Just a few short months ago, Wegmans made headlines for its willingness to lead the charge ahead of the statewide plastic bag ban. While annual polyethylene production clocks in at around 80 million tons worldwide, the popular grocery store chain was willing to be the first to tell its customers they’d need to make the switch to reusable or paper bags instead.
But now, Rochester’s hometown supermarket is being subjected to even more pressure to our rapidly changing world. As COVID-19 continues to impact thousands of Flower City residents, Wegmans is evolving almost as quickly as new cases are confirmed.
Most Rochesterians can’t imagine life without Wegmans. But soon, they’ll all need to remember their reusable grocery bags when they make a shopping trip — or else they’ll end up paying the price.
That’s because the chain has finally set the date of their plastic bag ban, ahead of New York State’s own that goes into effect on March 1. Starting on January 27, Wegmans shoppers statewide will no longer have access to the single use plastic bags they’ve grown accustomed to using (and adding to a growing collection in the hall closet).
As some of you may have heard, bike share is coming to Rochester. I’ve considered writing about it all sorts of ways. I thought about mentioning how many other cities have it. Or how safe it is. Or even the specific plans for Rochester (warning: PDF). As you may have already guessed, I’m not about to do any of that. Instead, I’d like to discuss what bike share has meant for me over the past decade, and what it might mean for you too.
Since 1955, Camp Haccamo has been a fun filled getaway for both adults and children with varying mental and physical disabilities. First established on Panorama Creek Drive in Penfield (just behind Panorama Plaza), Haccamo was free to the 300 plus campers per year who participated. But in 2009 camp organizers ended their relationship with the town of Penfield and moved to Rush, NY – while, oddly, leaving quite a bit of stuff behind…
It has come to my attention that there are some pretty stalwart fans of Tops Friendly Markets out there! That means this is the Filling In for you (as opposed to this one).
Welcome back, readers. As you know, we’ve previously discussed things to do with Tops should Aldi be built at Winton Road and Blossom Road. There’s also been a discussion about how the construction of Aldi went in Irondequoit. Today, I’d like to take a look at a few reasonably simple changes that would completely change the tenor of the proposed development…
I’ve been writing Filling in Columns for over 2 years now (starting with this one on Exchange Street), and I’ve realized that it’s high time to have a discussion about my vision for the column, what I write, and why I write it…
Some of you may know that there is a shiny, new-ish, giant Wegmans in Rochester. It’s over at East and Winton. Savvier readers may know about another grocery store nary a block away (but clearly on the wrong side of the tracks!). That’s right, there’s also a Tops. In addition, it has come to my attention that there are plans for an Aldi across the street on the site containing the old Roly-door building and Jim’s. For a city with few urban grocery stores, there’s food for everyone over here…
Did you hear, last week Rochester earned a spot on a top ten list of most creative cities? It’s true. From local development to just plain news of the weird, here are your RocLinks for this past week…
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…
This weekend, Wegmans closed their current East Avenue store so they could transition into their new, larger building . The new store replaces a historic area that was once the center of Brighton in the 19th century. The old Village of Brighton was served by the Erie Canal (now I-490). The canal was rerouted in the early 20th century and the entire area was annexed to the City of Rochester in 1905…
You do not have to be a designer to see that Rochester has a problem—well, a number of problems, actually. That we continue to make the same mistakes, however, regarding design of our built environment, is perhaps one of the most egregious. This column highlights some of the worst offenders in Rochester—some of which are still being built…
On September 14, 1908 a new 300 room hotel with ballroom, several dining rooms and meeting rooms opened its doors – right smack on the same spot where Windstream (Paetec) is constructing its new building today.
The following article was published in the New York Times on Monday September 14, 1908…
I dropped by the Irondequoit Planning Board meeting Monday night because there were two very interesting matters on the agenda. One of those was Irondequoit Square (or I-Square) which RocSubway broke news of here last August. The other involved an all-but-forgotten friend, Chase-Pitkin…
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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.
![Map of potential bike share stations [PHOTO: Zagster]](https://www.rochestersubway.com/topics/wp-content/uploads/Bike_share_map.jpg)
![Abandoned Camp Haccamo, Penfield NY. [IMAGE: Snoop Junkie]](https://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/camp-haccamo-rochester-56.jpg)
![[Detail of Genesee Crossroads Planning Map [PHOTO: Monroe County Image Library]](http://rochestersubway.com/images/photos/denker/philosophy/Genesee_Crossroads_South_detail.jpg)
![Rochester Lower Falls at Night in the Snow [PHOTO: RocPx.com]](http://rochestersubway.com/images/photos/denker/Lower_Falls_in_Snow.jpg)
![Tops Plaza on Winton Rd south of Blossom [PHOTO: Google Streetview]](https://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/denker/tops/Tops_Plaza_Streetview.jpg)
![High Falls in the Snow. [PHOTO: Rich Engelbrecht, Flickr]](https://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/rochester-subway-and-freddie-sue-bridge-arches.jpg)
![Former site of historic Brighton Village. March, 2010. [PHOTO: RochesterSubway.com]](https://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/brighton-village-east-avenue-wegmans-01.jpg)
![Dehumanizing architecture like this has been popping up all over Rochester for decades. [IMAGE: RochesterSubway.com]](https://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/fortified-rochester.jpg)
![The Seneca Hotel, 26 S. Clinton Avenue, south of E. Main Street on the east side of the street. The stores in front, left to right, are Laurabelle's Greeting Cards, Ringclear Hosery Co., and Rochester Cleaning & Dyeing Co. [PHOTO: Rochester Municiple Archives]](https://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/rochester-seneca-hotel-front.jpg)
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