Comment

Comment by Mark Sweetland on October 29, 2009 at 8:11pm

Margy,

Dana M. did comment on development money for Thurston Rd. at the last 19th WCA annual convention. He was discussing what had been done on Genesee St. around Brooks, and said the next move will be towards Thurston. Thrust will be on storefronts, helping people improve their properties, etc. (If there are any left! My own comment, not his.)

A separate effort will repave Thurston from Brooks to Chili, as you may have read.

Comment by Shawn on October 29, 2009 at 11:28am

Thanks for sharing the link Karin! It is a MUST read. I know that people are reading it, and are interested in the 19th Ward, because the number of people visiting Location19 sky rocketed 78% today! The numbers have been slowing increasing, and we have been seeing around 200 unique visitors a day. But this morning when I checked we had had 487 hits! Amazing!

As for the Storefront renovations I came across a small blurb about it over the weekend.
"Thurston Brooks Merchant Association
Paula Howard, President
TBMA continues in its 7th year serving the needs of 86
businesses in ‘Thurston Village’ district as well as on nearby
Brooks Ave and Arnett Blvd.
A Thurston Village Targeted Exterior Grant program is
being readied for July 2009 to implement the results of
EDD’s 4-step commercial revitalization process.
Holley’s Café, Catering & Ice Cream renovated a former
foreclosure property, and had a grand opening in April.
TBMA brought back the 19th Ward Square Fair Parade in
June 2009 after more than 10 years hiatus.
4 new businesses opened on Thurston Rd. in the past year.
Thurston Road benefited from two years of an EDD-funded
Street Manager pilot program."
I found it when I was searching for info on the Thurston Road Business Association. Here is a link to the PDF from the City.
http://www.cityofrochester.gov/WorkArea/linkit.aspx?LinkIdentifier=...

Comment by Margy Meath on October 29, 2009 at 10:02am

thanks for sharing this article. I also don't remember hearing anything re: 300K of storefront renovations and hope that we're not going to really spend that kind of money on renovations without addressing other, more basic issues on Thurston. Chili/Thurston area did the renovations thing a while ago and most seem to think it did nothing but make things 'look nice' for a while.
Perhaps Dana will shed some more light on this issue.