It looks like Mayor Bob Duffy is calling RBTL's bluff.

When RBTL board chair Arnie Rothschild announced last week that the organization had selected the Midtown site to build a new theater, he put a number of conditions on that decision. They are: public support from the city to help secure state and federal funding for a portion of the development and construction costs; public support from the county and the county Industrial Development Agency; public support from the area's State Legislature delegation; and a discussion of financial support from the city, county, and building trades unions.

If the conditions aren't met by September 1, Rothschild said he would look to build the theater somewhere else.

But in a meeting with City News's editorial staff this afternoon, Mayor Duffy said that he's "not too worried about deadlines" regarding the RBTL project.

"We won't know much more by September 1 than we know right now," he said.

RBTL, Duffy said, needs to begin aggressively pursuing private financing for the theater in order to demonstrate that the public is behind the project. That will be important, Duffy said, to convince state officials to support the project financially.

Rothschild has said that RBTL will raise approximately $15 million for the $70 million theater, but they haven't raised a penny so far. And in our meeting this afternoon, Duffy said that RBTL ought to try to raise more than the $15 million.

Other important things to decide, according to Duffy: how big the theater will be, cost of construction and operation, and where on the Midtown parcel the theater will go.

"We're off to a good start," he said. "There's still a lot of work to do."

Duffy said he planned to meet with Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks this week to discuss the theater.