Save that ferry!

I was going to wait a week or so to make up my mind about
the ferry rescue — get more information, interview more people.

            But for pete’s
sake: The answer’s as clear as day. We need to save the ferry and get it back
in operation.

            The ferry’s
good for Rochester. It’s good for Greater Rochester. It’s good for the region.
It’s good for the state.

            And: Saving
the ferry is not the sole responsibility of the City of Rochester. It’s
everybody’s responsibility. And everybody ought to start stepping up to the
plate.

            Now.

            Mayor Bill
Johnson has concluded that Canadian American Transportation Systems, which shut
down the ferry service after 12 weeks’ operation, probably won’t come up with
enough money to restart it. And Johnson has concluded — correctly — that if
we don’t act fast, we’ll lose the ferry. CATS’ major lenders have started
foreclosure proceedings on the ferry.

            Johnson
proposes that a city-appointed public authority buy and operate the ferry. But
there are formidable obstacles in his way, starting with city council.
Johnson’s plan involves risk — risk to Rochester taxpayers. And
councilmembers are doing exactly what they should be doing: questioning,
probing, worrying, looking out for their constituents’ interests.

            It’s not at
all certain that a majority of the councilmembers will go along with the mayor.
Even if they do, Johnson has to convince members of the state legislature to
create the new authority.

            He has to
do all this convincing fast. Otherwise, CATS’ lenders will conclude that
Johnson, like CATS, can’t restart the ferry and pay the bills, and they’ll take
the ferry and sell it.

            A few local
business leaders looked into investing in the ferry themselves but apparently
decided it wouldn’t be a good business venture. And everyone else — business
groups, business leaders, institutions, government officials — everyone else
is sitting back as if the ferry’s fate has nothing to do with them. As if a
ferry failure will have no effect on them.

            They are
dead wrong. And there is something
they can do.

            Remember
the Hyatt Hotel construction? That private venture was close to failure back in
the 1980’s. The hotel’s Buffalo
developer ran into problems, work stopped, and the building’s shell sat on Main
Street for an embarrassingly long time.

            The project
was saved by a group of local business and community leaders, who contributed
about $10 million to get the hotel completed. The investors: Kodak, Xerox,
Bausch & Lomb, Wilmorite, Wegmans, Frontier, RG&E, Chase bank, and the
Gleason Memorial Fund.

            The goal
was to get the hotel completed and sold to another private owner.

            The plan
worked. The building was completed, sold to a Canadian investment group, and
put into operation.

            And in the
end, the investors got about two-thirds of their money back, says Karen Noble
Hanson, who at the time was a vice president at Wilmorite. But they entered the
deal figuring that they might not get back a dime, says Hanson. They did it
because they believed the community needed a first-class hotel downtown. They
did it as an investment in the community.

            Think of
that!

            I’d love
for a private firm to own and operate the ferry. That’s simply not going to
happen, not without substantial public investment. And if the public’s going to
put any more money into this, Johnson’s public-ownership plan makes the most
sense.

            There may
be other options, though. Maybe, says Hanson, business leaders could invest
part of what’s needed to buy the ferry, and a public authority could bond the
rest. That would lower the amount the authority had to bond, and lower the debt
repayment.

            Would the
ferry still be a risk? Of course. Some city councilmembers seem to want Johnson
to guarantee that the ferry would never need public funds. That’s impossible.
But if there were private investment — investment
in the community — the yearly costs, and thus the public risk, would be
lowered.

            And the risk
to the public could be spread if the leaders of other governments — MonroeCounty, Finger Lakes
counties — signed on. They should sign on.

            Everybody
should sign on. This is an important regional asset. People ought to be beating
down the doors of City Hall to offer to help get the ferry back in operation.
Instead, there’s silence, and a drama building between Rochester’s mayor and
the members of its city council.

            What a
place to live!

This article appears in Dec 1-7, 2004.