We’re brewing up our testimony for Thursday’s meeting of the Rochester Zoning Board of Appeals. We will speak firmly in opposition to the proposed demolition of 13 Cataract Street.
And so, herewith, an invitation to the incantations.
What: Zoning Board of Appeals, Thursday, December 15, 2011.
Where: City Hall, Rochester, NY (a wonderful landmark structure). Council Chambers, 3rd floor.
When: Their meeting begins at 9:00am. We are told that there are 5 items on the agenda, and 13 Cataract Street is 5th. So if you’re there by 10:00 or 10:30 a.m., there should be plenty of time for you to see and hear the action.
It would be great to have the room full of those of us in opposition to this flawed and sad proposal. Come prepared to speak out if you’d like – 3 minutes maximum – or just come to offer moral support to the cause.
It would be wonderful to see a crowd of neighbors. Join us.
I will be there. And people can share this event on Facebook… http://www.facebook.com/events/217281558349895/
I see that the RDC did a story – I have not had a chance to read it yet. Is that at your instigation?
Also – off topic – did you see that Gene Summers died. 83 years old.
David, I would probably be among the last that the D&C would look to for their content – we are a very small bump on a very big log. But their latest, only to be seen on their website, features a lovely tour of the buildings and environs, and offers a clear illustration of why these buildings must remain.
And no, I had not heard about Mr. Summers. He was quite a guy.
Best of luck to all of you on Thursday—that’s a very impressive building in a great location. I hope you manage to make a convincing case to save it. Here in New Orleans we have managed to re-use two early 20th Century breweries—Jax Brewery on the levee catty corner to Jackson Square in the French Quarter, and more recently, the Falstaff Brewery off of Tulane Avenue in Mid-City—an area that has been a focus for redevelopment since Katrina. The first is a nicely done, if unsurprising, interior mall for the tourist trade, while the second has been turned into condos. The old Dixie Brewery on Tulane is currently falling into ruin, but it sits at the edge of the huge LSU/Veteran’s Hospital development, so there’s some discussion of how it might be re-used. Cheers!
And cheers to you, hndymn. And thanks for the examples in New Orleans – good stuff to explore.
The hearing was about 2 hours, and there were 4 or 5 times the speakers against demolition than in favor of demolition. Interestingly, organized labor – teamsters, electricians, sheet metal workers – were the main proponents of the plan to demolish. This seems odd in the face of the fact that more construction jobs will be generated by preservation than via demolition.
In the end there is a local developer trying to make sense out of keeping the buildings. This should cause the application to be delayed until everything can be sorted out.
We’ll see.
Please tear it down. The building is JUNK!!!
The Rochester Building Trades are infamous dinosaurs. Sorry, Clarke Conde, but you are!
ren square, Labor Unions and Where I Stand
http://www.harrydavis2010.com/node/25
Sorry I was unable to make today’s meeting.
Dear readers, I am not sure why someone like the commenter named Jason Rochester would bother to come here and add his thoughts (perhaps I am being too generous), but he/she does give you a glimpse at what we are up against here. Since the hearing yesterday, a number of us have had a chance to hear these voices, and this kind of attitude. It’s disheartening to have these folks as neighbors, but there you have it.
Jason Rochester isn’t worth the time, or the space he’s taking up on your blog with his half baked one-liner. Something tells me he isn’t even from Rochester.
Thanks, Mike.