Transit
center: ‘Yes’
with
some changes
The
American Institute of Architects, Rochester Chapter (AIA Rochester) supports
the proposition of a transit center but with some concerns. We believe that the
scale and cost of such a project should reflect the values of good public
design and community need.
Public transportation is a key
component of our downtown area. The key stakeholders in the design of a public
transportation facility are the people. People address public space at the
street level: being visible and celebrating our city from within buildings and
from outside; the surreal connection between our windows that look onto the
street and those that peer into them. Locating amenities for buses underground
defeats this purpose. The terminal should maintain connections with the
pedestrian foot traffic of the skywalks and sidewalks, providing environments
that enhance our experience as only architecture can.
The project size and program should
reflect the scale of our metropolitan region. Positively, this new station can
be developed and designed as a landmark to our city, its grandeur reflective of
our population and scale of community. However, without anchor support in the
retail or office sectors, AIA Rochester fears that a transit center with space
for retail and offices may just become an additional vacancy figure within the
city. We support and encourage the project to proceed, concentrating on the
specific program of a transit center.
The AIA encourages a bus terminal
solution geared more closely to the needs of our city, one that addresses the current need for a transit center
and plans for future expansion as a mixed-use core.
The new bus terminal provides a
fresh start for a Main Street resurgence and is a step
toward growth in the development of Greater Rochester. With appropriate design
elements, vocabulary, and fabric, this new facility can begin to give our Main Street the ambiance and language
of a 21st-century city.
We encourage those who are planning
the growth of Greater Rochester to focus not only on the bus terminal but also
on the important need for harbor development, amenities that support the
success of the fast ferry, continued movement on the soccer stadium, and
progress on a performing arts center. These together will encourage growth for
our city and provide the amenities that tourists and local people will expect.
The AIA Rochester Urban Design Committee will be hosting a design and
planning event for Main Street (location and time to be determined) and
encourages all interested parties to attend to help shape the growth of our
city.
Allen
Rossignol, president-elect, Rochester chapter, American Institute of Architects
Why he lost
Regarding Christopher Roesch’s
letter, “Lies Win” (November 19): How does Mr. Roesch
think Monroe County “blew it” by voting overwhelmingly for Maggie
Brooks? Johnson may indeed have “integrity,” but he is a lousy mayor.
That is why he lost, and that is the bottom line.
I worked on
Maggie Brook’s campaign and she was all over the county, getting the word out,
getting young people excited about politics, and “blitzing” towns.
Johnson thought the city alone could carry him, bottom line. That was pretty
poor strategy, as the Election Day results suggest.
Johnson’s
years as mayor have been, kindly, a complete disaster. Downtown is still drab.
What is he going to do? He has not attracted anyone who can improve that area.
His
suggestions are lame and show nothing but lazy visions and complacency, as bold
as Dick Cheney’s tie patterns. A fast ferry? What will Canadians come here for?
Wegmans and Nick Tahou’s?
Give me a break.
This area
needs jobs, and when there are no jobs, people move away. A soccer stadium?
Soccer outside of the high school and college levels has never attracted a big
audience. Hell, we carrot-and-stickedPele to play in New
York in the 1970s, and the stadiums were half empty.
I am one of
the few people from my SUNY Geneseo class of 1990
still even in the parameter of Rochester;
and I am thinking of leaving for greener pastures (even though I have a great job).
The police
have been poorly treated by Johnson and his minions; when Duffy tries to take
proactive measures to curb the violence in this community, he and his force are
accused of racial profiling. Rev. Graves whines and accuses, and the local news
crews are there in a New York minute to cover his unintelligible cacophony of
accusations and threats.
Rochester
is the murder capital of New York.
What is Johnson doing about it? And in a televised debate, when it was
mentioned that we’re the murder capital, the mayor denied it and said: “New
York City has far more murders.” Duh, Mr. Mayor:
They have 8 million people to less than a half million in the city. Maybe
Johnson can use a version of that argument and say that we have fewer people
unemployed here than in Los Angeles.
Kodak,
Xerox, and Bausch & Lomb are cutting jobs and sending them overseas. I know
you want to say, “Don’t blame it on Johnson; Jack Doyle blah blahblahblahyadayadayada.” Bill Johnson said implicitly that he would
attract jobs. Has he? No.
So Brooks’
win was not just because of negative advertising or Pac Man or fear of busing
big bad ghetto kids to Pittsford Mendon because of Metro Government. It was
because Johnson is a terrible mayor who has destroyed the city.
Michael Meggison,
Rochester
The next steps
Regarding Jack BradiganSpula’s commentary, “Potholes Ahead” (November
12): This county is going to hell in a handbasket.
Did Mr. Spula or anyone else believe that if Bill
Johnson had been elected, serious problems would still not loom?
Mr. Spula’s arguments seem to be hysterical. Do racism and the
general “fear of the city” exist? Yes. Did that play an overwhelming
role in this election? No. Most voters wanted someone fresh in light of the
ongoing feud between Doyle and Johnson. And let us be realistic: There are more
Republicans outside of the city limits.
No matter
who was placed in office, this county is, and has been, in a state of near
crisis. Both Brooks and Johnson would have critics howling at their attempts to
deal with financial problems that other counties and states are facing.
I do look
to the companion opinion by Ms. Towler (“Lessons from the Johnson Loss”) as the
course for the public and officials. Now is the time for all to take an active
role. The voters chose Brooks, but it is still the voters who need to stay on
top of the issues. They need to be part of the decisions being made every day,
not just in the polling booth. Officials need to be accessible and respond to
the voters.
There are
hard choices to be made for a long, long time. Officials cannot cut themselves
off from the public while proclaiming to be serving in the public’s interest.
Make the public aware of the process; involve them; for we all need to be
making compromises.
Peter Blaszkow, Rochester
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. While we don’t restrict length, letters
of under 350 words have a greater chance of being
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publish letters (or longer “op-ed” pieces) from the same writer more often than
once every three months.
This article appears in Nov 26 – Dec 2, 2003.
