Crashes killed two people in the Rochester area today….one in East Bloomfield and one in Gates.
The first person was killed when two pickup trucks collided this morning at Wheeler Station Road and Routes 5 & 20 in East Bloomfield. Troopers say 69-year-old James Whitney of Victor was driving the truck that failed to stop for the sign. His passenger, 72-year-old Thomas Whitney of Farmington, was pronounced dead at the scene.
The other driver, a Wayland man, was treated at the scene. His passenger was taken to Strong Memorial Hospital.
And a 22-year-old Ogden man was killed this afternoon when a car suddenly turned in front of his motorcycle on Manitou road.
Gates Police say the car turned left onto the Route 531 ramp from Manitou Road and hit the motorcycle. The impact tossed the victim off the motorcycle and over the rail of the Manitou Road bridge. He fell onto the 531 expressway below and was killed instantly. Police say he was hit by a car on the expressway as well.
Police were interviewing witnesses and trying to determine which driver was at fault.
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Xerox announced restructuring plans late last year…and the company has followed through with the announcement that it’s closing the Supplies Distribution Center in Webster for a loss of 48 jobs.
Xerox is also closing one of its warehouses in California and laying off those employees as well. The company says it will outsource those supply operations to a third party.
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Big changes are coming for the Marketplace Mall in Henrietta. Wilmorite corporation has announced that Marketplace will become an indoor outlet center.
Wilmorite says it will put $25 million into the changeover and interior renovations to the mall. They should be completed by the fall of 2017 and the mall will stay in operation during the conversion.
Wilmorite says changing market conditions are driving their decision. Outlet centers are the only retail plazas that continue to do well against online shopping, and as a regional center they say the Marketplace Outlets will draw people from a wider area.
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Monroe County Clerk Adam Bello says he’s discovered his department is paying for three auditors who work for County Executive Cheryl Dinolfo.
Bello says his staff has gone over past budgets and found this wasn’t the case until just recently. He says the changes were made a week after he was named to the job by Governor Cuomo. Bello–like Cuomo– is a Democrat. The county exec is a Republican.
Bello says he hopes this isn’t politics at work. He says he’d planned to hire more staff to work with the public but now he can’t do it.
Monroe County Finance Director Robert Franklin says several positions over the years ended up allocated to departments they didn’t actually belong to. He says the county has been working to fix that situation and has reassigned about 80 people and budget lines to date…including the two that caught the County Clerk’s attention.
Franklin says he’d have been happy to explain if Bello had asked.
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A group of Rochester pastors calling themselves “No Casinos…A Better Rochester” held a press conference this morning to protest a casino in downtown Rochester.
There’s no actual proposal to build one right now, but City Hall has looked into the possibility and a developer has talked with the Seneca Nation about the possibility.
Minister Clifford Florence says they should forget it. He says a casino would strike at the values of Rochester and provide low-paying jobs that would suck the life out of the city’s economy.
The pastors say Rochester is better off without a casino….and nobody should look to the gambling industry to revive a city.
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The Johnny Blackshell Jr. trial continues in Rochester…with Rochester police investigators describing today how they found and processed evidence from the black Suzuki used in the drive-by shooting.
Investigators told of removing the car’s back seat and finding a 7.62 millimeter cartridge casing, later matched to the AK47 rifle that was one of the firearms used in the shootings on Genesee Street last summer. An ATF agent talked about evidence connecting the car and the weapon to Johnny Blackshell.
One of Blackshell’s lawyers, Joe Damelio, says there’s no direct link to his client.
But officers did testify to finding a magazine matching the ones used in the AK47 at a home where they found Blackshell’s sister.
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City Hall says the developer of a controversial mixed-use project at the Port of Rochester will hold a public meeting a week from today at the Port Terminal Building with the latest on their proposal.
Edgewater Resources is now planning a 69-room hotel, 27 condominiums and retail stores on close to three acres of city-owned land in the new Marina District between North River Street and Lake Avenue. This is south of the new marina just being completed in Charlotte. City and Edgewater officials will be at the port building, 4:30 to 6:30 next Wednesday afternoon to show the revised plans and answer questions.
Many Charlotte residents continue to be skeptical about the success of a high-rise project at the port and some don’t want to lose their view of the water.
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The Rochester City Council is looking at legislation to move forward with the Erie Harbor Park and Condominium project along South Avenue on the Genesee River.
The site was once part of the Erie Canal, then the Rochester Subway. It sits above the entrance to the abandoned subway tunnel just south of the Central Business District.
Mayor Lovely Warren has sent legislation authorizing an agreement for just over $4.5 million with Morgan Court Street Apartments LLC of Pittsford to develop and maintain the project and the public amenities planned for the waterfront. Funding is coming from the state, the city and the developer.
Bergman Associates is being hired to do the planning.
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The City of Canandaigua is considering a five-year ban on using pesticides in city parks. It’s expected to discuss the issue tomorrow evening and will likely vote on the issue as well.
The proposed law says the moratorium will serve as a test to see how well the parks can be maintained without spraying for weeds and pests. They’ll try alternative management policies in the meantime.
Canandaigua resident Joel Freedman has advocated against pesticides for years and brought the issue before the city in February.