Maggie Brooks forms "Oversight Committee" - Monroe County Dems 'Oversee' Oversight Committee
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A Public Hearing organized by Monroe County Democrats was held at the Monroe County Legislature Chambers on Thursday, June 3, 2004 to listen public comments on the proposed Renaissance Center/Bus Terminal at Main & Clinton; about 35 persons spoke against the current Brooks/RGRTA plans and maybe 3 people spoke for the plans including one construction union member.
Comments by Harry Davis to the Democrats of the Monroe County Legislature, June 3, 2004
When one starts with a patently flawed and politically motivated concept, can appointing the “same old suspects†to review it magically transform the project? Or should the entire concept be discarded, and plans objectively and nonpolitically reformulated?
That's the real question that the public must ponder in the wake of County Executive Maggie Brooks’ appointment of a committee, bereft of citizens, to review this underground bus garage-theater-college project. Notice that “the same old suspects†on this brand-new committee exclude everybody from grassroots citizens groups. These “same old suspects†seem more inclined to move as quickly as possible to build something, anything, rather than offer true “oversight†to the PROPOSED project.
 “By coming together to form this new corporation, we are ensuring that each partner of the Renaissance Square project has an equal place at the table†said Maggie Brooks. Apparently Maggie Brooks does not see the public, the people of Rochester who will pay for and use the bus terminal as a partner on this oversight committee. Again, there are no citizens represented on this committee.
Notwithstanding the appointment of Rochester's Mayor, it's clear what this group intends to accomplish—put its seal of approval on the multi-million-dollar boondoggle, whether it's in the public interest or not, benefiting a County Administration that would be regarded as trying to revitalize downtown Rochester. That would leave the grassroots opposition reeling and trying to defend itself against charges that it doesn't want to revitalize and improve downtown Rochester.
Ultimately, however, I hope that if we present the facts, the public will side with those who courageously speak up. If built as presently outlined this project will take years—maybe most of a decade to complete, further devastating downtown Rochester. But the Republican County Administration expects to benefit from the image of promoting a so-called objective review and starting the project.
The initial question is: will the members take into consideration the critiques of all the governmental and non-governmental groups, including citizens’ groups, which are opposed to this patently political and anti-environmental project? How can one member, Mark Aesch, for instance, escape the clear implication that, as chairman of the Transportation Authority, he has a conflict of interest?
Quoted recently in the Democrat and Chronicle, Rochester City Councilman Tim Mains spoke for a preponderance of grassroots opponents in characterizing the triply-unworkable project as “a stupid idea.â€
Coupled with an even weightier and more authoritative authority, State Comptroller Alan Hevesi’s challenges to state funding, added to opposition of a local public interest citizens’ committee, plus deep, consequential environmental and traffic challenges, the multimillion dollar bus station-theater-college is left… both metaphorically and actually… “just a hole in the groundâ€.
Because of the rules of this hearing, I won't have time to delve into all the contradictions of this proposal. However, two major suggestions I will offer to Mayor Johnson and his committee: Get rid of the “hub & spoke†system. It aggravates sprawl. Sprawl aggravates global warming. Take a hard look at the already proposed Sibley Station plan. It costs much less money and it does not compare to the Brooks/RGRTA plan in the destruction of our environment. I’ll say that in the interest of both the public health and the public purse, this project as now planned should be quickly and objectively discarded. A grassroots citizens’ committee should be appointed by the County Executive and Mayor Johnson. As a committed city dweller and conservationist, I volunteer to serve on that committee.
My estimation of this proposal is that at present it is a boondoggle dressed and packaged to be serious although failing completely on such crucial issues as location, design, immense and uncertain cost, the rush to be bundled together, environmental implications under state law, and its entire conceptualization. Mayor Johnson who has a national reputation as a voice against sprawl, who has been endorsed by the Sierra Club for his concern for sprawl, will lose much of that distinction if his name is placed on the dedication plaque of the homeless shelter he is building at Main & Clinton. Ladies and gentlemen, this project, notwithstanding yesterday's announcement, as presently designed is a Republican boondoggle.
Harry Davis
Rochester, New York (585) 292-0972
