>> Coming up on ìneed to know,î city officials are bringing a
downtown soccer stadium to the Lyle avenue area in the city.-
It's an area known for crime.-
So the question is, in a massive public works project, like a
new home for the rhinos make this area a safer place.-
We'll get at that issue tonight.-
We'll have the "Business Week" with "democracy now!" on the way
on ìneed to know.î-
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>> You got your pickpockets coming up in there and your
undercover drug dealers in there.-
It's making it look worse.-
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[captioning made possible by the u.s. department of education]-
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>> thanks for visiting with us.-
I'm Michael Caputo.-
We return to our collaborative series on wokr news source 13 and
the "democrat and chronicle" called fighting for Rochester's
future.-
The subject this day, public safety.-
Achieving a sense of safety in the most distressed places in
Rochester isn't always easy.-
Take the Lyle avenue area of the city -- part of the
neighborhood association called yosana.-
It deals with prostitution, drug deals, and sometimes
violence.-
And violence sometimes can be deadly as it was almost two years
ago to the day when a 10-year-old boy named Caldwell was killed
in an street altercation.-
City police has worked to try to reduce crime and bring a sense
of normalcy to the neighborhood.-
They're pinning their hopes on a large construction project, a
$23 million stadium the Rochester rhinos professional
soccer team.-
You heard about the stadium, how the team owners and city
leaders wants to break ground by this fa.-
A state grant will cover $15 million with the team to pay off
the rest.-
It will seat as many as 17,000 soccer fans for the rhinos' 2004
season.-
After a long political debate on the merits of the stadium,
only a few small hurdles remain such as the public hearing set
for this Monday on how the project will impact the
environment.-
But bring up the project, people who live near the proposed
site, say near the corner of broad and walnut street, it can
easily provoke it and invariablely what the talk gets around to
is will it improve the safety and stability of this
neighborhood?-
Meet two people who live near the proposed soccer stadium site,
two people with differences of opinion about what it will
mean.-
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>> A stadium will bring jobs, parking attendants, maintenance
workers, concession stands ---
>> More traffic, more crime -- because more ---
>> More police presence over here.-
>> Right, which makes more taxes.-
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>> OK, they're not over here now.-
We have crime and taxes.-
I came home the other night from work, I had crime in the
garbage, the clothes right here behind the car.-
>> You've been here how long?-
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>> Three years.-
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>> I've been here nine.-
I've been right there on that corner for nine years.-
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>> Nine years.-
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>> Nine years.-
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>> I've been here three.-
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>> Thank you.-
The city has never done anything basically to ---
>> The city officials believe they're doing something to make
this area safer by transforming this vacant city-owned lot into
a place of crowds and noise and soccer.-
Jimmy Torres owns a convenient store near the soccer stadium
site, ask him what it could provide and it says more security
-- does he think it will happen?-
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>> When the game's on, there'll be security.-
After the game is on, everybody goes home.-
After the game is over, that's it.-
That's it.-
You're not going see nobody else.-
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>> After Joe Davis said those living in the Lyle avenue
neighborhood can't always see what the department is doing.-
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>> You do offer a tremendous amount of service, for some people
-- they would like to see every single one.-
We cannot do that.-
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>> He believes the stadium will only enhance police presence.-
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>> My hope is that stadiums will draw another crowd like
frontier field so we'll special dates.-
The more special dates we get with the stadium as well as the
construction with frontier field, that will bring more and more
police officers into the area.-
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>> Davis sees this stadium as bringing jobs, store, businesses,
and that means stability.-
Jimmy Torres, however, is unconvinced.-
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>> People from the the suburbs are going to come in, go through
the stadium, and just leave -- anything that they need they're
going to go to the stadium and buy.-
They're going to just leave.-
They're not going to invest money in this neighborhood.-
>> The chance will be to move out those refugees.-
It's already happening.-
>> We're noticing a change today.-
We build more and we have more businesses that will have less
and less problem.-
>> But Norma Murray is going to need more convincing that a
soccer stadium will reduce crime.-
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>> You got your pickpockets coming up in there, you got your
undercover drug dealers coming up in there.-
What do you do?-
You think it makes it look worse.-
Put some housing up over here.-
We need houses.-
We don't need soccer fields.-
We need housing.-
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>> In studio to continue this conversation are the owners of
the Rochester -- raging rhinos soccer club.-
The director of Rochester's bureau of planning, and lieutenant
john Smith of the Rochester city police department.-
I want to thank you all for coming.-
You heard the last comment and I wouldn't mind all of you
addressing that last comment in terms of convincing people out
there that this is going to be a big difference.-
Would you mind starting?-
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>> Sure.-
I mean obviously with the $25 million investment in the area
that's seen its share of life, we can think of nothing but
positives so that the rhino and the stadium is going to bring
to the area.-
We don't see how any way, shape, or form how we can make this
area deteriorate even more.-
It can only help pull the area up.-
We're going create jobs, the neighborhood people.-
There's going be more of a police presence on game nights.-
We're going be working out of the stadium 12 months of the
year, year round.-
Our staff of 18 to 25 people -- relocated to that site, so
we're going create an unbelievable amount of activity.-
Not just on game nights, but throughout the year.-
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>> Is there a plan to go to the neighborhood?-
To the public?-
Talking about this kind of thing?-
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>> We've -- I've appeared with city officials in probably four
different neighborhood meetings.-
I've been to individual meetings from that office.-
We've had numerous hearings with the people and overwhelmingly,
I'd say the sentiment has -- this is a major positive impact to
the area.-
Not a negative.-
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>> The same question for you ---
>> Well, yeah, you have to understand this is not just -- you
know, this is with the first project that's happened in the
neighborhood.-
There's been a lot of activity going on over a long period of
time and dealing with the issues we're raising in the
neighborhood.-
We're working with the revitalization company to improve
lighting in Lyle avenue.-
We worked with individual building and property owners along
Lyle avenue to get businesses back into the vacant utilized
properties.-
We've got a number of actively engaged neighborhood
organizations who are doing lots of things to put more eyes and
ears on the street to help out the police department in dealing
with criminal activity that gives Lyle avenue, I think, a -- a
name that's much worse than it really is because of the overall
situation.-
In terms of the possibility -- I think this really just begins
to open up the possibility of what can happen in that
neighborhood.-
We've had discussions in the past year with a number of the
neighborhood organizations about having some community meetings
and design shreds about the wonderful new project coming from
the neighborhood.-
How do you go out of there?-
How do you make the connections to Lyle avenue so that the
businesses along Lyle avenue can impact on it.-
A new thing.-
A wrinkle that comes up is with the big fire that happened
recently at the former G.M. properties nearby.-
How do you -- how do you deal with a property like that?-
I mean there's going be a number of vacant lands.-
How do you tie that in?-
What can we see coming out of that to really grow the
neighborhood with this investment?-
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>> Is there a potential to do something with that site?-
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>> There's always a positive potential.-
I think one of the big Strug wls the large site is they were
huge buildings, there was almost no parking available around
them.-
Now a major portion is going to have to be cleared out.-
There are some possibilities to look at.-
So I think it's a -- it's a costly project, but we can look tat
upside of what the possibilities are and we'll work with the
neighborhood on coming up with some plans that work.-
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>> How far is that from where we were talking about that
building?-
Is it walking distance?-
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>> Easy walking distance.-
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>> I don't see an area that you can park.-
>> Possibly be additional parking.-
We are creating some parking on the 15-acre site.-
We're going to utilize the Kodak lot that is are used in
frontier field.-
But this would create the possibility of additional parking
full spots.-
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>> Lieutenant, I wanted to ask you, is there a plan in place to
-- I hate to use the word show of force, because that sounds
very militaristic, but that's kind of what I'm getting at --
will the police department want to put more of a presence, more
of a face out there than they already are?-
Is there going to be a difference?-
How are you going to Hannle it?-
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>> There's -- handle it.-
>> There's assumptions by those who live in the neighborhood
don't appreciate or want to participate in some of the better
quality of life things.-
Well, they do.-
There's a great legion of fans, especially in soccer.-
They're going to enjoy and participate and get jobs and
benefit.-
We want to see a safe neighborhood for everyone, not only the
people who come in from the suburb who is come to the game, but
the people who live there.-
There certainly will be an added police presence, not only on
the game days, but deliveries in the normal occupations of
running this endeavor occur on a daily basis.-
You're going to bring police into that neighborhood and into
that presence.-
>> Is there a greater plan in place to do that?-
Is it form lated?-
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>> We're form lating that anytime we get activity that requires
our presence, we want to be there.-
We want to meet it head on and not wait for something to
happen.-
>> I grew up outside of New York City and my dad used to check
into the combrainee game, Yankee stadium is a wonderful
facility.-
They pack the place.-
I would say a block or two away no one went to the game a block
or two away from the blocks.-
That's a good example.-
Are there neighborhoods that the neighborhoods were transformed
by them?-
Are there any examples are you using?-
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>> The example of frontier field is a good one.-
Where frontier field was initially built, people were concerned
about, you know, is it going to have a spillover effect.-
I think we're finding it's taken a while to market it properly,
but the new developers, for example n the high falls area feel
that frontier field and the amount of people that are there and
marketing it -- marketing the whole experience of the high
falls area to people who come to frontier field for events and
activities that you don't necessarily have to, you know, just
come from the minute before the game starts and leave the
minute that it's over.-
There's other things to do before and after.-
And I think it's a marketing -- marketing effort and already
looking at the possibilities of the buildings nearby.-
If you don't have a sthratji to grow it out, it won't happen.-
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>> Who starts that strategy?-
The city?-
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>> A mix of the city and the the neighborhood.-
The neighborhood associations and the rhinos have looked at the
possibilities of what's going on around them.-
They will be interested in what's happening beyond them.-
But they're looking well beyond where they are today and where
they will be once this stadium is up and operating next year.-
>> Quite clearly you've been looking at this stadium for a long
time.-
You've been looking at stadiums out there.-
Is there an example of the stadium put in areas that might have
been distressed that actually helped make that area, improve
that area?-
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>> I think you can look at numerous stadiums in the trend in
stadiums -- probably 25 years ago, stadiums were built
downtown.-
Over the last 15 years, stadiums moved to the suburbs, similar
to Ralph Wilson stadium in Buffalo.-
Now the trend has been to go back downtown.-
Most of them move downtown.-
We looked in the suburbs.-
People prefer to be in the city.-
We think there's something to be said about being in the city.-
We want to be part of Rochester.-
The best way to be part of Rochester is to have our homes
there, our offices within the city.-
So I take frontier field.-
When frontier field opened up, the rhinos were the first
tenants there 7 1/2 years ago.-
If you ask any of the local her Chans now versus 7 1/2 years
ago, there's more activity, there's more people on the street,
there's more of a vibrancy to downtown Rochester than what
there was 10 years ago.-
>> What do you look at in terms of opportunities outside of the
stadium?-
Are there other things you're looking at?-
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>> There's a whole host of business opportunity that is will be
afforded the rhinos or other people in their region.-
Certainly we think there's going be a demand for stores and
restaurants and pubs and bars.-
Some of them like there was here.-
We would like to create an atmosphere where people come down a
couple of hours before the game time, park their car, and in a
very festive atmosphere on the way to st stadium and after the
stadium hang around.-
We would like to have some events postgame and we can see
people in the area, in the region.-
So we're looking at all of the possibilities, you know?-
We've been focused quite frankly on the stadium for the past
couple of years.-
Once we get a shovel in the ground, we'll expanled our
efforts.-
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>> We should find out what the costs might be.-
You bring that in, you bring more taxes.-
Has that been true at this point in terms of cost of city about
security?-
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>> In terms of -- in terms of -- let me just talk about the
development parts of it.-
And I think our view is we're not atening this as a big project
that's going to require all of a sudden a whole new influx of
dollars.-
I think in terms of the capital costs t rhinos are bringing in
the basic costs of building the stadium, you know, to the
table.-
We are going to be doing other improvements such as the
reconstruction of broad street in the next year, but we were
going to do that anyway.-
It's the case of -- it's just focusing on investments that were
already planned.-
I think there are no plans that are going to be all of a sudden
going out and asking to raise taxes because the rhinos are
coming to the neighborhood.-
We're going be yugse our investment dollars and housing
projects and commercial rehabilitation and improving roads and
things like that that we're going to do anyway.-
It's going to be a smarter way of spending our money and a more
focused way.-
>> For a layman, and I'm a layman in terms of security, it
would appear you would have to spend more of your police
dollars to deal with a place like this.-
Is that -- is that going to be the case?-
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>> Usually it's a reimbursable situation much like activities
in frontier field.-
Now the activity itself generates the necessary funds to pay
for police presence and private security.-
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>> This has worked out actually with the team?-
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>> Yeah.-
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>> Keep going, I didn't mean to interrupt you.-
>> Yes, I want works well.-
It brings in the official police presence not supported by tax
dollars.-
It is supported -- it allows the overflow of the police
presence in neighborhoods.-
They would not have it if it were not for an event.-
>> The stadium is dark.-
There isn't a game that night.-
How would you -- how do the police deal with it then.-
Is it something that people can see in the place that folks
will pay out?-
How does the police deal with that stadium then?-
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>> Not at all.-
We see it as another neighborhood landmark and fixture to help
us have a point of reference, a point of neighborhood stability
much like frontier field.-
We successfully police and work with frontier field without
issues.-
They have occasional break-ins, but fortunately we solve most
of them.-
We anticipate nothing different.-
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>> Frank, let's talk a little bit about marketing.-
There's a stigma about downtown in general.-
People talk about it all the time.-
I'm not going downtown.-
How are you going to deal with that?-
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>> I think it's a perception more than anything else.-
I think quite frankly -- fans are used to coming to frontier
field.-
We're a couple of blocks away from frontier field.-
We're not that much of a change from what we're currently
doing.-
We're drawing 10,000 fans a game.-
Now with frontier field, we're going to create a festive, well
lit, highly policed area on our game nights where people will
have a comfort level.-
They won't be afraid to come to Paychex park.-
Once they come and experience the stadium, we believe they'll
come back.-
>> I'm curious about the noise factor.-
How will that -- how will you deal with that?-
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>> I mean it's part of the secret process.-
We've recently done some noise level study that is we need to
submit as part of our environmental impacting -- surprisingly
enough, the noise level within a couple of hundred of feet of
the stadium is well below allowable limit, well below 66
decibels.-
>> Do you put it below ground?-
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>> What happens is our stadium is going down 17 rows.-
And the design with the sound system actually Paychex park will
be less noise than what they currently have at frontier field.-
So it will not be as noisy in the neighborhoods in Paychex park
as it is in frontier field.-
And quite frankly, it's not that noisy at frontier field.-
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>> I asked you -- this is going to be a question in direct
contradiction to the one that asked you about taxes.-
But there was a woman that talked about the city doesn't invest
enough in our neighborhoods.-
How -- what if you get that kind of complaint from people?-
You put a stadium there -- now what you going to do for us?-
How are you going to address the neighborhood residents on that
issue.-
>> I think in many cases people aren't aware of the investments
that have been made.-
We do spend a lot of money in terms of the services we offer,
like the police department and others.-
We've been working very closely with the neighborhoods on
issues like housing rehabilitation, doing homeownership
programs for people in the neighborhood.-
We work with the school 17 and a variety of people on really
building a neighborhood campus and a community center around
school 17 in that area.-
So I think it's a lot of activity that's ongoing.-
We've had a lot of relationships with Lyle avenue.-
Business association on improvements on Lyle avenue.-
The lighting is an example.-
I think that probably the people in the neighborhood -- almost
any neighborhood would probably be surprised to find out how
investment the city does put back into the neighborhood.-
In many cases it happens a house at a time, a building at a
time, a street at a time.-
And if it doesn't happen to their house or their building or
the street in front of them, they don't think about it.-
But the garbage still goes away every morning.-
The water still comes on when they turn the tap in the
morning.-
And we're always spending money to make sure the basic services
are there that they need every day.-
>> 30 seconds left.-
Three years ago there was a press conference talking about how
we got the state money.-
And it took a long time for us to get to this point.-
I got to you this -- are we going to see this thing built?-
And are you going to be playing in 2004?-
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>> We're confident we're going be playing.-
We -- we jumped over every hurdle that we presently know of.-
We don't know of any other hurdles that are out there, mike.-
We're very confident we're going break down this fall and be in
the stadium next summer.-

>> Thank you very much for being here.-
We invite you to participate in this discussion as well.-
Come to us on line at