Directory/Parks & Nature/City Wishlist/Edit history
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Snapshots recorded when suggested edits were approved.
Version 1— Imported from RockWiki archive — April 9, 2026
Snapshot details
- Name
- City Wishlist
- URL slug
- city-wishlist
- Category
- park
- Description
- Add to this page things you would like to see for our city Turn the Inner Loop into a sprawling urban park at street level creating a destination in downtown Rochester that can reconnect the center city with the surrounding area. It would not be expensive to bury it, and would have little impact on congestion as it already serves very few drivers. If bordered by complete streets serving all forms of transport, it would create a vibrant boulevard around the city. (The "fill" project is now underway.) How about allowing people to wade in the wading pool @ Manhattan Square... Boston does it (so apparently there is no huge health or safety concern) and I thought that was the idea when it was being built... (actually fountains were watered years ago and my 6 year old sister sliced her foot open on a broken glass beer bottle) Maybe put in a goddamn Sonic There is a goddamn Sonic Drive-In in Irondequoit with three more on the way Rochester No Car Day - Dedicate the day of May 29th, 2009 to walking and biking instead of using motor vehicles. Host a midnight walk once a month in different areas of the city to promote revitalization, and to counter the feeling that the city is dangerous after dark. The more people out walking at night, the more pride we will take in our neighborhoods, and the safer the streets will become! For people to stop giving money to panhandlers. There are missions that give away free food and clothes every single day. The only reason panhandlers want your money is to buy things that charity will not pay for, so the next time you give some pocket change to a guy for a "sandwich", understand that you are DIRECTLY contributing to our city's plight! A bookstore that sells new books and is not in a strip mall. Keep the Eastman Dispensary from deteriorating. Renovate it into a library (or a bookstore) with a cozy coffee shop on one wing, and a tourist information center providing all sorts of information, including historical local information. Drill a hole through the Charlotte pier so algae won't build up and we can actually swim. A low-cost streetcar plan (or light rail) to facilitate access across the Inner Loop and I-490 freeway. This system would serve downtown and the inner city within one mile of the Inner Loop. City residents would get a number of limited free ridership passes per month. The plan should allow longer distance extensions (if this appears sensible from ridership numbers) and transport infrastructure connections to such places as the airport and the downtown Amtrak station. For the Rochester-Genesee Regional Transportation Authority to develop a comprehensive bus line system á la NYC with buses that actually travel crosstown, downtown, and uptown without expensive transfers and that run after the bars close. (Unlikely. Rochester's avenues run hub & spoke.) (Adding concentric rings to the hub-and-spoke layout would help immensely) Seasonal summer peak bus service to Ontario Beach Park (Charlotte Beach) on Lake Ontario. Car sharing and car-sharing pods throughout the city. (The Zipcar program at the University of Rochester is available to anyone now.) The addition of kangaroos and giraffes at the zoo, as well as more wolves to the zoo's exhibit — wolves are pack animals and need a larger community. More development in the High Falls, Charlotte, and East Main parts of town. For people to actually go to the High Falls area so that the businesses can stay open and encourage more to open. BRAND NEW rentable ranch-style apartment homes in the suburb towns (Fairport, Pittsford, etc) that allow small dogs (something like the Villas of Victor but closer to downtown Rochester). A 24-hour indoor dog park / activity center with a variety of hang out areas and things to do. A local IKEA (Petition to get an IKEA in Western New York) (…in the works, possibly on old ["Kodak Park") or West Elm (westelm now open in Culver Road Armory). Fairport should try to have more funky shops like they do in Brockport — not too "touristy," but something to add to the Erie Canal experience... Pittsford is really doing some nice things — the Canal should be highlighted a lot more than it is. Whole Foods (http://WholeFoodsMarket.com) downtown! Fewer pseudo "gang bangers" who have confused this little city with somewhere larger cities. Better radio stations with actual, interesting, and knowledgeable disc jockeys (think WOXY and KEXP). What about WBER? It's a Rochester institution. — INDEED! A new attitude with wider and deeper support for innovation and geek culture. More pedestrians, cyclists, skaters, and Nordic skiers in winter. On-street bike lanes. (Already some are in place) A bicycle safety education program and roulette ticketing of no lights cyclists, where randomly half the time they receive a $50 fine plus lights, and half the time free lights and no fine. Earn-a-bike like http://BikesNotBombs.org or a Center for Appropriate Transport. A fountain1 in the Genesee River, located downtown between: the Broad Street Bridge, the Court Street Bridge, Rundel Library, and the Blue Cross Arena. A permanent agreement to never ever dismantle the Inner Loop and the radial structure of the city, and a plan for a streetcar system that provides numerous entry and exit points to make downtown pleasantly accessible by foot. Modifying PaeTec Park so that it is a skating rink in the frozen months. Wi-Fi, everywhere and 24/7 - for example: Monroe County Wi-Fi. Modestly-priced, widely-available Wi-Fi paid for by the users such that there is an incentive to do upgrades and maintain the system. Turning the Sibley Building into dorms for MCC students. More people and less spam at Rochester Craigslist. (But why wait? Help build Tribe locally.) —Fenced dog parks. A frickin' Dairy Queen (the closest location is in Buffalo!) There is a frickin' Dairy Queen at 1100 Jefferson Road in Henrietta now! A Chick-fil-A restaurant somewhere, anywhere in this city! The closest is in Erie, PA! Get the city government out of business of buying things to try and be like a business. Assemble an unbiased commission dealing only with financial analysis of city projects and investments, by assembling a team of city employees; put the city tax assessors and financial geniuses to work and let them advise you and prepare an unbiased factual feasibility and profit analysis of major purchases and projects (e.g., buying Midtown Plaza for $6 million or pumping a quarter billion dollars into Renaissance Square). An end to cookie-cutter suburban sprawl and a reinvestment in the environmentally and socially healthier lifestyle known as city living! More wheelchair-accessible Voting Machines and a Board of Elections that has a conscience More shops, restaurants, businesses that showcase the Genesee River gorge downtown A Qdoba restaurant. A Chipotle restaurant. (Moe's is satisfying the cravings until I get back to Ohio, but Chipotle is far superior to Moes...) There's now one on Mt. Hope Avenue near University of Rochester, Monroe Avenue in Pittsford, Jefferson Road in Henrietta, and Wal-Mart Plaza in Victor Duck tours! (Boston, Miami, Seattle, and a bunch of other cities have them. A Long John Silver's, or a Long John Silver's/A&W split restaurant. A more upscale shopping center (downtown?) with stores that the area couldn't support more than one instance of, such as Anthropologie now at Eastview Mall, Urban Outfitters, Steve Madden, etc. A La Madeleine café A Fuddruckers burger place - I know there's one on one of the Thruway rest stops, but that doesn't really count. An alternative weekly that doesn't suck. Continued development of the Rochester-Auburn Trail from Pittsford to Highland/590, plus new on-street and in-park bike routes so riders can go from Schoen Place, up through Cobbs Hill and Highland Park (where, technically, bikes are only allowed on the roads - lame), through (or around) Mt. Hope Cemetery, and on to downtown or back to the canal via the Genesee Valley Trail. It would link canal tourism more strongly to the city, and would be great for charity rides. A kaiten (conveyor belt) sushi restaurant. A decent Mexican restaurant within 100 miles of Rochester. (Paula's is decent food, but overpriced and with small portions) Have you tried Chilango's or Monte Alban Mexican Grill? They're both within 10 miles of the city. Check out John's Tex Mex on South Avenue. Good portions, good food and good prices. A fondue restaurant The Melting Pot is now located in Marketplace Mall in Henrietta Pave the section of the Lehigh Valley Trail between RIT and UofR. Turn part of Park Avenue into a walking street. The city is spending a lot of money trying to start things from new in a few locations in the city. Those places don't have things to attract people, and have to start from scratch, not all bad, but a lot of time and money is required. Park Ave has stores, restaurants, etc already there. The attraction to Park Ave is pretty big now, and could be huge. There are some down sides, parking and driving in the area would be more difficult. Ask, cajole, and/or inspire Genesee Brewery to make its buildings look nicer. From the West side of High Falls or from the Main Street Bridge all you see is a big yellow skeletal conglomeration. Can't they make it look better? A Hofbrau haus? A pyramid of 12 horses? (Nearly all the buildings have since been repainted, and outside the brew pub restaurant they now put up a lighted pyramid of kegs "tree" for the holidays.) An In-N-Out restaurant A direct bus line from U of R to RIT and other area colleges. (Maybe the route could go Brockport, RIT, MCC, UR, Naz, St. John Fisher). I don't want to have to walk two blocks and sit on a bus for an hour when, by car, the route takes less than ten minutes. Google internet or Verizon FiOS, or at least some real internet competition to TWC. Frontier is a joke. Doubtful... Frontier and Verizon have non-compete agreements. Plus Frontier is buying up rural services that Verizon wants to dump, so I doubt Verizon would want to do anything against Frontier. How about a Pinkberry Frozen Yogurt... A Tropical Smoothie Cafe More skyscrapers downtown. Demolish the Windstream Building and replace it with some real urban development. Demolish the new Democrat & Chronicle Building too. What a disgrace! Controversial, absurd, impossible (but not bad) and/or failed ideas A speedy ferry that you can get loaded on while cruisin' cross international waters. Turning the Inner Loop into a canal- gondolas and water taxis in the summer, skating in the winter. Dismantling of the Inner Loop, an artificial and antiquated barrier between downtown and the neighborhoods. A formal admission by city government that building the thing in the first place back in the '50s was really the nail in the coffin of downtown, favoring suburban commuters at the expense of the comparatively voiceless urban poor. Also, that the dismantling of the Inner Loop not be considered "absurd" (at least not so long as "a permanent agreement" to keep it in place is considered sane or feasible). Geodesic dome spanning several acres, serving as a winter garden for the city. (I.e., bigger than the NYC Bronx arboretum.) High Speed Train along the thruway corridor (Toronto, Buffalo, Rochester, Albany, NYC/Boston), but passing through downtown Rochester with a nice train station (the thruway should have gone through ROC, but a famous disagreement had it re-routed around the City). See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_high-speed_rail. Light Rail connecting different parts of our area - one example is a plan is at Rochester Rail Transit Committee which is a proposed line to Charlotte beach. Removal of the putrid stench that emanates from the Genesee River. Tear down the large behemoth skyscrapers of downtown and replace with lower height, livable community. i.e., stop trying to be like Manhattan, Rochester! You are a great smaller city and do not need tall buildings that lose their use due to downturn in th…
- Address
- 490 freeway
- Status
- Active listing
- As of snapshot
- 4/9/2026, 6:45:11 AM