Robert Duffy, Mayor of Rochester, New York, is seeking assistance for the city’s planned redevelopment of Renaissance Square, an asbestos-laden site. After being rebuffed by the Federal Transit Administration, Duffy plans to travel to Washington to get a better explanation of why federal officials think the Renaissance Square plan is a dud.

Mayor Duffy is convinced that he can save $24 million in federal funds that have already been committed to the project. The money will expire within the coming months, and the conditions currently attached to the project make the work on the site seem impossible.

Asbestos removal is often costly because of the extensive safety procedures involved to contain airborne asbestos particles, which are linked to lung cancer and mesothelioma.

"Admittedly, last week was an emotional and difficult one for all of us," Duffy wrote in a letter earlier this week to both County Executive Maggie Brooks and transit authority CEO Mark Aesch. "But I ask you both to affirm your commitment to the project and join me in Washington."

Aesch wrote a letter in response to Mayor Duffy, explaining that the mayor had missed the point. The Renaissance Square site revisions are so restrictive that the transit facility is "no longer operationally functional."

Renaissance Square is $230 million plan that would have a bus station, a college campus, and a new theater. However, the city revised the original plan. Revisions included a smaller bus station, and removing the theater in favor of retail space and private development. This means that $7 million of the project’s cost could be transferred to Rochester taxpayers.

The cost to remove asbestos and demolish the structures would be too great to accomplish without taxpayer dollars, said Heidi Zimmer-Meyer, president of the Rochester Downtown Development Corporation.

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