroe County, and to work with Metro Justice and the City of Rochester to commission the study. A more detailed guideline for your remarks will be posted here by Friday, February 3rd! 

Let's make sure our County Legislatures sides with us, the ratepayers, instead of protecting RG&E! 

Have you had enough of RG&E profitting off of failure for decades? Join Metro Justice in calling for a tried and true solution: a public utility! 

There's an answer to this problem with RG&E, and Metro Justice has been calling for it with our Rochester for Energy Democracy Campaign. We can turn RG&E into a public utility within the City of Rochester and Monroe County! Public utilities across the nation are proven to be more affordable, reliable, renewable, and economically beneficial to their local communities than private utilities. Rochester area residents have a chance for a real solution - NY state law states that with an implementation study and a positive referendum, RG&E would be forced to sell to the public. 

It's time to call on the Rochester City Council to take the RG&E crisis seriously and take the first step towards a solution: allocating up to $500 thousand for an implementation study on taking over RG&E in City and Monroe County area and turning it into a public utility. City Council has the money, including up to $2 million of unspent money from the 2022 budget. This $500 thousand would go towards a joint fund with Monroe County, so that the City and County are partnering to commission the study. This study would give us a comprehensive road map for establishing a public utility that is affordable, responsive to your needs, local, renewable, and invested in our local workforce and economy.

City Council has the power to stop $108 million a year from bleeding out of our community to line RG&E's shareholders' pockets despite gross mismanagement. They owe it to residents to act on the RG&E crisis, and they need to hear from you to do so! 

The next City Council meeting is Thursday, February 16th at Rochester City Hall (30 Church Street, Rochester, NY, 14614). The Public Comment period begins at 6 PM, so please plan to arrive by 5:40 PM if possible so that you have time to park, go through security, and find the Chambers. 

To join us:

- The first step is to RSVP below to let us know you're coming! Whether you're speaking or coming to show to your support in the audience, we want to know that you'll be joining us! 

- We highly encourage you to sign up to speak: hearing constituents share their RG&E stories and directly call on them to fund a study for a public utility is most effective in moving City Council to take action. To sign up to speak, you must either call 585-428-7538 or 585-428-7421, or email [email protected] as soon as possible. Please include your first and last name, mailing address, phone number, and the topic of your comments: urging City Council to commission and fund an implementation study for a public utility. If you sign up to speak, please email Mohini Sharma ([email protected]) and Michelle Wenderlich ([email protected]) to let us know! 

You will have a strict 2 minutes to speak, and people will speak in the order in which they signed up. Please plan to end your remarks with a call to City Council to allocate up to $500 thousand for an implementation study for a public takeover of RG&E in the City or Monroe County area, and to work with Metro Justice and Monroe County to commission the study. A more detailed guideline for your remarks will be posted here by Friday, February 3rd! 

Let's make sure our City Council sides with us, the ratepayers, instead of protecting RG&E! 

Welcome to Rochester for Energy Democracy (R.E.D.)!

RED is our campaign to takeover Rochester Gas & Electric and turn it into a public, not-for-profit, local, and community-controlled utility. At our biweekly organizing meetings, we discuss aspects of our strategy to win, determine collective action items, and delegate work. This committee is the heart of our campaign, and a great way to get involved to make a difference and meet our community of volunteers leading this fight. 

We meet at the Metro Justice Office from 6-8 PM. Please RSVP below! We welcome folks bringing snacks and drinks to share if you would like to do so. 

For some background on RED: For-profit, investor-owned utilities like RG&E keep raising our rates, only to neglect maintenance of the grid and expand fossil fuel infrastructure. On top of that, oil and gas continue to lobby against a fast and massive transition to renewable energy. As a result, we all pay more than we should in energy bills while the continued use of fossil fuels pushes us towards catastrophic environmental damage. 

In R.E.D., we believe that in order to combat the climate crisis and ensure environmental justice in the long-term, we must fundamentally transform our energy economy. We need to build an energy system that meets the needs of communities instead of meeting the greed of distant investors and CEOs. We also need a shift to energy that is 100% clean and renewable. We believe this is possible if we takeover RG&E with a public, local, and community controlled utility. This will give communities a say in what kind of energy we use, whom we get it from, and how the money we pay is used to benefit our community. Furthermore, everyone could only pay what is necessary to develop and maintain energy infrastructure, taking millions in profits for investors and CEOs out of the picture. We can also make sure that all jobs associated with the utility are local union jobs that pay family-sustaining wages with benefits. 

A community-driven energy system needs the involvement of people in our community to succeed. To join us at our next meeting, please RSVP below!

Directions to our office:

- Our address is 389 Gregory Street, Unit A. 

- We're located in the same building as the Genesee Co-op Federal Credit Union. Go the door on the Cayuga St. side of the building, with a key pad on the door handle. Enter, go to the second floor, and turn right to see Unit A.

Are you a current or aspiring health care worker that wants to learn more about the impact of health insurance on your patients' access to care, and how a universal health care system would improve your ability to provide quality care? Are you a union member that wants to learn more about how a single-payer, univesal health care system would impact your health care and bargaining ability for fair pay and benefits? Or a small business owner that wants to know more about how single-payer, universal health care could help you and your employees have comprehensive, quality health care more affordably? Or a patient that is tired of expensive premiums, deductibles, co-pays, and bills just to get health care? 

Come to our Town Hall with New York State Assemblymember Sarah Clark! We invite you to be part of a discussion about the economic and moral argument for universal single payer health care. 

At this town hall, we will have a panel of health care workers, policy experts, small business owners, and union members that want to hear your experiences and discuss a solution called the NY Health Act. The NY Health Act is a bill that will guarantee public, affordable, universal healthcare for all that includes vision, dental, mental health, and long-term care. The system will be funded by a income-based tax on employees and employers, and get rid of expensive copays, premiums, deductibles; as well as, eliminate "in-network" and "out-of-network" coverage limitations. 

Based on data from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and the World Health Organization, the United States' healthcare system ranks dead last among 11 high-income countries. While millions of New Yorkers go without essential health care because of ever-increasing cost barriers, insurance companies like Blue Cross Blue Shield alone made $440 million in profits in 2021. 

We need a radical transformation of our health care system so that it serves people instead of corporate profits! A dedicated statewide grassroots movement has brought the NY Health Act close to passage: the bill has majority support in both houses of the NYS Legislature, but our leadership in both houses have failed to bring it to an actual vote despite overwhelming public support. To get the NY Health Act over the finish line, we need to build a surge of grassroots momentum across the state.

Join us at this town hall to share your experiences with health care, learn more about the NY Health Act and how it impacts you, and learn what you can do to get involved in the fight for health care for all! 

The town hall will be on Thursday, February 23rd from 5:30 - 7 PM at the Rochester Academy of Medicine Auditorium (1441 East Ave, Rochester, NY 14610). 

Please RSVP below! 

Welcome to Rochester for Energy Democracy (R.E.D.)!

RED is our campaign to takeover Rochester Gas & Electric and turn it into a public, not-for-profit, local, and community-controlled utility. At our biweekly organizing meetings, we discuss aspects of our strategy to win, determine collective action items, and delegate work. This committee is the heart of our campaign, and a great way to get involved to make a difference and meet our community of volunteers leading this fight. 

We meet at the Metro Justice Office from 6-8 PM. Please RSVP below! We welcome folks bringing snacks and drinks to share if you would like to do so. 

For some background on RED: For-profit, investor-owned utilities like RG&E keep raising our rates, only to neglect maintenance of the grid and expand fossil fuel infrastructure. On top of that, oil and gas continue to lobby against a fast and massive transition to renewable energy. As a result, we all pay more than we should in energy bills while the continued use of fossil fuels pushes us towards catastrophic environmental damage. 

In R.E.D., we believe that in order to combat the climate crisis and ensure environmental justice in the long-term, we must fundamentally transform our energy economy. We need to build an energy system that meets the needs of communities instead of meeting the greed of distant investors and CEOs. We also need a shift to energy that is 100% clean and renewable. We believe this is possible if we takeover RG&E with a public, local, and community controlled utility. This will give communities a say in what kind of energy we use, whom we get it from, and how the money we pay is used to benefit our community. Furthermore, everyone could only pay what is necessary to develop and maintain energy infrastructure, taking millions in profits for investors and CEOs out of the picture. We can also make sure that all jobs associated with the utility are local union jobs that pay family-sustaining wages with benefits. 

A community-driven energy system needs the involvement of people in our community to succeed. To join us at our next meeting, please RSVP below!

Directions to our office:

- Our address is 389 Gregory Street, Unit A. 

- We're located in the same building as the Genesee Co-op Federal Credit Union. Go the door on the Cayuga St. side of the building, with a key pad on the door handle. Enter, go to the second floor, and turn right to see Unit A.

Welcome to Rochester for Energy Democracy (R.E.D.)!

RED is our campaign to takeover Rochester Gas & Electric and turn it into a public, not-for-profit, local, and community-controlled utility. At our biweekly organizing meetings, we discuss aspects of our strategy to win, determine collective action items, and delegate work. This committee is the heart of our campaign, and a great way to get involved to make a difference and meet our community of volunteers leading this fight. 

We meet at the Metro Justice Office from 6-8 PM. Please RSVP below! We welcome folks bringing snacks and drinks to share if you would like to do so. 

For some background on RED: For-profit, investor-owned utilities like RG&E keep raising our rates, only to neglect maintenance of the grid and expand fossil fuel infrastructure. On top of that, oil and gas continue to lobby against a fast and massive transition to renewable energy. As a result, we all pay more than we should in energy bills while the continued use of fossil fuels pushes us towards catastrophic environmental damage. 

In R.E.D., we believe that in order to combat the climate crisis and ensure environmental justice in the long-term, we must fundamentally transform our energy economy. We need to build an energy system that meets the needs of communities instead of meeting the greed of distant investors and CEOs. We also need a shift to energy that is 100% clean and renewable. We believe this is possible if we takeover RG&E with a public, local, and community controlled utility. This will give communities a say in what kind of energy we use, whom we get it from, and how the money we pay is used to benefit our community. Furthermore, everyone could only pay what is necessary to develop and maintain energy infrastructure, taking millions in profits for investors and CEOs out of the picture. We can also make sure that all jobs associated with the utility are local union jobs that pay family-sustaining wages with benefits. 

A community-driven energy system needs the involvement of people in our community to succeed. To join us at our next meeting, please RSVP below!

Directions to our office:

- Our address is 389 Gregory Street, Unit A. 

- We're located in the same building as the Genesee Co-op Federal Credit Union. Go the door on the Cayuga St. side of the building, with a key pad on the door handle. Enter, go to the second floor, and turn right to see Unit A.

Welcome to Rochester for Energy Democracy (R.E.D.)!

RED is our campaign to takeover Rochester Gas & Electric and turn it into a public, not-for-profit, local, and community-controlled utility. At our biweekly organizing meetings, we discuss aspects of our strategy to win, determine collective action items, and delegate work. This committee is the heart of our campaign, and a great way to get involved to make a difference and meet our community of volunteers leading this fight. 

We meet at the Metro Justice Office from 6-8 PM. Please RSVP below! We welcome folks bringing snacks and drinks to share if you would like to do so. 

For some background on RED: For-profit, investor-owned utilities like RG&E keep raising our rates, only to neglect maintenance of the grid and expand fossil fuel infrastructure. On top of that, oil and gas continue to lobby against a fast and massive transition to renewable energy. As a result, we all pay more than we should in energy bills while the continued use of fossil fuels pushes us towards catastrophic environmental damage. 

In R.E.D., we believe that in order to combat the climate crisis and ensure environmental justice in the long-term, we must fundamentally transform our energy economy. We need to build an energy system that meets the needs of communities instead of meeting the greed of distant investors and CEOs. We also need a shift to energy that is 100% clean and renewable. We believe this is possible if we takeover RG&E with a public, local, and community controlled utility. This will give communities a say in what kind of energy we use, whom we get it from, and how the money we pay is used to benefit our community. Furthermore, everyone could only pay what is necessary to develop and maintain energy infrastructure, taking millions in profits for investors and CEOs out of the picture. We can also make sure that all jobs associated with the utility are local union jobs that pay family-sustaining wages with benefits. 

A community-driven energy system needs the involvement of people in our community to succeed. To join us at our next meeting, please RSVP below!

Directions to our office:

- Our address is 389 Gregory Street, Unit A. 

- We're located in the same building as the Genesee Co-op Federal Credit Union. Go the door on the Cayuga St. side of the building, with a key pad on the door handle. Enter, go to the second floor, and turn right to see Unit A.

Welcome to Rochester for Energy Democracy (R.E.D.)!

RED is our campaign to takeover Rochester Gas & Electric and turn it into a public, not-for-profit, local, and community-controlled utility. At our biweekly organizing meetings, we discuss aspects of our strategy to win, determine collective action items, and delegate work. This committee is the heart of our campaign, and a great way to get involved to make a difference and meet our community of volunteers leading this fight. 

We meet at the Metro Justice Office from 6-8 PM. Please RSVP below! We welcome folks bringing snacks and drinks to share if you would like to do so. 

For some background on RED: For-profit, investor-owned utilities like RG&E keep raising our rates, only to neglect maintenance of the grid and expand fossil fuel infrastructure. On top of that, oil and gas continue to lobby against a fast and massive transition to renewable energy. As a result, we all pay more than we should in energy bills while the continued use of fossil fuels pushes us towards catastrophic environmental damage. 

In R.E.D., we believe that in order to combat the climate crisis and ensure environmental justice in the long-term, we must fundamentally transform our energy economy. We need to build an energy system that meets the needs of communities instead of meeting the greed of distant investors and CEOs. We also need a shift to energy that is 100% clean and renewable. We believe this is possible if we takeover RG&E with a public, local, and community controlled utility. This will give communities a say in what kind of energy we use, whom we get it from, and how the money we pay is used to benefit our community. Furthermore, everyone could only pay what is necessary to develop and maintain energy infrastructure, taking millions in profits for investors and CEOs out of the picture. We can also make sure that all jobs associated with the utility are local union jobs that pay family-sustaining wages with benefits. 

A community-driven energy system needs the involvement of people in our community to succeed. To join us at our next meeting, please RSVP below!

Directions to our office:

- Our address is 389 Gregory Street, Unit A. 

- We're located in the same building as the Genesee Co-op Federal Credit Union. Go the door on the Cayuga St. side of the building, with a key pad on the door handle. Enter, go to the second floor, and turn right to see Unit A.

Welcome to Rochester for Energy Democracy (R.E.D.)!

RED is our campaign to takeover Rochester Gas & Electric and turn it into a public, not-for-profit, local, and community-controlled utility. At our biweekly organizing meetings, we discuss aspects of our strategy to win, determine collective action items, and delegate work. This committee is the heart of our campaign, and a great way to get involved to make a difference and meet our community of volunteers leading this fight. 

We meet at the Metro Justice Office from 6-8 PM. Please RSVP below! We welcome folks bringing snacks and drinks to share if you would like to do so. 

For some background on RED: For-profit, investor-owned utilities like RG&E keep raising our rates, only to neglect maintenance of the grid and expand fossil fuel infrastructure. On top of that, oil and gas continue to lobby against a fast and massive transition to renewable energy. As a result, we all pay more than we should in energy bills while the continued use of fossil fuels pushes us towards catastrophic environmental damage. 

In R.E.D., we believe that in order to combat the climate crisis and ensure environmental justice in the long-term, we must fundamentally transform our energy economy. We need to build an energy system that meets the needs of communities instead of meeting the greed of distant investors and CEOs. We also need a shift to energy that is 100% clean and renewable. We believe this is possible if we takeover RG&E with a public, local, and community controlled utility. This will give communities a say in what kind of energy we use, whom we get it from, and how the money we pay is used to benefit our community. Furthermore, everyone could only pay what is necessary to develop and maintain energy infrastructure, taking millions in profits for investors and CEOs out of the picture. We can also make sure that all jobs associated with the utility are local union jobs that pay family-sustaining wages with benefits. 

A community-driven energy system needs the involvement of people in our community to succeed. To join us at our next meeting, please RSVP below!

Directions to our office:

- Our address is 389 Gregory Street, Unit A. 

- We're located in the same building as the Genesee Co-op Federal Credit Union. Go the door on the Cayuga St. side of the building, with a key pad on the door handle. Enter, go to the second floor, and turn right to see Unit A.