A plan for Rochester

I have been rather fortunate to spend the last 9 days with my d.o.d. (AKA. dear ol' dad). We had a bunch of fun mini-adventures, both to Finger Lakes wineries (good Rieslings and Gewurtz), Toronto, Niagara Falls (did I mention the heart shaped bathtub in our room???) and last, but not least, Rochester. We had a delightfully delicious dinner last night at Lento, my favorite restaurant here in the Roc, complete with a delicious carrot cake ice cream sandwich. It has been so wonderful to have him here, because it prevented me from hating Rochester, especially in comparison to beautiful Banff, Canada. Together, we have been discussing the merits and faults of Rochester from a city-planning standpoint (he's a city planner) and a more objective 'compare-with-southern-california' kind of way. Here's what we came up with:

1) Rochester does not lack for historical buildings. Too bad most of them are empty. Architecturally, the city has a lot to offer, and in the case of its revitalization, has a lot of potential for growth and redevelopment. The current problem is that those historical buildings are deserted, and in order for the city to change and develop, developers need to come in and invest in these buildings and neighborhoods, rather than build parking lots. That leads us to #2.

2) Rochester has too many parking lots. One can only imagine how many historic buildings have been destroyed to create sad badly-paved parking lots that only derive their income from daily/monthly parked cars. On the weekends, the parking lots are deserted-homes for questionably dubious people, such as vagrants and the homeless. I wonder if the city could buy back some of these lots and use them to create green spaces, small parks, new buildings, or housing. On to #3.

3) Downtown Rochester sucks. If you visit any of the other suburbs, their downtowns are cutesy and quaint, with refurbished buildings, and Ben & Jerry's, and funky colors, and blah blah blah. But Downtown Rochester sucks. Why? Because NO ONE lives here. Except me, and a couple of other students in the Chestnut Apartment thingeys. One of the major planning blunders of the 20th century is a lack of housing in the downtown- when people live downtown (Boston!!! NYC!!!!), businesses grow and thrive to fit the need. When downtown cities are built entirely of businesses, the downtown has no weekend or night scene, and will therefore not attract a wide range of clientele. The best combination is to have businesses and housing, working together in a mixed-use environment. What Rochester planners could do is to expand the housing in my area, while also encouraging retail development in the neighborhood. The mall should either be demolished or replanned. Housing? New developments? Larger retail, like Wegmans? If we had one large retail investment, like Wegman's, in the downtown, the clientele would certainly change.

4) The suburbs of Rochester are doing well economically, but have sucked the life out of the city. As more and more people move away from the downtown, the less interest people have in the city of Rochester. The best retail is in the suburbs (Victor! Pittsford!) and the challenge for the city is to bring people back into the city, to live and play.

5) Kodak crashed. Rochester has long been dependent on the Kodak company, which is unfortunate, since the company has majorly failed. Since the entire economy of the city depended on Kodak, the company's demise negatively affected the city in a very direct and long-lasting way. (Kodak failed recently because of its reticence to join the digital wave, about 15-20 years ago. It has been struggling to catch up ever since, and the slow decline of traditional photography hasn't helped either.) What Rochester needed was to be independent of Kodak, so that the city wasn't inextricably intertwined with one company, which is always dangerous.

6) City Planners in Rochester need to make a clear plan for the city's future: What do we want Rochester to look like in 10-20-30 years? How can we make that a possibility? How can we revitalize the downtown? How can we lure more upscale businesses into the area? How can we bring more people into the area? These are questions I'd like to see answered and addressed.

On the bright side:

1) Rochester has some great buildings.

2) Rochester has some beautiful natural opportunities: the river, the falls, an abundance of green foliage in the summer and spring.

3) Rochester has some great culinary and wine opportunities: some great restaurants, the Finger lakes wines, and an array of local farms can bring local, fresh, and organic produce to the forefront. Could the area have a culinary school? Maybe.

4) Rochester has some really committed neighborhoods: the Artwalk area, South Wedge, and other communities come together to create public art, farmer's markets, and other community building endeavors. Maybe we can have some more?

5) The university is a source of major publicity and press for the city, as is the george eastman house. Maybe these two organizations can make more of an effort to be involved in the community, and garner more support for the arts.

These are just a few of my observations, and I'll put some pictures up soon, once I attach my camera to my computer...