{"id":11042,"date":"2015-03-17T22:16:30","date_gmt":"2015-03-18T02:16:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rochestersubway.com\/topics\/?p=11042"},"modified":"2015-03-18T09:11:43","modified_gmt":"2015-03-18T13:11:43","slug":"wear-to-where-5-lock-33","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochestersubway.com\/topics\/2015\/03\/wear-to-where-5-lock-33\/","title":{"rendered":"Wear to Where #5 … Lock 33"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"It<\/a>
\nBy Clarke Cond\u00e9<\/a><\/i><\/small><\/p>\n

At a cost to the New York taxpayer of just about half that of the Louisiana Purchase fourteen years earlier, \u201cClinton\u2019s Ditch\u201d faced the ageless and indestructible rancor of the New York State Legislature and the animosity of the press statewide. It is hard to overstate the impact the investment taxpayers made in building the canal had on the development of Rochester and New York State. Now, it is almost impossible to imagine a project like the canal ever being built in today\u2019s political climate and maybe that is not such a good thing. In this edition of Wear to Where<\/a> we stop by Lock 33 and ask, \u201cWhat\u2019s the big idea?\u201d…<\/p>\n

\"Going<\/a>
\nOver the past decade, I have been fortunate to be involved with some great projects that never got off the ground because a handful of politicians thought we shouldn\u2019t spend taxpayer\u2019s money on the general principle that spending taxpayer\u2019s money is a bad thing. Going through the political history of the canal, one thing becomes immediately clear \u2013 the canal was built at a time in New York where bold leaders had big ideas and were not afraid to spend money to see that idea happen. <\/p>\n

\"Too<\/a>
\nIt is not that spending tax money was easier in a New York State of DeWitt Clinton \"external<\/a>, Martin Van Buren \"external<\/a> and Tammany Hall \"external<\/a> cronyism, but the notion that big ideas cost money and that big ideas were what New York State needed, was, at that time, something that even bitter rivals could agree on. Too often now it seems that preventing a political rival from executing their idea is just as good as having your own. And that the easiest way to block an idea is to simply say it will cost taxpayer\u2019s money. <\/p>\n

\"Even<\/a>
\nTo me, the canal is a reminder that we are a better people when we have big ideas. Not considering an idea because it costs money is not really a reason in itself. Even Clinton\u2019s bitter rivals had to admit that instantly cutting grain shipping prices to a tenth of overland transit made the canal a wise investment and populated Western New York. Now, as the state continues to loose population (myself included) to places with warmer climates yet far less developed infrastructure, I want to suggest that it is time to consider investing some real money into big ideas Upstate. <\/p>\n

\"Now,<\/a>
\nAnother nuclear power plant (we have the transmission lines)? High speed rail that connects Rochester to Manhattan in 2 hours (the right-of-way is already there)? How about the five best public high schools in the country? Anybody?<\/p>\n

Big ideas change places in ways thrift never can and bold leaders have big ideas. Let\u2019s remember, just like the canal, Rochester, was not created by cheap, visionless New Yorkers. Excelsior \"external<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2022 \u2022\u00a0\u2022<\/div>\n

Model: Natasha Elaine \"external<\/a>
\nClothing: Thread \"external<\/a>
\nBow: Wrapp’d \"external<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2022 \u2022\u00a0\u2022<\/div>\n

If you are a local boutique, maker or model that is interested in participating in the Wear to Where series, please contact Clarke Cond\u00e9 at clarke{at}condephotography.com<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Clarke Cond\u00e9 At a cost to the New York taxpayer of just about half that of the Louisiana Purchase fourteen years earlier, \u201cClinton\u2019s Ditch\u201d faced the ageless and indestructible rancor of the New York State Legislature and the animosity of the press statewide. It is hard to overstate the impact the investment taxpayers made […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11045,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1573,242,788,3],"tags":[2088,3288,3285,423,3283,2230,3284,3286,3281,479,53,151,3287,2967,3013,3282],"class_list":["post-11042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rochester-art-culture","category-rochester-destinations","category-old-photos-of-rochester-ny","category-mass_transit_infrastructure","tag-clarke-conde","tag-clintons-ditch","tag-dewitt-clinton","tag-erie-canal","tag-erie-canal-lock-33","tag-erie-canalway-trail","tag-lock-33","tag-martin-van-buren","tag-natasha-elaine","tag-new-york-state","tag-rochester","tag-rochester-ny","tag-tammany-hall","tag-thread","tag-wear-to-where","tag-wrapped"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochestersubway.com\/topics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochestersubway.com\/topics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochestersubway.com\/topics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochestersubway.com\/topics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochestersubway.com\/topics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11042"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochestersubway.com\/topics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11042\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11049,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochestersubway.com\/topics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11042\/revisions\/11049"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochestersubway.com\/topics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochestersubway.com\/topics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochestersubway.com\/topics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochestersubway.com\/topics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}