The mail
REN SQUARE’S NO ARTS CENTER
I’ll have to disagree with Gil French’s statement that
members of the arts community ignorantly agreed to build a 2800-seat theater
for RBTL (“The Theatre We Should Have,” November 15).
I, along with members of the arts and business community,
served on Tom Mooney’s planning committee. And yes, we swore to secrecy,
knowing that the process would be controversial and that the goal of creating
an arts center was best served by debating amongst ourselves before making our
findings public.
The end result of countless meetings was far from what I and
many members of the committee anticipated. Instead of arriving at a consensus
on how an arts center would best serve the arts community, the community at large,
and taxpayers who would build and pay for the center’s operating costs, we
arrived at one thing: location.
A vote was taken to determine if an arts center should be
built at HighFalls
or in close proximity to the Eastman Theatre. All but one member voted for a
location near the Eastman, the committee was disbanded, and it never met again.
At that point, constructive public input effectively ended
when four men began meeting behind closed doors to determine the location for
the center. The arts community did not remain silent while the arts center
became the arts center-bus terminal. There were letters to the editor, input at
far too few public hearings, and lively discussion within the arts community.
But let’s face it: Ren Square was never intended
to be an arts center. It is an inventive way of obtaining federal and state
funding while claiming to be an arts center. Instead of criticizing the arts
community, direct your criticism at the politicians and business leaders who
support it, many of whom opposed even modest expenditures for art at the
recently renovated RochesterMonroeCountyAirport.
It is ironic that Louise Slaughter, who has a national
reputation in the arts community for her support of the arts, facing criticism
from members of both political parties, labor unions, and the business
community, voiced her opposition to the project.
I agree with Gil French. We can do a lot more with a lot
less, but let’s face it: Ren
Square is a done deal not a good deal.
Bill Coppard, Caywood
SMALLER THEATERS SHOULD COME FIRST
Analyzing the Renaissance Square project, one must be
troubled by decisions regarding the Performing Arts Center. Why is the
community building another large venue for Broadway shows when the Auditorium
Theater already has been upgraded to accommodate such shows?
Why is the small theater being downsized in quality and size
and the much-needed, medium-size, 1500-seat theater is in limbo? Sure, it would
be nice to have a fancy new 2800-seat theater, but with limited funds,
priorities should be established based on venue needs, economic impact, and
cost.
To me, it would make sense to eliminate the 2800-seat
theater from Renaissance Square and replace it with the medium-size theater and
a quality small theater. Retain the Auditorium Theater as the venue for
Broadway shows but allocate several million dollars to enhance the facility
inside and out. When and if economic conditions improve, the community can look
down the road to building a brand new Broadway theater.
Building the medium-size theater instead of the large one at
Renaissance Square would quickly accommodate Garth Fagan Dance, significantly
lower costs, and allow for more design money for a world-class theater. In
addition, a smaller theater would create less parking stress at Ren Square. The present plan
for a 2800-seat venue would create severe parking problems that can only be
solved by building a multi-million dollar parking garage.
Retaining and enhancing the Broadway theater at the
Auditorium complex would also act as a catalyst for further development in the
adjacent Arts neighborhood.
The Garth Fagan Dance group is a world-class asset that has
been ignored when it comes to providing for a quality venue. The same can be
said about opera, ballet, and the RPO. A recent study indicated that a
medium-size theater would be utilized 313 days a year compared to only 170 days
for the Broadway theater.
The Ren Square plan already has been significantly reduced
in size and quality because of rising construction costs,
and the start of construction is still well over a year away. Just watch the
project proceed with significant cost overruns and a further deterioration in
quality and size of the final product. This is the nature of any large public
project.
It makes sense to build the medium-size theater in place of
the large one at Renaissance Square, but in Rochester
what makes sense rarely wins out in the end.
Dennis Michaels, North Goodman Street, Rochester
A REDUNDANT GARAGE
The planned five-story parking garage on the west side of South
Avenue between Manor
Parkway and Linden Street
is simply all wrong for the area and the era (“Garage Opener,”
November 8).
Given that 220 employees who park at the former RochesterPsychiatricCenter
will need to stop using that lot, all possible alternatives to a parking garage
should be considered. Now is not the time to provide for more vehicles. Now is
the time for HighlandHospital
to take a different approach.
Predictions for the not-too-distant future include more
expensive fuel and far fewer cars on the road. In City’s April 5 interview,
James Howard Kunstler said that by 2018 “the car
is going to be a very diminished presence in our lives
in a way that most ordinary people cannot imagine” and that “driving is going
to be an enormous problem for us.”
Others agree with Kunstler and
foresee serious problems even sooner, less than 10 years from now. Whether sooner or later, the planned parking garage, having put its
Abominable Snowman footprint on the land to destroy the neighborhood for many,
and having affected the breathing of everyone, will then become redundant.
If those in charge at HighlandHospital cannot “think outside
the box,” they might ask their employees to suggest alternatives, or call
in a consultant with foresight and flexible thinking.
Byrna Weir, Brighton
NOBODY DID IT?
I read the debate among your readers on atheism (The Mail,
November 8) and want to add my two cents worth.
Take the newspaper you’re holding in your hands right now.
If I told someone that nobody wrote it — that there was a big explosion, and
when the dust settled there was a newspaper with every word in the right spot,
with all the pages in order — they wouldn’t believe me. If I told them that
nobody built their house, nobody nailed the boards together, nobody put the
right amount of mortar between the bricks, nobody put the roof on, they wouldn’t believe me either.
Now look at one cell in the human body. If its entire
genetic code was printed out in City Newspaper; many thousands of copies would
be required to contain it all. Take away a small portion of that DNA or add an
extra copy in the wrong place at the wrong time, and you have someone with
cancer, some kind of birth defect, or any of the genetic disorders known to
medical science.
The same people who would think I’m crazy for saying nobody
wrote anything in this newspaper would agree with me if I said nobody wrote the
far more complex DNA found in humans or any other form of life.
Jim Nantz, Phoenix, Arizona
WRITING TO CITY
We welcome and encourage readers’ letters for publication.
Send them to: themail@rochester-citynews.com or The Mail, City Newspaper, 250
North Goodman Street, Rochester14607.
Our guidelines: We don’t publish anonymous letters — and
we ask that you include your street name and city/town/village. We don’t
publish letters that have been sent to other media — and we don’t publish form letters generated by activist groups. While
we don’t restrict length, letters of under 350 words
have a greater chance of being published. We do edit letters for clarity and
brevity. And in general we don’t publish letters (or longer “op-ed” pieces)
from the same writer more often than about once every two months.
This article appears in Nov 29 – Dec 5, 2006.
