Democrat and Chronicle from Rochester, New York • Page 26

27A ROCHESTER, NEW YORK DemocratandChronicle.com SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2010 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Speaking Out AT ISSUE: MIDTOWN PERFORMING ARTS CENTER Create new buzz for city EST I MI tm.S iMt ifi fl np JOHN NUGENT GUEST ESSAYIST JLml In 2002, this jazz festival producer made a calcu- lated decision to found and organize the first edition of the Rochester International Jazz Festival. Back in 2002 I was a downstate resident living in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Year one of the jazz festival saw plenty of skepticism, palpable apathy and comments such as "who is this John Nugent character and can he really deliver on this promise?" After nine wonderfully successful festivals and planning for the 10th anniversary edition of what is now the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival well under way, my festival partner Marc Iacona and I are extremely proud of bur work and what the jazz festival has become to so many. That being said, we would like to voice our strong support for the redevelopment of Midtown to include a multifaceted performing arts center with Rochester Broadway Theater League at the helm. Deciding on Rochester as the location for a new international jazz festival was not an easy decision.

Why? Great things do not take shape or become Region still health-reform model Pi What's your view? All submissions must include your name, address and daytime telephone number. Limit letters to fewer than 175 words. Send to Letters to the Editor, Democrat and Chronicle, 55 Exchange Rochester, NY 14614; e-mail dceditpage DemocratandChronicle. com. Speaking Out essays: Submit to SpeakoutDemocrat andChronicle.com.

For information, call (585) 258-9876 or (585) 258-2250. Fax: (585) 258-2356. All letters and essays chosen for print are subject to editing for length, clarity and accuracy. cer survivors that fight year-round against this deadly disease. I urge all men to make annual checkups an integral part of their health care regimen, because prostate cancer is seldom signaled by any symptoms.

Detection is extremely difficult without testing. Until we can find a cure for this terrible disease, early detection of prostate cancer offers the best chance a great chance of survival. Please make sure that you and your loved ones have regular examinations. SEN. JIM ALESI PERINTON The writer, a Republican, represents the 55th District in the state Senate.

Hikers safer closer to home The Sept. 15 newspaper on Page 3A had an article about the three Americans who had been imprisoned for over a year for hiking in Iran instead of Iraq. The woman has been released. The paper had an article the same day on Page 1C about local hiking places like Letchworth State Park and Corbett's Glen. This seems like irony to me, or a very important after-school special.

Stay in the U.S.A. and hike here! LAURA J. VIAU ROCHESTER A miracle at the Public Market I'd like to tell the community about a miracle many witnessed last Sunday during the Public Market's garage sale. A seller became extremely ill. After 911 was called, an announcement called for any medical personnel to report to his space.

There was no doctor, but at least one person who had medical experience rushed to the scene (a small miracle in this day when people are so worried about being sued). It was determined the seller was in anaphylactic shock from a bee sting. He was not aware he was allergic. Then the true miracle happened. A woman who just happened to be at the market at this particular time, and who happened to be carrying her EpiPen, offered it up to save his life.

Was this just coincidence or was there a divine hand in the plan? Thank you to all who helped. I would suggest the Public Market keep an EpiPen in its first-aid area along with the AED kit. There are many bees in that area and this might happen again. JOAN GERBER WEBSTER Would you like to thank someone? Send a note of ISO or fewer words to Pats on the Back, Democrat and Chronicle, 55 Exchange Rochester, NY 14614. E-mail: dceditpage Democratand Chronicle.com.

Don't forget our farmers Today there are so many farms going under in our nation. What would we do without the hard-working farmers? We would be up a creek without a paddle and the boat leaking, about to sink. We call our nation the breadbasket of the world. If things keep going on, for how long will we be it? Now some politicians in Washington want to take away what little help they do get. Our prayers should go out to the future farmers of America.

God bless them all. GORDON L. WHITE NORTH ROSE, WAYNE COUNTY The 'experts' don't get it Listening to Karl Rove speak on the Delaware Senate race and then locally Joe Morelle discuss the "angry" candidate Carl Paladino, it is clear that the "experts" on both sides of the aisle just do not get it. This election year is not about party, it is about people and the need to elect individuals who will propose ideas and vote for what is right and what their constituents want and not compromise their values and ideals for what the party wants or to remain in power. We are tired of the political elite, the "requirement" that elected officials be Ivy League educated or have held elective office, and those that view politics as a career and not a temporary service to one's community.

It will be refreshing to vote for someone like us, regardless of what party line they are on who pays their taxes and understand the daily struggles of running a business, working a job, running a household and raising a family the best way they can. PETER J. SHORT PITTSFORD We need strong third party The American public can only benefit if a strong nationwide third party that can consistently get invited to televised candidate debates can be established. If Warren Redlich can win at least 50,000 votes in November, that would give the New York Libertarian Party permanent ballot status for the next four years. A Siena Research Institute poll in March did include Redlich and showed him easily doing that (as of March).

That would be a huge step in building up a nationwide third party. The Libertarian Party is presently active in all 50 states. JOHN C. SPROUL ROCHESTER Awareness can save lives September is Prostate Cancer Awareness Month. While this month does much to further the cause and save lives, our fight against prostate cancer must not be limited to one month a year.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed among men, affecting nearly as many men as breast cancer does women. This year more than 200,000 men will be newly diagnosed. As someone who has lost family and friends to cancer, I have always been a strong supporter of cancer research, education and outreach. As a public official, I have had the opportunity to work with many prostate can- IMZ t'rUt The view of East Avenue as corporate headquarters on guiding lights overnight. Fortunately, the jazz festival is now widely accepted as a Rochester "signature event." The community has taken intrinsic ownership of the festival, and rightfully so, but it didn't happen immediately.

We live in a fabulous third-tier community filled with limitless potential. To secure a future where new jobs and businesses move here and stay here, we must all strive to remake our community into a second-tier market. How do we do this? Hanging our hats on the mantles of organizations who provide added proven value to our quality of life is one good way, and I believe it's paramount to do so. Achieving cludes stakeholders from health care organizations, business, labor, government, education, faith-based and community organizations, and health consumers, with Finger Lakes Health Systems Agency staff support. This is real health reform in action, as commission members do the complex work of addressing inefficiencies that drive medical costs.

Our first Report to the Community available at www.flhsa.org outlines measurable actions that will improve health system performance and save more than $150 million in local health care spending by 2014. Three work groups are making this happen. One focuses on preventable hospitalizations, with a goal of reducing potentially preventable hospital stays by 25 percent. The key is helping patients to acquire the knowledge and resources necessary to care for themselves than 50 percent non-white people. That means there are groups that are grossly underrepresented.

Some people scoffed at the idea of doing anything about it because they feel it would be unfair to others. In actuality, the unfairness lies in the exclusion of certain demographics within professional firefighting. Some fire department members claim that any modifications to the present status quo of doing things would be forming a welfare system. Not everyone has that primitive mindset, but it still reflects an ongoing problem in the fire service. To curtail these dismal percentages, a program was instituted in the early 1990s at East High School.

This program was met with stiff resistance from WILL YURMAN file photo 2007 from the roof of the performing arts center at Midtown adjacent to the world-renowned Eastman School of Music will do wonders for enticing professionals to downtown to live and work. Along with RBTL, we'll continue to deliver first-class entertainment. We're taking the "just do it" approach and believe the region as a whole will supports us. Marc and I urge all politicians, business leaders and those who can make a difference to get behind RBTL's leadership, and let's make this dream a reality. Nugent is producer artistic director of the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival.

ingston, Ontario, Seneca, Wayne and Yates counties. This report is the first in a series of community updates to keep the public apprised of our efforts. We applaud the individuals and organizations who are devoting time and effort to this important work and the many more community members who will help to make positive changes happen. Through our 2020 Performance Commission's collaborative approach, Rochester can achieve a health system that improves quality and access to care, while wringing unnecessary costs out of the system. Redon is chairman of FLHSA's 2020 Performance Commission and vice president of Western Operations at Paychex.

Dr. Mahoney is director of community health improvement at Finger Lakes Health Systems Agency. partment are held by white men. And after Deputy Chief Teresa Everett leaves in October, the fire department will once again be the only city department without a black woman. Where is the sense of urgency in terms of diversity in the fire department? One wonders why a consent decree is not in place for the fire department like it is for the police department.

I wonder how those opponents of the Firefighter Trainee Program feel about undertaking that solution instead. I know their answer, but I want them to say it. Brumfield is a 13-year city firefighter who graduated from a special training program at East High School. the Mambo Kings perform East Main Street. (HMilliLIlt CHR0NICLE.COM DFMOCBATAND Click this story to join online conversation.

second-tier market status will not become reality without an aligned civic vision. By utilizing the performing arts as a catalyst, as an economic engine within a newly redeveloped Midtown, that will shorten the distance to the goal line. The jazz festival, RBTL and our arts presenter colleagues present top-shelf entertainment in the city throughout the year, creating a positive economic impact. The jazz festival has brought a proven $80 million to Rochester over the past nine years. It's our firm belief that a first-class outside the hospital.

Projects include working with hospitals on common discharge planning goals, placing care managers in physician practices and employing transition coaches to help patients most at risk of being readmitted. Another group is working to decrease avoidable emergency department visits by 15 percent. Members are working to improve patients' use of primary care doctors as the first and best resource for managing their health. They will help physicians offer self-management tools to patients, improve information exchange between emergency departments and primary care practices, and expand the use of telemedicine in pediatric offices. The third group is focused on the challenges facing regional community hospitals.

Its recommendations will help to improve access to health care for residents in Liv those who like to keep things status quo. The brotherhood that so many prospective candidates are told about curses their very existence. Why is it we have people attacking the only vehicle that the fire department uses to increase its diversity? What some opponents of this issue don't understand is that this organization is paid for by the citizens of this community. This is not a privately-owned business; this is a city department. The Rochester Fire Department is about 85 percent white.

And our management ranks are even more alarming. Out of 138 supervising positions in the fire department, only 4 are held by people of color. That means 134 management positions in the Rochester Fire De LEONARD RED0N THOMAS MAH0NEY GUEST ESSAYISTS As federal health reform changes begin taking effect this month, local communities have an opportunity and a need to shape their impact. The goals on which we can all agree improving people's health while controlling the costs of care cannot be met unless communities collaborate on changes tailored to their specific needs. In Rochester, long a model of health care collaboration, more than 100 people are actively engaged in achieving these goals as part of the 2020 Performance Commission.

The commission in RFD is far too lax on diversity LAWRENCE BRUMFIELD GUEST ESSAYIST Diversity is sometimes defined as the inclusion of people from different races in a group or organization. It is the ideal harvest from the labor that all of our ancestors put blood, sweat and tears into. And it's why having appropriate diverse representation is important. In 2006, Ernest Flagler, a Rochester firefighter, brought to our attention that the fire department in our city is lacking diversity within all of its ranks. In an essay, he said less than 15 percent of the department is people of color in a city that is more.