The Rochester Downtown Development Corporation is not a social services agency. The RDDC is a real estate interest group dominated by big developers.

In July of this year, the RDDC and several of the biggest property owners downtown approached COMIDA, to help them fund a $600 THOUSAND DOLLAR Ambassador program for downtown.

You heard me $600,000.

They called it a “hospitality program.” Their goal is to make downtown more hospitable for people who don’t live here.

They repeatedly mentioned a much needed to improve its “perception of safety.” Downtown is one of the safest areas in our entire city because safety comes from having access to the resources you need to survive and thrive.

So it’s not enough to have actual safety- you need 600,000 for 6 people in blue T-shirts to create a perception of safety? What does that even mean?

It means that the RDDC and the Money they represent want downtown to look like a glossy sales brochure for investment. So if you live here, and you don’t match the vibe…you’re a nuisance.

And the Blue Shirts are there to keep track of nuisances. And to keep reporting those nuisances…Over and over until someone does something about it. 

And these Blue Shirts will have a direct line to the police.

When we raised our voices in concern, did they re-consider their project? Re-evaluate their potential impact on the community and the harm they would cause to marginalized people? No. 

Because the RDDC is a real estate interest group dominated by big developers. They didn’t re-evaluate anything but their sales pitch. They simply rebranded their plan for downtown “concierge service” and called it “outreach.”

They are trying to borrow the benevolence of deeply rooted community organizations who serve, the very same folks their policies would drive out to funnel cash to the RDDC.

They want to control our public spaces, and who gets to exist in them and how. And they will use genuine needs in the community to do so.

Betcha $5 that next they are going to pitch some public bathroom or daytime warming space next, you know to show us “what a BID can do.” But what good is a public bathroom or a warming shelter if your existence is criminalized and you are driven out of town.

I could go on all day about BIDs, just ask my poor sainted husband over there. But right now we are here today because City Council needs to step in to keep our most marginalized neighbors from getting stepped on.

Council needs to “Split the Bill” so they can weigh both programs on their individual merits.

Tonight as we go in to speak to council we are strengthening our voices and we are showing council that they can’t be rubber stamp for big dollar donors. 

We keep us safe.