It's a beautiful thing: a local, apparently flourishing firm is seeking to invest in downtown and would thereby help to solve a problem for the city. It is a vote of confidence that could bring others in its wake and a serious bet by a forward-looking organization that the future will belong to downtown. There are more questions than answers right now, but it's an example of vision, rare in recent times.

So while we're doing the vision thing, let's think about one of the consequences of success for the Paetec project. They're anticipating 1000 or more people coming to work in the new headquarters. The immediate assumption is that 1000 automobiles have to be parked around or under the new building. Already, the demolition project is factoring in the cost of preserving the parking below Midtown.

One thousand autos to enter and leave a small area of land each day: that's what in previous years helped kill downtowns and neighborhoods. Now is the time to rethink this pattern. Paetec and the Strong Hospital expansion are opportunities to turn private and public investment toward future-oriented solutions.

Large employers could provide the scale of ridership that would allow a good mass-transit system to evolve. Parking capacity should be gradually reduced and made more expensive, while alternatives to the auto are expanded and made cheaper. Use the money you don't spend accommodating all the cars.

Companies like Paetec and UR-Strong should essentially require their employees to use transit, facilitated by setting up park-and-ride opportunities and by adjusting work schedules to accommodate the system.

Make it a point of pride that their people are contributing every day to building a sustainable future.

Communities have to think holistically. Companies should not be shielded from the costs of moving their workforces; it's a shared burden that market forces can address. Transportation will be one of our greatest challenges in the years ahead. If Rochester can move people reliably, cheaply, and cleanly, we'll have a great advantage as oil shortages hit and when they're handing out the carbon-credits.

CARL PULTZ, BRIGHTON