Friendly reminder that Rochester City Council is having a community meeting this evening (7/15) at 4 pm. At 5 pm, members of the community can speak about the proposed *Int. No. 279 - Amending the Zoning Map by changing the zoning classification of certain Beechwood Neighborhood properties.

If you would like to sign up to speak on this issue, email the below information to Council@CityofRochester.gov before 2:00 PM TODAY!!
Full Name:
Address (No PO Box):
Home/Cell Phone #:
Whom are you representing? (Self or a specific organization)
Topic: (What are you talking about?)
Email:

City Roots CLT believes that exclusionary zoning in Beechwood has a foundation built on racism, segregation, and an effort to keep folks deemed 'unworthy' out of certain neighborhoods. This type of zoning has no place in Beechwood or Rochester. This time last year, members of City Roots CLT & Yale Environmental Protection Clinic were working hard on a report called "Confronting Racial Covenants: How they Segregated Monroe County and what to do about Them"; this report goes in-depth about the history of land segregation in Monroe County, and how de jure laws like R-1 zoning policies have a foundation built on exclusion & racism. Here is a short excerpt from the report:

"Unlike racial covenants, exclusionary zoning laws don’t explicitly mention race. Yet zoning maps show clearly how those laws work to segregate Monroe County. In the all-white portions of this zoning map of Penfield, people can only build single-family homes with strict requirements that make those homes expensive and unable to be transformed into duplexes or other multifamily housing. Without special permission from town officials, affordable housing can only be built in a few spots in town. Even in those places, zoning rules require developers to pay expensive fees and engage in costly permitting processes that suppress efforts to build housing for Monroe County’s low- and moderate-income residents—residents who are disproportionately non-White."

City Roots CLT has provided sample letters for our members and the general public to have their voices heard about this issue. Feel free to add your name and send it to council members! 

Letter for CLT members & supporters 
Letter for the general public

Watch City Council Meeting here: https://www.youtube.com/user/RochesterCityCouncil/featured

Then, join City Roots for our July General Meeting tonight at 5:30 PM! These meetings are great for both long-time CLT members and folks who are new to our organization. They happen once per month and are open to everyone in our community.

As usual, we'll share some CLT updates, have report-outs from all our committees, spend some time building community with one another, and have a short educational session.

This month is we will be talking about Goodman Plaza, a 14-acre plot of land that touches Beechwood, Homestead Heights, and Marketview Heights which used to be an industrial waste dump. City Roots has been working in a coalition of community groups to get this site redeveloped.
We can't wait to share what we've been working on and invite all of our members to join in this effort!

Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/92459374373?pwd=RExNdjNrZGtQVno1T0hDam9hVmFqUT09