The City of Rochester would like to replace the portion of the Inner Loop that forms the northern edge of downtown. The City’s Request for Proposals essentially calls for a repeat of the Inner Loop East project that was completed last year. This project, funded mostly with federal stimulus money, Read more…
Strengths Fresh water Clean air Biomass High-quality soils Fisheries Woodlands of mixed species Downtown district heating system Hydropower Nuclear MC Pure Waters Walkable and bikeable Mainline rail service Water transportation via lake and canal Urban tree canopy Urban parks Relatively compact Top medical care and research Major technical research centers Read more…
Urban land once used for industrial purposes sits idle across America, especially in the former industrial cities of the Northeast and Midwest, and much of it may be attractive for solar arrays. There are opportunities if a solar developer knows where to look: a community’s climate action plan and the Read more…
Rochester is already one of the nation’s greenest cities, although we may not realize how or why. Older cities like ours have already expended the resources, both monetary and natural, to construct infrastructure like buildings, roadways, and utilities. Newer cities are still making these investments, which continue to grow in Read more…
An argument favoring historic preservation is that existing buildings and supporting infrastructure contain vast amounts of increasingly valuable “embodied energy”. In this time of global conflict over natural resources, nonstop damage to the environment, and rising oil prices, we can think of our stock of existing buildings, roadways, utility structures, Read more…
An easy, cost-free way to help our regional economy is to reduce the miles we drive. None of the gas we use for our daily travels is produced here, so the money we spend on gas—minus the $0.45 per gallon local and state taxes—all leaves the region and state. Until Read more…
This blog explores ways to use our man-made and natural resources more efficiently so that, as a society, we may retain and spread wealth, reduce our dependence on distant places, and limit our impacts on the planet. I’m addressing my cohorts in the Finger Lakes region of Upstate New York, Read more…