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Plans for Riverside Promenade Proceed; Residents Have Concerns

rochestersubway.com/Chris Luckhardt

Plans to develop the area around the abandoned Rochester subway took another step forward Thursday night.

Rochester City Council unanimously approved up to $250,000 dollars to fund design work for a public promenade along the Genesee River.  The project is linked to plans for a nearby private residential and retail development.

Some are concerned that an underground parking garage planned for the project would cut off the main access to the abandoned subway and its world-renowned street art.               

"Some of the artists who have work down there sell canvases for five and six figures and it's completely unique that just organically over time, these artists have found their way to Rochester, have been drawn to Rochester by this location and have organically put up work there," said Rochester resident Jesse Hughson.  He would like to see the city go back to its original plan to create a public park in the area.

"I'd take it back to making it all a park, like the original master plan showed in 2010, where, for $2 million public tax dollars we would have a beautiful public park in the space between Dinosaur Barbeque and 490; we would connect the river trail where it ends at 490."

Hughson wants to volunteer for a committee proposed by Councilman Matt Haag, who says concerned citizens and lawmakers should be part of the planning process.

"While I don't know much about street art, I do know the importance of attracting people and retaining people in our community,” Haag said. “If we have an amenity like this open air gallery that has proven successful at achieving some of these goals, then I think it deserves our attention and it deserves our time to take a look at that."

Haag said he will be meeting with Council President Loretta Scott in the coming weeks to discuss the formation of a committee.

Haag doesn’t want to discourage residents in their teens, twenties and thirties who have expressed interest or concerns about the development plans. 

"That is really important. When you have people in that age group engaged in something they think is important, it deserves our respect and it deserves our attention."

Beth Adams joined WXXI as host of Morning Edition in 2012 after a more than two-decade radio career. She was the longtime host of the WHAM Morning News in Rochester. Her career also took her from radio stations in Elmira, New York, to Miami, Florida.