There's a big posterboard with a thermometer on it in front of the Auditorium Theatre, which is supposed to be a symbol that fund-raising for the remaining $55 million for Renaissance Square has officially begun.

That's the message that three of the project's leaders - County Executive Maggie Brooks, RGRTA Executive Director Mark Aesch, and Rochester Broadway Theatre League President Don Jeffries put out at a press conference this morning.

Absent, however, was Mayor Bob Duffy, who has pressed for operating details and a backup plan. Just yesterday he said that project officials should take a trip to Albany to meet with legislative leaders before they start making public requests for more state funding.

"Those of us standing here are committed to an organized effort," Brooks said this morning.

It may have been a dig at Duffy, but outgoing MCC President Tom Flynn wasn't there, either. It could have just been a poor choice of words.

But Brooks again made clear that she thinks officials should move forward with the current proposal. Talking about more changes to the project now, she has argued, would jeopardize the whole thing.

"Everybody wants to provide a distraction by going off on this chase for a Plan B," Brooks said.