It is clear that the national firms have no interest in abiding by any restrictions on "doing it their way" Drive through lanes are a major hazard for any pedestrian area. Try walking or driving past Dunkin Donut on East Ave between 7 and 9 in the morning and you will see how bad it can get. I have nearly been run down there several times as drivers more interested in beating traffic for their caffeine fix ignore pedestrians and through traffic.

I understand the goal here to create a big city pedestrian friendly environment, but it just doesn't work in medium sized city's. Just about every restaurant in our whole city and county relies almost exclusively on parking for customers to park. College town will need to have lots of parking or the retailers will fail and we will have another fast ferry on our hands. Tim Horton's and McDonalds probably do close to 70% of their business out of their drive-thru windows, many sneaking a treat into the hospital for a sick family member. How many restaurants are downtown? 1 or 2? they cant survive down there b/c our market (residents) want and need there cars. The double drive-thru on East Ave Mikey D's is just has 2 points to order and still only 2 windows 1 to pay and 1 for food it works, no more long lines. As a resident I'm for collecting tax moneys from these companies and letting them supply jobs to our community. The whole access road behind Mt. Hope is great in theory but one huge problem not enough room. In order for this to work the city would have to buy all the homes on Westview Ter and knock them down or something. To the residents that complain about the traffic why did you purchase a home so close to a main thoroughfare? I just don't get it?

The East Ave resident has such a fantastic point. I have a flat in Park Ave and the businesses there are all local and run by people in the community. I love it. As for the City Resident, if you as so for commercialization of neighborhoods how about you suggest your neighborhood. If the proposed Collegetown could actually be what a college town setting is supposed to be, catered for the college community which most of us who are in the proposed area are affiliated with, either the school or the hospital, then it would be great but its going to cater to everyone. No one who actually lives in the neighborhood is interested in picking up after people who don't care what the neighborhood looks like with trash and extra cars because we live here and they don't. We pay the prices we pay to live in the neighborhoods we do because we don't want to deal with the issues of living in a city (been there, done that), I'm all for economic growth, but the UofR can actually stimulate the local economy better by offering those locations to real Rochester businesses not franchises and large corporations which will just ignore zoning laws and regulations.

I live in the Lilac neighborhood, a few blocks from Mt. Hope and Elmwood. The traffic near that intersection is very busy and quite pedestrian-unfriendly AS IT NOW STANDS. Some time ago, I had an accident with a person who was making a left into the CVS on Mt. Hope. There is a reason no left turns should be allowed in that area. Left turns hold up traffic, fouling the environment even more. It doesn't sound like
McD's is respecting the carefully crafted plans set up by the people who live there and are them most invested in what happens there.

As a nearby resident, I'm really excited about this project. It doesn't need more traffic in the mix. There will be plenty of foot traffic from students, medical center staff, and local residents. Put the parking out of the way, and let the pedestrians dominate. Urban residents have been craving something like this, but we don't need another strip mall. If McDs is interested in expanding, let them, but they should have to conform to zoning. I hope this project comes to successful fruition.

So you want to cater to college students, but you force businesses NOT to provide that? Just down the street there is a 24/7 drive-thru BK. Not a great option for food during an all-nighter, but one of the only options for sure.

"The goal here to create a big city pedestrian friendly environment, but it just doesn't work in medium sized city's. [sic]"

I beg your pardon? Ithaca, Madison, Burlington, VT, Saratoga Springs, Corning, etc. etc. Not to mention Elmwood Avenue in Buffalo and our very own Park Avenue. Small and medium sized cities can most certainly be pedestrian friendly. It just takes vision and perserverence to overcome to dominant auto-dependent development pattern in this community.

Rochesterians do not "need" there cars. They may want their cars, but it's important to distinguish between needs and wants. Most of Monroe County is built around the automobile. There need to be a few enclaves where car ownership is not a pre-requisite. Many people would prefer to live car-free and save the $6,000 (+/-) it costs per years to own an operate a car.

The proposed access road is simply an interconnection of the rear parking areas and does not require any properties on Westview Terrace.

Finally, according to the Rochester Downtown Development Corporation website, there are 122 restaurants downtown.

The idea of a college town is a fine one; however, the proposed location is NOT. Regardless of the types of businesses which would participate....this is a dangerous traffic area and adding foot traffic into the mix is trouble waiting to happen. Traffic will ignore the turning restrictions for not turning left because they already ignore red lights at Elmwood and Mr. Hope and traffic routinely runs red lights at this intersection, foot traffic will dart in between cars and create an even more dangerous situation in this area. Rush hour traffic is terrible. Traffic can be backed up for several city blocks and is extremely slow moving as it is now. There are more accidents at the corner of Elmwood and Mt. Hope than any other intersection in the city. Just the other day there was a rollover accident in front of CVS. It crippled traffic. This college town should be located closer to the University of Rochester Campus within SHORT walking distance for students. I don't believe college students will travel the distance in numbers enough to make this successful. For the most part staff at the Medical Center only has 30 minutes for lunch (not enough time for them to make use of college town). As far as parking....The plan for parking in the area is to close University of Rochester Medical Center Staff parking lots to accommodate public parking and believe me before this idea came about the U of R Medical Center has some serious lack of staff parking issues already. This is going to have a HUGE impact on staff parking. This college town is a way of making money not providing services of safety. The whole project needs to re-evaluated and MOVED to another location if not scrubbed altogether..

College Town is a great idea, but realize UR employs over 20,000 traffic congestion is here to stay unless excellent mass transit system is employed, bus schedules at all UR and near by locations run on time, are not late, reliable. As it is now only the Mt Hope stops are anywhere near reliable, all others near by are reported to me not to be by some who live in the neighborhood (and work down town), that to get down town actually walked is faster and more reliable.....first isto be sure that efficient mass transit is developed to meet times UR Medical Center Employee need to be at work, coming from a variety of Urban and suburban points, and in turn and transport those living in the area to work down town, to RIT, to MCC, and even St. John Fisher, and Nazarath colleges. Students from all area colleges enjoy, would enjoy a college town environment (example, a set of apts East Ave area attract students from all area colleges, especially graduate school students, b/c they want to live in an area near age related peers, do not mind trade off of bus connections to school (down town has reasonable access to some area colleges, more RIT than others from what I've heard) Regual bus runs from UR and related apts for students along the river bring MT Hope college town location more of a reality for weekends, and late afternoon runs. College students do not have a lot of time, if serious students to even run next door for any thing. What is needed in college town is efficient grocery store that offers excellent deli, fresh produce, something closer to a Trader Joe's than huge Wegmans to meet student and neighborhood everyday living needs. Reality is McDonald's 24 hour drive thru is needed. As far as fast food much better than BK or KFC, so work out workable plan with them. Forget THortons, there already is DD. Go for more locals, how about a Rochester resturant or lite good + quality faire that features UR/Naz/RIT musicians, and other artist, poetry readings, etc. Some parking is a must, metered with 1-2 hour limit up to 6 p.m. this will discourage UR parkers to use while at work. Big issue to figure out is UR workers, can departs there have more of a staggered start/ end times. Then emergency vehicle needs for the Medical Center. ENFORCE the no left turns, as well as monitor the Elmwood/ Mt Hope with ticket camera. College Town can be successful, even in our strained economic times. Need to be mindful of all aspects of dev'l, protect the walker, and the biker!!!! UR another parking garage next to Helen wood Hall, with traffic coming in from Kendrick RD, expand Kendrick from East River???? Plan like you live in the neighborhood. Thank you!