Public
square
After
all the fretting that Renaissance Square was being rammed down our throats, the
public is finally going to have a voice in the ongoing dialogue about the
project.
At
least that’s the impression we’re supposed to get from the well-promoted series
of Renaissance Square Public Workshops.
So far it’s too early to tell whether that impression is accurate.
The
first of these workshops took place June 14, a four-hour event without featured
speakers, panelists, or any of the other trappings of the typical
public-comment forum. Instead, the atrium of CityPlace was lined with easels
that sported satellite photos of downtown, schematic plans, designs of similar
projects, and blank paper. Yes, blank paper. In fact the stuff was taped to
pillars and walls as well. With plenty of markers on hand, the idea was to let
the visiting public stroll through the presentations and then jot down their
ideas as inspiration hit.
True,
some of the sentiments scrawled there were closer to protests than helpful
input. Still there were plenty of thoughtful ideas written down. Among them:
using “green” architectural techniques, bringing inter-city buses over to the
project from the far side of Midtown Plaza, maintaining a connection to the
river, incorporating some green space, adding a Wi-Fi hotspot, and recapturing
design elements from the city’s theaters of the past.
What
happens to these ideas next is where proverbial rubber meets the asphalt of
local politics. It’s not clear how the project’s group of planners and
designers will absorb this collection of handwritten sentence fragments, how
they’ll pick and choose among suggestions, or even if they’ll pay any
attention. A call placed to the county’s communications office didn’t bring any
clarity to these questions.
The
next public workshop, which isn’t scheduled yet, will likely take place
sometime next month, county communications officials say.
Giving
notice
After
nearly six months of deliberating and hours of public testimony, Monroe County
opted into the state’s 48-hour neighborhood
notification law. As the name suggests, the law requires lawn-care
companies to tell neighbors of properties they plan to spray with liquid
pesticide of their plans two days in advance.
The
measure’s been controversial ever since it was proposed by County Executive
Maggie Brooks in her 2005 State of the County Address in January. Lawn-care
companies have claimed repeatedly that the law won’t work as intended and will
ultimately hamper efforts to use best-practice tactics, “integrated pest
management” in the lingo of the business.
Environmental
and cancer groups have responded that the voluntary registry proposed by the
lawn-care businesses is a toothless law.
“To
render this law voluntary is to render it useless,” said the Sierra Club’s
Frank Regan.
A
few Democrats in the legislature, led by Fred Amato of Greece, proposed just
such a registry at their June 14 meeting, but that referral was immediately
tabled.
Lawn-care
professionals who witnessed that — and whose public statements alluded to
candid private conversations with lawmakers — have gotten an eyeful of the
workings of local government.
“There
is not one person in this legislature who can say that this law is a good law,”
Bob Ottley, an applicator. For some of those lawn-care pros, this has been a
galvanizing experience.
“I
am a Republican; well, maybe not for long, after the way our legislators have
handled the 48-hour notification law,” Brad O’Brocta told legislators. “FYI: We
will do our best to raise this as an issue in the fall.”
But
it’s not clear whether any legislator who voted for the law will reap any
negative political consequences. Dems may be savoring such threats to
Republican dominance in the suburbs — where most of the lawn-care providers
who spoke at the hearings operate — but they were hardly united in their
opposition to the law: An earlier version was introduced by Brighton’s Linda
Garner-Goldstein. In fact, the referral, which passed by a vote of 21-to-8, had
supporters and vocal opponents on both side of the aisle.
GAD
TV
Since
spring 2001 the subversive oddballs in GAD and the folks behind the chain
smoking pundit puppet, Pisspot The Rabbit have broadcast I’m Gonna Make A Drug With My
Mindon RCTV Cable 15,
Thursdays at 12:30 a.m. and Saturdays at midnight. The show features
experimental video, old 16mm educational films, and Pisspot’s interviews with
local and national artists.
And
now via www.gadtv.com, you can check out past and present episodes along with
links to other weirdness whenever you please. Weird just got easier.
Bob
Stata
Bassist
Bob Stata died last week at the age
of 52. Stata was a ubiquitous presence on local bandstands with the Mambo
Kings, the Bob Sneider Trio, and many other groups. He often got the call when
greats like Marian McPartland, Dizzy Gillespie, Clark Terry, and others were
playing Upstate New York and needed a top-notch rhythm section. Stata taught
music and led a variety of ensembles at the Allendale Columbia School since
1994.
A
graduate of the Eastman School of Music, Stata appeared on many recordings and
released two excellent albums as a leader: Solid
State in 1999 and Get This last
year. Even in his last year, while suffering from cancer, Stata composed some
wonderful new tunes. Paul Hoffman, who worked with Stata, teaching him piano
during his illness, has recorded a dozen of them and plans to record more.
This article appears in Jun 22-28, 2005.
