Rochester: A City Of Quality

[Applause] [Music] meet me at the clock of the nations in Midtown Plaza Rochester New York where each passing hour is gay saluted in the carnival spirit that is universal with people everywhere and I'll acquaint you [Music] with there are many ingredients of course some sheer Delights like the electronically controlled marionettes of our Fable time piece each passing hour they dance around the clock to to the bright tunes of different countries around the [Music] world the world is at our doorstep so to speak since the construction of the St Lawrence Seaway the Great Lakes have become the fourth Sea Coast for the United States and Rochester its westernmost port on Lake Ontario the Gennesse River with Headwaters in the Appalachian Ridges of Pennsylvania and one of the few rivers in North America flowing North passes Right Through The Heart of the City surrounding Monroe County and the other counties up the Jesy Valley constitute a natural economic area with Rochester as the focal point genesy is an Indian word meaning beautiful Valley and still today no description more aptly fits this area of the world beautiful just simply beautiful Valley as if no adjectives in any language iry or otherwise could compete with what Nature has wrough here the river twists tortur ly at the leworth Gorge as if fighting its way North and there are Legends at every turn every clump of rocks has its myths from Indian times some fanciful giant is heralded as creating the Finger Lakes with the dredging fingers of his right hand an artist's hand surely and such haunting names the Indians gave them skin atalis AAS kuga Sena CCA to know that the artist giant was actually the glacier doesn't destroy the Wonder of them in the least Cananda honey oi canise Hemlock kesis certainly the work of an artist Glacier in any case also a bountiful Glacier for the slopes here are rich with the soil it deposited rich and carefully tended here are the Bristol Hills the famous wine country of Western New York grapes in gorgeous [Music] profusion apples you haven't lived friend until you've sunk your teeth into the Splendor of a western New York Apple the good land attracted the first settlers here little more than 150 years ago still today you will find fre freestanding homesteads cherished from generation to generation the Cobblestone construction is characteristic Cobblestone carted up the Valley from Lake Ontario to build to last farms in the area are completely electrified now of course and is modern in all the conveniences of good living as the methods of farming the surrounding acreage signs of the past historical markers in the towns and Villages of the valley give further evidence of the building fervor in the early days of settlement early 19th century ins remodeled to fit today's requirements still attract the customers old landmarks adapted to Modern business ventures and charmingly so there's a gentle respect place after place for the architecture natural heritage of the valley a tender reverence for previous periods the same as that afforded the Sheltering shade trees people here have made peace with the past the same as they have with the natural setting of this area of the world old Mansions are now museums but don't let such historical preservation beguile you people here can be tough too they can be tough with a tree when surgery is necessary they can be tough with a tree they can be tough with a house they can be tough with a city when surgery is necessary tough yet tender at the same time in the manner of skilled professionals have you ever heard of genese fever historically it was probably some kind of rash encountered by Colonel Nathaniel Rochester when he decided to utilize the water power of the genese falls and build a settlement here today genesy fever best describes the rash of activity that is continued in this area of the world from the frontier forward there has never been any nonsense about the purpose of the city or the nine counties of the Rochester economic area quite simply it is considered a place to make a profit as pleasantly as possible the community is fully aware of the financial Facts of Life and the methods of making an economic area prosperous oh I had a mule her name was s 20 years on the IR Canal that much chanted and Tall tailed Waterway was pronounced irie back in the 1820s when it was the main trade and travel artery in America today it provides recreational facilities fishing and boating as well as many a pleasant picnic area for family outings the present Barge Canal carries cargos of grain and petroleum slow Freight and is still serving in America's network of inland waterways Rochester was one of the first boom towns in America but the e r e started the railroads continued faster Freight and passenger service Bonanza business right in the hearts of Rochester what the railroads continued the automobile climaxed today a portion of the old ER forms a Sentimental segment in the complex of arterial highways and expressways that link The Heart of the City to the New York State segment of the transcon Continental throughway tough yet gentle surgery for the old e e the important thing of course is that the heart of the city has a booming beat stronger than ever before times change and you either change your City to fit them or they'll change your city often unpleasantly more often unprofitably Rochester has made its peace with the automobile is it practical to do otherwise does it make any Civic sense whatsoever to cuss the tyranny of wheels and the insolent chariots instead of getting together to plan a workable solution for traffic congestion 20th century America is geared to the automobile and thus is Rochester geared traffic flows here flows faster all the time because of community planning for the years ahead coincidentally there is one of the best Traffic Safety records here of any city in the country believe me friend if you're driving more these days and enjoying it less come to Rochester here driving is the positive pleasure it ought to be everywhere what's more there's plenty of convenient parking space thanks to more Community planning for the years ahead and the building of self-liquidating Municipal parking units Rochester Monroe County airport is only 10 minutes from downtown when these pictures were taken the runways were being extended to accommodate Jet flights change not only to keep a breast of the times but to keep ahead of the times using every possible facility for moving people and products yes Rochester is on the move with with every means of travel and transportation genesy fever in the Airborne age flying out of Rochester you get a Pleasant View of the Barge Canal where it crosses the gene did you ever see a city so green and growing green and growing right into the downtown area that is the inner loop channeling traffic to the central core of the city that is the outer loop circling the city channeling traffic to the surrounding suburbs and industrial parks starting practically from scratch with the Advent of the St Lawrence Seaway Rochester has made significant strides in attracting commercial cargo what's being loaded or unloaded today clean cargo certainly cargo compatible with the community mobile cranes move goods from ship to shore forklift trucks transfer merchandise from the warehouse or The Dockside storage space from freighter to fast Truck Rochester is the economy Port of the Great Lakes where the Seaway meets the throughway it is within a 350 Mi radius of the greatest consumer and industrial goods Market in the world an arc including Boston New York Philadelphia Pittsburgh Cincinnati Cleveland and Detroit yes indeed old Colonel Nathaniel Rochester certainly picked an ideal location for a city he really started something Industries have developed here that have made the name Rochester synonymous with quality and precision manufacturing a veritable who's who in America Business Industrial Pioneers such as George Eastman Edward Bou and Henry L founded local concerns whose Diversified products are now bought and sold everywhere a tradition of fine craftsmanship developed here attracting quality Industries and quality people alike skilled Industries skilled people clean industry clean people stable Industries stable people Diversified products not only those in present production but those in the dream stage those still swirling around in some inventive mind demand an educated Workforce adaptable Swift to understand change and technological Improvement change is necessary to keep competitive in Industries as well as cities if you don't change change will change you technological lag is tantamount to slow death Rochester recognized this fact years ago and developed a program of training and retraining the workforce and again not only to keep the workforce a breast of the times but to keep it ahead of the times there is a positive passion in people here for going to school an incredibly contagious fervor almost furer to learn more than they know about everything possible genesy fever again there is a profusion of educational facilities graduate as well as undergraduate developing Diversified talents necessary to attract and hold Diversified Industries many of these institutions are gener generously endowed from the profits of local Enterprise Rochester's colleges attract people from all over the country and they generally stay here Industries too when you come right down to it what brings a prospective industry to a prospective location more than anything else it is an enlightened Workforce in this respect Rochester is second to none for clean industries that is for Industries requiring a high percentage of professional technical skilled and semiskilled Personnel naturally a prospective industry will have other requirements sight zoned for industry Rochester has them industrial parks circling the city and right in the downtown area urban renewal and Redevelopment at its best replacing the old with the new within view of the Heart of the City coordinated fire protection throughout Rochester and Monroe county is rated the third best in the United States there is an abundance of water controlled abundance from the Upland lakes and Lake Ontario a safe daily yield of 200 million gallons with the Great Lakes as unlimited reservoir for any future demands utility well Rochester Gas and Electric Company for one is renowned for the quality of its services in addition to gas and electricity IT Supplies steam to the downtown area and to many other commercial and Industrial customers active since 1952 with other companies engaged in nuclear research RG&E will be ready with the noow and the resources when economical Atomic power can be applied to Industrial and consumer advantage throughout the area industries of course are citizens of the community the same as individuals and here both are expected to be good citizens respecting the natural beauty of the geneses setting and what's more enhancing it is there any Earthly reason for permanent scarring of the landscape any conceivable reason for ugly smoke beling into the sky in Rochester parks are parks industrial or otherwise there's a tradition of greenery sunlight fresh air and the sheer Joy of open space flowers the flowers friend are phenomenal in Rochester and I'm not just talking about the world's celebrated Lilac Festival spring I'm talking about the community compulsion to plant wherever there's a square foot of sod that can stand brightening truly the entire population seems born with or converted to The Green Thumb Public Gardens Galore and private Gardens Galore Hillside patches lyrical and lovely flowers flowers flowers people here put down Roots too so it is no surprising statistic that 70% of the occupied dwelling units in the Rochester area are owner occupied a family city is Rochester doing things together is the order of the [Music] day [Music] all in all there are upwards of 300,000 people in the city proper upwards of 300,000 people in Monroe County upwards of 350,000 people in the other eight counties of the Rochester economic area nearly a million population in nearly 5,000 square miles of land allows plenty of space to grow and grow healthily for people living elsewhere it is surprising perhaps that Rochester has what leopo stovsky called one of the finest orchestras in the world it is not the least bit surprising of course to the people living here they like good music and they support good music in the same manner and the same spirit that they achieve other commun Community advantages they get together a committee of conscientious citizens and raise the funds by popular subscription Industries as well as individuals get behind the program and push with the result of the cash as well as the checks comes rolling into the good cause the same persuasive pattern exists whatever the community project it may be the building fund for a new new church or the building fund for a new school recently the entire Community joined in the drive for a new parochial school Protestants Catholics Jews alike felt that school was a community cause people here live and work in Splendid Harmony Harmony and respect Small Wonder Rochester received the world Brotherhood award Small Wonder to the term Community chest was coined in Rochester and that each year it exceeds its [Music] [Applause] goal throughout the world of course Rochester is famed as a medical center hospitals Research Laboratories most of them supported by private funds have pioneered many of the medical Miracles of our time health insurance for an already healthy community and wonderfully reassuring to the senior citizens most of them stay here in their declining years they love it here they find plenty of satisfying activity to occupy their retirement so it doesn't make much sense to them traing off someplace else if necessary of course Rochester looks out for them and here is a surprising statistic at least in terms of other cities in Rochester only 50% of the cost of welfare is derived from tax money the remaining 50% comes from voluntary contributions and other private funds conscientious citizens naturally produce conscientious government the words of Jonathan child first mayor of Rochester still echo sensibly in local ears in the Intercourse of social life and on all occasions involving the interests of our young City let us forget our politics and our party and seek only the public good such philosophy has produced enlightened government working with enlightened Commerce in other words public funds are used to spark and to supplement private Enterprise such action has revitalized the Heart of the City more specifically downtown Rochester as in most American cities the tendency here in recent years was a withdrawal from the central core to the surrounding suburbs people first then business headed for the Open Spaces Rochester didn't fight the suburbs or the shopping centers rising to meet Suburban needs it simply capitalized on the things people like about shopping centers wide varieties of merchandise the fun of meeting people and above all in this day and age a place to park having made its peace with the automobile Rochester was in a position to bring the suburbs downtown to the central core of the city it can pack the Eastman theater for a Broadway Road show or musical festival it can pack the War Memorial Auditorium for a hockey game or an international trade convention Rochester Monroe County Civic Center pulls together as many functions of City County State and national government as possible into one location with easy access of course and plenty of parking space having made its peace with the past Rochester can rip out and rearrange streets and sections of that Central core to its heart's content here is another section that will feel the impact of the bulldozzer surgery tough yet tender for Front Street in the future will be known as genesy Crossroads a complex of hotels and apartments shops and offices parks and promenades likewise in the future is the Towering world headquarters for Xerox sidewalk Engineers have a field day in downtown Rochester that Central core changes Fast and Furious but not fast enough or Furious enough for some of them that genesy fever still it was at an all-time high during the construction of Midtown Plaza 10 acres of renewal and that hole in the ground seemed to stay there forever actually that hole was the makings of a three-level 2,000 car underground Municipal parking garage the city solved the traffic problem and from there on private Enterprise took over up up up the gter went the framework for a new 18-story office building and hotel the framework for a new retail comp complex centered about a new root air conditioned Marketplace the size of a football field total time from the signing of the contracts to Opening Day celebration 38 months total cost $25 million of private investment a beautiful dream yes a magnificent merchandising idea but $25 million why would investors put up that kind of money for something like this in a city this size Bankers here are clear eyed and practical the same as Bankers elsewhere possibly more so why oh why would financial genius go for sidewalk restaurants benches fountains trees flowers they know the people of Rochester that's why quality people in quality job jobs earning quality incomes buy quality merchandise the stability of the workforce in Rochester makes for stability of investment in Rochester Midtown Plaza is simply the most dramatic ingredient of the Rochester recipe for good living there are thousands more maybe not so fancy but certainly just as important as the song and dance of our Fable time piece in Rochester even these marionett have genesy fever they perform every hour on the half hour too in the carnival spirit that is the Timeless magic of the marketplace since cities began a delight to the children an intriguing interlude to Shoppers and visitors from all over the world la