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CREATIVE CITY NEWSLETTER: JULY 2001
ISSUE 2: DEFINING THE NEW ECONOMY
Creative City Top
Five Issue Areas
Topical Articles
and Studies
COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT: Rochester,
NY
Meeting Notes from
the First Creative City Meeting
COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT: ROCHESTER, NY
CITY SPOTLIGHT
For each issue of the Creative City newsletter, we will highlight
one of our participating cities/communities. This feature
will include a brief profile of the community, its Creative
City agenda, and other "happenings" related to our
goal. The City of Rochester recently hosted a national Planners
Network Conference, "Voices of Change, Lessons from
Citizen Planners." Over 300 people representng 20 states
and 5 foreign countries attended. The Planners Network felt
that Rochester's Neighbors Building Neighborhoods initiative
was a great model to showcase to its constituency - Partners
agrees.
ROCHESTER, NY: The City and Its Community
Located approximately midway on the south shore of Lake Ontario,
Rochester metropolitan area is the third largest in New York
State. Greater Rochester is known for it high-tech manufacturing
and is recognized globally for its highly skilled work force
specializing in the areas of imaging, photography, biomedical
research, optics, tooling and printing among others. In addition,
Rochester has a hand in agriculture, growing fourteen major
crops, and is part of the Finger Lakes area. It is often referred
to as the "Flower City" due to its roots in the
seed and nursery business. Rochester is emerging from a manufacturing
base to a high tech focus on telecommunications, photonics,
and biomedical research.
Rochester's social heritage is as important as its economic
history. The premier leaders of both the abolitionist movement
- Frederick Douglass - and the Women's Suffrage movement -
Susan B. Anthony - had their home in Rochester. Charles Mulford's
"City Beautiful" movement and Walter Rauschenbush's
"social gospel" also grew out of the Flower City.
For more information go to www.cityofrochester.gov.
ROCHESTER PLANNING
Rochester 2010: The Renaissance Plan
Adopted in 1999 by City Council after two years of development
as a means of updating the city's long out-of-date comprehensive
plan, the ten year Renaissance Plan has three main themes:
Responsibility, Opportunity and Community.
The first theme, Responsibility, aims at involving the citizens
in crafting the goals of the city, while engaging them as
a resource for further revitalization. Also, under the goal
of Responsibility falls a defined commitment to health care
and the environment.
Opportunity, the second goal, outlines the economic goals
of Rochester, including tourism, municipal services, and economic
development.
The third goal of Community serves to create "cohesive
neighborhoods and improving on the art and cultural aspects."
Included in the plan are eleven "Renaissance Campaigns"--Involved
Citizens; Educational Excellence; Health, Safety and Responsibility;
Environmental Stewardship; Regional Partnerships; Economic
Vitality; Quality service; Tourist Destination; Healthy Urban
Neighborhoods; Center City; and the Arts and Culture-- that
all fall under the above mentioned goals. Such campaigns are
the result of intense analysis primarily by the Mayor's Stewardship
Council, city staff and citizen NBN action plans.
The campaigns provide for the safety, upkeep and renewal
of neighborhoods; continual citizen participation in community
planning and review processes; high quality education and
job training on a life long basis; making public schools a
focal point of the community; creating regional solutions;
creating an area in which businesses can thrive; creating
a diverse economy with a highly trained work force; supporting
affordable and market-rate housing; promoting public transportation;
encouraging cultural and recreational activities; development
of the downtown as the "Region's Center City," including
a mix of housing, retail, restaurants, and entertainment;
and creating a world class cultural center through the promotion
of arts and cultural venues. These campaigns represent significant
new directions and priorities for the city as it moves into
the 21st century.
In conjunction with the Renaissance Plan is an overhaul of
the city's zoning ordinances that will bring the zoning in
line with the Renaissance Plan. A new zoning code will be
ready by mid 2002.
Neighbors Building Neighborhoods
NBN was created in 1994 as a way to provide the residents
of Rochester with a voice in city government on city policy,
budget and planning issues. The goal of the NBN process is
to "establish and maintain stable, healthy and diverse
neighborhoods which are developed and sustained by citizens."
The focus of this community visioning process has been to
capitalize on the strengths and assets which residents and
organizations contribute to their respective communities.
The NBN process allows for the city's residents, businesses
and organizations to take an active role in the planning of
their neighborhoods, by creating a collective approach in
which the resources of the citizens can be best utilized.
Smart Growth / Regionalism
Mayor William A. Johnson has made a point of focusing upon
regionalism and smart growth in relation to the future of
Rochester. In his State of the City address in March of 2001,
he declared that for Rochester to succeed as a vibrant city,
the entire region in which Rochester is located must be successful.
In order for this to occur, Rochester and its surrounding
regions must put aside their parochial views and address problems
on a regional level and work with regional partners. Only
through the support and participation of the city's regional
neighbors, can a successful region be created. Regionalism
allows for the better competition for major investment, while
preserving economic, environmental and social resources. Regionalism
is also a key element of the city's Renaissance Plan. Mayor
Johnson has been a forceful and articulate champion of smart
growth both locally and nationally.
Tourism
Rochester is a tourist mecca. Boasting Lake Ontario, the
Genesee River, the Erie Canal and the Finger Lakes region,
the city is also home to world-class orchestras, museums,
dance groups and a wide variety of arts and cultural venues.
It is the home of Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass.
These assets create significant tourist interest and investments.
Awards
Rochester has won many awards including the following:
- Top 10 Cities for Families, Child Magazine, 2001
- Public Official of the Year, Mayor William A Johnson,
GoverningMagazine, 1999
- Most Livable Community, Partners for Livable Communities,
2000
- All-America City, National Civic League, 1998
HAPPENINGS
"Voices
of Change: Lessons from City Planners"
Distinguished panelists, progressive civic leaders, and expert
planners gathered in Rochester, NY for this year's Planners
Network (PN) National Conference. The conference, held in
late June, featured such internationally distinguished guests
as Rochester Mayor
William Johnson, and Thomas R. Argust, the Commissioner
of the Department of Community Development, and Argentina's
Secretary for Regional Development, Dr. Alejandro B. Rofman.
The National Steering Committee of the Planners Network chose
Rochester for this year's event because "Rochester is
an ideal place [for conference guests] to gain a deeper understanding
of the local planning and development challenges caused by
globalization as well as the promise of citizen-inspired planning,"
according to a 'conference call' posted on the Planners
Network website.
The conference showcased a "rich body of participatory
planning, regional cooperation and public scholarship taking
place in the Rochester Region to foster thoughtful discussion
of the current challenges facing citizen planners and their
professional allies."
Rather than an exclusively academic discussion of urban issues,
or a panel of outside specialists, the heart of the 2001 conference
was described by the PN conference call as "a highly-interactive
meeting involving a diverse group of citizen activists, practicing
planners, urban scholars, and elected officials in a series
of animated discussions regarding the current state and future
promise of urban and regional planning and policy-making."
In keeping with this year's theme, "Voices of Change:
Lessons from Citizen Planners," the second day of the
conference was devoted to "Local Perspectives,"
beginning with an opening plenary entitled Voices from the
Northern and Southern Hemisphere, which featured Dr. Rofman
along with Dr. Barbara Rahder of Toronto's York University.
After attending Mayor Johnson's lecture detailing Rochester's
homegrown plan citizen-led development, Why Rochester took
the Road Less Traveled, the conference guests embarked on
a series of "Community-builder case study visits,"
including neighborhood tours, a group dialogue, and a series
of reports from community-based development organizations
such as the Northeast and Southwest Development councils,
the Charlotte Neighborhood Association, and the Common Good
Planning Center.
Two workshop sessions gave conference guests a chance to
gain hands-on experience with some of Rochester's most important
urban issues, such as affordable housing, community/university
development partnerships, Environmental racism/justice, alternative
transportation planning, and public health.
For more information on the 2001 PN national conference,
contact Kenneth Reardon of Cornell University at 607-254-5378
or kmr22@cornell.edu.
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