Fix Ren Square.org

The goal:  Use the $100 million dollar transportation fund now being wasted on the current  costly and destructive Renaissance Square plan and instead shift to one  that would IMPROVE mass transit, an especially critical goal at this time of high  energy costs. 

A change in plans could also accomplish several other key objectives:

- restoration of downtown historic buildings, creating  adding real value and real construction jobs to our downtown

- keep and  add further value to the private tax base wherever possible.

-avoid excessive operating costs

- preserve lands for housing development,, a proven winner for downtown development.

 - free MCC of the Ren Square albatross and instead  to pursue projects that the college community agreed would add real value to its downtown campus                                                 

   or... we can continue with the current Renassaince Square plan and spend hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to slow the bus system, destroy a large amount of tax base, leave the Sibley's Building and Auditorium Theater basically empty, surround a central downtown block with heavy bus traffic and demolish historic restorable storefronts, just to build a....

           White Elephant -  

                              Something requiring much care and expense

                              and yielding little profit;

                              any burdensome possession.

                                                                                           Webster's New International Dictionary

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      As currently designed, there are actually a range issues, costs and drawbacks Ren Square causes that rise to the level of Achille's heel and even "fatal design flaws". Unfortunately, this means we are spending millions each year for a bus station project that, if it was ever built, literally could not be used.

      Notice that no traffic study for the new bus station has been done and released.  Such a study will show that the routes buses follow to use the station are nearly  impassable, resulting in a longer commute at greater cost with increased risks of system-wide tie-ups-- accomplished all at great taxpayer expense! 

    With gas just one hurricane away from $5 per gallon gas, why would we spend so much to SLOW the system??

     When the idea of a bus station at this location was first proposed, oil was less than $10 per barrel.  Now it is over 12 times that.  For a community to continue to pursue a transit plan as absurdly inefficient as this one, in the face of this new energy reality, surely defies common sense  and current best "good government/urban design practices".

    These RenSquare weaknesses may explain why no forum has  been allowed  where the public could hear openly from independent traffic engineers along with preservationists, downtown residents, bus commuters and taxpayers who share equally severe reservations about this project, since the fall of 2003.

    It is not too late to shift the plan for Renaissance Square in Downtown Rochester to one that adds better, lower cost commute options. 

   The one not-so-fictional part of Renaissance Square is the over $100 million available for  transit investment to help our community respond to higher gas costs. We propose here concrete ways these funds could be used to add real value to the community of current and future public transit passengers as well as contribute to overall downtown revitalization. (see "a better plan")

      This website is intended to add to the exisiting momentum for changing project parameters. By increasing the information available  about the full range of damages caused by the current plan, it is hoped a shift to a more advantageous result can be more quickly pursued...

       ...one that results in getting people where they are going faster, not slower... at less cost and not more.  A project that preserves the tax base and even increases it, not giving it away by the millions. One that conserves the historic buildings and their development potential, not destroys them.... one that actually adds to downtown vibrancy and not just reshuffles existing destinations.

           Rarely has a community been faced with a choice

                                    both so full of peril 

                               and ripe with possibility.

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shown at right... how the buildings at the corner of Main and Clinton looked a century ago, and what they could look like again when fully restored.  Such a revitilization project could be completed in a matter of months, compared to their effort   no closer to an actual start date than it was 5 years ago. (11x17 poster available at "gift shop")

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Just how bad is the current RenSquare plan? 

As of summer 2008, the project intends to spend hundreds of millions of  taxpayer dollars to : 

1.  Remove $8 million in private property from the tax rolls.

2.  Slow the bus system considerably, requiring buses to follow an absurdly inefficient and clogged route.  So absurd, in fact, buses will be spending time backing up! 

3.  Bury the key central block under a swirling gauntlet of buses, reducing pedestrian friendliness and access. (Note that while turning, buses will  share right of way with people in crosswalks trying to pass through. Any incident along this maze through a congested central station, surrounded by one way streets, has the potential to literally  bring some or all of the bus system to a complete halt, This is the "acchilles heel wrapped in a  fatal flaw" that will cause station to be quickly abandoned.)

5. Drain countless millions of tax dollars annually for future operating costs.  When the first RG&E bill comes, who pays it?

5. Empty  the  Sibley's building and Auditorum Theater  when MCC and RBTL move to Ren Square. There is simply no net gain of activity created despite hundreds of millions spent.

6. Demolish historic buildings, along with their potential for redevelopment, such as the buildings right on the corner of main and Clinton. Built in 1855 , Frederick Douglass would likely have walked by as they were under construction and in use as storefronts. These are THE oldest building in this central historic district, providing shopping experiences and sales taxes without government subsidy since before the civil war. (see "picture links")

7. Close 8 stores that have been hanging on valiantly despite the neglect of a decade under the threat of a wrecking ball, much less government subsidy of any kind, unlike the failed "high-overhead-indoor-retail" at 3 of the other corners of this intersection. Talk about a track record of success! Several of these buildings could be fully restored in less time than it will take RenSquare to decide whether to even proceed.

8.  Limit MCC's downtown campus development choices.  By moving to a new plan, MCC would be freed to pursue its own destiny without political tampering, and instead pursue a course of maximum advantage. Spending $60 million to move one block over  to build a campus surrounded by bus traffic, leaves most people scratching their head and wondering "why?"

9. Cause lost opportunities.  This year alone Ren Square will spend     $2 million badly needed for real improvements.  How many  benches,  shelters and "green" buses could have been purchased this year?  RGRTA has yet to even post schedules on their bus stop poles, a low cost but most useful amenity, a standard amemity for bus system's in many other cities.

In short, Ren Square is set to damage our community in most ways that are measurable, creating the wrong results, at great public cost.

This is not a hurricane, tidal wave or tornado-- we are doing this to ourselves unnecessarily, and can stop at any time.