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The best way to stop a bullet is with a good paying job.
Of the five poorest zip codes in New York State, three of them are located in the City of Rochester. Of the twenty poorest, Rochester has five and I represent three of them in the state senate. Notably, the majority of the families who live in these neighborhoods are considered “working poor:” those who have jobs, but whose household income is still below the federal poverty level.
It should not be a surprise that these same neighborhoods also experience high levels of violence. Last year, the City of Rochester had 76 homicides; 36 of which occurred in the five poorest zip codes, which is almost half of the total lives lost to violence in 2023. Of course, this isn’t a uniquely Rochester problem. As the former chair of the senate’s Upstate Cities Committee, I visited many small and mid-sized cities across New York State, each of which has seen increased gun violence, more youthful offenders, and continued challenges with drug and alcohol addiction.
So how do we make our streets safer? First, we must recognize that increasing public safety is not a one-policy solution. Some will attribute the increase in crime to recent changes in our bail or parole laws. This is both short-sighted and misleading. Yes, changes in our criminal justice system are still needed, but these policies do not address the root cause of much of the criminal activity: generational poverty and lack of economic opportunity. The hard truth is, until we pay more people with a living wage, we will not see a meaningful reduction in violence.
New Yorkers who earn minimum wage take home annual pay of approximately $29,500. In our poorest Rochester neighborhoods, families hover around $21,000. Many of these residents work in food service, as health care aides or in retail / hospitality roles; each of which is hard, time-consuming work. But these jobs are not designed to encourage saving, let alone create generational wealth.
This new year we must be intentional about treating economic development as an investment in public safety. I support tax incentives to bring new jobs to our state, but these employers must also ensure that the promised jobs are accessible to those families that need them most. Ribbon cuttings and photo-ops are not enough. We need specific strategies to remove hiring barriers by thinking about transportation, childcare, and workforce training as part of the job creation formula.
The recent announcement by Edwards Vacuum in neighboring Genesee County promises a $300M commitment to build a manufacturing plant in Batavia that will create 600 good-paying jobs. According to recent data, the average starting yearly salary of technician positions in these plants is approximately $50,000. Notably, many of these jobs do not require more than a high school diploma. This could be life changing for Rochester residents, but how will workers from the poorest zip codes in the city access these jobs without public transit? Many residents do not own their own vehicle or cannot afford the childcare necessary to work nearly an hour away from their home.
I am working with RTS, Greater Rochester Enterprise and our Greater Rochester Chamber of Commerce to create a model that incentivizes large employers to provide direct transit access for their employees by utilizing our existing public transportation systems. This goes beyond just offering bus passes, and instead seeks to create a new route from our downtown transit center directly to the Batavia work site. If successful, this model could benefit other cities where many of the new job opportunities are in large rural industrial parks such as the new Micron plant outside of Syracuse.
As a member of the senate’s Commerce, Economic Development and Small Business committee, I want to help lead New York into a new era of equitable economic growth. We can do this by putting safeguards in place to ensure that the jobs coming to upstate are accessible to our inner cities and under-employed populations. If we are successful, it will result in safer, more vibrant neighborhoods for all New Yorkers.
Jeremy Cooney is a New York State Senator, representing Greater Rochester
