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Originally Posted by F11Roch
There is no local political capital to push that kind of expenditure through. The city budget is already near impossible to balance every year as it is. There is no need to push a huge cost like that onto the city if the state is willing to pay for it. I think that article is overdramatizing the situation a bit. Yes there is ill will between Spitzer and Bruno's camp, but all of the local Republican representatives support this project and I doubt they will let it get sandbagged.
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My point is that there should be political capital and vision to do what's necessary to get this done. Granted, I'm not local anymore, but it sounds like this very well could get bogged down in Albany. If Rochester stands to lose out on a critical development project while state is dragging its feet, then the city needs to take action to do something to help itself.
When I was living in Houston, they had a similar situation at the Federal level when the city's local Republican Congressional delegation didn't want to fight for funds to build the city's first light rail line. Metro went ahead and financed the entire $250 million dollar line itself. Now the line is built and there is a comprehensive proposal for five additional lines to be built by 2012. Rochester need thinking like that!
I'm sorry, but all of this reminds me of why I got out of there in the first place. Too much red tape..and too much "can't do" attitude from city and state leaders. Take it from someone who only goes back once every year or so and can see the long-term changes taking place...that city is visibly dying and small-scale fixes aren't going to help very much. $50 million is a small price to pay if it means critical downtown redevelopment.