City Roots Community Land Trust has reached a milestone that’s been long in coming: creating a way for low-income people to buy their own homes. Although the non-profit was formed in 2017, the catalyst for City Roots was a protracted battle that began about five years earlier between Liz McGriff, a homeowner on Cedarwood Terrace […]
Rochester neighborhoods
Posted inNews & Opinion
The state of the neighborhoods
Rochester voters will elect four key city officials this year: the people who represent the city’s diverse City Council districts. But on the front lines of city life is a mosaic of neighborhood associations, block clubs, residents, business, and community institutions. They’re dealing with issues as varied as economic development, gentrification, abandoned houses, attracting young […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Planning Commission approves revised plan for Cobbs Hill Village
The proposal for new apartment buildings on land within Cobbs Hill Park took a step forward Monday when the City Planning Commission approved Rochester Management’s revised plans for the project. The vote was 4-2. The project continues to face bitter opposition and it still needs approval by City Council and Mayor Lovely Warren. The non-profit […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Reimagining Charlotte
Even plenty of sunshine and unseasonably warm weather wasn’t enough to draw more than a dozen or so people to Ontario Beach Park in Charlotte during a recent afternoon. Seagulls well outnumbered cars in the Port of Rochester’s huge parking lot. And that’s just fine with some people who live and spend time there. The […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
The state of the neighborhoods
In this year’s November election, Rochester voters will choose the people who will manage the city and its schools for the next four years: the mayor, five of the nine members of City Council, and three of the seven members of the school board. But because voter registration and turnout in the city is so […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Results mixed for neighborhood revival program
The City of Rochester’s Focused Investment program has made visible, tangible changes in its target neighborhoods, but the gains are fragile, and significant challenges remain, says a recently released evaluation of the city’s high-profile revitalization effort. And in addition to questions about the program’s accomplishments are questions about whether or not there is the money […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
City went too far regulating alcohol sales
A regulation to help protect Rochester neighborhoods from the trouble sometimes associated with corner stores has been repealed because the city did not have the authority to implement it. For the past three or four years, the City of Rochester regulated retail operations that sell alcohol, tobacco or tobacco paraphernalia, lottery tickets, or firearms, considering […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Home values up in Highland, Swillburg
Rising property values can be a sign of a healthy neighborhood. Unfortunately, they can also mean a higher tax bill. Preliminary data from Rochester’s ongoing citywide reassessment shows that property values are rising in some neighborhoods, including Highland, Swillburg, Browncroft, Upper Mount Hope, Neighborhood of the Arts, and Beechwood. “You can almost tell: Where [are] […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Feedback 9/9
We welcome your comments. Send them to themail@rochester-citynews.com, or post them on our website, rochestercitynewspaper.com, our Facebook page, or our Twitter feed, @roccitynews. Comments of fewer than 350 words have a greater chance of being published, and we do edit selections for publication in print. We don’t publish comments sent to other media. Rochester lacks […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Foreclosures continue to hurt Rochester neighborhoods
For some time now, government reports have painted a fairly upbeat picture about the winding down of the foreclosure crisis and the rebound of the real estate market. But that’s taken from a national overview. An analysis from Empire Justice Center, “Eye of the Storm: Why the Threat of Foreclosure Damage Continues,” gives a sobering […]
Posted inSpecial Sections
CITY/COUNTY: Know your neighborhoods
Monroe County is about as diverse a community as you can find: a mid-size city, rural areas with orchards and farm markets, suburbs with 20th-century tract houses and shopping malls, and quaint, Victorian villages. The Genesee River and the Erie Canal bisect the county, more or less vertically and diagonally, so geology and history are […]
