Thursday, January 25, 2007

Why Don't We Ever Hear the Postives About RCSD?

As I've said in previous blog entries, I'm sick and tired of hearing how you have to move out of the City when you have children. The schools are so awful, your child won't stand a chance! He or she will become a drug dealer by third grade. The high schools are war zones! I can sum all of this up in one word: BULLSHIT! It is simply not true. Not only is Wilson the top-rated high school in this region, it's among the top 30 nationwide. Wilson offers the International Baccalaureate program which is recognized worldwide as the most rigorous education program available. Through my college years, I had the pleasure of meeting numerous people from all over the world who were graduates of the IB program. You would think with my lofty Pittsford education, I would have been well prepared to match their intellects. You would be wrong. I know I want my child to be educated in such a world-renowned program.

If your child can't get into Wilson, but has a penchant for the arts, don't fret - send him or her to School of the Arts. Unlike in the suburbs, where the arts are the first to get cut; here in the City, we have an entire school devoted to the arts. The education program here is so vastly superior to what is found in the suburbs that there are actually suburban students who make a reverse-commute of sorts to attend SOTA. There are countless opportunities for City students throughout the district to interact with the private sector through internships, co-ops, and classes that are actually taught by successful corporate leaders. There are many positive things happening in the City School District. You just don't hear about them.

Sadly, and I know I'm going to catch a lot of flack for this, but I think those that choose to leave the City when they have children or when those children reach school age do so for other, less Christian, reasons. I think the fact of the matter is that these folks, typically young white suburban-educated couples, do so because they don't want their child to be a minority. They know deep down that it can be much more difficult to get by as a minority in this country and they do not want their children to ever feel "different". They do not want their child to be treated the way they know whites treat minorities. I know it's politically-incorrect to suggest that racism is part of the equation. But it is and there is simply no denying it. When I dare say this, I often hear: "well, Irondequoit is very diverse" or "Fairport has a large urban-suburban program". Okay, wow, so 5% of the student body is non-white? Get real!

Anyways, I'm getting sidetracked. I wanted to point out a story that aired on WROC-TV (Channel 8) last night that provides further proof that the Rochester City School District is a fine place to educate your child. The text of the story follows this paragraph, or you can
follow this link to the video. This raises a number of questions in my mind. Why the heck isn't this front-page news in the D&C or being discussed on any other media outlet? Why do we only hear about the bad news when it comes to our City schools? Is it because the media wants to perpetuate the stereotype? Is there a hidden agenda to keep our City down? Probably, but I won't go so far as to say so. I'll leave that up to my some of my more liberal readers.

Rochester teachers are making the grade

Five Rochester teachers have earned national board certification, joining 28 others recognized as among the nation's top educators. We caught up with reading intervention teacher Roxane Gifaldi, of Roberto Clemente School Number 8 today.

"And it did take me two years, but I'm so glad that Charlie Hoff from #9 school called me on January 27th of last year and said just before the deadline. Come on Roxanne you can do it, do the retake, it'll be great," says Gifaldi.

Rochester has more nationally certified teachers than Monroe County's 18 suburban school districts combined. Rochester also has significantly more nationally certified teachers than the state's other large urban districts outside of New York City.

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Where is Our State Office Building?

Quiz time ladies and gentlemen! Can you name the one and only major Upstate New York city that does not have a downtown State Office Building? If you guessed Albany, well, you're an idiot. Buffalo? Nope, until recently they had two. Syracuse? They still have multiple buildings. Watertown? Utica? Binghamton? Nope, in fact, the tallest building in all three cities is, respectively, a State Office Building. Schenectady? Sorry but no, that city is home to one of the newer downtown State Office Buildings. Ithaca? Elmira? Jamestown? Maybe, but are they really major cities? I think not.

Sadly, I'm referring to our beloved Rochester. The biggest city that no one has ever heard of has been physically neglected for years by state government as well. Granted, we have numerous state offices all over town, many of which are found in a number of downtown buildings. But we have no central "State Office Building" unlike our peers across this state. We had the perfect opportunity to build one a few years ago when a fire at our regional NYSDOT office building on Jefferson Road in Henrietta forced most of the building to be emptied. However, in our infinite wisdom, we did not pressure the State to consider relocating the offices to downtown. Now, the Henrietta building has been completely refurbished and NYSDOT is operating in it at full capacity.

This missed opportunity need not be the end of this pursuit. The land on which I envision our new Rochester State Office Building being constructed is still available; bounded by Plymouth Avenue, West Main Street, and West Broad Street. It is the former home of the glamorous Hotel Rochester and is now home to a very unglamorous gravel-strewn parking lot. It sits directly across Plymouth Avenue from another gravel-strewn parking lot that was once home to a number of more useful properties. I envision that lot to be a new public square with a sculpture and/or water feature to pay homage to the Erie Canal that once flowed along its southern edge. Kitty-corner across Main Street from the building's future site is yet another surface parking lot, albeit a paved one. At this site, I envision a new parking structure to replace the spaces lost by these redevelopments. The new garage would have retail on the first floor and a residential component to screen the garage structure from pedestrians strolling the Plymouth Avenue Greenway.

Across Broad Street would be the home of the Rochester Institute of Art & Design, relocated from RIT's Henrietta campus. For more details on that, check out my post from many months ago on the subject. All of this combined would breathe considerable new life into the "West End." While it may seem like a pipe dream, the reality is that each and every one of these developments is very doable. It will take the City, County, and State, as well as private partners such as RIT and the current landowner (Peter Formicola), working in concert; but we can make this, or something similar, happen. The linchpin in bringing this vision to fruition is securing approval for the new State Office Building. We have let one opportunity pass us by recently, let's not miss out on what could be the last one for years to come.

That new opportunity is known as Governor Eliot Spitzer. I'm sure our new Governor understands the value of having all State offices located in downtown Rochester, not only for the economic jumpstart it would surely create, but for the ease of information sharing between local and federal offices that are mostly located in the downtown area. I'm sure he would be impressed with the plans for the lands surrounding the proposed building, and I'm sure he would be willing to investigate the feasibility of consolidating the NYSDOT and NYSDEC (currently in Avon) offices, plus additional ones, into a modest but attractive mid-rise structure here at the heart of downtown Rochester. Governor Spitzer, let us be the symbol for your new administration and the embodiment of your vision for a better upstate.

Friday, January 05, 2007

Say No to Wegmans at Midtown

By now you've seen or heard about the consultant's report regarding the condition of Midtown Plaza and the costs related to its rehabilitation or demolition. Likewise, you've probably already formed an opinion regarding the "Made in Italy" Italian marketplace proposed for 400,000 square feet of existing Midtown space. Synthesizing the two, many of you have begun thinking about what should happen to the enormous facility. Perusing the Democrat & Chronicle's public forum, you find a wealth of ideas on the subject. Tear it down and put in a large park. Convert it to housing and hotel space. Build the mid-sized theatre there (yeah, that was me). Ikea. Crate & Barrel. Free parking. Wegmans.

That last one makes me wince. Why, oh why is everyone so infatuated with Wegmans? Sure, they're a local success story. Yeah, they're the "best" upscale grocery store in the nation. True, the Pittsford store is a magnet for shoppers and unimaginative tourists. But what has Wegmans done for the City of Rochester that should prompt our elected officials to bend over backwards for them? Let's check the scorecard. Wegmans used to be a neigborhood supermarket. At one time, there were at least five (and probably more) Wegmans stores in the limits of the City of Rochester (Mt Hope, Bay, Driving Park, Culver, and East). Now, there are two (East and Driving Park). The most recent store closing on Mt Hope caused a lot of pain for that neighborhood. I have already blogged on this subject in the past, so I won't belabor it here. I will note however, that the late Robert Wegman issued the following quote after having trouble siting a new store on Elmwood Avenue in the City and a new store in Henrietta, while being welcomed with open arms in Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, and Virginia:

“Our treatment in those areas is so much different than our treatment in Rochester that if you had a choice, you would say, ‘Why struggle the way we have to in Rochester to get the zoning or the opportunity to replace a store or even sometimes to enlarge a store?'' Wegman said.

That's a great way to show how much you care about the local community and its people. If they don't like our bland design and enormous parking lots, then they don't deserve our store! And now some folks out there want to knock down Midtown and replace it with a Wegmans????? Those who share this opinion should drive to downtown Auburn, NY to see how well a Wegmans fits into a downtown. It's embarrassing. If Wegmans can't figure out that their East Avenue store can be expanded without knocking down the historic buildings there by adding underground parking, then I can only imagine what they would do to a site at Main & Clinton.

Besides, Wegmans has already closed a store that was perfect for downtown. They have no interest in serving urban-minded people. If they did, surely they would already have a midtown Manhattan location. Don't get me wrong, if Wegmans wanted to change their ways or develop a new format store that would be proper for an urban downtown location, I would certainly support working with them to establish such a store in downtown Rochester. But the fact of the matter is that Wegmans has been nothing but a headache for the City of Rochester, and they do not deserve the red carpet treatment some are calling for.