Why the secrecy?

CountyExecutive Maggie
Brooks: Can she fulfill her campaign promises?

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photo

You
can feel it in the air: Even people who supported Bill Johnson for county
executive are embracing Maggie Brooks. They like her warmth. They like her
promise of cooperation.

            I like them, too. And I’m fighting
my cynicism. I’d like to believe that a new day did dawn in MonroeCounty on January 1.
I’d like to believe that the secrecy and arrogance of the Doyle-Minarik days
are over. That Monroe’s two largest
governments, county and city, will work together and move this community
forward.

            The problem is, while Jack Doyle’s gone
(and even, stunningly, Bill Nojay; at least from public view; at least for the
moment), Steve Minarik still runs the Republican Party. And the cynic in me is
worried. The cynic in me doesn’t like the way the grand RenaissanceCenter project —
“performing arts center,” bus terminal, and MCC tech center — came about, and
the way it was announced.

            I might learn to love the RenaissanceCenter. I still
think a performing arts center — “center,” not “theater,” as in
“one-single-theater-for-Broadway-shows” — is hugely important. I like the MCC
tech center idea, though I’m concerned about the location. I don’t like the bus
terminal, but if we’re going to get it, I don’t have a problem with its being
located with the arts center.

            But to love the RenaissanceCenter, I’ll have to
overcome some major concerns.

First: This is
the biggest project proposed for downtown Rochester in eons.
Downtown Rochester, as some
county leaders remind us when they cut funding for downtown police services, is
part of the City of Rochester. Downtown is
City Hall’s responsibility.

            But the RenaissanceCenter was planned
without the knowledge, and without the involvement, of the mayor of the City of
Rochester. The work was
done, behind the scenes, apparently by local Republicans. Even leaders of
important local arts institutions — the Arts and Cultural Council and Garth
Fagan Dance — said they had not heard about the RenaissanceCenter until the Democrat and Chronicle announced it on
January 6.

            Oh, yeah, I know: Renaissance
promoters point to the initial discussions about a performing arts center seven
years ago. But nobody could suggest seriously that this project is the same as
that one.

            The official word from Republican
leaders is that Maggie Brooks conceived the idea of putting the arts center,
tech center, and transit center together. Terrific. But when she thought of it,
why didn’t she take it to the mayor, who up to then had been considered a
partner in the arts center planning? Why didn’t she suggest that the city and
county determine whether it was feasible, whether it was a good development
idea for that prime piece of city real estate?

            Why didn’t the two of them announce
the plan, together, the way they announced the latest development on the soccer
stadium?

            All this creates the impression that
county government still has a go-to-hell attitude toward the city, that the
county will do what it likes, wherever it likes. This from a Republican
leadership that has railed against big government, that insists that local
municipalities are supremely important, that says government power should
remain close to the people, so that local citizens, not faceless bureaucrats,
will make decisions about their communities.

            This looks worrisomely like the
actions of the Doyle-Minarik machine that tried to force a thruway exit and
soccer complex on the residents of Chili and a zoo expansion into the city’s SenecaPark.

Second: The
Renaissance Center could resurrect the suspicion that all along, the “arts
center” plan was designed to get public money for a new theater for the
Rochester Broadway Theatre League.

            Look back at the early days of the
planning for an arts center, in the mid-1990’s. At the time, there were two
major arts facilities in the dream stages: one for the EastmanSchool and the
Rochester Philharmonic, the other for the Rochester Broadway Theatre League.

            Both would be expensive. And both
would require an enormous fund-raising effort. They would be competing for the
same dollars — and perhaps draining funds from other crucial arts
institutions.

            In an extremely bright move, Jack
Doyle and Bill Johnson appointed a committee representing a broad variety of
arts and community leaders. The goal: to see what the community needed in the
way of arts facilities — for large and small groups — and what it could
afford. And to recommend something that would reflect those needs and that
affordability.

            After a lot of work, the committee
recommended a facility with four theaters: one for touring Broadway shows and
other major attractions (with the Rochester Broadway Theatre League a major
user), one for the Rochester Philharmonic, and smaller ones for the smaller
groups.

            At that point, the plan went
underground. A five-member committee (four of them city and county officials)
took over, and the public discourse — and much of the public enthusiasm —
was snuffed out. The smaller group came out with its own plan: build the
Broadway roadhouse first, and sometime later, add the smaller stuff. That plan,
too, disappeared from public view — until early this month, when it surfaced,
in a revised form (architect’s conceptual sketch and all), as part of the RenaissanceCenter.

            At some point, Renaissance promoters
say, the arts center could consist of two theaters — a big one for RBTL, and
a small one for smaller arts groups. But the big one would be built first. The
smaller arts groups would get their theater when money was available. The push
for the initial funding would be for the Broadway roadhouse.

            Meantime, the Eastman School of
Music has gone its own way, designing renovations that will accommodate its own
needs and those of the Rochester Philharmonic.

            In other words, we’re right back
where we started — except that RBTL may get its theater, thanks to a heavy
infusion of public money.

            Don’t get me wrong: I don’t object
to the concept of a new facility for RBTL. I like Broadway shows: the more, the
better. I don’t object to using public funds for arts centers. But to call the
theater in this new plan a “center” is a stretch.

            And this is dreadful public
relations. RBTL will need private donations, for its new theater and for
operations in the future. It will have to appeal to some of the same people who
support the RPO, Geva, Garth Fagan Dance, the Downstairs Cabaret, Shipping
Dock, and all of the other important area arts groups.

            The pity is, a real arts center
could have been something wonderful. This one is born with a taint that could
be hard to get rid of.

Third: The RenaissanceCenter and the way
it came about creates the suspicion (ok: the suspicion in my mind) that the Brooks administration is really a Brooks-Minarik
administration, following in the footsteps of its predecessor. The
Doyle-Minarik administration made a science of trying to control as much
federal and state money as it could get its hands on. And there were wonderful
coincidences of big Republican donors getting nice county contracts.

            If the RenaissanceCenter dream becomes
a reality, there will be lucrative contracts to award. (Already, Republican
donor Max Farash has gotten out from under a tax burden by donating his Main Street property —
potentially part of the RenaissanceCenter site — to
the county.)

The RenaissanceCenter‘s creators (whoever they are) have trapped Bill
Johnson. If he objects that he wasn’t involved, he appears to be a whining
obstructionist, criticizing anything that didn’t originate in City Hall. And
worse, as Maggie smiles and reaches out — and hugs the mayor! — Johnson
growls and frowns.

            But Brooks has problems of her own.
Steve Minarik has said that her style will be different. Style is nice. But substance is what’s important.

            I want the Maggie Brookswe’ve been promised: open, honest,
conciliatory, independent, committed
to the concept of one Community of
Monroe. Like many Monroe residents, I
like the opening scenes of the Brooks administration. But the RenaissanceCenter staging has
me worried.

            If Maggie Brooks is the county
executive she promised she would be, she’ll put her foot down, now. No more secrecy,
and no more unilateralism.

            Secrecy and unilateralism create an
aura of arrogance, and arrogance could doom Brooks’ future. It did exactly that
to Jack Doyle’s.

            Want
to comment? Write or The Mail, City
Newspaper, 250
North Goodman Street,
Rochester14607. Please include your name, address, and daytime phone
number.

This article appears in Jan 21-27, 2004.