Ok, so by now you’ve heard all the commotion happening up near the port at Charlotte. The City of Rochester has two development proposals – one with 200 rental apartments, and one with 120 for-sale condos and 50 townhomes. Both would have retail and other mixed use space. But the BIG difference, one looks like Cornhill Landing, while the other would have—deep breath—tall buildings…
The last remnants of Rochester’s third New York Central Railroad Station, designed by noted architect Claude Bragdon, were demolished almost forty years ago. Now a team of researchers at the University of Rochester is seeking assistance from the local community to help restore the station’s memory…
Well, it’s time to celebrate. Rochester has just won the 2014 Streetsblog USA Parking Madness tournament . To outsiders, Rochester is a Cinderella story (who in the world would have picked us to beat out Detroit in the second round?). But anyone who reads this blog is probably not surprised. We’ve been fighting the parking madness mindset on these pages for years. It’s just that now, the national blogosphere knows about Rochester’s dirty little parking problems. Our asphalt is hanging out there for the world to see.
How embarrassing. Right? Some people have asked, “Why would we want to win such a negative contest? Doesn’t this paint Rochester in a bad light?” Now the man who nominated Rochester, Matthew Denker, explains why he did…
A group of concerned parents and teachers from the Rochester City School District is seeking to open a new kind of elementary school. Their idea is to build on the success of School Of The Arts (SOTA) by offering a similar interdisciplinary curriculum in the K–6 grade levels; a curriculum that is “rich in creative expression” and with a greater focus on the individual child.
Their proposal is being called Vision Quest Community School and the group will make a presentation to Superintendent Vargas on April 21…
It’s March madness, PARKING madness, or just plain MADNESS indeed. We’ve discussed Rochester’s parking problem at length here on RocSubway. Now, all of our hard work— demolishing our city and building parking lots—is paying off. Rochester has worked its way into Streetsblog’s nationwide Parking Madness tournament . Which of these 16 cities has the absolute worst urban parking crater? Readers from around the country will decide.
Take a look at what our downtown has become over the years. From a densely packed and vibrant town square, to the giant parking crater we have today.
Last week we annihilated Miami to earn a spot in the “elite eight.” In this latest round Rochester closed a sizable gap against Detroit, and it now looks like we may beat the Motor City. But there are still a few hours left, so vote now . And tell your buddies… We’re #1!
The other day my three-year-old was shooting video of his stuffed animals with his big sister’s iPad, and a wave of nostalgia crashed over me. I suddenly realized my kids will probably never get to experience joy of film photography. They’ll never understand the thrill of loading a fresh roll into the back of a camera. They’ll never feel those mechanical clicks and vibrations of the film advancing to the next frame. And they’ll never know the excitement of getting a stack of pictures back from the developer.
How would I even explain this antique technology to them? I know, I’ll Google it. Hey what do you know, here’s an old manual for the Kodak Brownie Camera (No. 2)…
Fellow Rochesterians, lend me your ears. I recently visited the reasonably pleasant city of Portland, OR. While I was there, I couldn’t help but notice a rather cleverly decorated, midcentury modern building. It was this one, actually…
A RocSubway reader is looking to sell this old Rochester “Wheeler Dealer” board game ($50). Wheeler Dealer is a game of two parts. First, players travel the world while buying, selling, bargaining and trading products. In part two those products are sold back to the bank or auctioned to the highest bidder. Licensed versions of the game were produced for many cities around the world in the 1980s, including this one for Rochester…
The Honeoye Falls Community Association says they have filed an Article 78 Petition to invalidate the February 17th code change allowing drive-through restaurants in the General Commercial District.
A similar petition was submitted in November 2013 to invalidate an identical code change passed in October 2013. In response to the first petition, the Board of Trustees rescinded the code change in December 2013. The Board then passed the code change again on February 17th, 2014…
Friday, March 18, 1910. 1:55 P.M. – President Taft, on his way to Rochester from Chicago, makes a quick stop in Buffalo. He steps off the train to greet an exclusive few; the leaders of Buffalo, including their recently elected mayor, Mr. Louis P. Fuhrmann (an avid baseball fan), some newspaper reporters, Mr. George Dietrich, the Chamber of Commerce President of Rochester, and last but not least, Rochester Mayor Hiram H. Edgerton. After a few minutes of smiles and handshakes, Taft who was reportedly exhausted from his stay in Chicago, is ready to get back on the train car where he can sit, and (hopefully leisurely) talk to some new faces, Mr. Dietrich and Mayor Edgerton…
Winter, spring, summer and fall, Rochester is loaded with fun things to do and see …festivals, shopping, entertainment, art and culture. Our city is consistently ranked highly on national “quality of life” lists. We’ve got exciting neighborhoods. Great people. And great old homes – at crazy affordable prices.
This is the first entry in a new series for anyone looking to move into the area, or anyone who may be growing tired of renting. RochesterSubway.com has teamed up with realtor Rich Tysonwill happily team up with ANY realtor or homeowner to highlight home buying opportunities in the City of Rochester.
Let’s check out 26 Marion Street in the very walkable North Winton Village…
On Monday we had some fun climbing to the top of Midtown Tower. Today we can have some more fun with Midtown. The City of Rochester is asking the public to name the new street and plaza being built at the Midtown site…
The latest Midtown renderings from Buckingham Properties are a promising sign of things to come. Still, it’s difficult to ignore this 18-story skeleton which has been looming over Rochester’s streets since 2011. When most people look up at this hulking mass of steel and concrete they see a blemish on the Rochester skyline. But for one urban explorer, this is a photo op.
The same anonymous photographer who took us inside Terrence Tower and the Sykes Datatronics building, climbed to the tippy top of midtown last week. He submitted this collection of photos and the following narrative…
Last week we looked at some photos of the Beebee Station power plant at High Falls. That post drew some comments about another interesting facility nearby which is sometimes confused with Beebee; the City’s old garbage incinerator plant on Falls Street .
Check out this great photo of the Powers Building from 1968. Notice the workmen up on the ledge of the Mansard roof. Down at street level a shiny new, streamlined façade as been awkwardly forced on top of this 1869 building…
I was saddened to learn last week about Rochester Gas and Electric Corp’s shortsighted proposal to demolish Beebee Station. If the plans are carried out, Rochester will have a tremendous hole at the center of the city: High Falls. What is most important to realize is that there is another, alternative way forward…
Imagine you are the new owner of a giant, underutilized parking lot*. What would you do with it? Would you leave it as is? Tear out the pavement and start a community garden? What if there was an apartment building next to it. Would you tear it down and build a skyscraper? These are all excellent ideas. We here at filling in solicited input from a variety of fellow RochesterSubway.com contributors, and it’s clear that we all have different ideas about what to do…
*Disclaimer – I am a new part owner of a giant, underutilized parking lot. This one, in fact.
The Rochesterian has blogged several times about the need to create a link between Frontier Field and Sahlen’s Stadium… and how Rochester needs someone like Buffalo Sabres owner Terry Pegula to invest in a Harbor Center type of development centered around Rochester’s sports arenas. I don’t disagree. Rochester’s stadiums (and the neighborhoods around them) could, and should be a much bigger draw.
Last April a local businessman named Jerry DeCarolis sent me a concept plan he put together called “Stadiumville.” I was impressed. But this plan was so ambitious, and so broad-sweeping, I wasn’t quite sure how seriously to take it. And so I ended up sitting on the document – until now…
If you’re a true Rochesterian you’ve probably taken many trips to Donuts Delite. And if you’ve sat in the dining room (and looked down past your doughnut-filled belly) you may have noticed a cute little milkmaid hauling her yoke and buckets full of milk across the floor.
I was curious to know how she got there and what her significance was. Of course I know milk is an ingredient in doughnuts, but it just seemed like an odd symbol to be used to represent doughnuts. There must be a story behind it…
Here’s a neat little collection of Rochester memorabilia. Matchbooks! Remember when you could buy cigarettes out of a vending machine like soda pop, and just about every business had it’s own matchbooks? Ah, those were the days * COUGH * COUGH * WEEZE * EHK! EHK! HEM… HEEEM!
These were sent to me by a reader. He says he’s not a smoker, but he’s collected them since he was a kid. And now he’d like to sell them. So if you’re interested in local oddities like this, drop me an email and we’ll hook you up with one… or the entire set.
Some of the matchbooks date from the late 1950s and early 1960s. But we think most of them are 1970s & 80s. Check them out for yourself. If you’ve lived in Rochester for any length of time you’ll probably recognize most of these businesses…
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After the Erie Canal was rerouted south of downtown Rochester, the Rochester
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![Rochester faces off against Detroit today in Streetsblog's Parking Madness tourney. [IMAGE: usa.streetsblog.org]](http://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/parking_madness_2014_11.jpg)
![Picture taking with the Brownie camera no. 2. Published 1918 by Canadian Kodak Co. [SOURCE: OpenLibrary.org]](http://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/kodak-brownie-camera-manual-_Page_01.jpg)
![A building in Portland, Oregon. [IMAGE: Google Streetview]](http://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/79-north-clinton-01.jpg)
![Wheeler Dealer board game, Rochester edition. c1980. [PHOTO: Laurie Dirkx]](http://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/rochester-wheeler-dealer-board-game-01.jpg)
![Rochester's Mayor Hiram Edgerton inspecting a baseball at the opening game, May 7, 1912. [PHOTO: Albert R. Stone]](http://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/history-of-the-first-pitch-rochester-01.jpg)
![26 Marion Street in North Winton Village. 3 Bedroom, 1.5 Bathroom, Completely Updated Kitchen with tons of charm listed at $99,900. [IMAGE: Realty USA]](http://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/rochester-home-for-sale-26-marion-street-01.jpg)
![The City of Rochester is asking the public to name the new street and plaza at the Midtown site. [PHOTO: Earthcam.com]](http://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/rochester-midtown-plaza-2014-03-11.jpg)
![The Garbage Incinerator at High Falls, Rochester. [PHOTO: Robert Cunningham]](http://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/rochester-garbage-incinerator-plant-00.jpg)
![The Powers Building at Main & State Streets, 1968. [PHOTO: Winters, via Library of Congress]](http://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/powers-building-rochester-1968.jpg)
![RG&E Beebee Station [PHOTO: RochesterSubway.com]](http://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/rge-beebee-station-rochester-00.jpg)
![Matthew Denker ponders the possibilities at his new property at 93 Marsh Street. [IMAGE: Google Streetview]](http://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/filling-in-marsh-street-01.jpg)
![An Art-Deco style milkmaid is depicted in the floor of Donuts Delite, Rochester NY. [PHOTO: RochesterSubway.com]](http://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/donuts-delite-milkmaid-rochester.jpg)
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