Sunday, November 30

Reclaiming the Lakefront, the Downtown, and the Truth:
Talking with Ted on WGVA

Last Friday, we participated in our monthly exchange with Ted Baker on the Finger Lakes Morning News (1240AM WGVA). As many of his guests in recent weeks have done, we spoke about the Bergmann plan. Ted had our most recent post on the issue on his screen and we discussed some of the ways in which the plan could be brought back on track, after being almost driven into a ditch by the last minute addition (and front page illustration) of “Building 12.”

In discussing that fateful addition, it was noted that Bergmann claimed to be solving the ‘interconnectivity problem’ between downtown and the lakefront. But, as Augustine said again, this time on air, you’re unlikely to find “anybody in downtown Geneva who is confused as to where the lake is” which shows that the real problem that needs to be solved is how to make *downtown* the attraction that people on the lakefront want to find. Capraro went on to point out that this problem extends beyond just tourists and is instead the puzzle that needs to be solved for year round Geneva residents, as well.

So, with discussion of the plan appropriately refocused on the downtown elements, we highlighted a few of our recommendations, including the need to prioritize access to the upper floors of downtown buildings, an idea that was first raised publicly by Councilor Lou Cosentino, and air conditioning for the Smith Opera House. We hope that these changes can somehow find a home in the amended document that Council will consider adopting as its new Master Plan.

At the end of the day, the lingering criticisms of the Bergmann plan are centered on the last minute turn it took from a collaborative public visioning project to a product that couldn’t resist the heavy influence of ‘stakeholders’ who were “overdetermining” the outcome. Having laid out a way to remedy that, we turned our attention to other issues in the public interest. We previewed a few upcoming posts related to Freedom of Information requests, specifically our continued inquiry into the nature and content of the former Manager’s “proffer agreement” with the New York State Attorney General’s office. Listen for yourself by visiting the Finger Lakes Daily News on-demand radio page and we'll get the spot added to the NoStringsGeneva Radio Archive soon. Stay tuned!"

Thursday, November 20

What Is This Plan? And Who is Its Master?

As we detailed in a previous post, three distinct views on the Lakefront/Downtown Development Plan emerged during the first Council meeting devoted exclusively to that topic. At the Ramada Inn, the majority of speakers indicated general support for most elements of the plan. The major exception was the now infamous “Building #12.”

Since that time, Augustine held a ward meeting to further explore the plan and to seek input on amendments that she would offer to the proposed document. It took us by surprise to hear Rob Gladden, Executive Director of the Geneva Area Chamber of Commerce, say that “no one wants Building #12” and that Bergmann Associates, the consultants who drew up the plan, “did the City a real disservice” by including that building.

While we agree with Gladden’s statement at the ward meeting, it seemed to directly contradict his, and the Chamber Board members’ statements at the earlier meeting at the Ramada. As you might recall, it was the Chamber of Commerce that was most adamant that the plan be approved “as is” and that the City seize on the opportunity to commence the work on Building 12, using the state money delivered by Senator Nozzolio.

Just prior to that meeting, the Chamber put out a newsletter in which it called opponents of Building 12 people who didn’t care about job creation or taxes or progress. In other words, in the Chamber’s eyes, anyone who opposed Building 12, was anti-Geneva, anti-Nozzolio, and anti “free money”. (Though we don’t agree that state money is ‘free money’...just look at the State’s debt and its impact on the economy to see the price we pay, not just in taxes, but in long term service cuts to pay for some of these member items),

With Gladden’s, and presumably his board’s, change of heart on Building 12, the City Council took up the issue of amending the plan at its November 12th work session. At the start of the meeting, City Manager Horn distributed a series of staff amendments to the plan, for Council consideration. The amendments were primarily aimed at setting additional parameters for development on the East Castle Street parcel adjacent to the Ramada. Rather than striking "Building 12” altogether, the document proposed a five point test for any building that might go on that site.

The five elements were: 1. Positive contribution to downtown’s economic viability; 2. Rigorous architectual review to ensure that any building is complementary to the existing downtown architecture; 3. A purpose (use) that is distinct from, yet complementary to, downtown. (This was later amended to read “excluding residential uses”); 4. A project that had few negative environmental impacts, if any, with a preference for projects that use sustainable building practices, such as LEED certification; and 5. A priority consideration on projects that dedicate additional space (above and beyond the required 40 ft. waterfront right-of-way) for public use and have plans to maintain and enhance that public space.

We believe that these principles are sound and should guide the review of all development projects in and around the downtown area (with the exception of #5 that is applicable only on the East side of Rtes. 5 &20). However, there are two issues that need to be resolved.

First, the amendment, in current form is more of a guiding document for the issuance of RFP’s and/or review of development proposals than a master plan document. Here’s why: by Horn’s own description, a master plan is supposed to be a broad vision statement. And that’s where we believe much of the consternation about the Bergmann plan is coming into play.

In their totality, the 28 oversized pages of the plan, as presented, contain much more than just a master plan. They contain a community narrative portion (pages 1-6) and an individual project justification component (pages 12-27). Although the former (narrative) component is fairly straightforward, the latter element provides a level of detail that subjects itself to unnecessary scrutiny. To put it another way, one part of the plan says “some elements must wait” and another part of the plan says “here’s how you proceed with each element.” It’s an inherent contradiction.

The picture, the grand sketch of possible projects, supports a community focus on the second part of the plan while ignoring the critical work of the “Policy and Action Items” section (pages 7-11). But, in reality, it is the text of pages 7-11 that should be most appropriately considered as an amendment to the city’s existing master plan document.

We encourage readers to download the plan from the city’s website or peruse the copy on hand at the Geneva Public Library, and read this section. As a broad overview, the plan provides the following four Policy Areas:

  1. Downtown Revitalization. This includes improving coordination between the City and BID, enhancing the local and regional image of downtown Geneva, continuing to improve the physical appearance of downtown, efforts to increase pedestrians, and capitalizing on Geneva’s location within the Finger Lakes region.
  2. Connect Downtown and the Lakefront. The three objectives here are to mitigate the impact of traffic on 5&20, enhance visual connection between downtown and the lakefront, and physically connect the downtown and lakefront areas.
  3. Waterfront Programming. This includes improving water-dependent and water-enhanced uses, enhancing pedestrian connectivity, making the waterfront a destination, and capital improvements to enhance the user experience of the lakefront.
  4. Recreation and Open Space. This focuses on improving the experience in downtown and the lakefront, creating a cohesive system of public and recreational space, and encouraging year-round use of public spaces.

These policy areas are, on their face, relatively non-controversial. They seem to most like common sense suggestions. And, as they say, “the devil is in the details” so reviewing each action item beneath those priority areas, we find only three references to actions that would lead to a building like “Building #12”.

First, Policy Area 1, Action Item A-2 states “explore the feasibility and programming of an Ecological Interpretive Center within the Visitor’s Center along the lakefront.” This does not mean to pursue a center within the current Chamber of Commerce building. Instead, the plan assumes that a new Visitor’s Center, on the lakefront, made possible by the Nozzolio earmark is a foregone conclusion. We believe that item should be revised to read “explore the feasibility, programming, and location of an Ecological Interpretive Center on or near the lakefront.”

Next, is Policy Area 2, Action Item C-1, which reads “promote development in key locations along East Castle Street that would provide the continuation of downtown’s urban form into the lakefront zone and provide strong linkages between downtown and the lakefront.” A proposal is currently on the table to tack on “except residential development” to the end, but we actually believe that the statement should be rewritten to read “pursue only those development opportunities along East Castle Street that conform to the standards laid out in the attached RFP guidelines” (that would be the document we previously referenced).

Last, is Policy Area 3, Action Item C-4, which reads “create a taskforce on the programmatic elements of a Visitor’s and/or Interpretive Center adjacent to the lakefront that will draw visitors into Geneva and provide information to enhance their experience while in the area.” We believe that should be rewritten to read, “create a taskforce on the programmatic elements and best location of a Visitor’s Center and/or Interpretve Center that will draw visitors into Geneva and provide information to enhance their experience while in the area.”

We would also suggest the addition of two action items:
First, to Policy Area 1, we would add (consistent with our previous posts and the comments of Councilor Cosentino) “Pursue funding opportunities and collaborative efforts to improve upper-floor access to downtown buildings, including elevators.”
Second, to Policy Area 2 (and 4) we would add, “Sponsor design competitions, on a national scale, to bring significant public art pieces to focal points within the downtown and along the lakefront.” This has been mentioned at several meetings and meets several of the stated objectives.

With these changes, Council would effectively regain control of this process, which means that the final document would achieve its dual purpose of solidifying a public vision for downtown and the lakefront and also communicate to the development community what standards and opportunities they can expect in doing business with the City.

Bloggers' Friday Morning Radio Appearance

Tune in to our Friday morning radio interview, live with Ted Baker on the Finger Lakes Morning News.

Friday, November 21st
8:35am
1240AM WGVA

As always, our past radio appearances are available in the NoStringsGeneva Radio Archive.

Tuesday, November 18

Obama is not Masked: He is the Mask

Since Election Day, the nation has been absorbed with two concerns: first, reaction to the election of Barack Obama, and then, speculation on how he will govern. Now that reality has set in, everyone is trying to figure out if the man who was elected by the people is the same man who will govern the country. In other words, was Obama for real, or was he wearing a mask? Obama was real enough, but he may have been the mask others were wearing.

Everyone agrees Obama’s election was historic. It goes without saying that the election of the first African-American president would be an important event in history. But, while Obama’s African-American identity was a component of public discourse about the campaign during the campaign, particularly in reference to voter demographics and opinion poll results, race and civil rights were not per se platform issues of the campaign.  


The media, though, used those issues to frame most of their depictions of a jubilant electorate in morning after coverage. Obama’s win was a triumph of civil rights, they suggested, by their collective choices of coverage, more so than a triumph of a skilled, charismatic black man who was right on the economy, the war, and health care.  

It’s almost as if McCain himself had set the stage with his election night concession speech: “This is an historic election, and I recognize the special significance it has for African-Americans and for the special pride that must be theirs tonight,” he told his supporters. True, Obama’s election was a milestone for African-Americans, but it was also a benchmark for all Americans and for our democracy. Even First Lady Laura Bush could express pride in the presence of a black man in the White House.  

In short, mixed race election night crowds in Chicago’s Grant Park and predominantly black gatherings on the streets of Harlem outside the Apollo Theater together tell the American tale of Obama’s victory.  

At this juncture, insights about how Obama will govern have been divined from his personnel decisions. Let’s take a look. His campaign was run by chief campaign strategist David Axelrod and national campaign manager David Plouffe. They’ll follow Obama into the White House as political advisors.
Other campaign staffers were drawn from Obama’s own 2004 Senate campaign, and from the ranks of those with close ties to former Democratic leaders Gephardt, Daschel, and Gore, and former Democratic presidential candidate Senator John Kerry. 

Heading Obama’s transition team is John Podesta, who was President Bill Clinton’s chief of staff from 1998 to 2001, and who, in the final hours of Clinton’s presidency, worked with him on a series of controversial pardons. Congressman Rahm Emanuel (D-5th district) will be Obama’s White House chief of staff. Emanuel is a product of Chicago’s Democratic machine, and a close friend of Axelrod. Known for playing hard ball, and getting things done, he was senior political adviser to Bill Clinton from 1993 to 1998.

As of this post, Hillary Clinton is under consideration for Secretary of State, as is Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico. Hillary is an interesting case study in opposition. She was the front runner, presumptive, even inevitable, Democratic nominee from the get-go. Her campaign was run by a number of seasoned Clintonian operatives from the 1990s and a group of women from Hillaryland, the designation for her domain as First Lady. Patti Solis Doyle, and then Maggie Williams, was her campaign manager. Mark Penn was her political strategist. Harold Ickes was senior advisor and her “Karl Rove.”

According to Joshua Green in The Atlantic, the front runner failed to achieve the nomination because of her failure at decision making and executive functioning, which were, ironically, the strengths touted in her campaign. It appears that her staff was busy fighting with each other, presumably because they thought victory was inevitable, and their main concern was not winning the nomination but being in line for rewards.  

It appears that Obama’s winning team chose him as much as he chose them. Somehow, aggressive guys who had worked fro Bill Clinton, like Axelrod and Emanuel, aligned themselves with Obama and not Hillary, the other Clinton. Perhaps they saw in Obama the authentic, human face of change-- hope and change—and put it on themselves, as their mask. Obama became the go between, between the American electorate and a re-constituted, powerful Democratic machine, an alternative to both the Clintons and to the Republicans.

Sunday, November 16

Anonymous Comment Challenges Readers and Bloggers

We are posting the following comment without attribution. As our editorial policy states, "comments must be signed in order to be posted. In rare instances, we will post an anonymous response if the author provides us with a compelling reason not to be identified." The author of the comment has identified him/herself to us and has provided reasonable grounds for an anonymous posting.

Here is the comment:

1. It feels like the city's residents think of themselves as second class citizens. Is this the case? Why might this be?
2. Few people in the city seem to take care of their property. Even in upscale areas like along Oak Or Maxwell, the homes are tired, not recently painted. What's that about?
3. How come you guys keep building drug stores? Another [Rite Aid]? What's up with that?

Click the 'responses' tab below to leave your answers.

Monday, November 3

Obama, McCain, Self Control and Political Success

Professional golfers know the hazards of losing self control. It can cost them millions in earnings. It’s clear, “managing your emotions” is key for success. Politicians, too, know what can go wrong when they give in to temptation, or otherwise let their guard down. President Bill Clinton was impeached in the aftermath of a reckless affair with a White House intern. New York Governor Elliot Spitzer resigned following the disclosure that he cavorted with a prostitute, and John Edwards betrayed his ethics and his wife when he hooked up with a videographer he met in some bar on the campaign trail.
As this year’s presidential race comes to a close, regardless of the outcome, Obama will be credited with running a virtually flawless campaign, from organization on the ground and fund raising, to message and delivery in every theater. McCain did not fare so well. Though he takes pride as an alleged maverick and underdog, and in his ability to rebound, most of his setbacks have been of his own making. He has come to be seen as impatient, impulsive, and impetuous. The pundits are now saying Obama was disciplined-- right through the final hours of the campaign, while McCain floundered.

For all his intellect, oratory, and empathy, and however much he was advantaged by the disastrous approval ratings of President Bush and the melt down of the economy, what would win the race for Obama was his self control. He’s made a few gaffs-- a stray line in Pennsylvania about folks “clinging to religion and guns” in the face of adversity, and an off-the-cuff remark on a rope line to Joe the Plumber about “spreading wealth;” but, for the most part, what came out, and came across, was what he intended. He was in control.

McCain, on the other hand, fumbled on a regular basis. Prior to the campaign, he had a reputation in the Senate as a hot head in need of anger management counseling. His choice of a running mate— both how he made the decision and its substance—was a leap of faith. Sure, he was looking for a woman and for someone who could shore up the conservative base, but this particular, unvetted conservative woman can only be seen as the rash choice of, as one columnist concluded, a smitten man. Then there was his frenetic response to the financial bail-out crisis: suspending his campaign, but doing little leg work in the capital to resolve things; pulling a no show with David Letterman. During the TV debates, his body language, his grimacing and wandering around stage, and his hostile and condescending phraseology put him in a bad light.

How do we account for these differences? Sociologist Richard Majors, in Cool Pose, discusses the dilemma faced by black men coping with racism: if they are complicit in the dominant culture, they are marginalized; but, if they are defiant, they, too, are marginalized. Cool pose is a defiant posture, which, seeks some sort of control in the face of oppression. At its functional best, it does give some control, but, on balance, it is mostly dysfunctional.
In the twists and turns of his life course, Obama found a cool pose of his own-- not overly complicit and not too defiant-- and that was through self control. It appears that when he enrolled in Columbia University, and withdrew deeply into his studies, his activism was intellectualized and his personal and political anger was tempered by self control, the foundations of his political success were being built.

McCain, on the other hand, raised in a hegemonic family of military elites and long tenured in the clubby U.S. Senate, never learned self control. Whether it was a deeply troubled relationship with his father or his terrible abuse as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, his anger seems to have been unresolved, and a insurmountable obstacle to his own self control. He was able to get away with it for a long time, until the tenacious, relentless, and unforgiving lens that is a presidential campaign captured him too many times out of control.

Ironically, something of the same was true for Obama’s own running mate, Joe Biden. Biden failed in the Democratic presidential primary race, in part, because of a comment he had made about Obama as discussed here:


"Joe Biden is set to launch his second run for the presidency today but it will likely be overshadowed by some candid comments made in an interview with Jason Horowitz of the New York Observer.
Most noteworthy is what he says about Barack Obama: 'I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy,” he said. “I mean, that’s a storybook, man.'
Not surprisingly, Matt Drudge is all over it."

Ironically, it was Obama’s self control that Biden was inadvertently caricaturing which brought about the success which brought Biden back into the race.

Surely this, and other issues will factor into our decision as we 'pull the lever' tomorrow, Election Day.  Remember to cast your ballot, and to know your voter rights before you even step foot into the booth.  


Saturday, November 1

Congratulations to the Philadelphia Phillies, the 2008 World Champions of baseball.

Special Congratulations to Jamie Moyer, Phillies starting pitcher for Game 3, last Saturday!

Moyer, age 45, got his start in professional baseball with the Geneva Cubs in McDonough Park back in 1984. Not to be outdone by the Phillies, Tampa Bay Bench Coach, Dave Martinez, was a member of the 1983 Geneva Cubs.

Long live baseball in Geneva, and a special shout out to Johnny-O, Geneva's Mr. Baseball who was on board then and now!