Comment Archives: Stories
Re: “City should turn down University Ave. project”
I too have been involved in historic preservation efforts, although not for as long as some including Mary Anna. But I find many of the arguments here to be nonsensical.
What's been proposed by Morgan is clearly an improvement over the house and parking lot that is there now. I see no green space now that won't be there after these apartments are built.
The 120 year old, beautiful Cataract Brewery building in the historic High Falls neighborhood was a Designated Building of Historic Value; supposedly protected from demolition. Yet, we had no problem demolishing that so it could be replaced with a HUGE parking lot forever altering the rim of the High Falls gorge.
Here we have the George Eastman House now saying it wants to build a sculpture garden and A PARKING LOT on this site? I really don't see how that would be better than adding residents to this section of University.
Also, I find it a bit ironic this article mentions Louis Kahn. The very first design by Morgan for this site looked like it could have been designed by Kahn himself. Personally, I don't believe his aesthetic or his teachings belong anywhere near this neighborhood.
Re: “SPECIAL EVENT: City Newspaper's 2013 Best Busker Contest”
Bassist: A link to the Google Map is now embedded in the article. Here's the link just in case: https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid…
Re: “City should turn down University Ave. project”
I'm a former resident of the neighborhood who worked on neighborhood planning matters, including the original ARTWalk and the extension. I've spent hundreds of delightful hours at the George Eastman House, attended several meetings and community events at Monroe Voiture, and, of course, GreekFest. I've been heavily involved in historic preservation, community planning, and neighborhood revitalization. And with all that background, I find that this thorough and thoughtful piece is pretty much spot on.
Nice job, Mary Anna!
Re: “SPECIAL EVENT: City Newspaper's 2013 Best Busker Contest”
Will the map be available online?
Re: “NOTA opposes apartment plan for University Ave.”
This development would be much better located at the corner of Atlantic & Fairmount, on the run down vacant lots controlled by the MUCCC. There, future residents would be much more likely to walk or bike to destinations, rather than the farther removed Monroe Voiture property. But that is the developer's call.
My big problem with this and other apartment proposals is the amount of parking "required" to make the proposal "viable." It seems as though our city is finally on the rebound, with more and more interest in development. Now would be a good time to start thinking about how to rid this city of its car-dependency. Parking lots are not our city's path to vibrancy. If we cannot improve our prospects for car-free living, our current rebound will be very short-lived. This means continuing the City's push for better walking and bicycling, but also incentivizing active first-floor uses, expanding car-sharing opportunities (ZipCar), starting a bike-sharing program, and working with RGRTA on more and better transit options (i.e., increased bus frequency, Bus Rapid Transit, Streetcar, and yes, even light rail). It will also require smarter land use planning on the regional level to discourage Victor-style sprawl and instead, build more compact communities that have a fighting chance at being transit-supportive.
Re: “SPECIAL EVENT: City Newspaper's 2013 Best Busker Contest”
This is gonna be fun!
Re: “ART/LIT: "An Early Work Late in Life: The Art and Life of Danny Allen"”
I have read Bill Whiting's book "An Early Work Late In Life", and it did indeed scorch my heart and move my soul. Ms. Rafferty's review and interpretations about the book are spot-on. I had the opportunity to participate as a friend in Mr. Whiting's final approach to his publication and the concurrent debut at MAG's art opening in March of this year. It was a stunning constellation of fears, hopes and bewilderment at the power and responsibilities inherent in book publishing amid personal angst. But Bill has emerged unscathed and the stronger for his experience. It boggles the mind that, a short twelve months ago, this endeavor was not even on his radar screen. And I would bet my signed first edition that in April 2012, "Sunny Ducks" by Danny Allen was still deep in its Rumpelstiltskin slumber, safe in the archival tissue Bill had wrapped it in forty years ago, so dark the vault.
Re: ““Doctor Who” Season 7: “Journey to the Center of the TARDIS””
Clara being River and the Doctor's daughter is interesting, but I feel like that's too easy.
I also caught Christopher Eccelston's voice when that salvage crew member got shocked. My husband mentioned about the "Smiths" key that he thought he's called himself Smith once or twice in the past. Maybe to hide who he was for a purpose.
I think the feet we saw were the Doctor's. Maybe that's why he popped up so quickly.
I agree with Deb that I think the Doctor remembers the whole event because he kept asking Clara if she felt safe.
Re: “Blumenauer talks up investment in bike-pedestrian infrastructure”
I heartily support any/every effort to get more people out of vehicles and onto their feet/bikes. I do my darndest to bike to work as often as possible. It's good exercise, as well as giving me time to get me head in the right place.
Anybody who's got eyes and has been paying attention is aware of our growing obesity problem. This would help with that also.
Re: “East End garage needs millions in repairs, quickly”
I wonder how long Richards and the city council have been sitting on this problem? A cynic might suggest that they’ve known for years and could have corrected it for far less but that repairs were repeatedly deferred in order to avoid negatively impacting past city budgets until it couldn’t be hidden any longer. Perhaps City can ask the mayor’s office for details?
Re: “NOTA opposes apartment plan for University Ave.”
Funny when j.a.m. accuses anybody about - get this - misrepresenting anything; this hours after characterizing the Neighborhood of the Arts as a "rotting urban wasteland."
Re: “NOTA opposes apartment plan for University Ave.”
@Nathan: I live there, so I'm well familiar (and btw would be thrilled not to have to drive out to the suburbs to get to Wal-Mart). The point is that, when it comes to economic need or viability, a rational person would trust the investor risking his own capital before the assorted cranks, naysayers and ax-grinders. You can go on about "aesthetics" and "development at any cost," but you ought to be terrified of ending up another failed city.
@Troll: You completely misrepresented my earlier comment, whose meaning was plain enough and I won't belabor.
Re: “NOTA opposes apartment plan for University Ave.”
@Nathan, funny how in a mere two days j.a.m. can go from calling Neighborhood of the Arts "downright bucolic" to a "rotting urban wasteland." "Rotting urban wasteland" - Really? This is a great area, one that has steadily improved in the past generation, thanks in part to folks like NOTA. We've seen the real urban blight caused by some developers who managed to get the last word. By contrast, neighborhood associations in our city have been the real life-blood and glue. So thanks, Nathan, for expressing this so well.
Re: “NOTA opposes apartment plan for University Ave.”
This is exactly like what I was looking for when I still lived in this neighborhood. As part of the young professional demographic the city so desperately wants to retain, I was tired of the endless succession of dumpy absentee-landlord college student apartments around East/Park/Monroe. Anything that was in even halfway decent shape either had insane rents or was snatched up immediately. The neighborhood could use more higher income young tenants. Don't hate on renters - these are the people with well-paying jobs! Shame on the Eastman House for offering up yet another parking lot as the only viable alternative.
Re: ““Doctor Who” Season 7: “Journey to the Center of the TARDIS””
I believe the Big Bad this season is the great intelligence. He's been in two (maybe 3) eps this season. He also may have been the one that controlled, and subsequently exploded, the TARDIS during the Pandorica arc.
We're seeing some throwback to "The Silence will fall...question asked...Doctor who?" The Silence wanted to take the Doctor out to prevent him from revealing his name. Now that Clara knows it (albiet she was mind wiped, it could still be there), the Silence may come after her. There is also a plot line from a novel where the Daleks create a perfect companion for the Doctor to lure him into a trap. I believe the G.I. created Clara inorder to learn the Doctor's name.
We also know that River will return at some point this season.
Re: “NOTA opposes apartment plan for University Ave.”
@j.a.m.: I am heavily vested in the city. I'm not sure you know this area very well. It is one of the few sections of Rochester that is not on the welfare dole. This particular development is not an improvement for the immediate area. What we do see, is a giant footprint that it will reduce our property values and increase apartment inventory (which will reduce rents and likely make the overall neighborhood less desirable). As I said before, in a region and city that is seeing zero population growth, a ton of new living spaces are coming online in the next few years, this development will only canabalize other renters and help to decrease the value of those other new developments and existing rental prices in the neighborhood. There is value in preserving the aesthetics and livability of an area. Development at any cost is not worthwhile. Why not invite wal-mart to build on this property adjacent to the Eastman House. I know of neighborhoods in Henrietta fighting rezoning near RIT to preserve their own property values while Henreitta has a chance to increase its tax base if it rezones.
Re: “NOTA opposes apartment plan for University Ave.”
@Nathan: If somebody thinks this development would create greater value at another site, they're perfectly free to put their money where their mouth is. Otherwise, that decision belongs to those who are in fact putting their own resources at risk to improve the city.
Re: ““Doctor Who” Season 7: “Journey to the Center of the TARDIS””
L: I will have to rewatch the episode again, but I am almost positive that Clara did not tip over the bottle of Encyclopedia Gallifrey until AFTER she read the book. She knocked over the bottles while hiding from the monster. She was unaware of the bogeyman while reading the book (otherwise she wouldn't have been reading the book).
Deb: My reading of the Doctor's line about "Do you feel safe?" was not that he remembered the events of the episode, but that there was a kind of emotional echo -- that he knew he should be worrying about those issues, but didn't know why. I have absolutely nothing to base that on aside from a gut feeling and the way that changing time has been shown on this series before. Do I think that ultimately both the Doctor AND Clara will remember what went down this past episode? Yep. It all served the purpose of dramatic irony, letting the audience know that a) the Doctor is still completely freaked out by whatever Clara is and b) Clara really does not seem to know that she isn't what she seems. But for the next two episodes, before the finale, they can operate as though nothing has changed.
Re: “ART REVIEW: "It Came From the Vault"”
Michael: Nope, she really means art competition. Believe it or not, the modern Olympics indeed had artistic components for a few decades, and the winners were awarded medals, just like the athletes:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_competiti…
Re: “City should turn down University Ave. project”
Cities like Rochester are dying, and a major reason is the toxic, idiotic and un-American ideology that says economic growth can be made to follow the centrally-planned dictates of political pressure groups. If this kind of stupidity prevails, then the city's inevitable demise will be richly deserved.
It's hardly a coincidence that the only places prospering these days are those states and communities that embrace progress and welcome dynamic, creative private investment—without meddling busybodies, mountains of red tape or rapacious taxation.
You can listen to newspaper pundits and dead architects, or you can use your head and face cold, hard facts.