Rochester Mayor Tom Richards says Republicans in the County Legislature are making the MCC situation “unnecessarily confrontational.”
The Legislature could vote as soon as next month on borrowing for the list of projects the county plans to tackle in 2013. Included in the county’s Capital Improvement Plan is millions in borrowing for MCC’s new downtown campus.
MCC’s board has voted to move the campus from the Sibley building to Kodak’s State Street campus, and County Executive Maggie Brooks supports the board’s position. But Richards wants MCC to stay at Sibley, and so far Legislature Democrats have stood behind him. That’s important, because Republicans need one or two Democrats — depending on when the vote is taken — to side with them for the bonding to pass.
Richards says Brooks and the GOP, which has the majority in the Legislature, could neutralize the conflict by taking the MCC bonding out of the capital plan and making it a separate vote.
“It’s being done, I think, because it tries to put the Democrats in a position where they have to vote the whole capital budget down in order to pass it,” Richards says. “Not that that isn’t a common legislative trick, but it’s nothing more than that.”
Former Democratic Legislator Vinnie Esposito tried over the summer to change the wording in the capital plan to make the MCC bonding site-neutral, but Republicans voted his amendment down without explanation.
This article appears in Nov 14-20, 2012.
I still haven’t heard a convincing argument for MCC to remain in Sibley. Even the MCC Board wants out of there! Why hold them hostage Mr. Mayor? Yet Republicans in the County Legislature are making the MCC situation “unnecessarily confrontational”? riiiight…
Kodak’s State Street campus is probably a 20 minute walk from the central downtown location where MCC is now located and where the RTS system has its hub. With the State Street site, the convenience is just not there like it is with city center, especially for the typical Daemon City Campus student who lives in the city and relies on the bus to get to and from class.
In fact the proposed State Street site is not really even downtown at all. It’s outside of the inner loop well into the High Falls neighborhood and bordering on a deteriorating west side neighborhood that’s well understood as a place to be avoided. I would not want my kids going to college way over there.
On the other hand, Main & Clinton is well trafficked, well policed, and very central. There’s ample space in the building and an upbeat new landlord. I just don’t see the upside of abandoning the core demographic in order to get a nicer cafeteria or whatever it is that the Kodak site offers.
I get it that the Sibley Building may not be the best place, but between Midtown, Mortimer Street, and all of the other places that are already being actively developed right downtown, besides vacant lots and empty buildings, there must be a better option than Kodak. Hint: it needs to be somewhere downtown.
J – Interesting. I haven’t heard a convincing argument for MCC to move to State Street. But given the track record of Naggie and her cronies, I suspect SOMEBODY is getting their pockets lined. As we learned from Watergate, follow the ,money.
Follow the money indeed Mr. DeLoye… In the case of MCC @ Sibley, you’d end up following it east on I-90 to Boston. Nothing against Boston (except perhaps Red Sox fans 😉 but personally, I’d rather keep it local.
Regarding location: As one City commenter aptly put it, the Kodak complex is “not exactly in Siberia”.
I’m sorry, but if a college student can’t figure out a way to get from Main & Clinton (if that’s where we assume they’re coming from) to a nearby facility on State Street, then perhaps they shouldn’t be in college… Especially if a shuttle is provided between the locations. Enough hand holding – this is not high school and shouldn’t be treated as such.
MCC relocating just outside the Inner Loop is not a bad thing! What are the positives of MCC @ State Street you ask? Here are a few that immediately come to mind:
– MCC would own rather than rent the buildings and not “line the pockets” of an out-of state landlord. How better to exemplify sound financial management and stewardship of taxpayer dollars to students? Taxpayer money… Owning vs. Renting… ROI.
– Parking. Believe it or not, some MCC students have access to a car and would prefer an open, patrolled surface-lot over a parking garage.
– Ample room to expand with more options to customize facility layout/configuration since it would be owned by MCC.
– Collegetown @ High Falls. Think about it…