Don’t expect the City of Rochester to swoop in with a sweet offer to convince RBTL to build its new theater in downtown Rochester. If RBTL is serious about going to Irondequoit, Mayor Tom Richards says, it’ll go with his blessing.
“I’m trying to be consistent with respect to what I think the civic responsibility is to this project,” he says. “It would be nice if [the theater] was downtown. It would be nice it if was in Midtown. But not at any price. Because while it’s important, it’s not necessarily the most important thing.”
Developer Scott Congel has agreed to build a 3,000-seat theater for RBTL as part of his massive Medley Centre project. Congel would also pay off the debt on the Auditorium Theatre, which RBTL owns, and pay for renovations to the Aud. RBTL would continue to own the Aud, which would be used for smaller performances.
RBTL has not raised money to demonstrate that the theater project is credible, Richards says. For a $70 million to $80 million theater, the RBTL would need to come up with approximately $10 million or $20 million in private funds, Richards says. RBTL would also have to find a way to cover any operating deficits the theater incurs, he says.
RBTL board chair Arnie Rothschild says the organization has never tried to raise money for a new theater in the city. City officials haven’t expressed a real interest in the project, he says.
Richards says the whole thing shouldn’t fall on the city’s shoulders. Even though the Aud is in the city, a new theater would serve the broader region. But no one — politicians, Monroe County, state government, Finger Lakes Regional Economic Development Council — is stepping up with money or offers of support for RBTL’s new theater, Richards says.
This article appears in Dec 12-18, 2012.
NO ONE WILL GO DOWNTOWN BECAUSE OF 5 MAIN CONCERNS
1 PANHANDLERS ALWAYS ASKING FOR MONEY
2 FIGHTS
3 DRUG DEALERS
4 VACANT OR EMPTY BUILDING WITH NO BUISNESS IN THEM
5 NOT ENOUGH POLICE PRESENTS ON WEEKENDS (SAT & SUN)
Why why WHY do we keep doing these stupid big projects that soak up tens of millions in taxpayer money? We’ve paid $122 million in public money (local, state, federal) for a three-story building with a whopping 300 employees in it! How is an office building on the most valuable parcel of downtown real estate going to “revitalize” downtown? The workers will commute into Rochester then leave and return to their “safe” suburban homes at night. We wonder why nothing ever comes of projects like the Fast Ferry, Ren Square, “Renaissance 2010”–how well did that work out for us?–Medley Centre. They just finished paying off the debt on Red Wings Stadium. Wow, congratulations Rochester! Most of the successful projects the last few years haven’t involved a dime of taxpayer money. I’ve counted over $200 million the city’s spent on projects that haven’t panned out over the last decade that were all supposed to be THE silver bullet for our economic woes. If they had that money now, the city wouldn’t have a $27 million deficit. How much more of this nonsense should we have to take from our brainless leadership. Go with what works. Quit wasting money we don’t have.