Category Archives: Rochester, New York

It’s for the children

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bench

There’s been much lamenting at the bus stop over the last month. Not from the parents. We parents are in general agreement that a mild winter is a good thing. But the kids have been outraged, outraged!

Here it is, Christmas already come and gone, and where’s the snow?

Denver, I guess. In Rochester, the official snowfall tally for December was 4.3 inches. Our average for that month is 21.9 inches. December 2006 was also our warmest on record. Links to the National Weather Service reports here.

Yeah, much lamenting. Until today. Almost an inch already this morning, with more on the way. Actually had to break out the snowpants and boots . . .

Too stupid for words, but I’ll dig some up, somehow

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I know I need to blog about this, but I’ve been too stupified to try.

Yet it needs to be said, by as many people and in as many places as possible. So here goes.

First. Fourteen million dollars of Fast Ferry money is missing. That’s $14 million of New York State taxpayer money unaccounted for, and if you think anyone at any level of our government is going to chase it down and get it back to us, you’re smoking something.

[State Assemblyman] Joseph Errigo, R-Conesus, Livingston County, said he does not necessarily fault [state Comptroller Alan] Hevesi or [Attorney General/now governor-elect Eliot] Spitzer for not documenting the fate of the state aid, though he is “disappointed with that aspect of it.”

As for the agencies that provided the money, Errigo said, “The state lost out on $14 million, and you’d think they’d be interested in recouping all or part of that money.

“My conclusion is that they’re, I guess, embarrassed, and they don’t want this investigation to go further.”

(The article is thorough and documents all kinds of intriguing shenanigans. Enjoy it now, as the Democrat & Chronicle has a tendency to throw things behind their firewall & charge for them after awhile.)

(And for further context bear in mind that Hevesi, newly re-elected to his post in a landslide, exudes a strong smell himself & it ain’t roses. The public has spoken, all right.)

Okay. So that gives you a taste of how carefully our politicians watch our money.

Ready?

Now Rochester’s mayor wants to spend a quarter of a million on an option on Midtown Plaza. That’s an option to buy. If the city decides it doesn’t want the plaza after all, the money is gone for good.

“So?” you say. “Maybe the city will decide it wants to buy?”

You’re not from from around here, are you. Midtown Plaza is a mall in downtown Rochester. Well, it was a mall. Now it’s a hunk of deserted retail and office space.

Nobody wants it, because nobody can figure out how to make money from it.

Oh whoa, wait, I forget! The city can figure out how to make money from it!!! Of course!!!

Really, I am so disgusted I could spit.

It’s like they’re deliberately trying to accumulate worthless overpriced junk. The “fast ferry,” which still sits in dry dock because nobody else is a big enough sucker to buy it. Renaissance Square, the performing arts center cum bus station that nobody wants and for which we’ll be paying some undisclosed amount to keep solvent until it’s knocked down for a parking lot or something some day. And now Midtown.

If it wasn’t my money they’re wasting I’d find this hilarious.

UPDATE: Welcome, 2Blowhards readers, and thanks Michael for the link :-)

This one wasn’t

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fall golf

Why did I walk away from my clubs and ball, you ask?

Because it was so windy today that the flags on all the greens were blown over.

Once I got close enough to (theoretically) get onto the green on my next shot, I had to walk to the green and replace the flag. So that I would know where to (theoretically) aim.

At last

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Gingko leaves

It’s been such a peculiar fall. Cool, yet no bite, and so much rain that the turning of the leaves has been listless and tentative.

Then last night our first serious frost.

And this morning, even without a breath of wind to nudge them leaves were falling everwhere, as if the trees were themselves now raining. The leaves rustling as they hit the ground like hundreds of rustling footsteps.

I took the photo beneath a ginkgo finally gone to sleep.

“A certain level of subsidy”

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Here’s Monroe county exec Maggie Brooks at the unveiling of the design for the performing arts center piece of Rochester’s proposed Renaissance square:

Other questions weren’t answered so completely. One suggested that there may be a $2 million annual operating loss for the performing arts center and a $3 million loss for the bus station. County Executive Maggie Brooks rejected the question’s premise. “Those figures aren’t accurate,” she said.

Brooks admitted, though, that the project might not be self-sustaining.

“I think it would be disingenuous to say there won’t be any subsidy at all,” Brooks said. “There is a certain level of subsidy that the community will accept.”

To minimize that subsidy, Brooks said, the project’s principals have adhered to a guideline of “What is affordable, what is sustainable.”

“We want to live up to that,” she said.

Also unknown is how the performing arts center will be operated.

“These are conversations that will continue,” said Brooks.

Okay. So we aren’t going to be sinking $5 million annually into this . . . thing. But it is going to be an ongoing drain. Of an unknown magnitude. Over & above the public money already appropriated for it. No matter, open your checkbook cuz the pols say so. Open your checkbook, because hey, you’re fine with “a certain level of subsidy.”

Think we’re fooled? We’re not. Poll results from 13WHAM: only 22 percent of us think this is a “good” or “great” idea. Half think it’s a bad idea.

I’ve blogged about this topic here and here. Not just grousing, either, I’m honestly trying to figure out what would work for this city. See also this post & comment thread on the subject at 2Blowhards for a breath of intelligent perspective on our little project.

Why I live in Rachacha

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Barnie Fife, speaking from the Great Beyond (or on a breather between reruns?) left a comment on my next to the last post. Apparently my living in Rochester, New York fills him with wonder.

I never planned to move here. I moved here originally to attend a nearby college. Long story short, I fell in fascination with yet another complex but self-destructive individual (a tendency I’ve curbed at last now by adhering to a policy of social isolation, *sob*). Ended up married because I once again failed to acknowledge the taint of doom tickling my nostrils. (I guess that makes it mutually assured self-destruction? LOL) Now I have a wonderful kid. We’re in a great school district, her dad is here, and yeah, I chafe sometimes in the reins but I’m a big girl now.

That said, Rochester is also a great city in a lot of ways. The traffic is manageable — for example you can live in a rural bedroom community, the sort of place where you can keep horses if you want, and your commute into downtown will still be only a half hour or so. My neighborhood in particular is a little corner of paradise, aesthetically and small-c culturally — and I don’t have to be a zillionaire to live here, in a spacious circa 1920s home with hardwood floors and a fireplace. While our museums and sports teams are officially second tier, because we don’t have the demographics to support first tier, they’re high enough caliber to give kids a taste of what’s out there — i.e., the city is a suitable jumping-off spot for a kid with aspirations to make the world his home, if he has the inclination & chops.

And if you hanker for big city culture, the plane ride to NYC is only 45 minutes and thanks to JetBlue tickets can be had for under $100. Toronto is a three-hour drive.

We have great public parks. Mendon Ponds Park, for instance, has 30 miles of self-guided nature trails. You can be there from just about any place in the greater Rochester area within minutes. We’ve got the Erie Canal, great place to bike, jog, walk your dog. Since we’re in a temperate climate, you can mix up your outdoor activities seasonally (if you can’t fight it, have fun with it!)

We’ve got great healthcare, including a first-rate research hospital.

Our crime rates are well above the national average but not out of line with other Upstate New York cities.

We don’t have to worry about hurricanes or earthquakes, just snow and the occasional ice storm, but it’s like anywhere in that regard. Be smart and prepare yourself for self-dependence for a few days. At least your house won’t be smushed into a pile of sticks when it’s over.

The biggest downside is that because this is New York State, our taxes are ridiculous and our politicians are worse. At the local level, their moribund thinking has cost us the embarrassment of the so-called Fast Ferry; shamelessly, they’ve put that behind them (despite the fact that the damn thing is still in dry dock here, apparently unsaleable) to push the so-called Renaissance Square down our throats (new post coming up on that shortly).

I’m sure there’s more that’s good about this city but this gives a taste. Despite its flaws, if I were a young married couple planning a family, Rochester would top my list of places to live.

That said, me personally? I don’t know where I’ll end up once my kid has flown the nest. I can work from anywhere, so I’m not tied to any location for income. I’d like to be in a relationship again someday, that will probably influence my choice. I’d like to be able to golf year-round. I ache sometimes to smell the ocean. But I also love the flora/fauna of the Northeast — the hardwood forest, and the geography, the hills. I’d like to stay close enough to a world-class city to jump in regularly for a visit but I also need a base somewhere with space and trees & a bit of privacy.

So who knows? But I guess not knowing is part of the fun of it . . .

Rochester Fast Ferry tale now in print

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Larry Dickens, “novelist and mariner,” has published a memoir about Rochester’s fast ferry.

Dickens served as first mate on the ferry, which former Rochester mayor Bill Johnson claimed would stimulate our economy somehow — I guess by luring rich Canadians across Lake Ontario. And what does the city have to show for it, now? An extra $20 million debt.

But never fear, our politicians have a new plan: a $230 million performing arts center cum underground bus terminal. Think of it as the fast ferry, only lots more expensive and we can’t sell it if it doesn’t work out. Also no rich Canadian angle.

I’ve blogged about my distaste for the Renaissance Square idea several times since I started doing this in February; here’s my most recent post on the subject.