He found this.

Here in Rochester we have very capable Democratic mayor who can be dead wrong on occasion and a questionably capable county executive (Republican) whose prior experience was as a local newscaster. The mayor was a chief of police. The county is going through a scandal involving contractor pay-offs to county employees that may very well go to the top of several county agencies. Meanwhile we have a very large federally funded downtown project that attempts to combine a downtown community college campus, a transit center and a performing arts center. Federal funding has been found for the college and transit center; the arts center is not funded and probably won’t get built. Despite that fact that this is located in the center of the City of Rochester, this is a county project.

The Renaissance Square project, as it has been named, more familiarly Ren Square, has been brewing for 6 years with no visible physical progress. A major architect was hired (Moshe Saftie) and he came up with an impressive plan while running through a major chunk of the planning budget. He was fired and a consortium of local architects butchered his plan and somehow managed to glom a nineteenth century facade on the thing, an architectural curse that Rochester specializes in.

I used to think this whole thing was questionable but with $4/gallon gas on the horizon again, improving the public transportation experience is important, the college campus is an important project, making access to our excellent Monroe Community College a lot easier and the arts center is off the radar. We need to build the thing now.

Except more politicians have come forward including a Democratic Representative who is lobbying for a high speed rail line to pass through Rochester and somehow she believes that we have a choice of a new train station or a new bus station but not both, in spite of the fact that they have nothing, zero, zippo to do with each other. People ride the buses to work and school, people ride trains to get to other cities.

Now the mayor has joined the Representative in trying to kill the transit station right when the need for better public transit is critical.

I could go on and on without betraying any partisan stance (I’m a Democrat) because all of these politicians are acting deplorably, ignorantly and without thought of what is best for the community. This seems to be the case with politicians everywhere from the local school board to the Senate leadership. They are not competent people in general. I’m giving the President a pass because I think he is truly trying to herd these cats in the best interests of us. It must drive him crazy.

Listening to NPR last night and heard a great story about Kind of Blue on it’s 50th anniversary. I believe this may be the best recording ever made and I’ve been listening to it for 30 of those years without tiring a bit. The record is a kind of miracle confluence of the very best players, the most amazing writing, the vision of the leader and truly magical live-in-the-studio (no tracking or remixing) performance. Cannonball Adderly said his playing was the best he had ever done. This could probably be said fairly of any of the others.

What really stands out is the lyrical beauty of the overall sound, filled with cool emotion. Love it.

Go to Abilene, not the city in Texas, the bar in downtown Rochester. Free great live music, a bazillion kinds of beer (no draft right now but in the works), a nice outdoor patio that is like being in someone’s backyard, a paint by numbers gallery, and nice people.

I made a social network for friends who meet there.