I’ve been late hitting this story, but ready or not, here I come. Anyone ready to buy back the Fast Ferry? I sure am:

Debate about what to do with the tunnel ? fill it with dirt, fill it with water, put in a light rail train ? continues. But city officials, mindful of the South Avenue garage ramp collapse, now want to move aggressively to fix structural weaknesses in the northern portion of the tunnel.

They also want to ensure that millions in federal funding earmarked for filling in the tunnel ? a project put on hold last year ? gets used before it’s reallocated.

And what could possibly go wrong with a plan to destroy part of Broad Street and then fill it with water? You know, the Fast Ferry was pinned from the get-go as Mayor Johnson’s get-rich-quick land development deal, but this takes the cake: they won’t even have to develop the land.

Think about it: they want to spend $300,000.00 of our money to do “research” on what to do with the former canal which has sat unused for the last fifty years. Hell! I can think deeply for half that much money, why didn’t they just ask? They also want to spend an additional 3 million to fix up the Democrat and Chronical building, and 9.8 million to create a tree-lined boulevard in the northern section of the canal.

But here’s the best part: thier proposition aims to fill a tube of land, currently filled with over 100 years of pollution, chemicals, human and animal waste, diapers and hypodermic needles, and fill it with water. . . which will flow where, exactly? You don’t have to be any great city planner to know that this zeppelin ain’t flyin’ in New York State. Never the slightest chance in hell that it would happen, but someone’s going to walk away with $300,000 in taxpayer dollars for having told the city what I just told you and they already knew. Meanwhile, the D&C gets a $3 million facelift, and someone else gets $1000.00 a month rental properties in a neighborhood that used to fetch less than $300.00.

And oh, by the way: don’t we use Broad St for something? Oh, that’s right. We drive on it. In fact, it goes right through the heart of downtown, which has slunk from the gap-toothed smile that is Main St further south to Broad and Exchange. We’ll probably be needing that road back sometime soon.

What a freakin’ scam.

Tagged With: Economy, Journalism, Mayoral, Rochester

Related posts

• Xerox Underperforms, DFE Rounds it Up For You
• News: Xerox’ Mucahy Meeting with the Prez Elect?
• Yu-Gone
• Someone Else’s Money
• Priorities: The White House Haz ‘Em

3 Responses to “A Tresure-Trove of Ill-Concieved Ideas”

1. 
   rochesterturning.com: turning the tide upstate
   June 19th, 2006 | 4:23 pm

   [...] He gives an interesting take on the proposal to turn Broad Street into a canal. I still believe a canal, done well, could be a cool addition to downtown, a la Providence, RI, or Oklahoma City. After reading dfe’s take though, I have to agree Broad St. is not the best location. [...]

2. 
   rochesterturning.com: turning the tide upstate
   July 4th, 2006 | 9:22 am

   [...] In “A man, A plan, A canal, Panama“, FarMcKon piles on with DragonFlyEye and others irritated about the latest city megaproject/boondoggle. Jason O rightfully laments the lack of sensible media coverage in the comments “What about non-financial things that make sense?” My point exactly.  If it costs $10-13 million, for what appears at first glance to be window-dressing and landscaping, it probably ain’t sustainable. [...]

3. 
   rochesterturning.com: turning the tide upstate
   December 30th, 2007 | 8:37 pm

   [...] One thing I’m struck by is how much we here at RT depended on other local bloggers, like DFE, NYCO, The Rural Patriot (and the rest of the 29th Blogging Irregulars), and Rottenchester. Then, [...]

Leave a reply

Please note: Due to administrative constraints, approved comments can take up to fifteen minutes to appear here. Moderated comments will be reviewed and if accepted, posted as soon as an administrator can do so. Please review our User Content Policy for more information.

name (required)

email (will not be shown) (required)

website