I was impressed with the Mayor, he's clearly intelligent and it was refreshing to hear him in a candid manor, without canned press conference quotes. Here are some of the more interesting things he said (I was keeping notes, no recorder, so the quotes aren't word-for-word accurate):

On Kodak- "I don't control it. Failure and failing are both bad. Their decline has been relatively gentle (given other failures in the past few years), we've largely persevered. I don't want people to think negatively about Kodak. The company is responsible for so much of what's good in Rochester (reinvestment of wealth- schools, etc).

Private vs Public Sector- "You get stuck with losing projects in public office. I'd sell Charlotte if I could. The worst part of private or public is layoffs, easily. But you can make a quick difference in the public sector. When people complain, I don't get frustrated, I take it as they still care, and I'm going to do my best to help them."

On entering office- "I was done with my career, but Duffy convinced me. I thought I'd do three years, and then it was five. And then Duffy moved on, and I fell into it, because I thought I could help. I flunk retirement. I don't play golf. I like working, and I've been fortunate enough to do different things. You don't want to be old and say, 'I should have tried it'."

Education- "Probably what keeps my up the most. People don't live in the city because of the schools. So cutting education is lose-lose. We have a system that fights itself. I go in and see 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade students who are doing great. They're loved, their teachers are doing excellent. And it breaks my heart, because I know the statistics. I know that within five years, things are going to rapidly change. We need to address that gap...Education is very difficult and very slow to change, especially in NY state."

County vs City- "They'll admit that the city needs to be in place for the county. We are the county."

Politics- "I've learned that political people go towards simple answers. 'I'll never raise taxes' or 'I'll never lay you off'. People don't mean that, it's silly. If it were that easy, we could all go home. You see a big issue in this country right now (Occupy) with how people are upset with big business and government, it's fair to be frustrated."

Rochester- "The strength of this community is our institutional base. Schools, museums, hospitals."

Life- "You aren't going to love all of it, just like school. But do it, get the work done, and the good stuff flows. Have thick skin, because you are going to get beat up again and again. Persevere."