A recent story in the City Newspaper, “Glamming Rochester’s Gateways” 
One letter
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Archive: ‘Rochester News’...
Think Before You Defend Rochester’s Inner Noose
Tuesday, July 20th, 2010Tags: Alaskan Way, Buffalo, City Newspaper, downtown Rochester, FDR Drive, highway, highways, I-490, infrastructure, Inner Loop, James R. Boehler, Kensington Expressway, New York, Rochester, Rochester NY, Seattle, transportation
Posted in Opinion, Rochester News, Transit + Infrastructure, Urban Development | 3 Comments »
Happy Independence Day!! Err, wait, are you legal?
Sunday, July 4th, 2010On this July 4th weekend I thought it fitting to share a stunning factoid with you: the Border Patrol station in Rochester, N.Y. apprehended more than 1,200 people who did not qualify to be in the United States in 2007…
Tags: Amtrak, Border Patrol, Canada, Fourth of July, immigration, Independence Day, July 4th, New York, Rochester, Rochester Amtrak Station, Rochester NY, transit, United States of America (U.S.)
Posted in Rochester News, Transit + Infrastructure | No Comments »
Worst Public Speaker EVER Award, Goes to Me
Tuesday, June 15th, 2010
Tonight was the City Council’s final public hearing and vote on whether or not to release a portion of Mortimer Street (in the heart of downtown Rochester) to the transit authority to build a 26-bay bus terminal. I used the opportunity not to denounce the bus terminal but more so to point out that the City of Rochester has no transportation plan. Also to sharpen my pubic speaking skills, which, after tonight I realize can only get better. I stumbled, I was shakey, I lost my place several times, and my mouth was so dry my tongue kept making this annoying clicking sound with every syllable. But, I delivered my message and that’s what counts. Anyway, here is the text of my statement:
Tags: bus station, bus terminal, Genesee Transportation Council, Mortimer Street, New York, Rochester, Rochester City Council, Rochester Genesee Regional Transportation Authority (RGRTA), Rochester NY
Posted in Opinion, Rochester News, Transit + Infrastructure | 7 Comments »
RGRTA Declares Itself King.
Wednesday, June 9th, 2010
According to an article
Let’s be honest, this is more than just a project…
Tags: bus station, bus terminal, Genesee Transportation Council, Mortimer Street, New York, Rochester, Rochester City Council, Rochester Genesee Regional Transportation Authority (RGRTA), Rochester NY
Posted in Opinion, Rochester News, Transit + Infrastructure | 24 Comments »
21 Stories for Scouts
Friday, May 21st, 2010
If you happened to pass by Main Street on Friday afternoon you would have seen crowds of downtown workers staring up at the sky. That’s because more than 70 members of the local business community were dangling from the First Federal Building as part of a fundraiser organized by the Seneca Waterways Council of the Boy Scouts of America.
Participants each raised $1,000 to earn themselves the opportunity to rappel down the exterior of the 21-story, “flying saucer” capped building at 28 East Main Street. Proceeds will be used to support urban programs of the Boy Scouts.
Tags: Boy Scouts of America, Del Newquist, downtown Rochester, First Federal Plaza, flying saucer building, fundraiser, Main Street, New York, Over the Edge, Paul Baker, Rochester, Rochester NY, Seneca Waterways Council
Posted in Events, Rochester News | 1 Comment »
Councilmember Carolee Conklin: “No” to Bus Terminal
Sunday, May 16th, 2010
Last week members of City Council voted 8 to 1 in favor of a resolution supporting a new RGRTA bus station on Mortimer Street. The single vote against the plan came from Councilmember Carolee Conklin, who said the plan is “a 19th Century solution to a 21st Century problem.” RochesterSubway.com has obtained the following memo from Conklin to Mayor Duffy. In it she explains in detail why she is opposed to RGRTA’s proposal…
Tags: Adam McFadden, bus terminal, Carolee Conklin, city council, Clinton Avenue, hub-and-spoke system, Jackie Ortiz, Main Street, Matt Haag, Mortimer Street, Rochester Genesee Regional Transportation Authority (RGRTA)
Posted in Rochester News, Transit + Infrastructure, Urban Development | 8 Comments »
RGRTA’s Transit Center as seen from ‘A Town Square’
Tuesday, May 4th, 2010Howard Decker is new to Rochester. He moved here last Fall after spending much of his professional life designing transit systems from Chicago to Houston to Washington DC. He is a lifelong historic preservationist, an FAIA, architect, urban designer, and former Chief Curator of the National Building Museum. As a self-proclaimed “transit-geek” he is now spending time familiarizing himself with, and blogging about Rochester and working with groups such as the RRCDC and Reconnect Rochester
Buses and Subways and Trains, Oh My
A Town Square (May 4, 2010) — Our home place here is in the midst of considering a change to its transit system. As usual, Rochester is the perfect case study of how cities can screw themselves up with the greatest of ease. My newly adopted city, like so many of its sister places, has made a vast litany of urban gaffes over the last century, and we are about to see yet another. Let me explain.
In the early 20th century, Rochester had a system of streetcars and interurbans and even a subway, all of which provided transit options to citizens. In those days, say the 1920s, the population of the city was quite a bit larger than today, though the region was much smaller – sprawl was only just getting started.
By the mid 1950s, everything was gone. Streetcars gone. Interurbans gone. Subway gone. Left on the roads? Cars, and buses. Retail was headed out of town, following all those who began to sprawl. Downtown’s fate was sealed…
Tags: A Town Square, bus station, bus terminal, downtown Rochester, Howard Decker, New York, Reconnect Rochester, Rochester, Rochester Genesee Regional Transportation Authority (RGRTA), Rochester history, Rochester NY, Rochester Regional Community Design Center, RRCDC, streetcars, transportation, transportation center
Posted in Opinion, Rochester History, Rochester News, Transit + Infrastructure | No Comments »
More Discussion with WHAM 13’s Evan Dawson on the Cost of High Speed Rail
Friday, April 16th, 2010
Yesterday I wrote to Evan Dawson from WHAM News 13 in an effort to find out why he chose to compare HSR to the Rochester/Toronto fast ferry in his recent article, High Speed Rail: Fast Forward, Not Fast Ferry… Right?
Tags: Amtrak, economic stimulus, Evan Dawson, Fast Ferry, federal stimulus money, Greyhound, high speed rail, New York, Ray LaHood, Rep. Louise Slaughter, Rochester, Rochester Amtrak Station, Rochester NY, Trailways, WHAM
Posted in Opinion, Rochester News, Transit + Infrastructure | 1 Comment »
WHAM 13’s Evan Dawson: High Speed Rail = Fast Ferry
Thursday, April 15th, 2010
Last Friday (April 9, 2010) Louise Slaughter held a press conference at Rochester’s Amtrak Station along with Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to officially announce the arrival of High Speed Rail to Western NY. In addition to the track improvements made possible by $151 million in federal stimulus money, Slaughter said Rochester’s outdated Amtrak station will receive modest updates to the building and platform. She also announced that Amtrak, Greyhound, and Trailways (who were in attendance) were committed to building a new multimodal station as a separate project. Also in attendance was WHAM 13’s Evan Dawson [edawson@13wham.com]. Dawson asked some tough questions. For example, “Who will subsidize the project?” Good one Dawson. Hey, does WHAM have any openings? I’d like to apply.
So this past Monday Dawson posted his commentary, High Speed Rail: Fast Forward, Not Fast Ferry… Right?
While I applaud Dawson’s quest to find answers to certain outstanding questions, I take issue with his use of metaphor. And since WHAM doesn’t allow user comments on their site anymore, I had to send him this email in order to let him know how I felt…
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Tags: Amtrak, economic stimulus, Evan Dawson, Fast Ferry, federal stimulus money, Greyhound, high speed rail, New York, Ray LaHood, Rep. Louise Slaughter, Rochester, Rochester Amtrak Station, Rochester NY, Trailways, WHAM
Posted in Opinion, Rochester News, Transit + Infrastructure | 8 Comments »
RochesterSubway.com Quoted In Today’s Democrat & Chronicle
Sunday, April 4th, 2010
Today’s Easter Sunday edition of the Democrat and Chronicle featured fairly extensive coverage of the Broad Street Improvement Project and future plans for the subway tunnel. Three articles and a short video dominated the print and online versions of the Local section and gave RochesterSubway.com and ReconnectRochester.org some much appreciated press. The story below is from the D&C and includes comments from myself (Mike Governale of RochesterSubway.com) and Tom Grasso, who’s canal rewatering plan will likely wash away any chance of ever using the old subway tunnel as a rail corridor again…
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Tags: abandoned subway tunnel, Brian Sharp, Broad Street, Broad Street Tunnel Improvement Project, Democrat & Chronicle, Democrat and Chronicle, New York, Rochester, Rochester NY, Rochester Subway, subway, Tom Grasso
Posted in Rochester News, Rochester Subway | No Comments »
Graffiti: Rising Up From Rochester’s Underground
Friday, March 26th, 2010The story of the Rochester Subway is not complete without at least mentioning Rochester’s deep-rooted hip hop culture. If you’re less than familiar with Rochester, I assure you, this shizzle is fo’ real. The “Flower City” has street cred, and our abandoned subway tunnel has long been used as a canvas to show off some of our best underground talent…
Tags: abandoned subway tunnel, art, artist, Beyond Gotham, Cab Calloway, Carlos Perez, Chuck Mangione, Clifford Avenue, Day26, Dejilon Studios, Eastman School of Music, Evak FUA, Famous Urban Artists, Flower City, From Up Above, FUA, Garth Fagan, Ginuwine, Giovanni McClain, Graffiti, Graffiti Convention, hip hop, Jodeci, Juse One, Making the Band, Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott, New York, North Clinton Avenue, P-Diddy, Que Mosley, rapper, Rochester, Rochester NY, Tim "Timbaland" Mosley, Tupac Shakur
Posted in Interviews, Rochester News, Rochester Subway | 7 Comments »
Rochester Finally Shows Up
Monday, March 22nd, 2010
If you were at the Circulator Study Public Meeting tonight, THANK YOU! Turn out was good. It could’ve been even better… but there were plenty of people there asking questions and giving input and the room had a constant buzz. Even the media 
thought enough to make an appearance. There will be another public meeting in June/July to share the preliminary findings of the study so stay tuned and continue to share this story with friends and neighbors. We’ll need even more of you at the next meeting.
Tags: bike lanes, bike racks, Center City Circulator Study, City of Rochester, commuter survey, Erik Frisch, Inner Loop, public input, public meeting, Rochester, Rochester NY, RTS, shuttle bus, streetcar, transit, transportation
Posted in Events, Rochester News, Transit + Infrastructure | 4 Comments »
Monday 3/22 4-6pm… Let’s Show Up Rochester!
Friday, March 19th, 2010
The City has partnered with C&S Companies to analyze and make recommendations to enhance commuting, circulation, and parking in Downtown Rochester. Among the potential enhancements under consideration is a circulator transit service—a.k.a shuttle buses or streetcars. Listen carefully Rochester…
Tags: Center City Circulator Study, Center for Transportation Excellence, City of Rochester, EZ Rider, public meeting, Rochester, Rochester NY, shuttle bus, streetcar, transit, transportation
Posted in Events, Rochester News, Transit + Infrastructure | 2 Comments »
City of Rochester Squashes Subway Tunnel Excursion
Tuesday, March 16th, 2010
A few months ago two of my readers (I’ll call them Tim and Jeff) contacted me to find out if RochesterSubway.com gave tours of the abandoned subway tunnel. I explained that while I wasn’t in the business of giving tours, I would be happy to go down there with them when the weather warmed up. Tim and Jeff were both on board and I soon posted an “event” on the RochesterSubway.com Facebook page
Soon enough that little Facebook event had attracted 43 Yes’s and 55 “Maybe’s”. Oh shit!
Tags: abandoned subway tunnel, Christine, Facebook, New York, Rochester, Rochester NY, Rochester Police Department, Rochester Subway, Rochester Subway tunnel, RPD
Posted in Events, Rochester News, Rochester Subway | 12 Comments »
$510 Million No One Seems To Care About
Sunday, March 14th, 2010
Last Tuesday I attended a public presentation by the Genesee Transportation Council (GTC) to review their Draft 2011-2014 Transportation Improvement Program Project List
Tags: Genesee Transportation Council
Posted in Rochester News, Transit + Infrastructure | 1 Comment »
Roll Up Your Sleeves. Let’s Reconnect Rochester.
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010
Hopefully by now you’ve read Rochester’s Case for a Streetcar Line. If you haven’t, go read it. Go on, I’ll wait.
…Okay great, now here’s an update. Since that article, traffic to RochesterSubway.com has doubled, our Facebook fan club
Tags: Carlos Carballada, Carlos Mercado, Christopher Burns, DeWain Feller, Facebook, Howard Decker, Legend's Bar & Grille, Lou Gramm, New York, Reconnect Rochester, Rochester, Rochester NY, Rochester Streetcar, Rochester Trolley & Rail Corporation, RRTC, streetcars
Posted in Rochester News, Transit + Infrastructure | No Comments »
High-Speed Rail is a Necessity
Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010
A letter to the editor in this week’s City Newspaper caught my eye tonight. It echoes many thoughts that have been rattling around my own head since the feds announced $151 million in high-speed rail money for New York—but stated much more eloquently than I could ever wish to. The gist of the commentary is clear from the title, “High-Speed Rail is a Necessity”. But the real golden nugget… and the point I’d like to scream from the top of Xerox tower… was this: News of high-speed rail funds should have been hailed as a positive breakthrough for our region. Instead it drew an avalanche of skepticism and negativity—two ugly characteristics that have become hallmarks of this town and will ultimately hurt us all.
Here is the letter from Roger Brown, president of the Rochester Regional Community Design Center…
Tags: County Executive Maggie Brooks, Democrat and Chronicle, high speed rail, New York, Rochester, Rochester City Newspaper, Rochester NY, Rochester Regional Community Design Center, Roger Brown, RRCDC
Posted in Opinion, Rochester News, Transit + Infrastructure | 1 Comment »
Rochester’s Case for a Streetcar Line
Tuesday, February 16th, 2010
America seems to have taken a renewed interest in mobility. Maybe due to President Obama’s recent commitment to high speed rail—or perhaps the positive results seen in towns like Portland and Denver have caught our collective attention. Whatever the reason, from the top down, people are rethinking our automobile-oriented culture—and getting excited about the possibilities.
There’s also good reason to focus on transportation as a way of jump-starting economic development. Industry requires access to people. And people need to have easy access to centers of employment. Continually improving access makes further development possible. Interrupting access will have the opposite effect. Likewise, doing nothing or simply maintaining existing infrastructure for an extended period of time will also hinder development.
For 30+ years Rochester has relied on the infrastructure choices it made in the 1950’s, 60’s, and 70’s. At that time we made development choices that encouraged our population to emigrate from the downtown core. We scrapped our extensive streetcar system, choked off downtown with the construction of the inner-loop, and paved super highways to take us from the city to the NY State Thruway and beyond. Since then that’s exactly where our money, our workforce, and our future have gone—down I-490 and out of state.
Tags: 19th Ward neighborhood, Amtrak, B&L, bus, bus routes, Cornhill neighborhood, Denver, downtown Rochester, Eastman Theater, Fast Ferry, Federal Transit Administration (FTA), Greater Rochester International Airport, GRI Airport, hub-and-spoke system, infrastructure, Kenosha, Kodak Theater, light rail transit, light-rail, Main Street, Main Street Four Corners, Mark Aesch, mass transit, Midtown Plaza, Monroe County Civic Center, New York, Paetec, Park Ave neighborhood, Portland, public transportation, rail transit, Regional Transit Service (RTS), Riverside Convention Center, Rochester, Rochester Amtrak Station, Rochester Art Gallery, Rochester Genesee Regional Transportation Authority (RGRTA), Rochester Museums, Rochester NY, Rochester Regional Community Design Center, RRCDC, RTS, SAFETEA-LU, Seattle, Small Starts program, streetcar, streetcars, Tampa, transportation, trolley, U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), University of Rochester, urban planning, urban renewal, urban revitalization, War Memorial Arena, Xerox
Posted in Opinion, Rochester News, Transit + Infrastructure | 27 Comments »
Harry Davis asks Rochester City Council to Give Up Their Cars
Saturday, January 23rd, 2010
Some of you may remember our story on Harry Davis last September. At that time Harry was running a long-shot campaign for Rochester City Council. He didn’t win any of the 5 open council seats. But that didn’t discourage him. He turned right around and announced he’d be write-in candidate for Mayor in November. Mayor Duffy squashed that dream pretty easily on election day. But Harry kept at it. He promptly asked to be hired by Mayor Duffy to lead a “green” urban renewal plan for the city. The Mayor turned him down.
So now Mr. Davis is coming at things from a different angle. Last month he formed his own Political Action Committee (PAC). According to Mr. Davis this new group stands for “green, sustainable development and transportation.” Davis affirms, “The importance of sustainable and efficient transportation for Rochester cannot be overstated. This would include light rail, high-speed rail, bike paths and additional pedestrian options – all of which should complement a rational and minimalist approach to automotive traffic.”
Tags: Bonnie Cannan, Broad Street, Center for Disability Rights, Equal Grounds Coffee House, green development, Harry Davis, Jackie Ortiz, Matt Haag, Mayor Duffy, New York, public action committee, Rochester, Rochester City Council, Rochester City Hall, Rochester NY, South Avenue, sustainability, transportation, urban planning
Posted in Rochester News, Transit + Infrastructure, Urban Development | 3 Comments »
Party-On Rochester. BYOT! (Bring Your Own Train)
Saturday, January 16th, 2010
If you and the kiddies find yourselves moping around the house this winter watching the lint in your bellybuttons pile up, don’t blame the good people at the New York Museum of Transportation! That’s because NYMT is holding “Bring Your Own Train Sundays” every Sunday now through April 25. Visitors who bring there own model trains can take over the throttles under the supervision of museum volunteers. Visitors are also welcome to become a subway motorman for a day on the museum’s N-scale model of the Rochester Subway.
Tags: Casey Jones, HO scale, interurban, model trains, New York Museum of Transportation, NYMT, R&GVRRM, rail, railroad, railroad museum, railroad tracks, Rochester, Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum, Rochester Subway, Rush NY, things to do in Rochester, train museum, trains, transportation, trolley
Posted in Events, Rochester Destinations, Rochester News, Train/Railroad Stuff | No Comments »
