Bus Stop Victory

Bus Stop Victory
8 September 2005
Thanks to the years of hard work from People For A Better Bus Station and specifically my friend and Rochester City Council candidate Harry Davis, the architects of the Renaissance Square are moving the bus terminal above ground. This is a major victory because before yesterday, the plan was to put the bus terminal underground, where ensuring public safety would be a major problem -- not to mention the health risks of breathing bus fumes in such a confined space.

Unfortunately, the window for public comment on RenSquare is still a limited one, and the prospects of creating a civilian oversight panel are not getting any brighter. In fact, last evening, we were not allowed into the "public forum" for about fifteen minutes as negotiations proceeded with the police to let us in, although we were only being physically blocked by what can best be described as temporary security. (It was an evening rocked by a protest earlier against shutting down several Lift Line bus services for the disabled.)

Temporary security covers their faces and blocks the entrance to the public forum at the Convention Center.

Several of us finally made it inside with our signs, and we were very peaceful. It was clear where we stood on the issue at hand.

Rochester City Council candidate Chris Edes(left) and a supporter inside the public forum.

Another critique shared by many after viewing the sketches of the new facility is the similarity between Midtown Plaza and Renaissance Square. Midtown was built in 1962 as the nation's first indoor mall, but it is now devoid of large "anchor" stores to keep it together. I think that suburban developers are keeping the downtown mall empty because the tax breaks are better in the 'burbs.

As seen inside Midtown Plaza -- call this number in the suburbs to rent space downtown.

I maintain that somebody is going to get rich tearing down all these historic buildings to make way for a bus stop, and it's not going to be the bus riders or the tax payers getting rich -- we're going to be the ones paying for it. For a long time.