Reboot The Commute!
by Christopher Dunne port·man·teau ˌpôrtˈmantō/ a word blending the sounds and combining the meanings of two others, for example motel (from ‘motor’ and ‘hotel’) or brunch (from ‘breakfast’ and ‘lunch’).…
Our Core Values
by Tanya Zwahlen Core values are the fundamental beliefs of a person or organization that guide behavior and help people understand the difference between right and wrong. Values reflect who we are,…
Survey Says
by Susan Hopkins Surveys are a classic tool in the planning profession. Every project needs a survey. They’re a cheap and easy way to gather public feedback. Right? Not exactly.…
Placemaking With Playful Sidewalks
by Tanya Zwahlen Last weekend, Jen Topa helped to organize, advertise, and orchestrate a sidewalk painting event on South Clinton Avenue as part of our contract with the City of Rochester…
Commercial Corridor Beautification in Rochester
by Jen Topa Last month, our team participated in two great projects that positively impacted two of the commercial corridors that we work on. On May 5th, the South Clinton…
Public Engagement In The Elements
by Christopher Dunne Mother Nature doesn’t care about your community outreach. That’s the impression we’ve gotten this spring from our public engagement efforts around Reimagine RTS, Monroe County’s transit system redesign…
Participatory Budgeting Returns to Rochester
by Susan Hopkins, AICP For For practitioners of public engagement, the chance to experience participatory budgeting is what I imagine it’s like for a classic car enthusiast to drive a…
Highlights From NPC18
by Tanya Zwahlen Last week, Sue and I joined 5,700 of our fellow planners in New Orleans for the 2018 National Planning Conference (NPC18). It was great to be in…
If It’s Broke, Fix It (Don’t Burn It To The Ground)
by Christopher Dunne Sometimes our staff meetings get a little off topic. Last week, a conversation about our core principles and our recently damaged tent led to us enumerating a fifth core…
The Neo Traditional Vacation
by Tanya Zwahlen I was on vacation last week in a planner's paradise. Rosemary Beach is located along the Gulf Coast of Florida and, in spite of the 22 hour…