Page Eleven  

29 OCTOBER 2004

A rather ironic article title and photo...

Thursday   October 28, 2004

Port's newest restaurant opens. Ferry Terminal: Full To Capacity by Rocco Vertuccio and Lisa Carino Photo by Kyle Johnson Published Oct 26, 2004 The final merchant to move into the terminal building is ready to open. California Rollin' will open its doors Friday. The Port of Rochester location is the second for owner Tom Beaman. Beaman has spent several months getting his sushi business ready. Beaman says the ferry's problems have been frustrating for terminal business owners, but he says operating a business at the port is still a good opportunity. "When I first took this spot I had to think what happens if the ferry doesn’t get here, because at that time we weren't sure it was going to get here. So I had made the decision it was going to be okay. So while it's here and running in the winter, it will be icing on the cake."  (ed. Please file this one under 'P' for Presumptuous.) A coffee shop has also just opened, which will join the existing sub shop, hamburger place, gift shop, and a new Abbotts. California Rollin

<<rolls eyes>>

A $16 million snack and souvenir shop??!!  Are you kidding me??!!

Only in Rochester would this be considered 'good for business'.  'Jobs', doncha know...

Let's take a closer look at the irony of the accompanying photo above, shall we?  I think that about says it all.  All dressed up, table's set... and the guests are no-shows.

There are a slew of blogs and forums out there with scathing assessments of the Ferry service and how it's been handled.  Occasionally, there are tepid endorsements of CATS but those are few and far between.  The vox populi contradicts the media blurbs which report upbeat optimism for an investor-fueled restart of the service... just in time for the annual retreat to more indoor-based activities.

As for the 'full to capacity' ferry terminal, I suppose it's not nice to double-over in laughter to read of some community's key transportation facility 'packed' with four fast food stands and a trinket shop.  Yes.. yes.. I know, I know;  Rochester New York isn't in the same league as say, Miami Florida.  "Our version of a cruise ship can't compare with the QEII, but we're proud of it anyway."  Yes.. that's cute in a real 'hometown' kind of way.  No - really.. it's a nice feature of a smaller community.

And I guess misplaced civic pride is civic pride nonetheless.  Rah, Rah, Rah-cha-cha.

Desperate Attempts At Attracting Tourists  - Part II

Thursday, October 28, 2004
Home > Opinion > Essays	Rochester Time: 9:31 pm

Yup.... that oughtta do it, all right.  Paying homage to a gutted and paved-over historical site is a fitting tribute indeed.

Calling six smoggy lanes of asphalt the 'Erie Canal Expressway' instead of 'Interstate 490' will dramatically improve tourism, quality of life, enhance history and heritage, educate commuters, draw the canal closer to the hearts and minds of residents and give ample opportunity for really KEEN signs and geraniums announcing the beginning and end of said expressway.

All with just a name change.  Amazing!!

Just... amazing.  Check out the list of endorsers of the 'Erie Canal Expressway'... a veritable Who's Who of Local Community Leaders - including the Greater Rochester Visitor Association President Ed Hall (the tourism guy).

Considering this latest community initiative, are there any questions on how a single boat was supposed to stimulate tourism and ramp up the local economy??

I rest my case.

Webcrawling hit:

Orpheus   ODI Cricketer Posts: 977 Registered: 25-7-2002 Member Is Offline Mood: Monkey Mood	posted on 14-10-2004 at 17:25
	If Bush wins, canada will be crowded! They need to bring back that Rochester-Toronto Ferry ASAP!! Here is the funny part: Bush is planning to take over canada if re-selected! Edited on, October 14, 2004, 5:29 PM GMT, by Orpheus.

No need to worry about Canada, Orpheus.  Canada has high standards on who we allow into our country... and we don't need an eleventh province.

31 OCTOBER 2004

Desperate Attempts At Attracting Tourists  - Part III

October 31, 2004 7:11 PM

High Hopes For High Falls  Holly Maynard (Rochester, NY) 10/30/04 - "Don’t lose hope for High Falls" is the message from Rochester’s mayor today. There has been speculation about whether the Cordish, the company hired to revamp the district, is doing its job. But Mayor Johnson blames the economy for the rough start and says the Cordish Company is still dedicated to the project. “Their commitment to this project is undiminished. They’ll continue to work with us to bring some successful ideas that they’ve incorporated in other cities,” Johnson said. A first glance shows why some say High Falls is struggling. But it’s early on a Friday night, and business managers say that later on you’ll find the exact opposite. Joe Rittler, who comes four times a month, said, “It’s a lot of fun down here...lot of people...good atmosphere...not a lot of crime or anything.”   But Rittler wishes it were more like the energetic entertainment district the city promoted it to be. Instead - you see the quiet spot where Jillian’s used to be. The company that owned it closed this location. You also see a host of other vacant buildings. “It could be so much more than it is right now, they could obviously do more - maybe bring some new chains in here - developing some of these apartment buildings,” Rittler said. So far Cordish has put just two businesses here McFadden’s and Tiki Bob’s. The mayor admits the first year working with Cordish Company has been challenging, but he says it’s getting better. When asked about rumors that the Cordish developer is slowly abandoning the project, manager John Foley said, “No way. In fact - they were just here today. They haven’t abandoned the area. They put $5,000 into the street fest we had two months back." Foley said he and other managers hope more businesses show up soon. “I really do [have faith in High Falls,]’ Foley said, “I wouldn’t be working here if I thought it was a hopeless job.” Cordish recently finished an entertainment project in Louisville, Kentucky.  Mayor Johnson says he plans to visit that site to see what else can be done in Rochester. Cordish has a five-year deal with the city and the mayor advised patience, as the city is only in its second year of the High Falls revitalization project.

High Falls Entertainment District?  Uh-huh.  For those unfamiliar with this city of Rochester initiative, the High Falls area is a few small city blocks located next to the Genesee River gorge near downtown.  It's a historic section where millraces are still in place which powered the grist mills in the 1800's... old stone buildings, rather dark as a former warehouse district might be expected.  Not exactly a pristine area, the High Falls area was spiffed up a decade or so ago to (ostensibly ) become a hip urban 'entertainment district'.  Brew pubs, restaurants, bars and a smattering of retail spots were supposed to draw 'em in like a free beer 'n pizza shindig.

Once the novelty wore off, so did consumer participation.  The renovations were decent enough, the atmosphere was interesting, but the Rochester community experience is oriented to the Commuter Creed.  Regional public transportation is one of extreme time inefficiency and limited to public buses which have both a limited schedule and service area.

Feel like a great meal and a boozy night with a few friends?  Designated driver, bus or a pricy cab ride to anywhere are the three options... unlike in Toronto where a hard night of partying won't necessarily wind up being a morning in jail, stumbling along because the last bus has made its run or a cab ride which will cost a few days' pay.

Jilian's was a corporate confection... you know.. playing up the 'theme' of the renovated old urban building... where diners and patrons would wile away the hours amid the hanging farm implements and antique signs.  Along with Julian's, a brew-pub, the Empire Brewing Company, was another High Falls 'attraction' which bit the dust.

As is the current business fad, 'contracting out' is the innovative solution Rochester has adapted (remember, this is a hotbed of the traditional) and the Cordish corporation was the choice to take over where other corporations have failed.

(you KNOW there's point here...)

Failed ferry... failed entertainment district.  Might there be a connection?  There's probably more than just one.

What plays in Peoria, may not necessarily receive rave reviews in Rochester, if you catch my drift.  What may be a great idea in one community might be a disaster in another; the One-Solution-Fits-All-Problems frame of mind is risky at best.  It's a fairly unoriginal path to take... doesn't require much deep introspection or analysis... and is eminently sealed in 'risk management' (AKA Pass The Buck).  Who wants to stick their career on the line by venturing off in unproven territory?  Safe.  Simple.

Idiotic.  And sure to disappoint as seeking innovative concepts involves higher risks but greater success.  Know thyself.  Be real to yourself.  And the Rochester community does neither.

That's a definite problem this community needs to address before running out chasing identities of other communities.  For example, is the Rochester-Monroe County are a top tourist destination?  No.  It never has been and forced attempts at creating a 'destination' have failed on spectacular levels with obnoxious amounts of money being spent on propping up the ill-fated efforts.  High Falls is one... and the ferry debacle is another.

What will it take to turn Rochester around?  Well, it's already too late for a radical shift of popular political and social dogma so that leaves learning from hitting rock bottom... crisis management often creates intensely creative solutions out of no other choice.  Shouldn't have to be that way, but there you have it.

02 NOVEMBER 2004

What next??

Tuesday   November 02, 2004

Progress On Renaissance Square   by Seth Voorhees Published Nov 01, 2004 There are signs of progress on a quarter-billion dollar economic development project expected to pump life into downtown Rochester.  (ed. 'Expected'?  Not ANOTHER Crap shoot...) City and county leaders say they're taking proposals from architects and engineering firms interested in the Renaissance Square project. Renaissance Square will combine a transit center, a new downtown campus for Monroe Community College, and a performing arts center. “This initial phase is clearly the phase where we will be able to go out and talk to different groups, have public hearings, gather input from all the different stakeholders and people who live in the community,” said Maggie Brooks, Monroe County executive. “That's the important focus of where we are now." Renaissance Square is expected to cost $250 million dollars. Leaders say they've secured $100 million of that. (ed. AND...?  Where's the other $150 million coming from?)  The project is expected to take 5 to 6 years to complete.

Oh.  Did 'we' neglect to mention NYS Governor George Pataki vetoed an $18 million state 'donation' to this project?  What's that say about State support of this project?

Oh and... uhh... did 'we' also forget to mention 'we' have no idea where the rest of the money is coming to finish the project... a project 'we're' going to start nonetheless and do a Super Special Hopeful Dance to raise the balance?

Let's make an analogy.  You're going to build a nice home... not just a basic house, but one which will have some fairly nice amenities.   The final tab is going to be $250,000 and the bank says OK to $100,000... the rest is up to you to dig up somehow.  Do you (A) wait to begin building until you know you have the full $250,000 funding or (B) start building and hope the rest of the $150,000 will somehow creep out of the woodwork so you can finish the job?

That's the mindset of local 'leaders';  'we' (the 'leaders') WANT a slick downtown bus terminal and come hell or high water, 'we're' going to build it.

'We' (again, the local 'leaders') WANT another undomed sports venue and come hell or high water, 'we're' going to build it.

'We' (the clueless 'leaders') WANT a trendy gentrified warehouse district and come hell or high water, 'we're' going to have one.

'We' ('who else?') WANT a slick fast ferry to Toronto, and come hell or high water, 'we're' going to have one.

It just goes on and on and on and on...  year after year.  One would think (or at least hope) by now the residents of this community would be telling these 'leaders' to shut up and sit down... and keep their minds on the 'need to have' instead of going for the 'nice to have'.  Like school funding, infrastructure maintenance and the flight of jobs and people from this area.  Local pols and the media dance a jig when a piddling 100-$8/hr jobs are created.

Meanwhile, the other 6,900 workers just laid off are wondering how they're going to make the mortgage payment on an $8/hr job or no job at all.   Tell  me 5,000 new jobs are opening up and maybe I'll get excited.  Otherwise, don't make me sick.

The ferry debacle is only one symptom of a very serious underlying cause.  With this latest in a string of dead-end projects where the bottom line is invariably red ink, it comes as no surprise CATS figures redemption only requires restarting the engines.  They're wrong of course, but they'll find that out soon enough.

And so will their investors.

04 NOVEMBER 2004

What IS this???  Some sort of CRAZE or something???

Thursday   November 04, 2004

The "Spirit" may have to share the lake. Hovercraft May Come to Lake Ontario by Amy Young and Lisa Carino File Photo Published Nov 02, 2004 While the fate of Rochester's fast ferry has yet to be determined, talk of another vessel on Lake Ontario is surfacing. A Canadian startup company called Hover Transit Services based in Bolton, Ontario has its radar on Rochester. Dale Wilson of Hover Transit Services confirmed, "We plan to go to the US as one of our potential target markets. Rochester, with the great infrastructure that they put into place for the fast ferry, is an excellent example of what can be done to increase international trade between our two countries." Hover Transit Services would initially serve Toronto, Hamilton and St. Catherines (sic). The ship would be capable of floating above water and traveling on land. It would carry about 450 people and 55 vehicles. Like the Spirit of Ontario, the Canadian ship's main obstacle is money. At present, it’s been able to secure about 35% of the $7 million it needs to start up service by next July.

Well, this one isn't quite as ludicrous, but it's still up there as being a real bomb of a business.

Lemme ask you people something: Am I the only one who doesn't think driving the QEW from St.Catharines to Toronto is a big deal?  Good Grief.... from west of the 406 in St.Catharines all the way to the Yonge-Bay exit on the Gardiner, it's three lanes wide in each direction.  Through the entire Niagara section, it's flat and straight with extra wide shoulders to Brant Street in Burlington.   Traffic gets heavier from the 403/QEW merge for the rest of the way into Toronto, but that's obviously to be expected considering drivers and passengers are entering one of the largest metropolitan areas in North America.

I mean... DUH.  As if driving into Manhattan is any easier.  Or Boston.   Or Baltimore-Washington D.C.  Or any other large city.  To be honest, driving to and from Toronto is a pretty easy commute, comparatively speaking, and it's not as if the NYS Thruway traffic is plodding along at any 65 mph either... try 75-80 mph... same as on the QEW only with two narrower lanes and a helluva lot more broken and patched pavement.

So we're back to the same time/money thing.  Take a hovercraft from T.O. to St.Kitts?  Like THAT'S going to save any time considering the boarding and disembarking of vehicles.  It's less than 60 minutes from the border to downtown T.O. and with the preliminary details combined with transit time across the lake, then disembarking... it'll be a wash and a more expensive one at that.

Same lake with the same ice floes which are small icebergs that The Breeze has to contend with.  Same winter weather with swells which can reach six to eight feet with a typical windy day.

As for Rochester being a ripe target simply because it has a ferry terminal collecting cobwebs and fast food wrappers, I thought we learned that lesson a few months ago?  A different vessel  will yield the same results as the Fast Fiasco...  howzat go again... oh yeah...

 "There aren't enough passengers to keep the Ferry profitable over the long term".

Substitute 'Hovercraft' for 'Ferry' and the theory still holds up.  Rochester is a destination in name only.

At least a case could be made for a hovercraft service from the Niagara Region to Toronto owing to the tremendous influx of Toronto commuters moving down to the southern Canadian shore.  That's a daily commute from hell and I can see where a 'public transit' model might have a semi-reasonable chance of working.  Linking all the Golden Horseshoe together.. as in 'filling in' the missing third side link... makes a fair amount of sense although he cost factor remains to be seen.  Still, housing is considerably cheaper in the Niagara Region than in Metro Toronto and that's a real draw for commuters looking for an alternative to an overcrowded and overpriced GTA.  It's really getting so people simply can't afford housing in the GTA.

So... the little voice here in Native Canadianland recommends Hover Transit Services try out the T.O. to St.Kitts route first and see how it goes.  Then examine the Hamilton route.

And just forget about a Rochester route.  If drivers and passengers are too squeamish - or too lazy - to drive the QEW from Toronto-Rochester or Rochester-Toronto, that's sounds to me like more of a personal problem which should be addressed with reality and not another boatload of money.

Speaking of boatloads of money, looks like THAT arrival has yet to meet up with CATS.  Conventional wisdom has already written off the Breeze so trying to jump-start a 'dead' ferry is going to take more than a few loaded investors.

It'll take nothing less than a miracle... something which has been in short supply of late in the Rochester area.

07 NOVEMBER 2004

Yeah, sure... THAT makes sense, doesn't it?

Sunday   November 07, 2004

The "Breeze" was haulted in September Johnson: Ferry Docked Until Spring by Mary McCombs by Jeff Hamson Published Nov 06, 2004 The latest quote from Rochester's Mayor Bill Johnson will have the fast ferry docked at the Genesee River through the winter. A published report says the Breeze won't set sail until at least next spring. This latest development is yet another disappointment for vendors at the ferry terminal. Many have been banking on business from the ferry and wonder if they survive the winter. "We're just going to have to wait and see how bad it really gets. It's quite quiet right now, but we'll just play it day by day for the time being," says vendor Joe Accorso.  (ed. Shrewd rationale, Joe.  If business is 'quite quiet right now', what makes you think it's going to pick up if the Ferry's sitting outside doing nothing but rusting for the next five months?) Some vendors are hoping to re-negotiate their rent, until the ferry is back in business. "Hopefully, we could have a reduced rent until the ferry comes back next year," says vendor Kiran Patel.  (ed. I believe that falls under the category of 'Business Risk'... as in, there's always the risk of no business for whatever reason.  Reduced rent?  Why?  The vendors accepted that risk when they rushed to sign the lease for fame and fortune.  No dice.) Mayor Johnson says a spring start up gives time to resolve issues that led to the ferry suspension. The Fast Ferry

The blindly naive.  Will they NEVER give it up?  "... a reduced rent until the ferry comes back next year..."

My.  Aren't WE hopeful??  Hey I've got an idea!  Why don't we just skip the rent altogether until the Ferry starts up again?!  That way, more taxpayer money can go to prop up yet more private businesses!!  Sounds like a plan, no?

These vendors rolled the dice... and crapped out.  That's business, that's life - which is a real shame, but that's the way it goes when people are too quick to ignore reality in the face of making a fast buck.  It's not up to the taxpayer to have to foot the bill for the error in judgment of a private company... including and especially for CATS.

If the ferry terminal vendors are too blind to read the writing on the wall and bail out before they go deeper into debt, they're certainly welcomed to go under with the ship.  They can either cut their losses now... or amass greater debt and file Chapter 11 later; the choice is entirely theirs, but whining to the taxpayers to reduce the rent just ain't gonna cut it.  Far too many public funds have already been spent to cover this travesty and it's past time to put an end to that.

Saturday, November 6, 2004
Home > News > Local News	Rochester Time: 4:47 am

Sheesh.  Another excuse in the making. 

CATS: "We'll resume service on April 1." 

Toronto Port Authority:  "The terminal isn't going to be ready until June 1 due to unforeseen delays." 

CATS: "You guys just torpedoed our plans.  It's not our fault the service went under for the last time."

Toronto Port Authority: "Oh, sorry.  Looks like we'll just have to use the new terminal for our contingency plans... you Rochester folks DID have a contingency plan for your terminal  in the event the Fast Ferry went belly up, DIDN'T YOU??"

The Mohawk Prognosticator's Corner.

After a particularly brutal Western New York winter, the ferry begins to look a tad tired and disheveled in the spring.  The hull takes on those nasty filth stains along with the inevitable rust spots from sitting exposed to the elements all winter.  (Check out the 'lakers' that first cruise through the Welland Canal in the spring for examples of how white hulls end up looking pretty cruddy from being tied up for five months in grinding ice packs.  Oh... that's right, I forget.  Most Rochesterians wouldn't know the Welland Canal from the Suez Canal.  Never mind.)

During the prolonged winter absence, the locals are too preoccupied complaining about the weather to bother thinking about some expensive boat which is ostensibly going to fire its engines and make a Grand Re-entry in the spring.  They forget about the thing and go about moaning over perfectly normal climatic changes which happen on an annual basis anyway.

Come spring, CATS hopes the ill-will it generated from stiffing the passengers with useless tickets for six-plus weeks will have faded from memory or at least have had the edge removed a bit.

Seemingly oblivious to the fact that "There aren't enough passengers to keep the Ferry profitable over the long term", CATS nonetheless dives headfirst back into the same mire which led to suspending service the previous September.  A little time and distance from the underlying reason for the first flop (along with barges of cash from the White Knight investors who've stepped in to save the day), and CATS feels re-energized to give it another go.

There's a saying by some notable along the lines of "Making a mistake isn't being stupid... but making the same mistake over and over IS".  There's another saying which may be relevant here as well: "Fool me once, shame on you.  Fool me twice, shame on me".

We won't be fooled again.  Once was MORE than enough.

So it looks like the showdown, if indeed there's going be one at all, is going to be postponed until spring.  I can see the entire service quietly fading into oblivion ("Hey... whatever happened to that fast ferry?") but I'll be generous and give CATS the benefit of the doubt and say they might actually have the guts and stupidity to re-launch the service which will be met by a thunderous silence.

That's the prediction from this chunk of cyber-space.  Rest assured, THIS website isn't going to let the thing die a quiet death as this is one local gaffe which is going to be thrown back in the faces of the local 'leaders' for years to come.  If CATS thinks it can simply sweep this mess under the carpet, they've got another thought coming.

Stay tuned.  The nitrogenous waste will be hitting the fan as often as is deemed appropriate.

Courtesy of your irascible Native Canadian.

"...Recently the two women performed Clean Irene for audiences in a theatre in Rochester, N.Y., where the previous show was I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change. It's an experience Parry describes as demoralizing. "They didn't dislike it; they didn't really get it. And that show is quite an accessible one." It makes me wonder what our friends and neighbours in Rochester (alas, it will take more than a ill-fated ferry service to bridge our cities) will make of the dub poet, actor and story teller d'bi.young."  (full article)

By KAMAL AL-SOLAYLEE Friday, November 5, 2004 - Page R29

Mr. Al-Solayee tells it like it is.  The social differences between Toronto and Rochester are many, varied and significant.  In Toronto, the avant-garde is accepted (or at least tolerated); in Rochester it's a source for ridicule, scorn and completely blank faces.  No, it's a tremendous understatement to say "Rochester just doesn't get it".

From the web archives:

http://www.gliff.org/move_admin/mt-comments.cgi?entry_id=286   Dear Rochester, When someone accuses you of being a provincial hick town with not a lot going on, and this rankles you, the best thing would be to not react in a provincial hick town fashion. For those people living outside of Rochester, some Canadian celebrity entertainment journalist recently wrote a “Why would anyone want to go to Rochester” column in a Toronto paper, (A ferry is being built to travel in between Rochester and Toronto). Whatever. Typical page C fair directed at people who weren’t going to come to Rochester in the first place. Well, then Rochester’s mayor held a press conference about it, and then the radio talk show crows started crowing and then all of Rochester™ had it’s knickers in a twist because someone took some easy pot shots at our large town. The real embarrassment was the above linked Democrat and Chronicle newspaper article. If it was trying to be a clever and witty retort, it failed miserably. You ate at … Planet Hollywood? You were staying at the Best Western on Carton and drove to City Hall and took a cab to the CN tower? It’s called a subway or, *gasp* walking. Worse, it ran on the front page of the paper. Note to Rochester; No one in Toronto noticed. I was up there last weekend (last minute on a whim, apologies to any crew I may or may not have up there) and my several mentions of being from Rochester garnered no reaction. Rochester is what it is, a largish town with some hints of metropolitan life and easy access to some very nice parks and decent wine country. Stop trying to impress Toronto socialites and start trying to appeal to the demographic that would consider a brief vacation here, or else the only people riding to Rochester on that ferry are going to be those returning from their trip up north. I never saw the article, but I have to say that if this is the biggest problem we have (What one person from Toronto thought)... we either have way to much time on our hands, or no REAL issues. eh, eh? ??? Ciao Posted by Mike at December 12, 2003 11:19 AM   Not that front-page-cattiness is any sort of admirable action, but a little bit of civic pride is quite nice. Torontonians don't give a hoot about what Rochester thinks of our city simply because so many of us don't care enough about the city to shake our fists. That said, there is a wonderful group of people who love Toronto so much that they're willing to work to make all the bad things better. Check out http://www.spacing.ca/ for civic inspiration. Posted by Dory at December 12, 2003 04:10 PM   Yet another fine piece of journalism from Rochester. Posted by Jason at December 15, 2003 12:58 PM

"... a provincial hick town with not a lot going on.."??  GEEZ!  Now just how on Earth could such an assessment ever be made about Rochester, hmmm?

From a local hausfrau's website:

No comment necessary.  The above website really says it all.

And now, a Golden Oldie from the Mayor of Rochester New York:

Well, OK.  I guess nobody can be right 100% of the time... even Hizzoner.  Giggles are permitted; outright guffaws are discouraged.

Cynics : 1    City Hall : 0    Game over.