That primate city, the one with a newspaper I love to knock, does occasionally throw us a bone. The most recent treat was tossed our way on March 3, 2026, when The New York Times ran a piece entitled Rochester, NY: A New Lens on the City of Kodak.
Like a bunch of puppies, myself included, we nabbed the gift and ran with it, giving each other high fives and reposting the hell out of it.
The gist of the article was that old industrial Rochester has a revitalized downtown with coffee shops and what not, adding depth to an affordable region that already fosters the arts, education, gastronomy, and surprising diversity.
Cute.
Except I made one mistake—I read the comments.
I don’t consider myself a blame-the-victim type of guy, but to speak honestly of the Rust Belt, there’s no other choice.
Yes, we’ve been the victims of all sorts of forces—globalization, modernization, automation, bad policy, and misinformation.
We’ve also been the victims of ourselves.
How else can you explain such feedback to a well-intentioned and obvious puff piece?
…It cannot pretend to be anything but an idiosyncratic overview with its odd/inexplicable omissions that leave a native shaking their head…
Only someone who’s not from Upstate would consider Rochester as in the Finger Lakes region.
Sorry, I live here, and the weather and inhabitants are brutal.
No mention of the large murder of crows that roosts in the city?
The city of Rochester is crime-ridden and very violent.
Not mentioned is the complete lack of sun for half the year in Crochester.
This article does kinda feel a lot like it was paid for by the Rochester Chamber of Commerce. There’s also more than it’s fair share of poverty and murder and car theft.
Forgetting something? Lake-effect snow.
Rochester is NOT affordable anymore. That is nonsense.
…For ten months out of the year the sky is the color of a dead mouse. (At least this one is funny, I’ll admit.)
Cities that blossom—take Nashville—are full of the can-do types.
Do those towns end up being perfect? Hell no, nor do they pretend to be.
Cities that stagnate are full of Debbie Downers, as in those who take time out of their days to write these comments in The New York Times, apparently saving the world by restating unflattering things that have been discussed ad nauseum for decades.
They are the constant reminder that while the Rust Belt has every right to point the occasional finger, sometimes it’s okay to look in the mirror.
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