Excellent D&C editorial on Ren Square
The D&C has a very good editorial up today about the proposed Renaissance Square project. We have voiced doubts about this project before, to be sure, but there are others we respect, such as Man About Town, who favor the project, at least in principle. What any reasonable person should find troubling about the project is this: the lack of clarity about what it will entail (will there be a performing arts center or not, for example) and how it will all be financed. The D&C takes up these issues today:
The concern — and it’s one that’s been batted around among city watchers and others for months — is that the architectural centerpiece of the enterprise, the large, Broadway-sized performing arts center, is not catching on with private donors. This is the one piece of the tripartite project, which includes a transit center and expanded Monroe Community College campus, that is meant to be privately funded. But not only are private funds being diverted into other capital campaigns around town, but consensus is lacking in the arts community about the need for a large theater.Out of those doubts came Duffy’s statement that, if the theater is dropped from the project, his support will go away, too. That makes sense from his standpoint. The theater, more than the bus station or campus, is the linchpin for commercial development at and near Main and Clinton. Without it, the city might be better off with an intermodal bus-train station as Rep. Louise Slaughter has long favored, and with the MCC campus away from Main Street.
Brooks says the entire project is a go, and that federal money already committed is predicated on that. But she also says that nothing should be built that can’t be paid for. It’s not a go if she and the community are not sure it can be paid for. Now is the time for clarity. Before the project is too far along. The fast ferry taught us that one.
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