Who's Minding the Store?

 

Now that the Democratic Primary is over and the Warren regime is winding down to its inevitable end, there is one question that needs to be asked and answered: Who's minding the store?

There has been a power vacuum in Rochester for the last eighteen months, since the pandemic began. 

That became apparent with City Hall's inability or unwillingness to deal with people congregating in public in violation of Governor Cuomo's directive forbidding it.

It was obvious when City Hall collapsed before the demands of the Free the People, ROC terrorists after the May 30, 2020 riots, violence, vandalism, looting and general disruption of Downtown Rochester.

The mayor and her then police chief claimed that they were caused by "outsiders," when anyone seeing video footage knew they were locals, and mostly Black people involved, straining their credibility even further.

Worse to come was when the conspiracy of silence over the death of Daniel Prude came unraveled in August and was made public in September, revealing that far too many employees of City Government had been aware of the details for months for Rochester's comfort.

The firing of the then police chief (after he had announced his retirement), the indictment of the mayor for campaign funding fraud, the arrest of the mayor's husband on illegal drug and weapons charges, her defeat in the primary and finally a further indictment of the mayor on weapons and endangering a child (her own daughter) charges had blown City Government's credibility to smithereens.

On top of all of this, if that hadn't been enough, Rochester's crime and violence rate has now exceeded that of Chicago, which is one of the most violent cities in the US and has eleven times Rochester's population! This comes after City Government's obvious anti-cop attitude and its willingness to accede to the terrorists' demands that the Rochester Police Departments be defunded and reduced.

The numerous retirements in RPD as a result of this attitude deprived Rochester of some of its most experienced police officers and reduced staffing to the point where many cops must work overtime and there is still inadequate coverage.

Nor was the mayor's appointed interim chief of police of any real benefit. Unqualified, inexperienced and incompetent, she is not the person to inspire respect for or confidence in her position.

That's really why the county and the state had to come in to "assist" in bringing crime and violence under some sort of control, because neither the interim chief and the mayor have the public's confidence to do so even if they knew what they are doing.

Which they don't.

And then there is the now perpetual absence of the mayor from the public eye.

While it is understandable that her legal issues take a lot of her time and would cause embarrassment at public appearances, it is her job to be there.

She hasn't been. Not really.

The excuse her spokespeople made for an absence of one week was that she was hospitalized for salmonella for five days, which was made after the fact and that nobody believed.

And what about the rest of the time she hasn't been seen or heard from?

So, who's minding the store?

Clearly not the mayor.

And City Council?

They haven't been doing much to fill the power vacuum in Rochester, either.

Either they can't or they won't.

I believe it's the latter because far too many residents regard City Council as a freak show and impotent, despite their winning battles against Mayor Warren.

The residents of Rochester have seen that City Council seems more concerned with promoting their own agendas than with governing with the best interests of the city at heart.

I daresay that most people don't really trust them, either. Not that City Council really cares.

Then there's Malik Evans, who in all likelihood will be the next mayor after the General Election in November.

There's the rub.

While many people have been calling on him to take over now, he can't. He only won the primary.

True, in our Democratic one-party city, the primary determines most of the winners in the November election, which might have confused a lot of the residents.

The MCDC should be proud of the ignorance they have produced in the body politic of Rochester.

The problem with Evans, even if he is elected in November, is that he has no real program to improve Rochester and solve its various crises.

Come to think of it, he never had one, running on the "I'm NOT Lovely" platform.

Apart from stating that he wants to create more departments to solve our problems (what they will do is anyone's guess) at the taxpayers' expense, he has said nothing.

He has said, several times that he has been "heartbroken" over a few of our numerous homicides.

That's it. Heartbroken. Not "angry."

But then he has always been rather a wuss.

So, who's minding the store?

Clearly nobody. 

With no credible or trustworthy leadership evident at present, that's obvious.

Somehow Rochester is expected to muddle through more than five months of Mayor Warren's lame duck regime like a herd of sheep waiting for a leader to emerge from somewhere.

Some people are counting on Evans to turn things around in January. They want real leadership again.

The odds are that, despite all of the praise the media are heaping on him right now, he can't.

Since nobody has been minding the store for so long, its shelves are bare or its products past their expiration date.