Scientists have known of the existence of DNA for over fifty years. But until recently , no one had ever seen a photograph of that tricky little double-helix. For the preservation community in Rochester, the image above could be just as big of a breakthrough as photographing DNA for the first time. We had a fuzzy idea of their existence, but until today no one had ever seen a map of the city’s Designated Buildings of Historic Value (DBHV). And I mean NO ONE. Not even the people who put the list together…
Posts Tagged ‘Bret Garwood’...

The First Snapshot of Rochester’s Buildings of Historic Value
Thursday, January 24th, 2013Tags: Bret Garwood, City of Rochester, Designated Building of Historic Value, Designated Buildings of Historic Value List, Jim Fraser, Joseph Becker, Landmark Society of Western New York, map, map of Rochester landmarks, Rochester history, Wayne Goodman
Posted in Rochester History, Rochester News, Urban Development | 10 Comments »

Susan B. Anthony Neighbors Unite to Save Old Main Street Church
Wednesday, July 18th, 2012
Dawn Noto, President of the Susan B. Anthony Neighborhood Association says this section of the city is in the early stages of a renaissance. But the turn around of West Main and the Susan B. Anthony neighborhood isn’t happening by accident. Years of planning, community involvement, public and private investment, and careful preservation of valuable historic assets have been key factors. Noto knows this progress is fragile. That with one short sighted development decision, years of work could begin to unravel.
Tags: 660 W. Main Street, Bret Garwood, Caitlin Meives, City of Rochester, Dawn Noto, demolition, Dollar General, Landmark Society of Western New York, Main Street, Marvin Maye, Rochester, Rochester NY, Susan B. Anthony Neighborhood, Westminster Presbyterian Church, zoning
Posted in Rochester News, Urban Development | 6 Comments »

72 Conkey: The Tide May Be Turning
Thursday, November 4th, 2010I can’t put my finger on it but for some reason this little building in an all-but-forgotten part of our city has claimed a big spot in my heart. Maybe because it’s human nature to root for the underdog? Maybe I see the story of Rochester being played out as some sort of metaphor—it’s storied past and it’s uncertain future? And so we fight—with everything we’ve got—to turn the tide.
Tags: Bret Garwood, City of Rochester, Clifford Avenue, Conkey Avenue, Jim Fraser, Jo Dickinson, Rochester, Rochester Fire Department, Rochester NY, urban renewal, urban revitalization
Posted in Rochester News, Urban Development | 1 Comment »

See What’s Possible at 72 Conkey
Sunday, October 24th, 2010As an artist, I think I maybe I see things in the world around me that other people can’t or just don’t want to. I find myself squinting all the time; trying to imagine what could be. I can’t look at a paper cup without imagining what it might become if Jonathan Ive
had his way with it. I know there are a lot of people who probably see 72 Conkey Avenue as nothing more than an eyesore
; and then there are people like me who see something different. And that boys and girls, is why there’s Photoshop…
Tags: Bill Johnson, Bret Garwood, City of Rochester, Clifford Avenue, Conkey Avenue, Evergreen Street, Genesee Land Trust, Ibero, Jim Fraser, Jo Dickinson, photo, Photoshop, Project Hope, Rochester, Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), Rochester NY, urban renewal, urban revitalization
Posted in Rochester News, Urban Development | 5 Comments »

Help Save 72 Conkey — Part II
Tuesday, October 19th, 2010
If you responded to my plea last week and sent an email to Bret Garwood asking him to stop the demolition of 72 Conkey Avenue, I offer you my sincerest appreciation. As “coincidence” would have it, less than a week after that post on RochesterSubway.com the City Fire Department used the 1879 Victorian building to hold a training session. The photo above was taken on October 18. Now there are great big gaping holes where there was once a roof.
Is this really happening? I know Mr. Garwood received dozens of emails from RocSubway readers, members of Reconnect Rochester, and myself. I can’t help but ask myself is this act in response to those letters? Is the City reading our letters and giggling to themselves? Come to think of it, I didn’t receive a response to the email I sent last week… did you?
Tags: 19th Ward, Bret Garwood, City of Rochester, Clifford Avenue, Conkey Avenue, Evergreen Street, Genesee Land Trust, Genesee Street, Ibero, Jim Fraser, Jo Dickinson, Project Hope, Rochester, Rochester Fire Department, Rochester Jewish Orphan Asylum, Rochester NY, urban renewal, urban revitalization
Posted in Rochester News, Urban Development | 4 Comments »

You Can Help Save 72 Conkey Avenue
Wednesday, October 13th, 2010
Jo and Jim are quite a remarkable pair. She is a retired school teacher. He works for a company that makes all kinds of machine parts, gauges, and valves. Together they represent nothing short of divine intervention for the City of Rochester.
See, Rochester has a ‘list’. On that list are 200 properties, residential and commercial, that have been given the death sentence. These buildings are on the City’s Demolition List—a list that is only growing. There are some 2,800 vacant structures in Rochester today. If they were all torn down not a single neighborhood would be untouched—though some neighborhoods have more than their share of deteriorating buildings. I myself pass through the northern section of Saint Paul Street everyday on my way to work. Not a day goes by that I don’t think to myself, “gosh darn I wish I could save that old building.” Or “golly gee I wish I could buy that old house and fix it up.”
Tags: Bret Garwood, City of Rochester, Clifford Avenue, Conkey Avenue, Evergreen Street, Genesee Land Trust, Ibero, Jim Fraser, Jo Dickinson, Project Hope, Rochester, Rochester NY, urban renewal, urban revitalization
Posted in Rochester News, Urban Development | 14 Comments »
