Ren Square itself may be dead, but the afterlife of the site and its components continues to make news. In an interview this morning, Mayor Bob Duffy was upbeat as he talked about downtown Rochester.

On the Main and Clinton corner: Duffy is holding a meeting on Monday, August 17, to begin to determine the best use of that property. He has invited County Executive Maggie Brooks, other elected officials and politicians, and a who's-who of Rochester developers.

"Our goal is to be there to listen to their expertise," he said of the developers, "because the expertise is in the private sector. Strictly public-sector projects haven't had a good history in Rochester."

Duffy was optimistic about the future of the block, which, he said, has more potential now than it has had in the past. "This block has not been in play for over a decade," he said.

"The challenge we have," he said, "is that we are not a growing population."

Whether the 19-century buildings at that corner are torn down, he said, will be "an engineering decision, not a political decision."

On a future home for RBTL: Duffy said he wants the Rochester Broadway Theatre League to stay in the city, and he said he is convinced that for $15 million to $20 million, the Auditorium Theatre can be upgraded to meet RBTL's needs. (RBTL officials say that it would cost more than $60 million - and that the renovation and expansion needs are so extreme that the theater couldn't be used for two years, effectively putting RBTL out of business.)

A growing list of suburban officials and developers have been wooing RBTL since the death of Ren Square. In the interview this morning, though, Duffy didn't sound concerned. While he wants RBTL to stay in the city, he said, if the theater group chooses to go elsewhere, "we will work very hard to seek perhaps another entity to bring Broadway shows into Rochester."

"We'll have Broadway shows in the city, and I'm going to leave it at that," Duffy said.

On a future campus for MCC: The college's new president, Anne Kress, has reaffirmed MCC's intention to build downtown. The only question seems to be location. The Ren Square site was never a problem, Duffy said, and Midtown could also be a potential site, as could the original site for the college, vacant land at West Main Street and Plymouth Avenue.

The decision and the responsibility will be that of new MCC President Anne Kress and County Executive Brooks, Duffy said, and he said he hopes the decision can be made quickly. The goal, he said, would be to have "as little controversy and delay as possible."

On a future site for the bus station: Duffy said he hasn't heard anything from transit authority officials since Ren Square was declared dead. "I think the best way to proceed is to come back to the city and have a couple of options," he said.

The interview also touched on non-Ren Square topics.

On Arunas Chesonis's plan to build a new Paetec headquarters at Midtown: "I'm confident that that deal is going to be consummated," Duffy said. "I just spoke to him about 10 days ago." Paetec is not seeking any incentives that are out of line for that kind of project, Duffy said.

On the School Board's overruling Superintendent Jean-Claude Brizard's teacher cuts: Duffy said he empathizes with Brizard. The cuts will have to come, he said; the district has just postponed them.

Money could be saved, he added, through consolidations - consolidating city and school district services such as law departments, finance departments, and vehicle fleets.