Page Twenty-Seven  

18 SEPTEMBER 2005

Clueless.  Absolutely clueless.

Monday   September 19, 2005

USA Today Profiles the Flour City   by Liz Medhin photo by Nate Kramer Published Sep 17, 2005   Recently, a USA Today reporter decided to go online and buy the lowest last-minute flight she could find to a city she did not know. It landed her right here in Rochester and landed Rochester in the national publication. Obviously, USA Today did its homework before coming to the Flour City. First stop on the tour: the Pittsford Wegman’s. When we went there Saturday, we found tourists, as if on cue. (Liz, Liz, Liz.  We DO know the nickname of Rochester is the FLOWER City, don't we?) A national band, “Quiet Drive,” was there with a local “tour guide.” (Damn.  How embarrassing is this??) "I told them the one thing they needed to see was Wegman’s. That was just the top of my list," said Chris Hingle of Pittsford. (Pittsford's Very Own Tourist Attraction - the local supermarket.  THAT oughtta drawn 'em in, no?) USA Today reporter Kitty Bean Yancey raved about its massive size, cafe and wine tasting... but luggage was cumbersome and time was ticking. Yancey headed downtown to the Inn on Broadway, dropped everything off and explored. She did call parts of Rochester's downtown "a little seedy," but recognized the history and culture it offered. (Yancey was being modest.  Parts of Rochester's downtown are "a LOT seedy".) Over the next two days she toured Strong museum and the drove along East Ave. looking at the mansions. (TWO days??) However, it was Rochester's restaurants that caught her eye and her taste buds. Charlie's Frog Pond on Park Ave. got a mention for its oat/nut pancakes and sautéed bananas. Charlie's Frog Pond "The food is unique. The people that work here are great and friendly. The customers are wonderful. I'm not surprised at all," said waitress Kathy Rath. The restaurant is already seeing more tourists trickle in. Jim Dillon of Schenectady came to town for Rochester's marathon and ran across the article while recuperating. "I figured, "Well, I've never been here and I read about it in the newspaper so let's give it a try," he said, anxiously awaiting his plate. Another restaurant, Tapas 177 on St. Paul St. was also mentioned both for its meals and its nightlife, which often features salsa music and dancing. "Yeah, we were surprised. I mean, we had no forewarning," co-owner Demetrio Cavatassi said. He and partner Marci Mattys bought up at least a dozen copies of the newspapers... a badge of honor for a local business with a now national reputation. (That's really stretching it.  A mention in the national tabloid and suddenly a local restaurant has a 'national reputation'?  For what?  Being a notable restaurant  - or - simply being noted in the national newspaper?) "For us, it's great because they might end up here, but in general, to have a positive outlook of what Rochester could be... it's awesome," Cavatassi explained. He says the article could also be good for local residents who either dismissed Rochester has having nothing to do or never knew about their city’s many attractions. (Oh. OK.) USA Today

You there... in Scarborough... wanna see a really GREAT supermarket?  C'mon... you KNOW you do!  It's even more exciting than a trip to the Home Depot on Ellesmere!  Sort of telling what makes for a good time for Pittsfordites, isn't it?  Thrills, chills and spills for all.

As for cub reporter Liz Medhin's rather careless faux pas, the city of Rochester was initially known as the 'FLOUR City' due to the many flour mills along the Genesee River.  Later, after the mills closed down and horticulture businesses took over (the names 'Ellwanger', 'Barry', 'Chase' or 'Pitkin' mean anything to you, Liz?) Rochester's moniker was changed to the 'FLOWER City'.  Here's a real easy read for locals who are either too clueless or too damn lazy to know their own history - www.history.rochester.edu/flowercity.

(RNews proofreaders aren't the brightest bulbs on the block either.)

And if "oat/nut pancakes and sautéed bananas" don't have 'em swamping the hotel reservation lines, maybe a ten-minute drive ogling subdivided mansions will.  Yes, yes... East Avenue has always been arguably the greatest attraction going for Rochester... the architecture is stunning.  But every city has its choice area.  Rosedale in Toronto, Westmount in Montréal, Rockcliffe Park in Ottawa.  Extremely interesting, but not exactly a compelling reason to make a special trip to that city.

Old Rochesterian here.  Eddie's Chop House, the Manhattan Restaurant, the Changing Scene.  The last was a revolving restaurant on the top of First Federal Plaza - the R2D2-looking building on the western shore of the Genesee River in downtown.  Pretentious, but unique and it's Dead Stupid not to use that resource as a downtown eatery.

Hmm.  Come to think of it, the old classic restaurants of downtown Rochester barely register in the psyche of the locals and the here-today-gone-tomorrow restaurants which fill the Inner Loop core might as well be corporate franchises with trendy decor.  It's a sad indictment when some whore-infested greasy spoon on West Main Street whose signature 'Garbage Plate'  is now the king of the Classic Restaurants With Longevity in downtown Rochester.  High praise indeed.  Call Zagat's; we've got a winner here.

As we entered the waning days of Fast Ferry, The Sequel let's try to keep the hyperbole to a minimum, shall we?  Grandiose pronouncements of 'national reputations' and celebrating the closest feed store do nothing except invite ridicule.  Wegman's is nice, but no more exceptional than Zehrs or Commisso's (do people actually buy lawn furniture along with their eggplant parmesan?) and Grocery-Shopping-as-a-Tourist-Attraction just seems silly.  When buying bologna or scrod becomes a spectacle not to be missed, you sort of have to wonder about the excitement factor of the locals.

Speaking of glorified food stores, is this state EVER going to get with the program and start offering wine in supermarkets?  How draconian is THAT?  Tell the liquor store owners to sit 'n rotate on their Galliano bottles; California allows wine at Safeway.  Beer is already sold in NYS supermarkets... pharmacies as well... so what's the big deal about selling one of New York State's most trumpeted products in a more accessible venue?  Zehrs at the Pen Centre in St.Catharines does (and once again, why aren't large supermarkets in the Rochester area attached to enclosed shopping malls which consolidates and prevents paved-over suburban sprawl?)  A huge Wegman's parking lot... right next to the huge mall shopping lot where using a car is a given.

Any of you local 'leaders' reading this?  No?

Plus ça change...

69º | Hi 78º / Lo 63º |

The vultures are circling.  The critics are sharpening their knives.  The malcontents are stockpiling the mounting evidence with gleeful abandon.

And there's no way out for the ferry organizers and supporters.  Trapped by facts, these feckless dreamers are rapidly running out of rope as the first quarterly report hits the public with the stench of fetid diapers.

It's not going to be a pretty sight.  Toronto has already expressed its ambivalence for ferry service to Rochester in the first iteration à la CATS.   The stunning lack of support during this second go only underscores the first declaration... as if a second opinion were needed.  Don't talk to me about 'sellout cruises' and the presence of Canadian passengers who've already used the service; the numbers needed to support the ferry business just aren't there and the quarterly report is going to show this.

'Sold out cruises' are meaningless if a boatload of Rochesterians heads north only to refill the ship on a return cruise.  That does nothing to prove Canadians are eager to use the service.  Without sufficient Canadian customers, the service is doomed.  The quarterly report is going to show this as well.

That is, provided the sleazy underhanded obfuscation and hiding of facts doesn't bury the public in bullsh*t.  My guess is there's going to be a whole lot of candycoating going on to hide the fact the service should have been canned once CATS hung up the Closed sign.  Whether the locals finally smarten up and cut through the PR crap is yet to be seen but something tells me it's going to take losing truly obscene amounts of money before the light finally comes on.

Government of the People, by the People and for the People?

Yeah... right.

24 SEPTEMBER 2005

Any doubts now?

51º | Hi 71º / Lo 54º |

For the second time in less than a month, managers of The Cat high-speed ferry service between Rochester and Toronto have cut back the schedule. Ferry drops Tuesday, Thursday runs and p.m. weekends Brian Sharp Staff writer (September 23, 2005) — For the second time in less than a month, managers of the high-speed ferry service between Rochester and Toronto have cut back their schedule. In a printed statement today, Bay Ferries Great Lakes announced it would cut an additional five round trips, paring the schedule down to five total trips per week, eliminating afternoon and evening departures on weekends and all travel on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Now WHY would Bay Ferries cut back service?

WHY?

There are two plausible reasons.  First, to save money.  Second, there isn't sufficient demand.

So much for the jubilant crowing of 'sold out' cruises... the ferry supporters are suddenly quiet as the realization that maybe -- just maybe -- the days of this service are coming to a close.  As predicted here for four years.

Hey you oddsmakers!  What are the chances the ferry will go belly up before being mothballed for the winter?  Considering the sluggish heel-dragging of the first-quarter report which is slated for mid-October, my guess is the city ferry team is milking it for all it's worth.  See, if the ferry bites the dirt before the winter recess, it'll look worse than as if the ferry slides to the back of the mind while being stored for the next four months.

"Our professional opinion is that a restart wouldn't be prudent due to cost analysis" in April sounds a helluva lot better than "Ferry goes bankrupt and is out of business" in October.  Delay the report and prolong the service until the 'scheduled' hiatus.  Not that there was supposed to be any hiatus in the first place as the plans were for a year-round service.  But let's not quibble about those pesky details.

So WHY is Bay Ferries and the city of Rochester using some $42 million boat only five times a week?  Anybody feel like calculating how much each ticket would have to cost NOW in order to break even?  Forget the number of passengers -- that's completely moot at this point -- the revenue has to at least cover the operating costs to stem the red ink.  Forget about trying to offset the pounding debt -- that's pretty irrelevant at this point as well -- cutting back to a piddling five trips per week doesn't even give a weak chance of covering the most basic of business costs.

So again I ask you: Any doubts now the ferry is on its way out? 

This is sort of like Merle and Jim Bob buying a Rolls Royce with the intention of making money and only renting it five times a week... and expecting to be able to make the monthly payment with extra cash left over.  Yeah, sure, when the Rolls hits the village people 'ooh' and 'ahh' and want to take a ride for the 'unique experience' but after they've had a ride, it's not such a big deal after that... certainly not enough to want to make reservations on a regular basis.

And Merle and Jim Bob end up with a really expensive set of wheels and another 'get rich quick' scheme meets its inevitable end.  The Repo Guys get a call to haul away the movable money pit.

Well, OK.  That's the view from down here.  Let's slap on a toque and see it from the Canadian point of view.

The folks down in Rochester are paring back ferry service YET AGAIN and given previous experience à la CATS, that's sure has all the makings of a doomed service... YET AGAIN.  Think that bodes well for a guaranteed reservation in the foreseeable future?  Enough to whip out the TD Visa and charge a few hundred bucks for a cruise which may never happen?

Those guys in Rochester must think we're a bunch of hosers... a healthy and popular business doesn't CUT BACK service -- it INCREASES service to meet demand.  Looks like trouble to me.  Even at CDN$ .98 a litre, it's still cheaper to drive and far more reliable than some ferry company which can't decide whether to offer daily, weekly or monthly service.  Inept bumpkins.

What's embarrassing is the persistent 'can do' attitude of ferry supporters in the face of completely obvious signs that 'all is not well'.  Maintaining a positive attitude is admirable; maintaining unrealistic expectations is absurd.  The realism is sinking in except to those who are unwilling to admit defeat... because to do so will mean asking the painful question of 'Why did it fail'?  The answers to that will contain some very uncomfortable truths that the Rochester area has been avoiding for years.

As for the ferry itself, if cutting back the schedule to five days a week is such a good idea, why not offer just one trip a week?  That would save tons of cash in fuel savings wouldn't it?  It would cut way back on daily employee labour costs as well.  Think of how much money could be 'saved'.

Of course, that would also have the effect of turning the revenue faucet off.  But these people are the 'experts' right?

I mean, they DO know what they're doing... don't they? 

That's about to be answered... sooner than later I imagine.

Saturday   September 24, 2005

Ferry Cuts Back Schedule   by Seth Voorhees Published Sep 23, 2005 The company that runs Rochester's high-speed ferry is cutting the number of weekly runs it makes to five. Bay Ferries released a revised fall schedule. The ferry won't run on Tuesdays or Thursdays. For the remainder of the week it will make one round trip per day. The change is due to an expected drop in ridership from the summer months, and unexpected increases in fuel costs. (Oh please.  Like the public hasn't heard this same damned excuse ad nauseum.  A business screws up and uses the latest headline as the 'reason'.  You guys aren't fooling anyone.) “People are already indicating to us this is their preference travel time,” said Benjamin Douglas, president of the Rochester ferry board. “So we're trying to build our schedule around that.” (Yeah.  RIGHT.  Make it seem as if the ferry board is trying to cater to public demand... while in actuality, it's a desperate bid to save a doomed business.) Bay Ferries says the revised weekend schedule also better accommodates the needs of Canadian travelers coming here. The revised schedule takes effect September 29. Bay Ferries

Dolts.  They think the public has the intelligence of the village idiot and the attention span of a gnat.  They might have to rethink that premise once the Great Unwashed catches wind of how much of their money is being pissed away in a patently unrealistic business venture.

Third time's the charm.  Who's going to be the next to step up and take over this White Elephant?  Any takers?  No?

Why not?  How could it go from being a 'swell idea' to one that nobody touches with a ten-foot pole in only a few weeks?  What's changed?  Toronto's still Toronto and Rochester's still Rochester.  Maybe that's the answer and problem rolled into one compact statement.  Maybe that's what Rochesterians don't want to admit.

The truth sucks, no?

25 SEPTEMBER 2005

This oughta perk up ferry sales.

Sunday   September 25, 2005

Police surround Lake & Beach Avenues. Man Shot Dead Near Rochester's Port   by R News Staff Published Sep 24, 2005 Rochester police are searching for suspects after a deadly shooting near the Port of Rochester early Saturday morning. Officers say the shooting happened just after midnight after a fight in a parking lot at the corner of Lake Avenue and Beach Avenue. Investigators say Evan Carroll, 25, was shot in the chest. Ambulance crews rushed Carroll to Rochester General Hospital where he was pronounced dead. Anyone with information is asked to call 911.

Local leaders rush forth with insightful answers which address the problem.

Sunday   September 25, 2005

Business Leaders React to Shooting   by Leah George Published Sep 24, 2005 Some are worried the homicide in Charlotte could be a black eye for a part of city government and business leaders have worked hard to build up. Lee Selover owns Windjammer's and is also the president of the Harbor Merchants Association. Selover says he and many other business owners in Charlotte want to see an increased police presence in the area. Selover believes that's the only way to deter violent crimes and keep the tourists coming. "Ever since the net office went into effect I've been complaining and complaining about having community police back here. It just falls on deaf ears,” said Selover, “It's really sad. Maybe this could've been stopped before it happened." Though Selover wonders how long it will last, he said it was comforting to see a patrol car out Saturday and to hear that most people still feel safe visiting Ontario Beach Park.

"There he goes again... accentuating the negative in a bid to sink the ferry."

Well... no, actually the world is able to read the bon mots for themselves via the wonderfully revealing nature of the internet.  If I were a GTA resident considering a ferry cruise amid nervous concerns about rumours of Rochester slaughtering itself, I think the above articles would lead me to the conclusion, "Screw THAT.  Traveling to some Upstate NY version of Baghdad where shootings and murders are a weekly -- sometimes daily -- occurrence isn't my idea of a swell time."

(1) This murder at the very area where Canadians arrive from the land of Peace, Order and Good Government is a disgusting, barbaric and pathetic example of a community having sunk to the lowest level of inhumanity.  For that reason alone, it should be publicized as a warning to Canadians rather than shuffled underneath the pile of tourist brochures.

(2) Exactly HOW is a cop supposed to be faster than a speeding bullet?  Local business leaders in Charlotte are somehow suggesting cops should be everywhere at any time of day or night... literally a cop on every corner of every street on a 24/7 basis.  What does that do to inspire any real sense of safety in Torontonians?  Having massive shows of armed guards indicates just the opposite... they must be there for SOME reason and if it's THAT unsafe, Rochester can be crossed off as being a leisurely diversion for tourists.

(3) Screw the Second Amendment 'right'.  If that's more important to Americans, they're certainly welcomed to exercise that so-called 'right' minus the financial resources of people of a civilized country.  Ban hand guns in ALL of Monroe County and THEN we'll talk.  Until then just keep splattering the guts on the streets, nimrods.  We all have priorities and we all have choices.  You've made yours... and Canadians have made theirs.

(4) With the ferry service all but dissolved, Rochesterians just can't seem to understand why Canadians ignored not only the ferry, but the Rochester area itself.  Perhaps dredging up media stories which give a potent bitch slap of reality might give hint to why this area is seen as some backwater hellhole to the northern neighbours.

(5) When the ferry makes its final voyage, don't point the finger of blame for its failure to anyone other than the organizers, operators and residents of the local community.  It was Rochesterians who came up with the absurd concept, bungled the execution of the project and failed to demonstrate they had a community worth visiting in the first place.  Rochester area residents laid claim to an attractive locality and promptly failed to deliver.  Death at the very front doorstep and point of entry somehow doesn't inspire a cordial welcome; if they're killing their own it stands to reason they'd kill perfect strangers.  No thanks.

(6) I don't want to hear from you local cheerleaders assailing me for bashing Rochester.  You brought this on yourselves by the very fact that (a) you've done little to stem the bloodbath in your own area and (b) you've done little in the way of pulling the plug on this exercise of careless use of public monies.

Now go whine to someone who actually cares to listen to a boatload of excuses.  That wouldn't be me.

Let's think about this for a minute.  The City of Rochester presented a business plan for the ferry project based on a slew of projections and hypothetical scenarios... some of which have come true but the most pertinent have not and show no signs of changing.    After less than three months of the restart, the city and Bay Ferries decides to toss aside entire segments of the plan which is tantamount to breaking a contract.

Why did the city state in its business plan the ferry service would operate from 'mid-October to mid-April... one round trip (two crossings).... four days a week' in the first place?  Why did the city and Bay Ferries just announce the ferry service would completely shut down during the months of January and February?  Sort of raises two points: first, if they were wrong once, they can be wrong again.  Second, the public can't even trust its local government to stick to its promises.

Nice arrangement for success, no?

06 OCTOBER 2005

Classic.  Rochester.  Stupidity.

Thursday   October 06, 2005

Construction continues on Pae Tec Park Rhinos Await Funding Decision   by Anthony Pascale photo by Chris Coffey Published Oct 05, 2005   The Rochester Rhinos are still working on securing another $15-million from New York State for stadium upgrades that would include a permanent press box, an adjacent locker room, luxury suites and 35-hundred extra bleacher seats. “We're very encouraged by our discussions in Albany with both the Senate, the Assembly and the Governor's office,” said team owner Frank DuRoss. DuRoss says he's confident the state will come through with more money but two lawmakers R News talked to don't seem as optimistic. Republican Senator Jim Alesi said he’s not comfortable with giving the stadium more money. Alesi says too many other projects across New York are competing for what amounts to $100 million. He wants Rochester's chunk to go to Renaissance Square as well as projects at local colleges. Republican Senator Joe Robach said: “The funding is certainly on the table, it's one of the considerations. I would also point out though that this project has already received a large chunk of state dollars.” Pae Tec Park has been built predominantly using taxpayer dollars: $15-million from New York State and another $4-million from the City of Rochester. DuRoss believes it's money well spent. (DuRoss is wrong.) “Obviously it's an area of the city that needs the type of renovation and the economic impact it can bring to this community. With the recent events in downtown Rochester, this can only help the youth of the community,” he said. (Oh, like Frontier Field -- which has never turned a profit since the day it opened -- was supposed to have an economic impact on downtown?) DuRoss has already put up more than $7 million for the stadium. He says the team can't commit to putting up any more money. (As a taxpayer of New York State, am I supposed to care?) There's no plan for what would happen without the money, only hope that it's on the way. Rochester Raging Rhinos

This project is yet another obscene public money toss to a private company... just like the tens of millions which were slipped to CATS to fund THAT private company's greedy agenda.

Dear me; no luxury box seats for the local soccer aficionados.  How tragic.  What a travesty.  What a shame.

DuRoss gushes how the three day 2006 Drum Corps Associates World Championship scheduled to be held at his new sports field will draw up to 15,000 national and international travelers and bring up to $15 million to the local economy.  Considering the event could have just as easily been held at Frontier Field, that little tidbit of bragging holds no water.  And $19 million of taxpayer money could have been saved which far outweighs any high-ball estimate of $15 million which MAY be spent by the travelers.

Over and over and over again... that same damn song:  "This will energize the local economy".  And over and over and over again, it doesn't.  Undomed sports venues, a fast ferry, 'entertainment districts', laser light shows in the gorge... none have come even close to recouping the investment.

And what do the locals in the Rochester area do?  Nothing.  They sit back and watch the trails of public money being shuffled off to private concerns and sit on their thumbs.  They whine like schoolgirls when their taxes go up, yet act like drooling Thorazine patients when their clueless elected community 'leaders' go on extravagant spending sprees which cater more to the local Good 'Ol Boy Network than the public's best interests.  Like spineless wimps, the locals cower in awe and fear of their elected officials and they scurry away without so much as a tepid protest.

People get the government they deserve and if the Rochester community wants to simply let their local government run roughshod over them, they deserve no sympathy... or respect.

We need a revolution.  We need strikes, protests and outrage.  We need to see some balls here but THAT would be so out of character for the locals, only a major fiscal crisis is going to get people to move their fat asses from the LazyBoy and taking a stand.

Dear Reader: the Rochester area is in such a fierce downward spiral -- economically and socially -- the time has long since passed to prevent a catastrophic meltdown.  Teen murders, mass layoffs, violence, cancerous sprawl, crumbling infrastructure, non-existent development, closing businesses and schools and hospitals, cronyism, corrupt tax assessments, racism... the once-great Rochester area has sunk to such a degree of malaise and depression that no amount of cash-infusions will prevent the inevitable chaos.  Hyperbole?  Maybe, but all it takes is a quick word with any Rochester area resident of more than five years to hear how deplorable the condition of this area has become.

Go ahead.  Ask Joe or Jane Monroe County if the area is in better or worse shape than it was ten years ago.  Don't bother asking the community 'leaders' or the local media... these nimrods will simply regurgitate the same tired cheers they've been heaving up all along.  But the typical residents of this area are seeing with their own eyes that all is not well.... FINALLY.

"Doom 'n Gloom".  Yup.  I call it as I see it.  You locals who piss and moan to me about how I, too, should slap on the rose-coloured glasses along with the rest of you will just have to get used to somebody not playing along with your little game of 'Let's Pretend'.  You may be fooling yourselves but to the millions of other people around Ontario, Québec and NYS... they see a community floundering in mediocrity and ineptitude.  They see and read the local news and business reports and recognize a community in crisis... with no plan or desire to reinvent or save itself.

When school kids and grandmothers are being slain in the streets, it doesn't take a sociologist to recognize a very serious problem exists.  When job losses outweigh job creation by three-digit factors, it doesn't take an economist to see severe hardship is at hand.  When paving over green lands in the name of propping up town coffers and mandating low density housing to satisfy selfish agendas is given carte-blanche approval, it doesn't take an environmentalist to know there will be health and ecological consequences to be paid.

The first quarterly report of the fast ferry will (ostensibly) be issued in a few weeks.  I'd venture a guess that devious little minds are busy sanitizing the bad news with the usual propaganda and distortions which the slack-jawed yokels will dutifully slop up as most mentally lazy people are wont to do.  Instead of demanding serious accountability, these naive milquetoasts will demand cheery rationalizations.  Losing tens of millions of dollars?  "Oh, that's because fuel prices have skyrocketed."

And the ferry sails on.  And another money-losing taxpayer-funded sports mecca is built. 

Classic.  Rochester.  Stupidity.

13 OCTOBER 2005

Does it ever end?

Thursday   October 13, 2005

Rochester Wants to Develop Harbor   by Jim Aroune Published Oct 12, 2005 Rochester plans to hire a firm from Boston to develop a master plan for the Charlotte waterfront. City council approved a $475,000 contract with Sasaki Associated. It'll come up with an overview of how best to build up the land near the Port of Rochester. “With Kodak downsizing, with the success we've had at the new Corn Hill Landing up there, the development down at the port would be a good shot in the arm for the tax base,” said Bob Stevenson, council member. The firm wants public input on how best to grow the harbor. (Yeah, right.  Like the Great Unwashed's input will be eagerly embraced by those with personal (Read: Developer's) agendas.)  Stevenson said the master plan could include a video-lottery terminal gaming center. City of Rochester

'Video-lottery terminal gaming center'?  Are you bagging me?  THAT'S a possible part of The Master Plan for the development of the harbor at Charlotte???

How inspired!  How bold!  Innovative!!

<<sigh>>

Droll.  Perfectly pedestrian.  It's somewhat unbelievable that a public official would even mention such a wuss of an idea... sort of like musing about including plans for a postage stamp machine.  Whoa, now.  Let's not get wild and reckless about our 'Master Plan'.

The Aquarium of the Great Lakes.  A floating hotel-casino-conference center.  A model environmentally sustainable housing project with ecologically-focused retailing center.  An off-shore wind-turbine farm.

The Upstate Center for First Nations Studies.

Damn.  If some disabled Mohawk can pop off a few original ideas, one would think elected 'leaders' could come up with something better than some cheesy VLT gaming center.  But that would require thinking outside the box.  Breaking paradigms.  Venturing into uncharted waters.  You know...

Being creative.  Lord Knows we don't want to try that...

<<sigh>>