Rochester, N.Y. – When Mayor Robert Duffy announced he’s running for lieutenant governor, the Rochester Broadway Theatre League’s search for a place to build a new theater took a hit.
“It certainly complicates it,” said RBTL Chairman Arnold Rothschild. “Any downtown project right now has become more complicated.”
Duffy supported a theater at Midtown Plaza. There’s no telling if the next mayor will share that vision. When Duffy became mayor, he immediately pulled the plug on the fast ferry, the pet project of his predecessor, William Johnson.
Johnson asked, "Who's going to make a commitment to an interim mayor?" He added, "You cannot impose your agenda on your successor."
“We don't know the timelines. We don't know in fact who's going to be the mayor and how high a priority or not this will be,” said Rothschild.
RBTL is also considering Medley Centre in Irondequoit as a place to call home. Rothschild said late last week the Midtown theater developers requested more time to get information from City Hall that RBTL requested.
“The mayor would have to be the person quarter-backing here and it’s certainly a setback in our review of the downtown site,” Rothschild said.
“It is destabilizing,” said Assemblyman Joseph Morelle, who is also Monroe County Democratic Party Chairman.
Morelle believes support for a downtown theater will outlive Duffy’s tenure, but he understands the concern about negotiating deals with a government in transition.
“What we really need to figure out is who's the best person to lead going forward? Who's going to provide that stability? Who's going to bring to fruition a lot of deals which are on the table right now?” Morelle said.
Rochester Downtown Development Corporation leader Heidi Zimmer-Meyer said the worst case scenario is that projects get paralyzed.
“To slow down, stop, stall--we can't afford any of that in this community,” she said. “We have too much momentum happening. I don’t think anyone believes we can afford to slow it down or delay or stall projects. We have too much at stake down here.”
City Council President Lovely Warren said she is not concerned about projects stalling. “I think we have a great city team in place. We still have a mayor. We will make sure development projects go forward.”
“I think the worst possible situation is an extended period of time of not knowing who’s going to be the head of our government,” Rothschild said.
