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Permalink Reply by DK Miller on January 3, 2009 at 11:28am

The RRCDC facilitated the original design charrette that we had for Brooks Landing back in March 2000. The day long exercise generated 9 different designs that were synthesized into one design that is what has been (is being) built.

RRCDC is also involved right now in planning a design charrette for the Bullshead area at the eastern boundary of the 19th Ward. The charrette will take place in mid 2009.

Dana

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Permalink Reply by Shawn on January 5, 2009 at 2:55pm

Thanks Dana,

I would like to see a Charrette for Thurston Road. That area of the ward has a ton of potential. And it would be great to get started on it now, before we loose any of the stuctures to more Rite Aides, Seven Elevens, blight or what not.
-Shawn

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Permalink Reply by Margy Meath on January 5, 2009 at 8:32pm

We did have a "visioning' event for Thurston- it was 3 meetings, I think but I only attended one.
I am sure that Dana can add a lot more information about that and what types of things have (or have not) been able to happen as a result of those efforts.
I am pretty sure that we were 'in the running' (so to speak) for the large amount of money that is going to be invested in Jefferson Avenue. If I remember this correctly, Dana advocated very strongly for $$ to be invested in Thurston but other council members voted for Jefferson.

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Permalink Reply by DK Miller on January 10, 2009 at 1:55pm

Margy is right, when the City decided to create a Focused Investment Strategy and pick 4 areas to focus on for the next 5-7 years I advocated for Thurston because I think with some targeted investment we could have a great street that would rival Park, Monroe or any others. Needless to say Jefferson won out.

Despite that we have put Thurston into the City's REVIVE process which is a 4 step process to revitalize commercial streets. 1. Visioning, 2, Economic Ananlysis, 3. Design Charrette, 4. Implementation. Thurston has completed Steps 1-3, and we did have a design charrette in November of 2007. About 60 people participated and some great ideas for Thurston were developed. We have $200K set aside in the current City budget for storefront renovation matching funds, and an architect is completing design work now. We will see the renovations in Spring 2009. The tougher question is business recruitment which usually becomes a "chicken and egg" scenario. We ultimately have to get more "feet on the street" to demonstrate to businesses that they can be successful on Thurston, keep the anchors (Hunts, Post Office, Rite Aid, 7-11) while replacing less successful businesses with better ones.

Holley plans to open a sit down restaurant, and next door to that an ice cream parlor. If it is high quality, successful, and supported by the neighborhood, this could become another anchor business.

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Permalink Reply by Shawn on January 10, 2009 at 2:11pm

Thanks Dana for sharing this information. I am relatively new to the Ward and our history. That is very exciting that there are some plans in the works for storefront improvement. I agree that Thurston Road would have been wise to target for investment. But I also understand that Jefferson needs work as well, and that Thurston has some legs to stand on currently.

I am very excited about Holley's opening their new location. It does have to be a quality establishment, if they expect to draw folks who can support their venture. This is where I feel a micro business loan program could help, in tandem with a well rounded series of small business classes and workshops. So many times business can get started and there is help there for them. But then after a year or so, can feel like they are on their own, an support is hard to find. This I feel is where a Business Association could help fill the void.

It comes down to community support. Either ones street, neighborhood, or city district. Its about looking out for one another, and doing what we can.

Thanks again for the insight!
-Shawn

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Permalink Reply by DeWain Feller on January 11, 2009 at 9:17pm

It sounds as though the current resources set aside for Thurston are similar to what was done on Chili Avenue. Facade improvements do have an impact on a street, however our commercial streets have far more fundamental issues that require more intervention.
We need to look at issues such as:
- the removal of businesses that are involved in crime or negative activity (from drug fronts to businesses that encourage loitering)
- converting marginal commercial areas to residential through adaptive re-use and redesign (such as removing the store front "boxes" that were added in front of former residential properties)
- restoring the "urban fabric" on streets where demolitions have weakened the feel of the street (such as creating in-fill developments to take back parking lots and vacant lots on corners and in gaps in otherwise continuous street frontage).

I appreciate Dana's efforts to try to get Thurston included in the Focused Investment Strategy, and it is unfortunate that we may have to wait 5 years or longer before we can see a significant investment in our community. Facade improvements are nice, but unless we deal with more fundamental issues, the physical improvements brought about by facade programs will only be temporary.

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Permalink Reply by DeWain Feller on January 11, 2009 at 8:56pm

The RRCDC is a fantastic asset to our region, and Roger Brown and Joni Monroe have contributed a lot to our city. Three things to keep in mind are that:
- RRCDC has a limited budget and most of the time of the architects involved with charrettes are volunteering their time,
- Charrettes do cost money and there needs to be a source of funds to pay for a charrette,
- RRCDC limits how many charrettes it can conduct in a year due to the limitations of organizational resources.

In addition to the charrettes listed by Dana, a mini-charrette was conducted of Chili Avenue several years ago.

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Permalink Reply by Shawn on January 11, 2009 at 9:09pm

Thanks for the info DeWain. I'm trying to understand what has gone on, and get conversation started. I figured a lot of it was pro bono work. I have not had the chance to meet anyone from RRCDC. I came across their website, and was amazed at the wonderful resource they are, right here in Rochester.

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