Community Members

Re: COMMENTARY: Renaissance Square was a missed opportunity

Published on 08/25/09 - 0 Comments

Most laws in Rochester are referred by the Mayor to city council. However, actions which occurred under the administration of Mayor Johnson, such as the fast ferry, show that city council must have a role as oversight to prevent such folly. It is clear now that the City of Rochester was snookered by the “fast ferry fast ones.” In fact, it has been reported that the people who brought the fast ferry to Mayor Johnson are now under FBI investigation for their roles in the fast ferry.

I know from personal experience with Mayor Johnson that he indicated to me that he was against the bus garage at Main & Clinton. When I first ran for city council, as a write-in candidate in 2003, Mayor Johnson told me to "go after Bill Nojay" about the bus garage. Mr. Nojay was then head of our bus company, RTS. City Council ignored its role six years ago and it ignored its role all the way up until this year when it became obvious to Mayor Duffy that this fast ferry must sink.

City council never took on the role of oversight as it should have with the 10 year debacle of ren square, despite repeated urging from this candidate since the year 2003. I helped, with many others, to stop ren square. harry2009.com/node/123

And the same goes for both Mayor Johnson & Mayor Duffy. No one in city government listened to my voice and others since I took up this issue in 2003. During that time, the city of Rochester wasted $20 million dollars. Think of where we could be with that $20 million? The city could now have an inter-modal bus system at the Amtrak station, performing much better than our current hub & spoke system.

City council refused to take responsibility for the city. The future of the heart of Rochester, Main & Clinton, during the reign of two Monroe County Executives was dictated by Monroe County Republicans! It was like the city, under control of the Democrats, abdicated responsibility of the city to the Republican controlled county. The city ignored its role of oversight for many years until at the last moment in 2009, when it finally came to its senses, with prodding from Mayor Duffy, and refused to let ren square proceed. The views of the citizens of Rochester, the majority of whom were adamantly opposed to ren square, were never given serious consideration for 10 years. Ms. Brooks protestations not withstanding, there was never any serious public input to this project. It has been reported that some $800,000 dollars was given to the campaign coffers of Ms. Brooks by all of the companies who were paid the $20 million for the “design” of ren square, while during this time, city council probably received their share of campaign cash, causing them to remain uncritical of obvious inconsistencies of ren square.

It was also reported on radio WDKX that Council Member Adam McFadden said that several years ago, the Rochester City Council made a deal with the Monroe County Executive that the city would not criticize the county on ren square if the county did not criticize the city on the fast ferry. We now know the fate of both of these boondoggles. Critical, honest thinking is required of our city council if we are to avoid such mistakes in the future.

High Speed Rail (HSR) is the biggest economic development in western New York State since the Erie Canal. Transportation historically brings development. I am a huge advocate of High Speed Rail in Rochester. harry2009.com/node/203

City Council cannot grow a city by itself but it can adopt policies that help to grow Rochester. When I am on the Rochester City Council, I will work to bring high tech jobs to Rochester. I will support the “Essential New York Initiative” which is designed to create high paying jobs.
I will work to bring High Speed Rail (HSR) to Rochester. HSR will make the Rochester-Buffalo-Niagara Falls region the nation’s 26th largest metro area.

On August 24th, this week, New York State Governor Patterson asked for funding almost $600 million for HSR speed rail to Rochester and all of New York State. Rochester will get about $116 million of this money to build track and related development. City Council must work with Congresswoman Louise Slaughter’s office to make sure this money is secured. I have been in touch with Rep. Slaughter's office on this issue of HSR. In fact, it was Rep. Slaughter's office who supplied me with an important link to the New York Coalition fo HSR, signed by Rochester Mayor Robert Duffy. harry2009.com/node/205

Here is the link, a letter signed by Mayor Duffy and other New York State Mayors, as a part of the “New York Coalition Statement of Regional Impact High Speed Rail”, harry2009.com/node/205 released on July 31, 2009, says:

“The New York Rail Plan will enhance the region’s Essential New York Initiative®, a unique and innovative plan to accelerate the transition of the Central Upstate region of New York State to a knowledge-based economy. Central Upstate New York is a 12-county region of New York State that possesses a strong foundation of assets for the development and acceleration of a high-skill, knowledge-based economy. Since 80 percent of New York State’s population lives within 30 miles of the CSX/Amtrak mainline, more reliable and faster train service will enhance transportation connections between the Central Upstate Region to other NY urban and cultural centers and facilitate the goals of the Initiative.”

I know many people have criticized my candiacy as being "one issue." Well, perhaps I was "one issue", i.e. ren square for a long time. I am now "two issues", when you add in HSR. And HSR means jobs, jobs & more jobs. I ask, who can point to any other candidate and clearly state one clear issue he/she represents? I am proud to be a "rabble-rouser" on these issues.

At the epic city council meeting this summer when it became apparent that ren square was dead, Mayor Duffy was speaking to a TV camera for a long time as I listened, after the meeting, he said he thought that "within five years, all transportation in Rochester will be at the Amtrak station with High Speed Rail and an inter-modal system in place for the city busses."

Now that we are in a post ren square era and pre-HSR time, we must dust off the city vision plan created in 2007 with the assistance of Roger Brown and others from the Rocheste Design Center. www.rrcdc.org/ We must include all of Rochester to a real charrette and decide once & for all, where we go from here.

In the mid 1990’s, I was engaged in the development of a small town at the base of Pike’s Peak in Colorado. I learned a great deal about how development should proceed. One of my colleagues, Bill Reed, an architect, is now a world-wide authority on sustainable development. As we speak, Mr. Reed is in Dubai teaching that country how to develop itself. Mr. Reed is one of the founders of the LEED building standards. harry2009.com/node/188 LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) is now the standard for how we must build our buildings in an environmentally sound manner.

I have famously been asking Mayor Duffy since May 15 of this year to bring Mr. Reed to Rochester to help dust of the 2007 vision plan of Rochester. harry2009.com/node/212 I think Mr. Reed and Mr. Roger Brown of the Rochester Design Center have a lot we can lean as we redevelop Rochester. Mr. Reed wrote this article about what Rochester must do. “For Rochester” harry2009.com/node/102

I will come to the Rochester City Council with a background well suited for guiding Rochester to its new, environmentally sound renaissance, a renaissance that is not square. Let's not miss the boat this time, even though the boat is a train. harry2009.com/node/203