On 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…
Posts Tagged ‘New York’...
Happy Independence Day!! Err, wait, are you legal?
Sunday, July 4th, 2010Tags: 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 »
Today, June 30, in Rochester History: Final Day of Subway Service.
Wednesday, June 30th, 2010On this day, June 30, 1956 in Rochester history…
Service on the Rochester Industrial and Rapid Transit Railway (the “subway”) ended. According to several accounts, the public came out in force to bid farewell to the Rochester subway and an extra car had to be added to handle the crowds. Fifty members of the Metropolitan New York Railway Association held a chartered fantrip, and people crowded platforms and overhead bridges all along the subway route to get their last pictures…
Tags: Canal Boats, General Motors, history of Rochester, Interurbans & Trolleys, New York, NRHS, old photos of Rochester, Rochester, Rochester history, Rochester NY, Rochester Subway, Rochester Subway photos, Rochester Transit Corporation, Rowlands Loop, this date in Rochester history
Posted in Rochester History, Rochester Images, Rochester Subway, Train/Railroad Stuff | 2 Comments »
Rochester: A City of Quality (1963)
Saturday, June 19th, 2010
In light of some of recent civic developments in our town over the past few months (high speed rail, transit centers, new theaters, etc.) I thought it appropriate to pull this old film out of the archives to take a look at the history of Rochester through the eyes of some good old-fashioned propaganda. Rochester: A City of Quality is the title of a film made in 1963 by Rochester Gas and Electric. The film presents Rochester in the most glowing light possible through a narrative that is clearly a product of Cold War industrialism. In one section the narrator declares “Rochester has made peace with the automobile”. And in another, “Change is necessary to keep competitive in industry as well as cities. If you don’t change, change will change you.”
Tags: film, history of Rochester, Jam Handy, Jam Handy Company, movie, New York, old photos of Rochester, Rochester, Rochester history, Rochester NY, video, vintage views
Posted in Art + Culture, Rochester History, Rochester Images, Video | 2 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 public 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 Pushes Ahead with Bus Terminal
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 | 27 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 »
‘Google Transit’ Tames Rochester’s Baffling Bus Schedules
Wednesday, May 19th, 2010
If we’re being 100% honest with each other I have to tell you I used to pee myself with fear at the thought of having to ride Rochester’s bus system. Not because the buses are dirty—they’re actually some of the cleanest buses I’ve ever been in. And no, I’m not afraid of the “people” who ride the bus—some my best friends
Traveling to and from downtown wasn’t the problem. All I had to do was find a bus stop and hop on—it’s a straight shot. But if I had to get anywhere involving a transfer (which, in Rochester, is pretty much everywhere) then I was lost. How in the world would I know which bus to transfer to once I got downtown? And how long would I have to wait? Would it be quicker to walk? How do I know if this is the most direct route? How much time do I have to leave myself to catch the 7 o’clock show at the Little? AAAAAAH! Forget it! I’ll drive.
Not so fast… There’s an app for that…
Tags: Broad Street, bus, Exchange Street, Fairport, Google, Google Transit, Google Transit Layer, Irondequoit, London Tube, mass transit, mass transportation, New York, public transportation, Regional Transit Service (RTS), Rochester, Rochester Genesee Regional Transportation Authority (RGRTA), Rochester NY, Tunisia
Posted in Transit + Infrastructure | 5 Comments »
Hey It’s Lilac Time in Lilac Town
Friday, May 14th, 2010
Stop everything… do you smell that? No sir, I showered yesterday so it’s not me. That lovely aroma you just caught a whiff of is coming from Highland Park. Oh yeeeyah, since 1898 Springtime in Rochester means more than just flowers. Flowers are for pansy-ass towns. Here in the R-O-C we do LILACS. So grab your old lady and your Kodak—we’re taking a trip to the early days of Rochester’s Lilac Festival…
Tags: Ellwanger & Barry Children's Pavilion, Frederick Law Olmsted, Highland Park, Highland Park Reservoir, Lilac Festival, Lilac Queen, lilacs, New York, old photos, old photos of Rochester, photo, Pinnacle Range, Rochester, Rochester NY, Trolley and Bus Passes, vintage postcard, vintage views
Posted in Events, Rochester History, Rochester Images | 6 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 »
NYC Subway Etiquette
Tuesday, April 27th, 2010
The West Village artist behind these subway etiquette signs, Jason Shelowitz (aka jayshells
Tags: Gothamist, Greenwich Village, Jason Shelowitz, mass transit, mass transportation, New York, New York City, NYC Subway, public transportation, subway, subway etiquette
Posted in New York City Subway | No Comments »
Upcoming Lecture: John Robert Smith
Sunday, April 18th, 2010Rochester is buzzing with talk about new downtown development, new transit stations, high speed rail, and downtown circulators. But how do these pieces fit together? Cities across America are using transportation investments like these to transform themselves in a big way. And, if we play our cards right, we too can join the list of revitalized American cities.
On May 10, 2010, John Robert Smith
This event is presented by the Rochester Regional Community Design Center. Get event details and ticket info…
Tags: John Robert Smith, lecture, Memorial Art Gallery, New York, Reconnecting America, Reshaping Rochester Lecture Series, Rochester, Rochester NY, Rochester Regional Community Design Center, RRCDC, transit, transit-oriented development, transportation
Posted in Events, 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 [[email protected]]. 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…
(more…)
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…
(more…)
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 Art + Culture, Interviews, Rochester News, Rochester Subway, Video | 9 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, Urban Exploration | 16 Comments »
Your Chance to Voice Your Support for a Streetcar Loop
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010
Do you work downtown? The City of Rochester wants downtown workers to take their “commuting” survey
Although the survey only mentions RTS Buses and Shuttle Buses as options for mass transit commuters, there is a comment box on the very last page. This is your opportunity to voice support for a downtown streetcar circulator. We want the City to give strong consideration to the impact that a streetcar line could have on economic development in Rochester. A shuttle bus is a nice idea but will have the same effect. So be sure to leave a comment in that final box!
Read Rochester’s Case for a Streetcar Line, then PLEASE take the survey
Tags: Center City Circulator Study, City of Rochester, commuter survey, New York, Rochester, Rochester NY, Rochester Streetcar, shuttle bus, survey
Posted in Events, Transit + Infrastructure | No Comments »
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 | 1 Comment »
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, Video | 38 Comments »
![\"RochesterSubway.com\"](\"https://rochestersubway.com/images/pixel_white.gif\"){kind=tracking}
