From WXXI News.

This is Connections.

I'm Julie Philipp filling in for Evan Dawson.

On this hour of Connections, we bring you our weekly news roundup with WXXI journalists.

Our first connection was made in Monroe County, where County Executive Adam Bello delivered his state of the county address on Thursday.

This was an opportunity for him to sum up the county's progress over the past year.

Touch on some of the challenges he faces and outline his priorities for the upcoming year.

WXXI app deputy editor Jeremy Mull will take us through all of that and offer his analysis.

Our next connection happened in Albany, where state legislators are closing out this year's session.

The Assembly wraps up today, and the Senate finished late last night.

Both chambers yesterday approved a one year moratorium on large data center projects.

We'll be talking about that and more with Capitol Bureau reporter Samuel King.

And our final connection got its start 250 years ago.

It's the 250th birthday of the United States of America.

But the nation's story, as we know, is still evolving.

That's the idea behind a new festival that ties together music, history, and voice to explore the concept of freedom in America.

We will have Christine Ridarsky historian from Monroe County in Rochester, Eric Townell, artistic director for the Rochester Oratorio Society and operatic soprano and music teacher.

And I hope I'm saying this right.

X'zaya Ivy coming in.

That's all coming up.

But without further ado, let me introduce our first guest.

It is WXXI Deputy Editor Jeremy Mull.

Thanks for joining me, Jeremy.

>> Thanks for having me.

>> So you attended the county executive's state of the county address yesterday at the Seneca Park Zoo, and we'll probably get into why it was held at the zoo in a little bit.

But why don't we start out with talking about some of the broader themes of his speech?

>> Sure.

Like a lot of things, Adam Bello framed it around what he calls his pillars.

That's public safety, public health, economic and workforce development, and infrastructure.

Those are things he always kind of brings.

Um, any of his initiatives, um, proposals, uh, pretty much anything back to sort of his focus areas.

But throughout that, there was also a thread of cooperation and partnership or collaboration and partnership, excuse me.

Um, that he kind of tied everything to those, to those, uh, to those themes as well.

>> So bringing in the community to, to address all of his pillars.

>> Yeah.

Or working with other layers of government or, you know, working with the towns and the state and all of that.

>> And we just, our guests on the previous hour talked about how siloed Rochester, Monroe County has been for it seems like forever.

And, and do you think this is sort of addressing that?

>> I think in a way it is.

Um, it's funny.

I think every county executive for my career in Rochester has talked about things being siloed and how they're going to break down the silos.

Um, but, and they also talk a lot about the collaboration and cooperation and partnerships and all that.

But, uh, yeah, I think that definitely is part of it.

>> So we're very cooperative in our own silos.

I mean, I don't know, I feel the same.

I've been doing this a long time.

And silos has been a buzzword for a long time.

>> Sure he has.

>> So yesterday did the county executive announce anything new or surprising to you?

>> Uh, he did announce something.

That is, he did announce something new.

Uh, he said the county is going to implement a Vision Zero plan.

That's.

Or.

Well, implement Vision Zero, I should say Vision zero is kind of a mindset around traffic planning.

And the goal is to get down to zero zero traffic fatalities.

And there's a lot of work that goes into that.

We actually have a clip of the county executive talking about kind of the just giving the thrust of what's going to happen there.

>> Let's listen.

>> It's a collaborative, data driven approach to eliminate traffic fatalities, and it will improve pedestrian safety across the county.

Vision zero brings together all of our road safety initiatives that we're advancing, our traffic safety team, our active transportation plan, stop DWI, school bus safety and more while creating new goals and priorities to make Vision Zero a reality.

>> Okay, it's nice to have some context around the term Vision Zero.

Yes.

>> And there was no way I was going to I was going to remember all those details.

>> Right, right, right.

So do you know any more specifics about it?

Other than all these folks are involved in, the goal is to have zero fatalities.

>> Sure.

Um, that is kind of the starting point, but you can look to the city of Rochester to see how this works, because they are in the middle of their own vision, zero effort.

And I don't think it's a reach to say that the city and county will be working together on Vision Zero.

>> Okay, okay.

Um, any other announcements that.

>> Well, let's see, there were there were a couple actually the, um, and I apologize if you folks hear me shuffling paper.

Uh, there's a lot that is contained in the state of the.

>> County notebook.

>> Yeah.

So I have to have everything in front of me, but there were a couple of, um, you know, workforce centers on MCH campuses that, um, he talked about.

They're going to construction is either going to start or is nearing completion.

Uh, one of them is the Rochester Work Center that's going to be at the downtown MCH campus.

That one is supposed to, I think that's the one that's supposed to start soon.

And then there is also the cider Optics Advanced Technology Center on the Brighton MCC campus.

That's they're going to put their optics stuff there.

But all their other high tech and trades programs are going in there as well.

They also announced.

He also announced something that is going to make, um, at least one group of people very happy.

The state has committed to closing the funding gap for constructing the children's Pavilion in Highland Park.

Uh, for those who are not familiar with the children's Pavilion, it was an original part of the park.

It was, um, Frederick Law.

Olmsted's design included it.

It was sort of at the apex of the park.

And it was a very popular attraction, but it eventually fell into disrepair, deteriorated, was deteriorating, and was torn down.

And there's been a push, especially by the Highland Park Conservancy, to bring that back.

>> What is a children's pavilion?

>> It was a big pavilion, a couple of stories, and it was called the Children's Pavilion because Olmsted wanted to.

I think it was Olmsted.

Um, wanted to kind of.

I want to say it was he wanted to provide something that was future looking like the children at the time when they were, they were living in an environment that wasn't the greatest, uh, air quality wasn't great.

We didn't have pollution controls like we do now in the city.

Um, and so I think it was part partly trying to recognize that I'm kind of fuzzy on the details.

It's been a.

>> While since I don't mean to put you on the.

>> Oh, no.

I wrote about this at one point and I actually knew the answer, but with time it's faded.

>> So.

So what are they building then, though?

>> It'll be it'll be a pavilion.

It'll be sort of an, you know, an open air structure.

>> To gather.

>> A gathering place.

>> And the fact that it's a children's.

So they'll be doing children's activities and that sort of thing.

Is that the intention or.

>> What a great question.

I don't have an answer.

>> For it.

Oh well that's okay.

So, um, he was at the zoo.

>> He was at.

>> The zoo.

Why was he at the zoo?

>> He was at the zoo?

Because they have been in the midst of renovations there, and they are about to start construction on a new tropics exhibit.

Uh, he said, uh, yesterday that the final designs are nearing completion, and they expect to start construction on that.

Um, and sometime this year.

Uh, this is going to be the new, the new big exhibit with the aquarium, which, um, the county executive says is going to have sharks.

You can touch.

>> Sharks.

>> Sharks, you can.

>> Touch hammerhead sharks.

>> Like I. Think it.

>> Was, I saw it, the Polymarket.

>> Coral shark, I think is, uh, comes to mind or was part of the name of one of them.

>> Okay.

But but not great white sharks.

>> No, I don't think they're going to have jaws in that aquarium.

>> No, it's funny how much how many county executives, um, like to do things at the zoo, but this there really was a purpose for for having the speech at the zoo this time.

So a new exhibit, um, and it's going to be construction expected to begin this year, opening next year.

>> Their target is, I think 2029 for opening.

>> Take a few years to do that.

Okay.

All right.

We have a few minutes left to talk about anything else that this was a very broad, wide ranging speech, as they usually are.

Uh, what else caught your attention?

>> Well, uh.

Let's see.

Let me consult my little cheat sheet here.

Mhm.

Um, you know, he did talk about some of the accomplishments from the past year as well.

Um, one of the things he highlighted was the opening of the regional investigation Investigations Operations Center.

Uh, yeah, I.

>> Regional Investigations Operations center.

>> Yeah.

This is why I have papers in front of me filled with all kinds of names.

>> And it's hard to hold it all inside.

>> Um, you know, he also highlighted something that the Veterans Service Agency had accomplished and that was getting $10 million in benefits back for Monroe County veterans.

>> Do you have any details on that?

Like what?

>> No, I think it's they're just doing doing what they do.

You know, they help people get benefits that they're entitled to.

That's one of the things they do.

They're, um, you know.

>> Okay, so we talked, you know, about, you know, new initiatives, um, the progress, anything on, on challenges, we, we are living in somewhat challenging times.

>> Um, he, he nodded to some of the challenges from the federal government.

Um, and then he sort of, um, turned that to showing what, talking about what the county has done to mitigate some of those challenges.

You know, he talked about the changes in Snap benefit.

Um, eligibility and the work requirements and the effect on the emergency food system in the Rochester area.

The county put up some money to help Foodlink buy food for some of the food pantries to help offset, um, you know, the stress some people might have if they lose Snap benefits.

>> Yeah.

And I'm guessing this creates a lot more paperwork for county workers that manage the Snap benefits.

>> It does.

It does the, um these requirements are going to cost the county a few million dollars in, you know, staff time over the next few years.

>> To bring that up.

Anything else you want to draw to our attention before we take a little break?

>> Oh, um, I don't know.

It was, um.

Yeah, as you said, these speeches, the state of the county speeches, they're wide ranging.

They touch on a lot of things.

I for everything I'm remembering.

I'm probably not remembering two other things that came up.

Um, but yeah, he really he stuck to the, his pillars.

He talked about cooperation and partnerships.

Um, I can add, I reached out to the county this morning about the children's pavilion to find out if they had any sort of construction timeline.

And, um, they're working through that right now.

They just found out, um, either yesterday or the other day that they were getting the money.

>> And I imagine you'll have a lot of follow up to all of these things.

It's, it's a lot to digest.

And in 24 hours or less, actually it is.

I really appreciate you.

You joining me today.

This is Deputy Editor Jeremy Mull from the WXXI newsroom.

And this is Connections.

We're going to take a short break.

And when we come back, we will have Samuel King, Capitol bureau reporter for the New York Public News Network.

We'll be right back.

>> Hi, I'm Julie Philipp, and I'm filling in for Evan Dawson on Connections Monday.

Join me when we talk with some local authors about what new writers face when they're trying to get published, and when they have a book in hand.

Finding an audience for it.

We'll explore indie and self-publishing and learn how writers and books is supporting new and aspiring writers.

That and more.

Coming up on the next Connections.

>> Support for your public radio station comes from our members and from Bob Johnson Auto Group.

Believing an informed public makes for a stronger community.

Proud supporter of Connections with Evan Dawson focused on the news, issues and trends that shape the lives of listeners in the Rochester and Finger Lakes regions.

Bob Johnson Auto Group.com.

>> This is Connections and I'm Julie Philipp sitting in for Evan Dawson.

And now we are moving to Albany, where lawmakers are closing out this year's session.

The Assembly is wrapping up today, and the Senate finished late last night.

And both chambers yesterday approved a one year temporary moratorium on large data center projects.

And we're going to talk about that and more with Samuel King, Capital Bureau reporter for the New York Public News Network.

And I believe we have him online now.

Samuel.

>> Hi, Julie.

Can you hear me?

>> I can.

Hi.

Welcome.

Thank you for joining me.

>> Well thank you.

>> So let's talk about this, this temporary ban on data centers.

And I don't know if you say data or data.

I think we can say either one.

Yeah.

Um, it would be the first of its kind in the country if approved.

How did it come about?

>> Well, Julia, lawmakers say they're responding to concerns about constituents, about data centers and their impact on the environment and utility rates.

Now, the legislation does place a one year hold on new large data center projects.

So not smaller ones, but the big size ones that we've heard about in various communities across the state and also requires an environmental impact study on data center development in the state.

And developers would also be required to fund projects that benefit local communities, like infrastructure projects.

Once this moratorium would be lifted.

Now, Assembly member Dede Barrett, she's a Hudson Valley Democrat and she chairs the chamber's energy committee.

She spoke about this bill on the floor yesterday.

>> This bill is both timely and common sense across the state.

Our constituents are talking about data centers.

They are worried about data centers.

They are confused about data centers.

And they are looking for answers about data centers.

>> Julie, lawmakers say that this moratorium will really give them a chance to examine the impact of data centers across the state.

This study actually would be 18 months in some versions of the legislation.

So we'll pass the moratorium.

But it gives them more time to really study the issue in a potential impact.

>> So kind of puts the brakes on before things can get too far along.

Right?

Okay.

But they're not everybody likes this idea.

There is some opposition to this idea.

For instance, the president of the Genesee County Economic Development Center has called it, quote, yet another effort by the New York state legislature to thwart home Rule and local decision making.

Um, what are you seeing in terms of the opposition?

What what don't people like about it?

>> Yeah, there was Genesee County specifically.

There is a big project that's been proposed there, but there's been a lot of boisterous opposition.

Opponents of that data center have been here in Albany, uh, in recent weeks calling for this moratorium.

And so several Republican lawmakers, including some Republican members from the Greater Rochester area, uh, spoke out against this moratorium yesterday.

That includes Assemblymember Josh Jensen of Monroe County.

He says a moratorium would hurt the state's economy.

>> And data centers are not some niche industry.

They're the roads and bridges and railroads and power plants of our 21st century.

They're going to be the infrastructure in which the modern economy runs.

And when we place a moratorium on that infrastructure, even if for 12 months, we are sending a message to the rest of the country and the rest of the world, build that future someplace else.

>> Okay, so not everybody thinks that the brakes are a good idea, but across the country, we're seeing this play out, right?

So that do you know where we stand?

I believe if it's signed, we'd be the first in the nation.

Are there others close to, you know.

>> Well, Maine passed their legislature passed this as well.

But the governor vetoed that legislation.

Uh, so they were the ones that are furthest along, uh, dozen other states or more than a dozen other states are also looking at this issue.

And this is sort of one thing that, you know, crosses regions and states and, and even political lines.

Just taking a look at how do you balance, uh, providing the infrastructure for the technology, like the Assemblymember Jensen was, was talking about, but, uh, really addressing the potential impacts on communities when it comes to the environment and when it comes to power usage, right?

And some unions also are saying on the other side of this, Julie, saying that they wanted this and that kind of delayed things a little bit here.

Uh, and what's one reason there is a compromise that the original legislation was a three year moratorium, uh, that has been pushed back to one year.

And as a legislative leader said that was a compromise to try to, as you know, try to make everyone happy and pass a bill before things wrap up.

>> Right.

So there are there are a lot of pros, a lot of cons.

But this this strikes me as something that is probably one of our not in my backyard kind of ideas.

>> Yeah.

It is.

Yeah.

And it's, you know, it's like states like Virginia, you know, where I am coming from that that's a big debate there because Northern Virginia is basically the data center capital of the world.

Basically, there is miles and miles of data centers in Northern Virginia, and that's starting to spread to other parts of the commonwealth there.

So, um, definitely, uh, the need again, the need for the infrastructure, like you kind of the servers need to be somewhere, but people don't necessarily want a data center in their backyard, like you said, right?

>> So, okay, the state budget, it really tightened the timetable for lawmakers, but a number of priorities have made it through.

Can you talk about those?

>> Well, one big one was lawmakers began the process of putting a constitutional amendment before voters on redistricting.

Uh, New York's constitution currently bans mid-decade redistricting.

But as we've seen across the country, uh, Republican led states have redrawn the maps led by Texas at the urging of President Trump.

So Democrats here in New York say it's only fair that we respond.

So both chambers passed the amendments.

That has to pass again, uh, next year before it would go to voters.

And Congressman Joe Morelli from the Rochester region.

Of course, he is the national point person on this, uh, from Congress.

Uh, and he says that it's important that New York acts.

>> We didn't start this fight, but we're going to finish it.

And, uh, we'll do what we need to do.

We continue to believe in independent redistricting, nonpartisan redistricting, but we're not going to do it in one state, is not going to do it.

And to the detriment of the people who live in the state.

>> So this would not take effect on time for the midterms.

Any kind of redistricting?

>> No.

This would be for 2028.

That's a that's a good point.

It's the primaries here in just a couple of weeks, basically.

So it would definitely be too late for 2026.

So this would be for the 2028 elections.

But still with Congress so narrow and not really, you know, both parties not really anticipating sort of a major push.

Either way, this will still be relevant, of course, in 2028.

>> Okay.

Uh, any other priorities that made it through in the last minute?

>> Well, there were some things that the budget did take up a lot of time, but, uh, leaders were able to pass, uh, a number of, of other bills.

Like we mentioned, uh, the data center moratorium.

We mentioned redistricting.

Uh, they did manage to, to get a lot done in the budget, including, uh, money for, for other cities.

So, uh, definitely some things that they were able to accomplish.

But on the flip side of that, the, the long budget this year, it was the longest since 2010.

The latest budget.

It really squeezed the amount of time that lawmakers say.

Anyway, it really squeezed the amount of time they had to get things passed.

But, you know, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, uh, spoke to reporters, sort of talked to us to give his end of session assessment.

And he told us that they were able to get some things passed despite that timetable.

>> I mean, I think when it's all said and done, we'll still pass a fair number of bills.

I think we'll still pass over 800 bills.

Um, but yeah, the budget dominated a good part of the, the session.

You know, our great staff, you know, we're trying to, you know, juggle members bills versus the policy items that the governor put into the budget.

So it did strain the legislature's ability to legislate.

>> Now, I did lose track.

I think the budget was seven, or eight weeks overdue.

Eight weeks, eight weeks, eight.

>> Weeks, eight weeks.

I'm looking at the calendar.

>> So where they were not.

Counting the weeks, they were not doing other business, they were doing the budget.

What what was the holdup?

What was, what took it so long?

And how, how does that compare to, to previous years, recent years?

>> Well, it they are all the budgets, uh, under Governor Hochul have have been late, so to speak, as opposed to Governor Cuomo, except for the Covid year budgets really made an emphasis of having an on time budget.

But the governor has used the budget process in New York, as governors in New York have the power to do, to advance some of their policy priorities.

This year.

That was some of the changes to auto insurance in regards to liability and fraud prevention and things that are aimed at reducing rates, uh, for people across the state.

New York has some of the highest auto rates in the country.

And also sort of the rollback of the climate law deadlines.

Uh, that that was also very controversial and also very complicated pieces of policy.

Uh, we did notice as the budget dragged on, uh, leaders started to have some bills advance in the legislature.

Um, either the Assembly or the Senate to, to move things along.

But the governor, uh, for her part, says that, you know, most voters don't care about late budgets.

They care about the results.

And she, of course, running for reelection says she's delivering for New Yorkers.

>> Mhm.

And there's talk, you know, that they hope that the process will be better next year.

What would that look like?

Someone.

>> Well, not, you know, to quote the speaker, not having policy in the budget, as he is fond of saying here.

It's almost we kind of chuckle about it.

But, uh, they feel, and to a lesser extent, that the Senate majority leader feel that, you know, having so much time, you know, talking about policy in the budget and not actual numbers, uh, takes away time that maybe these things should be legislated and not just part of a massive budget package that takes up a lot of time in the session.

So we'll see what actually comes of that.

It's been a common lament for honestly, decades.

Uh, here in Albany, you know, someone who grew up in the state remember hearing about about these things in high school and everything about late budgets and, and battles.

So we'll see whether, uh, that will change.

Uh, but.

>> I mean, is that a way.

>> To kind of has a lot of.

>> Power, kind of push policy through because you, you have a deadline and you have to approve a spending plan.

>> Right?

Exactly.

You tie it to something that has to pass.

And, you know, it's hard to vote down a budget.

And, you know, in other states, we've seen government shutdowns.

That really doesn't happen here in New York.

Of course, as you know, they pass sort of extender bills, as they call it, to keep money flowing.

So, uh, definitely, uh, we'll see if there'll be something different here next year.

>> So very, uh, busy budget year meant that some things did not get addressed.

Um, as the session wound to a close, what are some of those things that, um, you would either expected or, you know, that were important to New Yorkers?

That didn't happen.

>> Well, one thing that it's, you know, it's not sort of, you know, the most, um, it's kind of can be a luxury for some people, but it's ticket prices, I guess it's become a luxury that you want to see a concerts or sporting events like the bills maybe.

And you know, ticket prices have sort of skyrocketed, especially in the secondary market.

Uh, efforts to reform that have kind of stalled again.

And this year it seemed like they ran a they speaker said they basically ran out of time to sort through, uh, some of the issues that would, uh, with the bills that would reduce fees.

So they just extended the current regulations for another year.

Uh, something else that it's appears to have fallen by the wayside is, uh, the effort to, uh, a bill that's aimed at reducing plastic waste.

Uh, that's been a perennial bill here became close again this year, but it seems like they ran out of time for that.

Also, lawmakers didn't quite address, uh, the effect of budget cuts on hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers who were covered under what's known as the essential plan.

Uh, federal cuts forced them to lose coverage.

There were many people, especially Democrats here, who are urging the governor and leaders to find a way to keep the coverage for those people.

But it it that did not happen in the budget or outside of the budget.

So most people are going to have to look on the marketplace when their coverage runs out here pretty soon.

>> Okay.

And a couple of other things that I know that you covered, um, you and your colleagues in Albany, um, one, the Governor Hochul was calling to eliminate some environmental review for some development projects in order to, to speed up some, some housing projects, I believe what happened with that?

>> Well, that was part of the budget.

That was another thing.

It wasn't sort of, you know, there were there was some debate over that about what to apply it to, what sorts of projects that should apply to.

And there were changes made to that along the way.

Uh, that was controversial in some ways, but not as controversial as some of the other things, especially auto insurance and sort of the overall, uh, climate law rollback.

So that was part another part of the budget package, along with some of the immigration changes here in terms of cooperation with Ice and civil protections for people who feel that their civil rights were violated by Ice enforcement in New York.

>> So those things remain part of the budget that that was passed.

Yes.

Okay.

>> And then it's a big document.

>> Yes.

Budget.

Yeah.

There's a lot in there.

And you touched on auto insurance.

What what's the final?

What does that look like now?

>> Well, it made some changes to the, uh, liability, uh, standards in terms of, uh, I spoke with Senator Jeremy Cooney from the Rochester area.

Of course, he's the Senate Transportation Committee chairman, and he mentioned, you know, this is really for the punitive damages, collecting pain and suffering, trying to rein in, uh, those sorts of awards, uh, in court.

And that's one thing that they did change some of those liability standards also, uh, rate increases and making sure that, that the state is reviewing any rate increase right now, I guess they're technically supposed to review any rate increase, but, uh, so far, insurance companies in the past have been able to, if it's a 5% rate increase or less than that, they've been able to just kind of do it.

And the state comes in later.

But now any rate increase would also would have to be reviewed by the state.

Uh, we mentioned sort of the fraud crackdowns as well.

And all of this going to reduce rates.

The question is, and a lot of people have quite this question, but most people want to know is when those rates go down, that's something that, uh, remains to be seen and could be could take a while, won't likely be instant, according to many experts.

>> Okay.

So in large part, Governor Hochul got what she proposed in the budget regarding auto insurance.

>> Yes.

For for the most part, there there was a couple of things, a couple of technical things that, you know, I would have to like read again.

But, um, but it's, um, she didn't get some of the liability changes she wanted, but she got most of what she wanted.

And when it comes to, you know, some of the other bills, you know, we mentioned a data center moratorium and things like that.

Those are really now in the governor's court to sort of review or veto or suggest or request amendments to those bills.

So we'll see what happens with that.

>> Right.

So that is the next step.

Now everything sits on her desk, correct.

Like what has to happen next and how long does she have to do all of this?

What what can she do?

>> Well, she has, well, she has until the, the end of the year.

And sometimes these, you know, bills come out in batches.

So she'll get a few bills.

Uh, so far I think we counted.

There's been hundreds of bills so far that have passed both chambers and would go to the governor at some point.

Again, she has until the end of the year to make a decision again, whether to sign the law, as is a veto the law or a suggest amendment, and then the legislature will come back in their next session and address those amendments that the governor had requested.

>> Okay.

And, um, I think somebody one of your cuts in the beginning said there were 800 bills going before to sign, swinging back to the data center, moratorium.

Um, what do you think she's going to do with that?

>> Well, she didn't commit either way this week.

She typically, when asked about bills that are pending, she doesn't like to comment until she's had a chance to review them.

But she did mention data centers in her state of the state address earlier this year.

And her message has been that data centers need to pay their own way when it comes to energy, so that that's one focus she has.

And that's somewhat addressed in this moratorium bill.

And also this week, she added, sort of the impact or the need for the data centers to be a benefit for the community and saying that the status quo, when it comes to data centers in New York and, you know, can't continue.

So we'll see whether, you know, she signs this bill as is or, you know, as as she has with some other legislation like medical aid in dying request, some amendments to be made that the legislature would then have to come back and consider.

Uh, but we're just waiting and seeing on that.

And again, she, she has technically until the end of the year to, to make a decision on that.

>> Okay.

And what are you going to do with yourself now that the, that the budget and the session is over?

What's going on now?

>> Well, as I mentioned this a couple of weeks, we have, uh, primaries.

Uh, so there's, we're still going to be, you know, somewhat busy and those hundreds of bills that we, we can possibly, between the three of us.

>> Here., we.

>> Samuel Jimmy Vielkind and John Campbell, cover all of them this session.

So I will be looking at those as well.

>> Okay.

Well, thank you, Samuel King, Capitol Bureau reporter for the New York Public News Network, for joining me this afternoon.

Have a great weekend.

Thank you.

Take a take a little break at least.

All right.

This is Connections.

And in our final connection, we are going to talk about a new festival that ties together music, history and voice to explore the concept of freedom in America.

We're going to have Christine Ridarsky, historian for Monroe County and Rochester, Eric Townell, artistic director for the Rochester Oratorio Society and operatic soprano and music teacher.

X'zaya Ivy coming in in just a few minutes.

We're taking a break now.

We'll be right back.

I'm Julie Philipp, and I'm filling in for Evan Dawson on Connections Monday.

Join me when we talk with some local authors about what new writers face when they're trying to get published, and when they have a book in hand.

Finding an audience for it.

We'll explore indie and self-publishing and learn how writers and books is supporting new and aspiring writers.

That and more coming up on the next Connections.

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>> And this is Connections.

I'm Julie Phillips sitting in for Evan Dawson.

And today this afternoon we are talking about a new festival in celebration of our country's 250th birthday.

Um, we are bringing in Christine Ridarsky, who is a historian for Rochester and Monroe County.

We have Eric.

Townell.

Townell.

I always want to put a W in there and call you Townell.

I don't know why.

Artistic director of the Rochester Oratorio Society.

And we have.

X'zaya.

I've been saying.

X'zaya.

Her name is X'zaya IV.

My apologies.

Operatic soprano and music teacher.

Thank you all for joining me for this section of Connections to talk about this festival, the festival is is being put on sponsored by the Rochester Oratorio Society.

So before we get into the festival itself, I'm wondering if you could just tell us a little bit about the society.

For listeners who are not familiar with it?

>> Sure.

We would love to make some new friends for the Oratorio Society because we're celebrating our 80th anniversary season.

>> Right now.

Not quite as old as the country, but you're yeah, you've been around.

>> But still a reason to celebrate.

And so our first name is Rochester.

So we try to sing out the best values of our the best qualities of our community through the music that we perform.

And we perform many concerts in a year.

Some of them are large choral concerts with about 140 singers.

And then we have a small group that sings for private events and civic celebrations and that sort of thing.

And then we produce a lot of multicultural type recitals and panel discussions and everything throughout the year, so that we really celebrate Rochester and its culture and its history and, and find new friends everywhere we can.

>> Okay.

And the festival, I presume, is an extension.

You have a concert series called Arts Connection.

Um, so even before we get to the festival, talk some background on the.

>> Arts Connections is a way for our OS to celebrate some of the more diverse elements of our community.

You know, some creators, performers, artists of color who have created such a wonderful body of work in our own community, but whose work hasn't been celebrated in perhaps the way it should have and doesn't necessarily fit on our concert series.

With 140 of our best friends, plus the symphony orchestra.

And so they're smaller format recitals, but also ensemble music and multimedia.

Sometimes it's spoken word dance and then projections or other visual elements and things that make the the art form more familiar and brings it really to relevant life for everybody engaging.

>> Okay, so tell me why we have Christine and X'zaya here today.

>> Well, because, you know, these are all avenues in for people who aren't familiar with the oratorio society to become our new friends, you know, just to find their way into appreciating what we do and the artistic service we offer to the community for eight decades.

And that can be through our local history.

You know, here we're celebrating two incredible statesmen who come from Rochester that, you know, not many communities can boast of their presence.

And then also, you know, our continuing contribution to national music history through the Harlem Renaissance.

>> And we'll get into the specifics of the festival in a little bit.

I think people are going to get a little confused if we get too far ahead of ourselves.

So, um, let's the festival is called, um, America at 250 The Journey to Freedom.

It's going to take place over several days later this month.

Before we get into the specifics of each day, talk about how the idea for the festival, um, originated.

>> Well, Arts Connections is that celebration that we've had now for 3 or 4 years.

And that was my concept to, to bring different elements of our history and our culture all together in, in a way that people would not have connected them in other ways.

Some, some spoken word or, you know, background information informed by the music and by the creators of, of every background that make Rochester such a rich place to live.

>> Is this the, the first festival you've done?

No.

>> Okay.

We've had a mini festival for arts Connections in.

>> The past, lots of mini festivals, but this one is centered around the birthday.

>> That's correct.

And our local history and culture.

>> Okay, great.

Okay.

So again, it's called America at 250, The Journey to Freedom and the press release talks about the evolving story of freedom in America.

Um, how did you land on that?

This may be an obvious question.

How did you land on that at this time as a backbone of the festival, the sense that American freedom is not a done deal or a finished product.

>> That's right.

This celebrates the process of freedom.

It's a journey to freedom.

And so we we looked at what other performing arts organizations are doing for this kind of celebration.

And it's very typical celebratory fare.

Perhaps it's service anthems or patriotic favorites or, or something more familiar to people, but then, you know, thinking about our first name being Rochester, what makes it unique to us and what makes our people, you know, celebrate their role in this history.

And it's very closely connected, as it turns out, through the two individuals that will be discussing and through the cultural history that developed in this area or passed at least passed through Rochester on its way to big things in the Harlem Renaissance.

Uh, you know, our venues here were important breeding ground and cultivating grounds for, for musical history.

>> Okay, so let's bring in our other guests because you're sitting over here so quietly, we have Christine Ridarsky, who is historian for Rochester and Monroe County, and X'zaya Ivy and operatic soprano and music teacher.

Thank you for being here.

Could you each talk about your role in this festival?

Why don't we start with you?

X'zaya.

>> So I'm doing a vocal recital of Harlem Renaissance music.

Um, Kevin Warsh will be accompanying me.

Um, I feel like, you know, especially around this time of year, you know, Juneteenth coming up.

Um, we're highlighting, you know, the black voice, um, for a long time now.

And I mean, obviously things have progressed, but, you know, there's still a ways to go.

Um, black, there's been a lot of black struggle, like black racism and segregation.

So the Harlem Renaissance really gave black people, you know, a voice to, you know, tell the tell their stories about their struggles and the, you know, the inequalities that they've gone through in America.

You know, it's not just, you know, this.

You know, I think about the poem, you know, I hear America, Walt Whitman, he kind of, you know, portrayed this positive, you know, version of America about, you know, unity.

Whereas, you know, Langston Hughes, who's a major voice in the Harlem Renaissance, his eye, too, sing America, which is one of the pieces I'll be singing, actually.

Um, but, um, which he collaborated with, um, black composer Margaret Bonds, it was sort of a response to Walt Whitman's, um, poem, you know, being like, uh, hey, um, that's not the full picture here.

You know, there's a whole community, you know, community being black people that don't have that same reality because of the color of our skin.

So I felt like that was really important to, you know, highlight, you know, the black experience and what we've, you know, we've been through and how and the progress we've made, but how, you know, there's still a ways to go.

>> To go.

It's still evolving.

How does it make you feel when you're singing these pieces?

>> Um, you know, I feel very empowered, you know, as, you know, a black woman, um, because not only from a racial standpoint, but from also a gender standpoint, you know, black women, you know, we've been the most marginalized, you know, it's a double edged sword.

So, um, I feel proud to, you know, be able to, you know, kind of be a voice, you know, be one of the voices, you know, sharing the stories of, you know, the past, you know, present and then, you know, future of where things could go.

>> Through music is, did you ever, you know, when you wanted to become a singer and an operatic soprano, did you ever think about how this could have an impact?

Like, was it the music or were you interested in being someone who looks at the struggle and the, the inspiring people with your music?

>> To be honest, I when I was like, you know, younger, um, I didn't have, you know, the evolved, you know, mindset of like, oh, the history of like how hard it, you know, because black opera singers, they didn't even come to the forefront until, you know, around this time of, of the Harlem Renaissance, 1920s, 30s and so on.

So when I was younger and being a singer, it, it wasn't quite developed in my mind yet.

But as I've gotten older and learned about, you know, how hard it really took for black women to have a voice in the entertainment world, it became that much more important.

And, you know, we've come a long ways.

You know, there's lots of great black opera singers out there now.

Like, you know, Janine de Beeck, um, pretty yende, you know, we have, you know, black faces in opera now, but, you know, again.

>> Right, right.

Good.

Well, thank you very much.

And now we're going to go to Christine Ridarsky and talk about you're the historian for Rochester in Monroe County.

And 250 years.

And Rochester's role in it.

I'm guessing that you have.

That's part of your role is to bring that in.

So why don't you explain how you are involved in this festival?

>> Exactly.

Of course, with this being the 250th anniversary of our country, I've been highly involved and I'll just put a plug in.

We're actually opening a major exhibit at the Central Library this evening.

So 5 to 8, if anyone wants to stop by.

Um, but yes, you know, as the, the local historian, I'm also a historian of reform movements.

And so that's one of the things that makes me so excited about this partnership and my involvement in this.

The United States is not perfect.

It's never been perfect.

Right?

But we have these ideals that our founders laid out for us, and especially here in Rochester, folks have been working to live up to those ideals over the years, and it is still in progress, but it is very much something that is community based, locally based.

And so my role in the festival is that I will be, um, giving a talk with my colleague Mary Jo Lanphear, who's the historian for the town of Brighton.

And we will be talking about William Claude Blass and Austin Stewart.

And these are two of Rochester's earliest abolitionists.

You know, everyone knows Frederick Douglass name, but there were a lot of other folks working here in Rochester.

And one of the things that I like about talking about these two individuals at the same time is we've got a black man in Austin Stewart and a white man in William Blass, and it really helps to show in this divisive world we're living in right now, what can happen when you can build bridges between people of different races, different cultures, different age groups?

Um, you know, so I think that's really important.

And Rochester was so important in even the earliest abolitionist movement.

We tend to talk about it more in the terms of Frederick Douglass, but he didn't come here until 1847.

Austin Stewart was in Rochester by 1814.

And, you know, already starting to talk about these issues.

Same thing with William called Blass.

Um, New York State did not emancipate its enslaved people until 1827.

Austin Stewart was enslaved at birth in Virginia.

He was brought here with his enslaver, um, and lived enslaved in New York State until he took his own freedom in 1814.

And, you know, he educated himself.

He tried to use the legal system.

He advocated for his own freedom.

And when he was able to take that freedom, he came to Rochester and he became a leader here, helping other people who had escaped slavery, who were looking to build a new life in Rochester.

He operated a meat market and a grocery store.

He opened a school for African American children.

Um, and he also, um, something that I'm very interested in when, when New York State finally did emancipate the last of the enslaved people, he gave the speech here in Rochester on July 5th, the day after Independence Day, celebrating that.

So there's just so much we can talk about here.

And I love to make these Connections.

>> So I'm curious, you know, why are these lesser known names, these sound like really interesting, amazing people.

>> Why are they not as known?

Well, you know, I think, um, Rochester so embraces its connection with Frederick Douglass as it should.

Um, I think in some ways that has overshadowed some of these other people, though there has been an effort more recently to recognize Austin Stewart.

You know, we've got the new Austin Stewart Plaza that the city named after him.

Um, so we're starting to, to make some inroads.

>>, dig into the archives a little bit more.

We have a few minutes left.

So let's walk through each day of the festival.

The first day is Wednesday, June 24th.

>> What's happening at the Brighton Public Library?

6:15 p.m.

Free of charge until 730.

Uh Christine Ridarsky and Mary Jo Lanphear will be speaking about these two pivotal figures in our history.

And that is Austin Stewart and William Clough Bloss and their role in forming really everything about abolition, but also temperance and also universal suffrage.

You know, these values that are very much alive in our community today.

So that's the Wednesday.

>> Okay.

And then we have and that's free.

People can just show up.

Do they need to register or anything?

You just show up at the library.

>> Show up at the library.

>> Okay.

And then we have Thursday, the next day, June 25th.

What's happening.

>> That day is a solo vocal recital by our artist X'zaya Ivy and Dr.

Kevin Nitsch, performing music of the Harlem Renaissance and beyond.

So that shows how Rochester had a pivotal role in in helping promote and create the music and the tradition that became some of the most important in our history music of the Harlem Renaissance.

And then we get a large community chorus together.

Really, these are all choristers starting.

>> But this is not Thursday.

That's Thursday.

So you're going to take a break on Friday and Saturday, right?

So the Thursday one again, where is it?

And.

>> Thursday is at the Rochester Academy of Medicine.

Time is 730, I believe.

>> And the Rochester Academy that's on east is East Avenue, East Avenue.

And so the time is.

>> Seven.

>> Seven, seven, seven, seven.

And you can just show up.

Yes.

Again.

And it's free.

And it's a beautiful venue to hear a beautiful voice, I'm sure.

So that's very nice.

Okay, then Friday, Saturday, we take a break from the festival and Sunday, no we don't.

>> We're rehearsing.

>> That's what you guys don't take a break, right?

>> We prepare because we have a little concert on Sunday, and we'll be singing a music of Randall Thompson called Testament of Freedom.

That's, uh, Thomas Jefferson texts.

We'll be singing.

We are on Native Land by Brant Michael Davids.

He's a stockbridge-munsee composer of internationally famous composer.

He wrote the music that's in the creation myth video at Ganondagan.

Many people will have seen that Brent is a major figure.

And we did a U.S.

Premiere of his piece called We Are on Native Land, and we will be reprising that during this festival.

And the performance is Sunday, June 28th, and the time is, I believe, 3 p.m., but it's all on our website at Christ Clarion Church in Pittsford.

>> Okay.

>> So.

>> Also there is a large choir.

This is a large group.

How how big are we talking.

>> About 50 voices and it'll be our mainly our small ensemble that performs community events, plus a lot of others who join us just for the experience of, of singing.

And you can still join that choir.

So we hope people will come out and sing.

>> Okay.

Thank you very much again, our, um, festival is called America at 250 The Journey to Freedom.

It it's happening Wednesday, June 24th.

Thursday, June 25th.

Sunday, June 28th.

And again, where can people find information.

>> W w w dot ROS sings.org.

>> All right.

And I want to thank my guests Christine Ridarsky historian for Rochester in Monroe County.

Eric Townell, artistic director of the Rochester Oratorio Society and X'zaya Ivy operatic soprano and music teacher for joining me today.

I appreciate it, and thank you to our producers and our listeners.

Have a wonderful weekend.

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