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^This is an example of being a “victim” of its own success, as stated earlier, the Rochester area has never had population loss in an official Census, while Buffalo hasn’t gotten back to its peak metro population yet. So, I think the investment in that area is a result of years of population decline that is ironically reversing with more development/investment.
The housing piece is more of a matter of being able to keep people in the area and is occurring across the country. What could happen on that front is that you can make it more attractive for strictly private developers like this example in Los Angeles: https://calmatters.org/housing/2024/...g-los-angeles/
If you check the article out, you can see that it mentions that it is for working class/middle income residents and aren’t necessarily “cheap”. So, it isn’t that the affordable housing isn’t needed or unnecessary, but this can be an example of another approach to handling the issue or at least doing it in a totally private way with the help of policy.
#21 is best place to retire, which would be different from "living" due to fixed income for most.
The other one, I don't Know. One says "best place to live", and the other said "best place to live for quality of life". Maybe slightly different data.
Either way, a pretty good result, and better than most, if not all in NYS.
Your guess is as good as mine for how to differentiate 'best place to live' versus 'best place for quality of life'. That was my only point this entire time
This thread was a fun trip down memory lane. I do feel as if there was a greater sense of optimism for the future of Rochester at the beginning of the 2010s. Midtown redevelopment was in its infancy, therefore some large scale ideas were being thrown around by developers, such as high rise condos on Parcel 5, or a movie theater and Tops supermarket on the ground floors of Tower280. None of these came into fruition. Parcel 5 went from an empty gravel pit to an empty field of grass that sometimes gets used for concerts. Such a waste. The majority of Tower280's ground floor tenants are commercial offices, simply due to the fact Buckingham could not find interested retailers. The rest of the parcels remain pretty sterile and dead, with the exception of the Butler/Till building. My position is that the Midtown Rising dream turned out to be an utter letdown of a reality.
Another disappointment was the concept of "critical mass" facilitating a downtown renaissance. Early last decade, the RDDC was often throwing around a benchmark population of 5,000 to spur retail investment. Downtown has since crossed 10,000 residents and still cannot even support a grocery store (DGX does not count). Harts was a respectable venture. I loved shopping there when I lived in the East End, but it failed. Virtually everything except housing fails.
That being said, Rochester has some bright spots. The Inner Loop project was a resounding success. Driving down Union Street and Adventure Place is breathtaking, they actually pulled off building an entirely new neighborhood and it looks amazing. Constellation's move into the Aqueduct Building finally gives the city a Fortune 500 presence, which has been lacking since the downfall of Kodak. If the High Falls State Park ends up becoming a reality, it will be truly transformative for the Flour City's historic epicenter.
I think Rochester has the potential to prosper, however, much to my dismay, the formula for such a future is tampering expectations. Gone are the days where Rochester is a nationally recognized hub for innovation. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, the city will continue to decline in national relevance and probably lose economic ground to Buffalo and Albany, the state's favored children. However that doesn't mean Rochester cannot reinvent itself as a wonderful place to live. The region remains among my favorite nationwide. I still believe Rochester's suburbs are already the best in Upstate New York. The quality of life, pace of life and cost of living offer a bang for your buck few other cities can. I just think Rochester is destined to drop out of the Buffalo/Richmond/Louisville tier, and into the Worcester/Allentown/Dayton tier of cities.
Well those are some throwback names LOL. Sometimes I wonder what happened to OvertaxedInNY. Good guy, but he hated Rochester. I wonder if he stuck around. Meanwhile I know some of the city's cheerleaders on the forum (like myself) ended up moving away. Funny how life works.
'Midtown Rising'...this all sounds eerily similar to Buffalo. There's a website called Buffalo Rising that's been cheerleading Buffalo's supposed renaissance for at least a decade now...the comments section of that site used to be both stimulating and somewhat ruthless. It was unmoderated, so death threats were made, civility typically was a casualty. But there were a lot of intelligent people who posted there, many of them expats. I was a regular visitor to/commenter on the site for a couple years, before ultimately being banned (I forget how/why, given the lack of moderation that I mentioned).
OverTaxed made some entertaining comments and was 'good for the forum' in the sense that his controversial posts kinda demanded engagement, but I'd never be able to bring myself to call someone that unabashedly bigoted a 'good guy'
I agree that it appears there is a huge push to develop Buffalo, at Rochester's expense. There are too many signs of that, from the STAMP place that was brought into life by the Finger Lakes Economic Commision, which then handed it to Buffalo, to the TWO Buffalo Billions, Duffy's firing and Hochel brought in.
Hey, just look at what Hochel has proposed the Finger Lakes region. Lots of money for Medina, Perry and Geneseo. All on the far west side of the Finger Lakes. She is so partison for Buffalo.
Where are the big projects in Rochester?
The state should have been helping 40-50 years ago, when Kodak and Xerox were having problems, to keep the intelligent people here. Instead, they wait for rock bottom. I'm still waiting. Building "affordable" housing doesn't pay the bills, but it creates bills.
Well stated!!!
What REALLY "chaps my behind", is Kathy Hochul's totally blind allegiance to the party, over the benefit to the state and country. How? Just think back, about 3 years, when the Kodak CEO was looking for a federal loan, that would allow Kodak to reconfigure portions of it's Kodak Park infrastructure. The purpose of this reconfiguration was allow Kodak's extensive chemical expertise, and production capability, to be able to manufacture "base stocks" for the American pharmaceutical businesses.
This would have weaned American companies away from dependence on China, for raw materials, which would have had immense benefits to the American citizens. It would have made it possible to restart some formerly idled equipment, and "Oh by the way", it would have INITIALLY created 250-300 people. SO, WHAT HAPPENED???
Politics, led by the Democrat coalition, sat on all of it, for one simple reason. President Trump was involved in this, and God forbid, anything favored by him be approved.....no matter what positive benefit the ENTIRE COUNTRY may have benefitted.....and since it didn't directly benefit Buffalo, Hochul was most likely given her "marching orders" and wasn't getting involved......
Something that I just caught, but out of the three smaller communities mentioned in the quoted post above, Medina and Geneseo are in the Rochester metro area.
Something that I just caught, but out of the three smaller communities mentioned in the quoted post above, Medina and Geneseo are in the Rochester metro area.
Talk about a stretch.....I'm not familiar with Medina, but I've been to Geneseo a few times. It's something like 15 miles south of the southernmost portion of Rochester.
Something that I just caught, but out of the three smaller communities mentioned in the quoted post above, Medina and Geneseo are in the Rochester metro area.
Yes, once again the three villages are in the extreme west of the Finger Lakes region. Just like STAMP. BTW, Plug Power has suspended construction.
Talk about a stretch.....I'm not familiar with Medina, but I've been to Geneseo a few times. It's something like 15 miles south of the southernmost portion of Rochester.
(does that mean that Brockport is, too??)
Brockport is in Monroe County, so yes. The official Rochester Metro is Monroe, Orleans, Wayne, Ontario, Livingston and Yates counties. Genesee used to be, but split when they created a "Micro-politin" designation. Yates was added a few years back, and it's because a certain percentage of the population are somehow related to the host county, with jobs and other reasons.
Sometimes Wyoming and Seneca are associated with the Rochester area as well.
Talk about a stretch.....I'm not familiar with Medina, but I've been to Geneseo a few times. It's something like 15 miles south of the southernmost portion of Rochester.
(does that mean that Brockport is, too??)
Quote:
Originally Posted by JWRocks
Yes, once again the three villages are in the extreme west of the Finger Lakes region. Just like STAMP. BTW, Plug Power has suspended construction.
It isn’t a stretch, as the Rochester metro area includes Livingston and Orleans counties, which is where those two communities are located. Wayne, Ontario, Yates and of course Monroe counties make up the rest of the metro area.
STAMP is in Genesee County, which is actually in the Rochester Combined Statistical Area. So, it is actually in a county affiliated with the Rochester area, but just in an area to take advantage of the closer proximity to power in Niagara Falls. The issue is the pipeline litigation.
This thread was a fun trip down memory lane. I do feel as if there was a greater sense of optimism for the future of Rochester at the beginning of the 2010s. Midtown redevelopment was in its infancy, therefore some large scale ideas were being thrown around by developers, such as high rise condos on Parcel 5, or a movie theater and Tops supermarket on the ground floors of Tower280. None of these came into fruition. Parcel 5 went from an empty gravel pit to an empty field of grass that sometimes gets used for concerts. Such a waste. The majority of Tower280's ground floor tenants are commercial offices, simply due to the fact Buckingham could not find interested retailers. The rest of the parcels remain pretty sterile and dead, with the exception of the Butler/Till building. My position is that the Midtown Rising dream turned out to be an utter letdown of a reality.
Another disappointment was the concept of "critical mass" facilitating a downtown renaissance. Early last decade, the RDDC was often throwing around a benchmark population of 5,000 to spur retail investment. Downtown has since crossed 10,000 residents and still cannot even support a grocery store (DGX does not count). Harts was a respectable venture. I loved shopping there when I lived in the East End, but it failed. Virtually everything except housing fails.
That being said, Rochester has some bright spots. The Inner Loop project was a resounding success. Driving down Union Street and Adventure Place is breathtaking, they actually pulled off building an entirely new neighborhood and it looks amazing. Constellation's move into the Aqueduct Building finally gives the city a Fortune 500 presence, which has been lacking since the downfall of Kodak. If the High Falls State Park ends up becoming a reality, it will be truly transformative for the Flour City's historic epicenter.
I think Rochester has the potential to prosper, however, much to my dismay, the formula for such a future is tampering expectations. Gone are the days where Rochester is a nationally recognized hub for innovation. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, the city will continue to decline in national relevance and probably lose economic ground to Buffalo and Albany, the state's favored children. However that doesn't mean Rochester cannot reinvent itself as a wonderful place to live. The region remains among my favorite nationwide. I still believe Rochester's suburbs are already the best in Upstate New York. The quality of life, pace of life and cost of living offer a bang for your buck few other cities can. I just think Rochester is destined to drop out of the Buffalo/Richmond/Louisville tier, and into the Worcester/Allentown/Dayton tier of cities.
Well those are some throwback names LOL. Sometimes I wonder what happened to OvertaxedInNY. Good guy, but he hated Rochester. I wonder if he stuck around. Meanwhile I know some of the city's cheerleaders on the forum (like myself) ended up moving away. Funny how life works.
I hate to tell you..Rochester is nowhere near rhe tier you want it to be. Best case is in a tier with Knoxville and Dayton.
Buffalo and Louisville are at least a mid tier or full tier higher. Richmond EASILY. A recent trip to Rochester was underwhelming. It does not have the depth of amenities as the others. It is clearly not attracting the tourists of Louisville which is teeming with them...
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