Rochester Business Journal

Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks and Rochester Mayor Robert Duffy on Tuesday each portrayed the city’s prospects as a glass half full rather than half empty, and pledged to work together on issues of development and economic growth.

“Despite the tough economic times, there is continued optimism, I believe,” Brooks said during remarks at a luncheon at the Rochester Riverside Convention Center organized by the Rochester Downtown Development Corp. and the Rochester Rotary Club.

“I feel it. I hear it from people. It may be tougher to get there, but I think people do believe we’re headed in the right direction. Compared to many areas around the state and this country, we have fared remarkably well.”

Both Brooks and Duffy noted the move of ESL Federal Credit Union to Chestnut Street from Irondequoit  scheduled for 2010, and job growth involving companies such as CGI Communications Inc. on East Main Street.

The downtown landscape will change further next year with the demolition of Midtown Plaza and the proposed move of Paetec Holding Corp. to the site from Perinton.

“It’s going to be set up with grids,” Duffy said. “There will be roads through there. It’s eight acres and it’s going to look very, very different. You’re going to have Paetec on the northwest corner, starting their construction, hopefully, when that comes down, and the (redevelopment of) Midtown Tower.”

Duffy also cited Stantec Consulting Services Inc., which plans to move from its offices from Brighton-Henrietta Town Line Road to the High Falls District this spring, and Nothnagle Realtors, which is moving its headquarters downtown from Brighton.

“Downtown where I grew up, and the downtown where many of you grew up who are from here, is not the same downtown today,” he said. “It is not the retail center. We don’t have the department stores and retail outlets that we once had here.

“(Shopping malls) are outside the city. A lot has left over a period of time. It is nobody’s fault. What it is, in many ways, is a sad sign of many changes. What we are seeing is companies that do come back. What we have downtown is not Sibley’s, McCurdy’s and those retail outlets. What we have is businesses.”

Brooks responded to critics of the county’s incentive programs, which include tax breaks provided by the County of Monroe Industrial Development Agency. Those incentives have helped 740 companies—149 of which are in the city, she said—since Brooks became county executive in 2004, have created 11,000 jobs and retained nearly 15,000 more.

Those companies have invested $2 billion in the local economy, she said.

“If we don’t stand up and try to level the playing field,” Brooks said of New York’s tax situation, “and try to help our companies be competitive, we will be on the losing end of that equation.”

Rochester’s economic prosperity is linked to its entrepreneurs, Brooks said.

“The growth and vitality of the future economy is directly linked to that ability to be able to nurture entrepreneurship and innovation to retain the ideas and technology that are being developed right here in our community on many of the 19 college and university campuses that we have here,” she said.

Success will not come without community support, Brooks and Duffy said.

“The mayor and I need your help,” Brooks said. “We can’t do it alone. We need you … to go out every day and be good will ambassadors for the city of Rochester and the community of Monroe.

“We have a lot to offer. We have a lot of resources, a lot of assets. We are a great community and we have to start talking about ourselves that way.”

Duffy agreed.

“If we’re going to end up changing Rochester, if we’re going to end up building and rebuilding and growing, it’s going to take people from here,” he said.

“Downtown is not the city. Downtown is the county, it’s the city, it’s everyone. … Downtown is the hub of this community. We want a downtown that is world class. We want a downtown that can compete nationally.”

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