One line in county executive hopeful Maggie Brooks’ platform will probably not be quoted much. It’s too abstract and unforthcoming at first blush. But it does get the mind moving. “Do we really want to turn our community into a laboratory, a place to experiment and tinker with our future?” asks Brooks. Well, do […]
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Uniters, not dividers: the towns evolve
Is “bi-lithic” a word? The play on “monolithic” may not be in the dictionary, but it should be available for this year’s elections. The word would neatly describe the city-versus-suburb dynamic that undergirds various contests — county executive, district attorney, and even some town supervisors — making this locality appear like two stone fortresses […]
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Will PaeTec bail out?
The city is committed. The state — following a tumultuous week where it looked like things might fall apart — is committed. The Rhinos, certainly, are committed to getting a soccer-specific stadium built in Rochester. So is the team still feeling the love from its stadium’s namesake, PaeTec Communications? The Perinton-based telecommunications company […]
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Going bust
Monroe County is in deep trouble — Marianus Trench deep. Staggering deficits, crushing taxes, youth flight, jobs vacuum, partisan bickering, and a stagnant economy spell a bleak future unless we start turning things around, and quick. How bad is bad? Business leader Tom Richards goes so far as to say that the city of […]
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Meet me at the B&L lodge
Monroe County is selling naming rights to lodges in its park system. “Throughout the United States, budgets are being reduced,” says parks director Frank Allkofer, calling the move a “revenue enhancement.” The county is starting with the more popular lodges in its 20-park system — lodges in Greece Canal Park, Black Creek Park, […]
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Marion Hawks
Marion Hawks likely would have spent this past Saturday at home, listening to the Metropolitan Opera on National Public Radio. And at night, she surely would have gone to the Eastman Theatre to see Garth Fagan Dance — one of her life’s great treasures — perform in a sold-out Griot New York. Hawks — […]
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Is PaeTec Park on solid ground?
Do they have the money? Reporters and lawmakers have been trying to get the Rochester Rhinos to answer that question since the genesis of the PaeTec Park proposal in 2000. The soccer team has consistently refused to say how much it has on hand to contribute to the building of its $23 million […]
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Mt. Hope: What’s in store
Talk about a slogan with a place-name that works. “Meet Me on Mt. Hope” tells you where to go, in a very positive way, and how to feel. The invitation will soon make a monumental debut. Artist Achille Forgione Jr., whose studio is on Mt. Hope Avenue just south of Crittenden Boulevard, recently […]
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Chili: exit to primary
The town of Chili has almost classically developed a “negative capability.” The town’s politics are to a large extent defined by something that’s not there, a plan that didn’t happen. The non-entity is the Chili Thruway exit, which, had it become a reality, would have brought heavy traffic onto Route 259 in the southern part […]
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Henrietta’s electoral seasoning
“We’re having a fun summer in Henrietta,” says Jim Breese, town supervisor for 18 years now. Breese is referring to a rift in Henrietta’s Republican political establishment, which definitely hasn’t been amusing itself lately. The rift will be on display in Henrietta voting booths September 9. Breese, running for re-election, is facing off in […]
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Primarily personalities?
Too many Monroe County residents may view the town of Hamlin as an appendage to popular Hamlin Beach State Park. True, the park and the Lake Ontario shoreline in general are vital to this west-side community, as to the whole region. But Hamlin has its own special character — still largely rural — and […]
