Rochester, NY…Safe?
Rochester, New York A Best Place To Walk?
Prevention Magazine has ranked Rochester, New York…
As one of the top 25 best walking cities!
Say what!? The best walking city? How in the world did they come up with that rating? In its May issue, the healthy lifestyle magazine rated Rochester and the surrounding suburbs 17th on its list. The area also received an honorable mention for safety, low crime rates and pedestrian fatalities. Just in case you’re wondering, San Francisco was ranked number one, followed by Boston, New York City and Philadelphia.
Okay, who are they trying to kid here.
For anyone living in Rochester, New York, they know this is a joke! Maybe the suburbs are safe, but Rochester? Really? Rochester, New York? The city with a high crime rate. The city that’s installing cash-grabbing-intersection cameras because people like to run red lights. The city that decided to put a soccer stadium in the red-light district of town?
A great walking city…really?
Walking With A Police Escort
If the survey revolves around nice scenery with great walking paths and things like that, sure, I can see how Rochester would rank up there on such a list. But, to think that you can safely walk around the City of Rochester is just crazy. Not a day goes by when I don’t have news stories about crime on the streets of Rochester. Maybe if you’re walking around town with a police escort, you can be safe. But this is just crazy.
Don’t forget, Rochester, New York is the same city that had a former Mayor, Bill Johnson, say there are some places in the city he would never walk around in!
Of course the really funny aspect of this story revolves around another story that broke the same day! On the heels of the Prevention Magazine announcement, Rochester leaders took a walking tour of Lyell Avenue trying to figure out how to make it safe! I’m sure they were also surrounded by a police escort on the walking tour. Rochester Mayor Bob Duffy and members of his staff walked Lyell Avenue to evaluate the situation. Mayor Duffy also met with residents and business owners who are disappointed that promised economic benefits of a new soccer stadium have not followed in the years since it was built. But then again, the soccer stadium was built in the middle of a known Rochester-Red-Light district. Lyell Avenue has a reputation for a haven for drugs and prostitution.
I’m wondering if there were some hanging chads when Prevention Magazine took their poll for walking cities.
Just my two cents,
Dr. Rus
