DMC Must Not Ignore Neighborhoods and the Region

On Tuesday, August 7, county commissioners met with representatives from SRF consulting Group Inc. (SRF is doing the 20-year DMC transportation plan).  The commissioners expressed their concern that the transportation plan’s focus is only on the DMC downtown zone but it should also be on the neighborhoods and the region. DMC, if it is to be successful must include the impact on the people who have lived in the city for a long time and their neighborhoods; the focus cannot just be on Mayo patients and visitors.  Shopkeepers and professional services will still need the ability of Rochester and regional residents to access their offices and stores.  Additionally, Commissioners questioned the logic of mixing bike, pedestrian, and vehicle traffic.  It is my position that the DMC traffic planning cannot be just a focus on the DMZ zone; it cannot be a plan that will displace downtown shops and services; it cannot become solely a medical campus. There must be attention paid to the downtown as a business center and the transportation of our neighbors in Rochester and the region.