High Falls: A Waterfall, Within a Canyon, in the Heart of Our City

This article was scraped from Rochester Subway. This is a blog about Rochester history and urbanism has not been published since 2017. The current owners are now publishing link spam which made me want to preserve this history.. The original article was published September 18, 2013 and can be found here.

   By now you've probably heard of the     GardenAerial

project. But you may not be clear on the details. What is it? And why is it important? Benjamin Woelk is Associate Director of Administration & Community Engagement at GardenAerial. He recently gave a presentation at TEDxFlourCity where he explained how the GardenAerial project will reinvent our community by giving Rochester a "sustainable identity."

Benjamin reminds us that we have a 96 foot tall waterfall... inside a canyon... in the middle of our city. High Falls has been here for millions of years. Yes it's evolving; but it's also been here longer than Kodak, Lilacs or Garbage Plates. Rochester began here. And as he correctly points out, this is a world-class site. Repeat it: A World. Class. Site.

Now watch the video and see how High Falls could be transformed into New York State's first EcoDistrict, and a boon to our economy once again...

   Here's a view of the GardenAerial project area. The High Falls neighborhood and the gorge (from the falls to Smith Street/Upper Falls Blvd.) will be designated an     EcoDistrict

, holding new development to a set of sustainable guidelines encompassing green building, adaptive reuse, sustainable energy, transportation, etc.

   And here are the three phases of GardenAerial...

   Phase 1: Conversion of Browns Race into the FlourGarden. Native plantings, hardscaping, and flowing water will bring the defunct raceway back to life.

   Phase 1 also a reimagined Granite Mills Park...

   ...and a Brewer's Square Promenade on the east side of the Pont de Rennes pedestrian bridge. (try to ignore the Cataract Building)

   Phase 2: A new pedestrian bridge over the falls with a connection between High Falls and downtown by going under the rail tracks and under the inner loop.

   Phase 3: A re-imagined Ponte de Rennes bridge with a glassed-in structure beneath the existing deck with elevator access down into the gorge. The space could house shops or restaurants. And finally, a new wintergarden on the east side of the gorge would have a hands-on, educational garden which would maximize year-round tourism.

I'd encourage you follow the progress of this incredible, citizen-led initiative by visiting     GardenAerial

and making a donation today.