What you like best and least about the south wedge

[Justin]

I suppose this post has two purposes. The first being a conversational thread in which to get to know people, or at least their opinions. And secondly as a means for improving the Wedge. Just suppose the mayor, or some official who didn't know what to do was reading this post...perhaps they'd find it useful.

I love the Wedge but, nothing is above critique. So post three things you like and dislike. Or not. Whatever.

1) I like the South Wedge Barber Shop, a trendy atmosphere that hasn't changed since I was five years old. Everything about it brings to me a great sense of nostalgia. I also like the smell. Though I'll be damned if I know how to carry on a conversation.

2) The Tap and Mallet looks very promising, doesn't it? There are a few things I'd change if I were omnipotent but nevertheless they are just starting out. So much better than what McGregors had become.

3) I like that I can bike around the Wedge and not have to constantly worry about getting run over by a car.


•••

1) I wish they had done a better job replacing the gas lines. Now as I walk down the streets I can't help but notice all these ugly patches of brand new cement sidewalks. They were rushed, you can tell. Realistically speaking I couldn't have expected them to match the rest of the street. But still. Still!

2) I don't know why but the city failed to suck up the leaves this year. I imagine they'll still be rotting in the streets when I get back. What a shame.

3) Devin Stott was stabbed to death a few blocks away from my house. And crappy prepubescent graffiti (as opposed to GOOD graffiti) is popping up all over the place. I wish there was a community center or some kind of program to reach out to the kids.

[Gary Bogue]

OK, how's this? 1) This is mostly a walkable community. And if I don't feel like walking, I can easily get around on my bicycle or my scooter. 2) In fact, my scooter club usually meets here (Open Face on Wednesday evenings). 3) The credit union, three blocks from home. 4) Mis en Place, the Tap & Mallet, Solera and all the other excellent places to eat, drink, shop or hang out. 5) The German House - nationally-known acts a block from my house. 6) I can easily walk to downtown, or for that matter the East End. 7) Great people (which should actually be first).

Oops, that's more than three. My bad. Well, it's actually sort of nice.

OK, bad stuff. Hmmm... 1) Agree about crappy prepubescent graffiti. 2) Stupid crime like break-ins and car ripoffs, although that's hardly unique to the Wedge. Or Rochester. 3) The really awful street engineering that followed the rebuilding of South Avenue. If you walk from Gregory towards downtown on the west side, EVERY crosswalk from Hickory to Alexander has a deep puddle of water and slush right in front of the handicap ramp from the street back up to the sidewalk. Since my legs function, I can walk around and only have to step through piles of snow. But if I was in an actual wheelchair, I'd have no choice but to go directly through the slush/water. Did the city actually PAY for this?

Good, that was only three.

[Alfred]

I haven't lived here long, but here are three things i like and three i dislike.

LIKE: 1) Walking around the Wedge on a spring afternoon and seing others walking around, too...enjoying the architecture of the many houses for which i am pleasantly envious! 2) Having dinner at Beale St., sitting in Boulder and reading, going to the farmer's market, grabbing a slice at Little Venice, picking up yummy desserts in any number of places 3) Having interesting places like the German House, an Oddfellows Local chapter, Mt. Hope Cemetary, and numerous parks including Highland, all within walking distance.

DISLIKE: 1) The fact that Tap and Mallet has almost no street illumination so that you can't tell it's even open until you drive past it (that street needs more lighted areas). 2) The fact that there is still an empty lot directly across the street from LUX (next to Mise En Place), and that the ugly hospital garage will wind up being erected on South Ave. before we get something in that lot. 3) We need a bookstore or two, more places for families to eat (affordably), and a dog-walk (i don't even have a dog but i think it's necessary)...and whatever else will help encourage foot-traffic.

[Gary Bogue]

I certainly agree about Tap and Mallet. On at least one evening, a friend and I would have stopped in, but it looked closed and it was too stormy to get out of the car to check. So we went to another bar instead. Later I learned that it had been open. What's with all the dark windows? It's like they don't want the business. If sunshine is a problem, get awnings (but this is Rochester, so sunshine is rarely a problem).

[Marta]

The good: walkability. Interesting and diverse residents. Cool old houses, great restaurants, interesting businesses.

The bad: petty crime. The drinkers and loiterers hanging out at Hamilton and South.

The ugly: I vote for the aforementioned prepubescent grafitti--and thanks for the comment about GOOD grafitti! I'll never forget the descent into Penn Station after 9/11, when I took Amtrak to visit my daughter. I just hope some intrepid photographer got to document it.

[Justin]

I have heard a lot of complaints about graffiti (not just here), so allow me to make a few remarks in its defense.

Yes it sucks to walk outside and find that someone has tagged (written their name/logo) on your front sidewalk in ugly red paint. But it also sucks to have no creative outlet whatsoever.
Graffiti has always been the expression of the Streets, and in hindsight of its appearance a number of Graffiti Artists have enjoyed very successful careers.

But therein lies the issue, the difference between Graffiti Art and just plain graffiti, which might be argued as being vandalism or destruction of property.

Graffiti tends to run rampant when there are no available canvases in which to legally paint. But if say we had a place where it was legal in the South Wedge to have graffiti then we might see a lot more talent and effort going into it.

If you had children that wanted to make art, then they'd probably have a blast with some paper and art supplies. But if you deny them that, then they'll just end up doodling all over their notebooks, textbooks, homework, whatever. That is essentially what graffiti is. Doodles.

I doodled all my life until finally my parents gave me a sketchbook. And now? Well, I AM in art college aint I?

There is a Legal Wall down by village gate, and a lot of the artwork there is very expressive, and nothing you'd want to hide from the public.

There is actually an area in the South Wedge, across the street from Godivas that would qualify as Graffiti Art. You walk into this nook and you look at the sides of these buildings to find that they have been painted to look like western saloons and markets. It's really neat.

If we had a wall like that, anything really where it was legal to have Graffiti Art then I guarantee you'd see less vandalism and more bonefied ART. And art is good.

[Marta]

Justin, I love the examples.

[Gary Bogue]

Good idea, any other suggestions for legal walls? There's some really fine work down under the Broad Street bridge, in the old subway area. But most of the complaints are about tagging, just really butt-ugly squiggles that are very far from art. It's been showing up all over the Wedge.

BTW, Justin, the trompe-l'oeil steps in he photo are awesome. So simple but so elegant. I was blown away. Where is that?

[Justin]

London, I think, actually.

[Bill Klingensmith]

J.
You are calling a difference between graffiti art and graffiti.
The stuff around the SW is vandalism. No talent there, no expression.
I have lived in urban centers and this stuff is the weakest effort set out to mark territory. Kinda like my dogs squirting on trees as we walk around the neighborhood. Only difference is the dog pee dries up and no visual left behind.

A sample of very real contemporary graffiti:
Graffiti Research Lab Started by a very good friend of mine Evan Roth
IranGraffiti
And what if we were more like NYC?
And they even have Graffiti in Nova Scotia.

Sounds like your parents were cool enough to keep you going with pen and paper. Probably because your parents paid attention to you. This persons parents must be MIA. If they paid attention to him they would beat his Ass for destroying his community.

I would buy the kid some art supplies so he could practice and maybe come up with something better. Maybe even create something positive. Like the rest of the comments. I believe there is No room for vandalism in the wedge but plenty of room for local culture.

[pam]

wedge likes: the people, my co-op bank on gregory, tap and mallet - though wish it were a bit more tot-friendly, walker friendly layout and scale, mis en place, scooters meeting at open face, dody at the german house, small scale clapboard houses, dogs everywhere, boulder, goodwill, bike friendliness, southwedge farmer's market, city trees planted in front of houses that want one.

wedge dislikes: tax prep. businesses taking up prime storefront, need a bookstore!, hate the kiddie graffiti - go try that silliness out in the park ave. neighborhood, they would appreciate it more :), and agree that south ave needs the construction crews back to do a better job of covering up the gas line redo. we as a neighborhood have to let them know that it matters, anyone know who we can contact?

but really the complaints are small compared to my joy with this area. and is the cinema in sw/swillburg or highland park? no matter who lays claim, i love that establishment :)

[Ben Munson]

I'd recommend contacting the NET office about the quality of the street work lately. They deal with a lot of those concerns. You can reach them at 428-7640

[pam]

thank you! will do...