Page
Forty-Seven
22
DECEMBER 2005
Bob's balking?
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37º | Hi 35º /
Lo 31º |
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Duffy's intent on ferry still unclear
Mayor-elect uneasy with City Council
deadline on $11.5M loan
(December 22, 2005) —
After Rochester City Council tried to compromise with him Tuesday,
Mayor-elect Robert Duffy remained locked in a debate Wednesday with city
leaders over an $11.5 million loan so the high-speed ferry can pay its
bills.
City Council gave preliminary approval to
the loan Tuesday, with hope of having the deal wrapped up in early
January. But Duffy said that city leaders shouldn't rush a decision and
said he preferred having a few weeks into his administration to evaluate
how to deal with the financially strapped ship.
"I am not trying to cast any cloud over
this project," he said. "I consider myself a huge cheerleader for this
city. I want to see things succeed. But I also have a responsibility,
before we jump in, to make sure this is the best option."
Duffy wouldn't say whether he will press
to hold off on final approval of the loan, which is set for Jan. 6. But
his stance is creating a rift with City Council and casting doubt on
whether he wants the ferry to continue.
"The first thing I would like him to do
is say whether he is for it or against it because that is the direction
we'll take," Councilman Adam McFadden said.
According to city leaders, the clock is
ticking on picking a direction. Bills for the ferry come due early next
year and contracts for next season's ferry service need to be secured. The
city needs to go out to the bond market early next year to secure the
$11.5 million, city officials said.
If all of that is delayed too long, the
city could conceivably face default on its original $40 million loan,
putting the whole project in peril.
"A decision to delay is a decision to not go forward," said Councilman
Benjamin Douglas, who heads the city-run Rochester Ferry Co. that oversees
the ship's operations.
But Duffy argued that the middle of
January seems like a more reasonable time for him to make a decision.
Duffy had been lobbying City Council to delay its approval of the $11.5
million, arguing that he wants input on the ferry's future.
City Council initially planned to approve
the $11.5 million loan on Tuesday; then the ferry board would have
followed Wednesday with final approval, wrapping up the deal before Duffy
succeeds retiring Mayor William A. Johnson Jr. on Jan. 1.
Instead, City Council tried to
compromise. It went ahead with the vote Tuesday, but sought to delay the
ferry board's final approval until early next year.
The legislation won't take effect until
Jan. 5, giving Duffy time to weigh in and name four appointees to the
11-member ferry board. A new City Council would approve his appointees to
the board on that day; then the ferry board would vote the next day, Jan.
6, on final approval of the loan.
But Duffy said the timetable is still too
quick, saying, "Would anyone here buy a house in 24 hours?"
How the debate will end is anyone's guess, and Duffy isn't saying how much
he's willing to fight to delay the loan's final approval.
He could take many routes. He could
simply agree to the current timetable, or potentially introduce
legislation to City Council to undo its decision of Tuesday — something
that council members appear to have no interest in doing. He could instead
lobby the ferry board, of which he is a voting member, to delay a vote.
Duffy could also instruct his
administration to decrease the size of the loan. The City Council
legislation authorized spending up to $11.5 million, potentially providing
some flexibility.
"He certainly has options," Councilman
William Pritchard said.
But the political posturing isn't necessary, city leaders said. If Duffy
wants to end service, just say so, they said.
"If the mayor is not supportive of it,
the project is over," said Douglas, saying he's willing to sit down with
Duffy to explain more about the ferry's finances.
McFadden said that City Council needs to
have a strong working relationship with the mayor. Yet so far, the
relationship with Duffy hasn't been smooth — and Duffy hasn't taken office
yet.
"Although we have a strong mayor system,
everything flows through the council, and if he doesn't have a working
relationship with us, then it could hurt the community," he said.
Duffy said the city needs to move
cautiously. The city already backed a $40 million loan to buy the boat in
February after the original private owners shut down ferry service in
September 2004.
But after a delayed start this year in
June, officials struggled to build ridership and the ferry's reserves were
depleted. Johnson announced last week that the ferry had lost $10 million
this year and owes Bay Ferries Great Lakes, the private firm that manages
the ferry, $2 million.
"I'm very cognizant of the need to move
very quickly," Duffy said. "It just comes down to having that time frame
be realistic for the right decision."
JSPECTOR@DemocratandChronicle.com
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Uh-oh. Things
aren't looking too good for the ferry. It looks like Bob Duffy is
dithering, dodging and dancing around the ferry funding and I smell a setup in
the making. Once the mayoral swearing-in has taken place and Bob's got the
crown, the ferry's future will be far less murky. It's hard to imagine
going through the process of selling the bonds, starting the 2006 season only to
burn through the money and shut down. If the money comes through, that's
what's going to happen.
That part is a
no-brainer -- anybody can see that. Duffy, however, doesn't have the
personal involvement and history with the ferry and has far less of a vested
interest as was the case of Bill Johnson and his City Council. He may be
less inclined to be driven by personal ambition and prone to take a more
analytical view of the business. If the final approval is given to
the bond sale, there's no practical way of turning back and it's tantamount to
throwing away $11.5 million. Ouch.
You have to wonder
what compels someone to run for Mayor of Rochester. Considering the
amount of time and headaches involved, the pay's not all that great and
the mind games are horrendous.
Of course, some
people have an obsessive need to be in positions of power and prestige; a few
sessions of psychoanalysis might turn up some revealing tidbits on the issue of
control, but I digress.
Bob Duffy is leaving
the door open just wide enough for him to make a quick escape. He hasn't said
he intends to end the ferry business, but he sure hasn't said he's going to save
it -- right now, it looks like he's going to do a little schmoozing with city
councilors to win them over to vote against funding.
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Spire
at Adelaide and Church |
Who knows? The
ferry's finished as a business -- at issue is whether to soak the taxpayers for
an additional $11.5 million or not. The $2 million to Bay Ferries has to
be paid and so does the February installment of the loan to EFIC.... money which
has to come from somewhere if the funding isn't approved. I sure don't
envy Bob Duffy... damned if he does and double-damned if he doesn't. Nice
job. You have to wonder what compels someone to run for Mayor of
Rochester.
Meanwhile, Toronto
just keeps growing at an explosive pace. As I passed Adelaide and Church
today, yet another of the high-rise condomania is being built...
Spire
will be a 45-story tower of glass and steel added to a skyline growing both out
and up. The forest of construction cranes across the city is astonishing.
I took a quick trip up the 400 to Barrie as
well (keeping up with traffic at 80 mph, it's 50 minutes away) and the literal
miles of new housing exploding northward is only more proof of a metropolitan
area bursting with an economy healthy enough to support new construction at an
unrelenting pace.
Needless to say, the Rochester area isn't --
and can't be -- in the same league as Toronto and it's unfair to try and compare
the two cities. To understand why residents of the GTA aren't interested
in visiting Rochester, drive north on the 400 and take a look around.
At about Newmarket, ask yourself "Where's Rochester?" and see if it doesn't make
sense then.
You'll see why the Toronto-Rochester ferry
hasn't succeeded and can't succeed.
Rochester wanted to join a very exclusive club
and was matter-of-factly denied in the most subtle of ways. Not getting
the hint, it still thinks the club membership committee is interested in welcoming it into
the fold when nothing could be further from the truth. It's humiliating to
watch local 'leaders' make utter fools of themselves by continuing this
pointless exercise in pursuing the ferry business any more. Ferry
supporters don't even have the common sense to realize they're being mocked and
laughed at by GTA residents... which is a complete embarrassment every time
local journalists prattle on about the marvels of a good 'marketing campaign'.
Does that stop the local so-called 'experts'
from insisting the ferry project can work?
Not a chance. It's hard to imagine what
it will take for them to throw in the towel and call it quits -- when losing $10
million in ten months isn't enough to convince people the thing isn't working,
one can only wonder how bad things will have to get before ferry supporters
agree it's time to close shop.
However, more and more local residents are
rapidly converting to naysayers with each passing week and pretty soon, they'll
be called for some heads on a platter.
Rochester City Council: Are you listening?
Or are you only talking?
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 From
\"Fellow Canadian"
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Well, FC, I'm still trying to figure that one
out myself. We're being told it's a 'fun' thing to do and I have no doubt
that it is. Lots of things are 'fun' to do but some are also expensive,
impractical, wasteful, frivolously redundant and appeal to only a small segment
of society. That's the category the 'fast ferry' is in and when speaking
in terms of a business, that's not a category for success.
Somewhat of a hedonist, I don't have much
problem with people blowing some money every now and then and living large
within their means or one notch above. It's life experiences such as these
which add colour to lives that are desperately drab due to that bizarre credo
"He/She who dies with the most toys, wins". By no means am I
suggesting adopting a lifestyle far beyond the capacity to support such
indulgence - been there, done that, doesn't work for very long.
Still, the Puritan Work Ethic being what it is
and the Rochester area being such a conservative enclave, folks around here are
wont to stick close to home and save their money for more important things like
stainless steel gas grills or Swiffer pad refills. When they DO venture
out, many locals play Tourist as opposed to Traveler in their voyages.
They're interested in the attractions and indifferent to the community -- which
is fine as long as they're not trying to develop a relationship with that
community.
I physically reside in the Rochester area and
have for over 50 years. I also spend a great deal of time across the
dotted line in various places throughout mostly southwestern Ontario, but also
the Ottawa-Montréal region. My primary access to
health care is on the Oneida Territory 100 miles to the east of where I live, so
Central New York is familiar stomping ground as well. I need to drive
200-miles round trip to see a doctor or cross the border and without getting
into why that is, that covers a decent sized area.
To me, driving 100 miles is a trip down the
road. To many local Rochester area residents, that's a call to the AAA for
a TripTik. While I certainly don't expect most locals to be as
wanderlust-addicted as I am, it's difficult to imagine not being interested
enough to explore new horizons within an easy day's drive of the Rochester area.
I'm not talking about a checklist where a destination is visited once or twice,
then I've-Been-There-So-Why-Go-Again kicks in as the reason for not returning.
It's this very hypocrisy of Rochester ferry
supporters which is so maddening. These folks expect visitors to come to
their community (while they don't bother to go to their visitors' communities),
they assume repeat trips will be the norm (while they make maybe one or two
trips in a blue moon to the visitors' communities) and they expect visitors to
explore their community (while they barely venture past a tiny portion of the
visitors' communities).
Yes, I'm Canadian and have more of a vested
interest in my country and its people. Home is where the heart is and it's
no secret I have a close relationship with the part of Canada which is the
closest geographically to me. My natural birth family lives on the Six
Nations of the Grand River reserve which is southwest of Hamilton and an hour
from downtown Toronto. Of course, I'm more familiar with the area and its
communities than the typical Rochester area resident and there's no expectation
that locals should be as acutely aware of the region as I am. Why should
they?
But when a local initiative tries to interact
with a community in that part of the province, yes, I believe I have a unique
insight to offer. I get to listen to the thoughts and feelings of the
typical residents of the community I'm in because I interact with that
community. That includes both Rochester AND Toronto.
My grandmother used to have a small framed
wall plaque which I never forgot:
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A wise old owl sat on
an oak
The more he saw, the
less he spoke.
The less he spoke, the
more he heard.
Why can't we be more
like that wise old bird? |
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Trite and corny? Of course. But it
illustrates what can happen when people shut up and simply observe what's going
on around them. To get to know a community, what better way is there than
to jump in and be a part of that community? Ferry supporters want to get
to know what Torontonians and Canadians are thinking?
They only need to get up and visit, then shut up
and listen.
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Sometimes
bigger is bad, but smaller isn't much better |
"How did they think a hovercraft was going to
glide over the chunks of ice on Lake Ontario?"
"What hovercraft?"
"You know, that ferry to Rochester."
"The ferry to Rochester is a catamaran -- a double-hulled boat."
"Oh, I heard it was a hovercraft."
"You haven't seen it?"
"No, but I heard something about some big ferry to
Rochester and somebody mentioned a hovercraft."
So went a conversation with a resident of downtown
Toronto. I'll admit my friend is a bit of a Toronto-centric who
thinks the world revolves around her neighbourhood off Carlton... Scarborough is
considered a fringe area. But she raised a few interesting points: The
ferry is barely a passing thought to people preoccupied with living the Toronto
Dream - and - possibly the rumours of a downsized ship might be filtering
around.
Hover Transit Services Inc of Bolton Ontario has
been knocking on doors around Lake Ontario looking to sell their idea to make
gobs of cash for their business. With the prices of Cottage Country
soaring, it takes a small fortune to buy a leaky 1 BR fishing camp anywhere
within a two-hour drive of 416 and the HTS folks must be looking for ways to
finance the getaway place on Lake Joseph. The Muskoka Life, doncha know.
These folks have been around for a while and even
the town of Whitby, on the lake to the east of Toronto, has broached the subject
of a hovercraft in their town meetings
(link). Rochester area
residents have heard of HTS when they tried a sales pitch to float out the ferry
and bring in one of their more economical models to take its place after CATS
bit the dust. Mayor Bill would hear nothing of it and politely slammed the
door in their faces, intent on having the much more photogenic catamaran parked
at his city's dock.
Now the idea of downsizing the ferry is being
bandied about -- which only shows that people haven't been paying attention to
the reason W
H
Y Canadians have
avoided this area. Big boat, little boat... it doesn't matter, as a boat
with 50% the carrying capacity as the current model DOESN'T equate to a
50% reduction in the cost to own and operate the vessel. True
enough, the operating costs and loan payback would be smaller, but the fact that
Canadians aren't interested in visiting this community doesn't change. If
anything, fewer people would be as thrilled to take the comparative equivalent
of the Lake Champlain ferry to Rochester.
This brings us full circle to what's the purpose
of having a ferry link from Toronto to Rochester in the first place? Is it
to save driving time? Is it to bring a desperately needed cash infusion to
the Rochester community? Or is it a 'fun' thing to do? We just don't
know.
By definition, the main purpose of a
transportation vehicle is to take people from Point A to Point B. But if
people aren't interested in going to Point B, what purpose does the vessel
serve? A hovercraft may indeed be faster than a catamaran, but enough to
offset the cost of passage, time and hassles involved over driving?
Not likely. Selling the fancy model for a
more practical one solves nothing.
Hey, you Rochester area residents? You want
to visit Toronto? Just what's the big damn deal with driving to Toronto?
To read and listen to this area, one would think the trip is akin to taking a
stagecoach ride across frozen tundra amid hostile guerrillas waiting in ambush.
It's not a particularly arduous trip; I routinely drive up and back the same
day.
Cars have never been as safe and comfortable and
highways have never been as convenient. You people who remember driving
the Thruway in the 1960's will no doubt recall the BumpBump... BumpBump...
BumpBump... of concrete pavement separations from Albany to Buffalo. You
sort of got used to it after the first two hours of the Chinese Water
Torture-like effect. Today, with the exception of the idiotic
patching instead of repaving, the Thruway is far smoother and quieter. And
at under $2 for tolls from Leroy (Exit 47) to Williamsville (Exit 50), it's not
like it's all that expensive. The QEW has no tolls and is a far better
highway than the Thruway as well.
Buck up and get a grip, you pansies.
Damn. It's about time City
Newspaper made a comment. Last op-ed was November 9 when the City
folks piped in with a ferry cheer of their own. Mary Anna Towler steps up
to the mic:
 A
sinking (ferry) feeling
It's getting harder and harder to be
optimistic about the ferry.
The city-controlled Rochester Ferry Corp
released its 2006 "operating proposal" last week, and like its earlier
report, the document is way short on information from which its owners ---
the citizens of Rochester --- can make assessments about its future.
There's a budget comparison, but it's
between the proposed 2006 budget and the original 2005 budget. As everyone
knows, the 2005 actuals don't vaguely resemble the budget.
Several times over the past few weeks,
Mayor Bill Johnson has said that he should have been frank with the
public: that the ferry would need a taxpayer subsidy. "I viewed it as a
death pill to say that," he told us recently.
But then he turned right around and said
he's convinced that the ferry can break even without a subsidy. And the
2006 plan assumes that it can do just that.
Most worrying is the ferry corp's plan
for marketing. Everybody
agrees that the 2005 marketing
was woefully inadequate. (No, not 'everybody'
thought it was the 'marketing' that stunk.) The ferry arrived
in Rochester in 2004 to great public enthusiasm.
(Sez you.) And initially, ridership looked good. But
the private owners were in over their heads. With their finances
hemorrhaging, they abruptly shut down service, and the city borrowed $40
million and took the boat.
By that time, the ferry's reputation was
seriously tainted. And the city's first season as a transportation
operator got off to a late, shaky start.
What the ferry corp needed to do was
launch a high-powered marketing
campaign to get people to ride the boat. It failed to do that. And too few
people rode the boat.
So how much more money is budgeted for
marketing next year?
Not a dime.
The total budget for
marketing for 2006 is
$600,000. That will have to cover
marketing both in Canada and in the US.
The ferry corp says that's not all that
will be spent. There are big plans to "leverage" that $600,000, to get
other people to foot part of the
marketing bill. The ferry corp will ask the state for I Love New
York funds. It'll look for "media partners" who will take part in
co-promotions. It'll look for "selected partners" for promotional
packages.
All of those are good ideas, things that
can enhance the ferry corp's own advertising. But what if some of them
don't come through? What if some of the prospective partners want to see a
few months of successful operation before they sign on? What if they
already have their promotional plans set for the spring?
What if we don't get much money from the
state?
Marketing is supposed to start in February. What are the chances
the ferry corp will have money and promotions lined up within the next few
weeks?
What if we have to pay for most of the
initial marketing out of
our own pockets?
Maybe I'm being too pessimistic.
(No, now you're being 'realistic'. Huge
difference.) Unfortunately, the city's track record on
operating the ferry makes me nervous. (With
good reason. Better late than never, I guess.)
A word of advice to Mayor-elect Bob
Duffy and the members of City Council: please, please ask some
business leaders and marketing
experts to evaluate the 2006 plan. (Mary
Anna, you're turning to the wolves instead of the foxes to guard the
henhouse. Smarten up.) Consultant Arnie Rothschild
certainly has experience in
marketing. But we need more eyes on this.
And we need a more solid
marketing budget. How much
money should be spent on marketing,
regardless of its source? What will it take to get people on that boat?
(Maybe an enclosed year-round Walt Disney World
on the shores of Lake Ontario would do the trick?)
And if the partnering and leveraging
stuff is slow getting off the ground, if the I Love New York funds
don't come through quickly, what's the back-up plan?
(I think it's called 'Dissolution of the Corporation'.) |
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link |
Mary Anna Towler is still mired in the
marketing mania craze which is
sweeping the local business scene. Theorists versus realists.
Idealists versus pragmatists. Provincially-minded hometown interests versus
regionally-minded progressive travelers.
Mary Anna, you need to get out of town.
Do as has been recommended and dare to brave the terrifying bleakness of the
vast Canadian Far North of Newmarket or Barrie. They've actually ditched
wearing mukluks and sealskins... really, they have. The polar bears
haven't been seen in Aurora for a while and the modern igloos are actually quite
comfortable during the six months of darkness you seem to think is the case 20
minutes north of Yonge and Dundas.
Sheesh. How about we using
marketing to let Rochesterians
know about the marvels of Timmins in January? Think that'll convince them
to cancel the trip to Aruba? No? Why not? Timmins is a
perfectly beautiful place to visit in January -- and after the missing Natalie
Holloway case, a helluva lot safer. Yet Rochesterian area residents would
be rolling in the aisles at the suggestion of a winter vacation north instead of
south, even if they knew about Timmins in the first place... and
marketing isn't likely to change
that.
Using
marketing as a tool to save the
ferry is a rather feeble last-ditch effort which will have a marginal impact...
at best. Certainly nowhere near the
amount needed to keep THIS boat afloat.
| Home
» News & Views » News articles |
link |
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People KNOW about the ferry and the flawed
logic involved here is mind-bending. It just doesn't stop and sink in to
the 'marketing worshippers'.
Just what makes the marketing faithful
believe if people KNOW about the ferry they'll
automatically want to TAKE the ferry? How is that assumption
arrived at? I KNOW about private charter jet services available to anyone
to anywhere their heart's content; that doesn't mean I'll rush to the phone and
reserve a seat. People KNOW the ferry exists; they just don't give a damn
and simply assuming that they DO reaches the epitome of arrogance.
This ain't called Smugtown USA for nothing.
"It is clear that we in
Rochester and to a lesser extent in Toronto saw the ferry as a viable economic
engine.."
No, Toronto saw it as yet another rosebud in
its spray of fifty dozen roses. Doesn't add much, but it doesn't detract
from the bouquet either and without it, nobody will notice the difference
anyway. Stop saying the ferry is some sort of tourist boost for Toronto;
it doesn't even amount to a drop in the bucket compared to the total annual
Toronto tourist numbers.
Again, hang out at Pearson International for
a few hours and see where incoming flights are originating. Obviously, not
all travelers are coming in to visit Toronto but dozens of DC-10's and 747's are
carrying a lot that do. A wee solitary ferry puttering over from Rochester
doesn't even carry the equivalent of only three DC-10's. That's not
counting the road and rail visitors flowing into the GTA on a daily basis
either.
All things relative. Rochester ferry
organizers were never accused of keeping things in perspective.
Or of being knowledgeable of what the Canadian and Toronto
market want, need or will use.
Back arched, claws out; I'm ready:
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 The Business Page
Ben Rand takes you behind the scenes and connects the dots for
you in The Business Page, a new blog on financial and economic
matters of interest to upstate New York. Ben has served as a
business journalist since 1995. He's spent the last eight years
writing about Eastman Kodak and the photo industry for the
Democrat and Chronicle. A Pittsford native, Ben lives in
Irondequoit with Karen, his wife of 14 years; Rebecca and Tommy,
their children; and Lucy, their aging (and often nauseated) cat.
(No comment.)
More
Ferry Talk
It seems to me that the
easiest position to take on Rochester taxpayers going deeper
into debt for the Lake Ontario Fast Ferry is to be shocked.
Shocked! (Yup. Always
lead in with a powerful and forceful line which captivates
the readers.)
And given our community's pressing needs, I'm not trying to
minimize the additional $10 million. It's a big number, a
lot of money that could underwrite many important programs.
Having covered economic issues as a subject for almost 11
years now, however, I would argue that what the Ferry Corp.
is doing is no different than any start-up business. It
is trying to stay alive so it can continue searching for an
approach and structure that works. Often that requires more
capital. Behind that request for more money is a company --
Bay Ferries -- that's been in business a long time.
(Yeah? And your point is
...?)
There will be plenty of time to second-guess and criticize
and hold people accountable if the ship fails. But let's
see how this new plan unfolds. (YEEOWWWW!
Whatta innovative strategy THAT is!! Takes guts, my
friends; sheer guts.)
"More
Ferry Talk"
3 Comments -
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Excuse me, but it must be placebo day or my
meds need adjusting or something; did Ben Rand and his fan club actually say
anything meaningful? Did I just waste
a few kilobytes of rented disk space on some HTML which actually amounted
to little more than Plain Vanilla Fluff?
Will someone please pay me what Ben Rand
earns for posting a blog entry with all the spice and intrigue of a saltine
cracker? I mean, is it any wonder there's a whiff of resentment aimed at
the Rochester business community when Elmer Fudd gets a nice juicy cheque for
writing... nothing?
C'mon, Ben. Let's tone down the fiery,
provocative journalist rhetoric and try to be a little more bland, shall we?
I know the ruling Rochester business class has all the excitement of a blank 8-½
x 11, but you're really pushing their buttons with such inflammatory exposé and
commentary. Back off the bombast and brimstone, dude. You might
upset someone to the point where they can't eat their tuna-on-white lunch.
1bigcoach needs to attend the nearest
seminar on Reality. Being a non-participant in American pop culture
(the last in-theatre movie I saw was War of the Roses when it first
came out... I think that was around 1989, but wouldn't swear to it), I have
no idea what the hell the Cinderella Man is about. Nevertheless,
when some pompous twit puts on airs and starts exhorting the masses to emulate
some Hollywood confection, all I know is the Rochester business environment is
in deep shit.
But we all know that anyway. The Fat
and Pasty crowd has managed to drive un poignard gros into the heart of
local modern economics while maintaining a death grip on archaic anachronisms of
past glory days. No gang, it's no longer the mid-60's right after the
Kodak Instamatic cameras became the revolutionary consumer goodies. The
fat n' happy days of a new SOFT contact lens are far behind us. The Xerox
HQ is no longer in the dismal, dreary upended shoebox in downtown and Xerox
copiers are made by another company which glues a stylized 'X' on the machine
and calls it a day.
Rochester business mavens: Welcome to the
New Reality of Business. Your obsolescence has been duly noted and
documented. Unfortunately, the local business culture still thinks and
acts like critical commentary is akin to a treasonous act and colouring outside
the lines is undoubtedly the work of anarchists. Therein lies madness,
social disorder and the decay of 'our' value system.
"Good Gravy, Martha!
The next thing you know, they'll be wanting to work from home. UNsupervised,
if you can believe it! It's a sad day when middle management's
usefulness is called into question."
Ben Rand's 'Business Page' Blog. We
might just have Alan Greenspan's heir apparent right here in our little burg.
Who knew?
The Happy Camper Crew over at 13WHAM-TV
polls its disassociated suburban viewers:
Should the Rochester
City Council continue to fund the fast ferry?
Yes, they've gone this far, it has never had a full season to
show its full potential.: 17.6%
No, they should dump it now!: 66.7%
No, but someone else should take it over so the service
continues.: 15.7%
For entertainment
purposes only. Not a scientific poll.
24 DEC 2005 |
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We've been all through the validity of a poll which doesn't
provide the sampling size data, but the folks at 13WHAM-TV admit it's just for
funsies.
82.4% of those responding to the poll said 'No', the
Rochester City Council shouldn't continue funding the fast ferry. Without
putting too fine a point on it, that's not a resounding chorus of "Let's Save
the Ferry".
The 17.6% who thought pissing away another $11.5
million on the barge is a great way to prolong the terminally ill ferry are
perhaps the almost one-sixth of the local population who dutifully parrot back
the slop which they see in the local media which is taken unquestioningly as
hard fact.
These I-Saw-it-in-the-Local-News types -- who wouldn't
recognize propaganda if it was signed by Saddam Hussein -- are perhaps the most
gullible and easily manipulated segment of the local population. If Smilin'
Don Alhart told them KitchenAid mixers could cure deafness, they'd run and stick
their heads in the bowl.
Not the brightest bulbs on the street. Governments
don't lie, priests don't cop a feel every now and then and the ferry shall rise
again. All truisms which aren't to be challenged and should be slipped
into intellectual conversation at every possible opportunity. An
unimpeachable source, that's the Rochester media.
I rather like the third poll response:
"No,
but someone else should take it over so the service continues."
Who the 'someone' is who'll magically appear out of thin air and turn the thing
around is unknown, but it gives those sitting on the fence trying to decide
which is the winning side they want to be on a chance to dither accordingly.
"No, I don't want to fund the ferry but yes, I want it to continue". These
are the people who love the idea of a ferry as long as they don't have to
actually use it to keep it around. The non-committal faction.
Frankly, it seems to me these are the silent
majority of the local residents. "It's wonderful to have a direct link
with Toronto". "Do you get up to Toronto a lot?" "I never go to
Toronto, but it's wonderful to have the ferry around." It makes sense to a
community which thinks locals should spend their money locally, but can't
understand why non-residents aren't quick to spend THEIR money here.
Toronto: I know. If I didn't see it
with my own eyes, I wouldn't believe it either.
Great topic - We've got it(happy days) now so lets ALL get pulling on the same rope and get it profitable.
I visited with the Canadian government last year and they are very interested in working to bring business to the US and to Canada. (My... aren't we important?) This ferry is a great tool for business people that would like to expand their market in to Toronto -6,000,000 people.
If all the business organizations / towns would look at ways to engage the great people across the lake in business or recreation this ferry would be filled.
Lets use your blog to create a fire storm of ideas and get our minds out of the " it won't work" mode and into the "lets see how we can use this wonderful asset" mode. (Is this guy for real?)
Lets all think like the "Cinderella Man" did in the movie, it will work and we as a community will feel very proud! (Scratch the previous comment: Is this guy lucid?)
Some great ideas from a great Guy.
Good idea. I think I'll let the dust settle after the first of the year and see what ideas we can stir up. (Oh yes, let's DO throw caution to the wind and get edgy by suggesting maybe, possibly, it might be time to think about the vague and remote chance the ferry might not make it. It'll take a huge amount of courage -- which might go against the status quo -- but I think you can take the heat, Ben.)
-Ben
Also, what's the rush on getting $11.5 million more, why not let Duffy & the new City Council decide what they want to do. Johnson's almost gone, & he never had any projects that were a success, (Rank dramatic hyperbole.) why stick the "new guys" with more of the same.