rise up Rochester

It amazes me that the Renaissance Square project isn’t dead yet. I can’t believe that we are still debating this when most people you ask think it’s a terrible idea. Rochester has had it’s share of terrible redevelopment projects. We certainly should understand by now that throwing money at the problem isn’t going to make our city the crown jewel that it once was. Therefore it amazes me that people seem to think that it makes a difference where that money comes from. While a recent City Newspaper opinion article by Mary Anna Towler had some good thoughts to interject into this discussion, I was amazed to read:

Then there’s the massive amount of federal money that’s been promised for the project. If we don’t build Ren Square, we won’t get that money.

If the idea is doomed to fail, it doesn’t matter where the money came from. We would just have an even larger mess on our hands. Later in the article Towler admits:

Far too many questions about Ren Square remain. What do we gain by moving MCC’s downtown campus one block west? What do we gain by moving the Rochester Broadway Theater League out of the Auditorium Theatre? In both cases, we’ll be removing major tenants from historic buildings.

So the way I see it, if we take the money and the Renaissance Square succeeds, then we still may have two empty historic buildings to deal with. If it fails however, we may wind up with two empty historic buildings and one empty state-of-the-art building. Either way, it doesn’t really matter where the money comes from if it creates more problems than it solves.

However, after reading this article a second time I realized that something else was going on. It was a case of hopeing that enough weak arguments for Renaissance Square would together become a strong argument. Let me start from the top:

Ren Square is located on one of the most important blocks of downtown Rochester, and much of that block has become pretty seedy. We can argue about whether the block’s deterioration was caused, in part, by the slow pace of the Ren Square planning. In effect, Ren Square has held the block hostage. The fact is, though, something needs to happen on that block.

It is absolutely preposterous to believe that the planning stages of RenSquare have lead to the deterioration of that block, not to mention held it hostage. The block has been empty for years. It is an extremely weak argument to say that since “something needs to happen on that block” that we must do the only idea that has been put forth seriously.

The supporters I’ve talked with think that Ren Square – even without a theater – would be an improvement over what’s there.

Hey, anything would be an improvement over what’s there! Why must it cost hundreds of millions of dollars that we don’t have? How about a dog park? An indoor bicycle track? A public swimming pool? I could probably think of hundreds of things that “would be an improvement over what’s there” that wouldn’t cost a fraction of the total of this project.

One concern is the impact that block has on tourism and conventions. It doesn’t make a good impression on visitors – day or night.

Give some credit where it’s due! Big Picture Rochester has done a wonderful job placing photos throughout our city to create “the worlds largest outdoor photo gallery”. Of their works downtown, one of them is located on that block and is a huge photo of a bicycle race. Some of their other photos are located right across the street along the Midtown complex. They have even more photos planned for the area that will be popping up in the coming months and years.

The Ren Square block also has a depressing effect on neighboring properties. Fix it up, the supporters say, and it will spur development nearby.

Again, there is a huge difference between ‘fixing it up’ and tearing it down to build a multi-million dollar complex. We need to think about projects that are appropriate in scale.

Interest in downtown housing is already strong, and with Paetec and ESL bringing more than a thousand employees downtown, that demand likely will grow. And the high price of gas won’t hurt. A college, a theater, and a bus station at Ren Square, the supporters say, could create interest in housing just north of the project.

And, one supporter suggests, with a successful Ren Square, the Clarion Hotel site would become enormously attractive – as a tear-down to make way for riverside housing.

Actually, the high price of gas doesn’t help anyone. It has already lowered our standard of living and threatens to strangle our economy. Also, the order is also wrong here. Housing needs to be the first priority in redevelopment plans, not an afterthought. If people begin to live downtown because new housing is being constructed, then developers will see less risk in taking on these projects and others. Also, doesn’t betting that the construction of RenSquare will have this kind of chain-reaction take speculation a little too far? I heard all kinds of arguments like this with the fast ferry as well.

Then there’s the massive amount of federal money that’s been promised for the project. If we don’t build Ren Square, we won’t get that money.

I already commented on this passage earlier, but it bares repeating. If we use state or federal money to build something that doesn’t work, then how far ahead are we really? By not building, how have we lost out exactly?

Towler concludes with an excellent set of rhetorical questions that really sum up most of my feelings on this subject:

Is a downtown bus station the biggest need of local bus riders? Is it the best use of the transit authority’s – and the federal government’s – money? Given the escalating cost of construction materials, can we get a decent complex for the $230 million cap that Ren Square officials have set?

And a big question, which, to my amazement, the Ren Square folks keep kicking off into the future: How much will it cost to operate this thing? Who will pay those costs?

All of those questions are important. And the push for Ren Square continues despite the lack of answers.

But for Ren Square critics like me, the project’s supporters have their own question: If not Ren Square, what?

One commenter on the City Newspaper website suggested that www.fixrensquare.org had the answer to the final question, so in anticipation I headed there. I was impressed to find a comprehensive alternative plan so I intend to comment on their ideas in a future post. As for now, when thinking about RenSquare, please consider whether it’s truely a great idea or the only idea on the table right now.