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 . 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 . 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…
Local balloon artists Larry Moss and Kelly Cheatle are hard at work right now constructing an enormous, 5-story tall beanstalk entirely out of balloons in the atrium of Rochester’s landmark Sibley Building.
Unlike previous haunted “Balloon Manors” you may remember at area shopping malls, admission is completely free for the public to come and enjoy this one. Balloon Manor: The VERY Tall Tale of Jack and his Beanstalk is due to be completed today, and open for viewing thru Sunday, February 9…
Walter has been a fixture at local sporting events and concerts for decades. Known to most Rochesterians as “The Accordion Man,” Walter plays his squeezebox (and sings) outside most hockey, basketball and lacrosse games… at music events all around the city… and of course, a Redwings game would not be the same without Walter’s rendition of Take Me Out To The Ballgame playing in the background as fans line up at the turnstiles.
In a recent phone conversation with him, Walter told me he’s been playing around Rochester for three decades. He’s missed only one game in the past 15 years. And he’s gone through 83 accordions. His latest one is currently out of commission with broken keys and a worn strap…
Rochester’s landmark Holy Rosary Church and Catholic school complex at Lexington and Dewey Avenues has been rehabilitated for new residential units and a large community space in the former church. The $15 million project by Providence Housing Development and SWBR Architects was made possible with equity provided by Enterprise Community Partners, City home-renovation grants & loans, and a payment in lieu of taxes agreement.
At the time of the groundbreaking in August 2012, Congresswoman Louise Slaughter praised Providence Housing for bringing “affordable, attractive housing to a community that eagerly awaits such good news.” Well, wait no more. The ribbon was cut this past November, and the historic church buildings have emerged as 60 units of much needed affordable housing and community space…
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After the Erie Canal was rerouted south of downtown Rochester, the Rochester
Industrial & Rapid Transit Railway (the “subway”) was built in
its place as a link between the five different railroads and interurban trolley
lines that served the Rochester area. As the industrial landscape of Rochester
changed, and highways replaced the railroads, the Rochester subway gradually
became a relic of a bygone era. In 1956 the subway was abandoned and much of
its route was converted into Interstate 490 — built to connect Rochester
with the New York State Thruway (I-90). Read more about the history of the Rochester Subway.
RochesterSubway.com exists to help spark
public dialogue around how we can better connect the neighborhoods of Rochester
NY, surrounding communities, and their cultural offerings. Rochester’s
future is written in her past. Let's rediscover it.
![Rochester faces off against Detroit today in Streetsblog's Parking Madness tourney. [IMAGE: usa.streetsblog.org]](https://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]](https://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/kodak-brownie-camera-manual-_Page_01.jpg)
![A building in Portland, Oregon. [IMAGE: Google Streetview]](https://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/79-north-clinton-01.jpg)
![Wheeler Dealer board game, Rochester edition. c1980. [PHOTO: Laurie Dirkx]](https://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]](https://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/history-of-the-first-pitch-rochester-01.jpg)
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![The City of Rochester is asking the public to name the new street and plaza at the Midtown site. [PHOTO: Earthcam.com]](https://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/rochester-midtown-plaza-2014-03-11.jpg)
![The Garbage Incinerator at High Falls, Rochester. [PHOTO: Robert Cunningham]](https://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]](https://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/powers-building-rochester-1968.jpg)
![RG&E Beebee Station [PHOTO: RochesterSubway.com]](https://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]](https://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]](https://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/donuts-delite-milkmaid-rochester.jpg)
!['Balloon Manor: The Very Tall Tale of Jack & His Beanstalk' at the Sibley Building, Rochester, NY. [PHOTO: RochesterSubway.com]](https://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/jack-and-the-beanstalk-balloon-sculpture-00.jpg)
![Walter, Rochester's accordion man, performing underneath the Freddie-Sue bridge in Corn Hill as a crowd gathers for the Eddie Money 'Party in the Park' concert [PHOTO: Jeff Gerew, C7Photo.com]](https://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/rochester-accordion-man-walter-palmer-01.jpg)
![Holy Rosary Church, Rochester NY. 1923. [PHOTO PROVIDED BY: Preservation Studios]](https://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/holy-rosary-church-rochester-07.jpg)
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