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Rochester works to help 86 businesses impacted by recent vandalism

Rochester city officials say they have toured spots of the city hit by vandalism last weekend, and they’ve counted 86 businesses that appeared to have suffered some damage.

So the city’s Department of Neighborhood and Business Development will be reaching out to the business owners to see if the city can help them get their businesses open again.

Gary Kirkmire is commissioner for the department, and he says the city may be able to help with a variety of expenses.

“Expenses that have to do with insurance, that have to do with rent, that have to do with everyday business expenses, whether it’s inventory, whether it’s an R G & E bill. There might be a possibility that we can help with their insurance deductible, for example, if they had insurance that covered the inventory loss, or the other damage loss,” Kirkmire said. The primary source of funding is coming through the federal CARES Act.

Rochester is already helping more than 300 businesses affected by the coronavirus, also with money from the  CARES Act program, via its Business Emergency Retention Grants, Kiva loans and other programs.

Randy Gorbman is WXXI's director of news and public affairs. Randy manages the day-to-day operations of WXXI News on radio, television, and online.