It’s not going to be pretty. Faced with a projected 2005 budget deficit of nearly $55 million, County Executive Maggie Brooks has lived up to one campaign promise: to gather recommendations for county savings from a handpicked Budget Advisory Team. But some of the team’s key recommendations — like multi-year budget planning and stabilizing the […]
Chad Oliveiri
Posted inNews & Opinion
And then there were five
Since talk of a large performing arts center began nearly 15 years ago, there’s been no shortage of public-private committees organized around the effort. At one time, there seemed to be a firm plan for a three-theater complex located at Midtown Plaza. (See the Erica Curtis article, “Looking for a room of their own,” in […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Win? Lose? Draw?
Mall magnate Tom Wilmot made his proposal for a downtown Rochester casino official last week, in an article published by the Democrat and Chronicle. And tucked away amidst the glitzy renderings of a drastically altered Main Street was an independent assessment of the casino’s social and economic impact. Prepared by the Center for Governmental Research, […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Big gamble?
Plans to put a $500 million hotel and casino at MidtownPlaza and the SibleyBuilding are barreling ahead, with many local leaders unsure of their role in the proceedings. But word that nobody locally can have a say in the development may be inaccurate. Officials of Wilmorite (owner of the SibleyBuilding and several Rochester-area suburban […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Urban casinos: lessons, suggestions
One group that has been monitoring the casino proposal closely is the Rochester Downtown Development Corporation, a non-profit economic development organization. The RDDC began intensive research on urban casinos and state land-claim settlements once casino talk started surfacing in the media months ago. Much of that research has been compiled on RDDC’s website (www.rochesterdowntown.com/news/casino_news.html). […]
Posted inMusic
All that jazz: RIJF in review
With the third annual Rochester International Jazz Festival fresh in our minds, let’s state the obvious: this is not just a jazz festival; this is the best thing to happen in Rochester in decades. It took an outsider, producer John Nugent, to see the potential of a city with rich musical resources and a […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Catching a buzz
It’s pretty early on a Thursday night — just 10:30 p.m. — but East Avenue at Alexander Street is already jumping. People are everywhere: The Old Toad, BarFly, Whiskey, Coyote Joe’s. By midnight, elbowroom at the hottest spots and any hope of decent parking are long gone. Cross over to the other side of […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
East meets Wegs
If Wegmans proceeds with its plans to double the size of its East Avenue store, only one thing seems to be certain: That section of East Avenue near Winton Road — generally considered the gateway to the East Avenue Preservation District — may change. Drastically. If some neighbors’ worst fears materialize, the north side […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Whose Renaissance?
After nearly 10 years of costly studies and deliberations, the Performing Arts Center project is no longer a city-county venture. Since it’s now being discussed as part of the whole Renaissance Square concept, the PAC falls under the oversight of the Renaissance Square Corp., a subsidiary of the Rochester-Genesee Regional Transit Authority. RGRTA Director Mark […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Say what?
Brother Wease is worried about his livelihood. Sure, the longtime on-air personality for Radio Free Wease (6-11 a.m. weekdays, 96.5 WCMF-FM) isn’t announcing “it’s over” like Howard Stern so gloomily declared in early March. But the FCC’s latest focus on decency — and the hefty fines it levels to broadcasters of inappropriate content — has […]
Posted inMovies
Also playing…
“You’re a cog, boy! A cog in an organ!” Thus begins the journey of Performance protagonist Chas, bloodstained thug on the run. Directed by Nicholas Roeg and Donald Cammell in 1970, Performance (Wednesday, March 17, Dryden Theatre at George Eastman House, 8 p.m.)opens with a fighter jet rocketing across the sky before quickly cutting […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
The mess we’re in
The city of Rochester’s in crisis mode. Again. Rochester City School Superintendent Dr. Manuel Rivera announced that the district is facing a $50 million dollar budget gap. One day later, in his State of the City address, Mayor Bill Johnson said the city will have to cut funding to the schools unless it sees […]
