Preservation v. Progress: Rematch on Main Street

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 June 25, 2012 and can be found here.

   The church shown above sits vacant at     660 W. Main Street

. It's on the City's list of historic buildings and potentially eligible for the National or State Register of Historic Places. Unfortunately the building's owner is itching to demolish it... to clear the way for a new Dollar General store...

   On July 19, the City's Zoning Board will hear public testimony and decide whether or not to approve the owner's variance application. But not everyone is happy with the owner's plan. Neighbors, including some from adjacent properties, are getting ready to make their arguments in opposition to the demolition. And they've asked RochesterSubway.com for some visual assistance to help make their case...

   So this is what the little church could look like with some elbow grease (shown above). It certainly is pretty. But frankly, I don't think it will help and I've probably just wasted a weekend in Photoshop.

I mean let's not forgot, they'll be making their plea to the exact same     Zoning Board

that voted to demolish     this

.

Here, as with the historic     Cataract Brewery

, we have a vacant building and an owner who has a plan to replace it. I assume we also have neighbors who will almost certainly stand with the owner in the name of "progress." Plus, the City's zoning code hasn't changed since January (I don't think). Doing things the same way and expecting different results - isn't this the definition of insanity?

Perhaps. Or perhaps enough of the neighbors in the Susan B. Anthony Neighborhood, unlike High Falls, will unite to somehow tip the balance -- from "progress" to sanity.