Democrat and Chronicle from Rochester, New York • Page 30

4 i ID 4B SUNDAY DEMOCRAT AND CHRONICLE, ROCHESTER, N.Y.. MAY 19, 1985 Buffalo gets a new subway FROM PAGE 1B mspK 'i jr til Wmwrr3' MmWNf: Vife r- 1 rL sr Transit Police Officer Mike Full riding on the above-ground section. QcfW CV (SHfl Each of the system's 14 stations will have a police officer on duty. illlii munity wasn't behind it" Now that mass transit funds are on the federal budget hit list, Rochester has missed the boat for good, he thinks. Any rapid-transit project "is on the shelf now, and I don't think it's ever coming off." Rochester's Main Street is slated for a facelift, too.

The city expects $12.4 million in federal funds soon to narrow the driving lanes to four, widen and landscape sidewalks, and build covered bus stop shelters. The renovation would stretch along Main Street from State to Chestnut streets, connecting the Four Corners and the new convention center to the cultural district After 20 years of wrangling and four years of torn-up streets, Buffalo was in a festive mood yesterday as another six stations were opened for business by Gov. Mario Cuomo and a host of dignitaries. Besides the speeches, there was a parade, bicycle and foot races and other festivities. The six underground stations are clean, shiny, tile-lined showcases, decked with multicolored pennants and some of the $1 million worth of original art commissioned by the transit authority.

Each station is different, designed to fit into its neighborhood. Despite all the excitement, some people aren't convinced the subway is such a great wave of the future. Jerry Porter of Tonawan-da, a Buffalo bus driver for 14 years, was swabbing down a rust-colored platform at the Delavan-College station, a level below the vibrantly colored 11-foot by 72-foot ceramic tile mural that dominates the station. A transit porter now, he likes the station fine, but he'd rather drive a bus than a subway car any day. "You get closer to your people, get to know them.

The way this is, they just get on and get off." Six stations along the 1.2-mile above-ground section, stretching from the Memorial Auditorium to the Arena Theater along Main Street, have been open since October, shuttling more than 200,000 people a day through the congested downtown. Free rides underground end tomorrow, when regular 75-cent fares will be charged. But rides along the above-ground section will remain free to encourage riders to spend money at the beleaguered businesses on Main Street Last week, shoppers and tourists scrambled aboard one of the trolley-style cars at each stop, admiring the bright orange and yellow seats and the graffiti-free walls. Jim Lfgy Democrat and Chronicle A porcelain mural, one of many works commissioned for the subway, graces Humboldt-Hospital station. ping, she says, because she felt lazy.

"Usually I walk downtown." Wheelchair-bound Bernadina Butler, waiting with her husband, Teddy, atop a temporary wheel-chair ramp, couldn't have disa- greed more. "It's fantastic." Tran- sit workers are very conscientious about helping her on and off, she says. The Butlers live two blocks from the line at 205 Marine Thrive and were returning home from a trip to the dentist. "We don't have a car, and this means we'll be able to go to our favorite theater in Amherst," Mrs. Butler said.

i Rasuli is optimistic that the subway will return Main Street to its former role as the nerve center of Buffalo. Riders will be able to-park at outlying stations and take the subway to downtown theaters, restaurants and stores, regardless of weather. What is less certain is whether Buffalo will be able to extend the system in the face of intense competition for federal "We're up against (subway) proposals like Los Angeles and Atlanta," he says. "But if we listened to the nay-sayers, we'd never have gotten anything done." door. Smilanich, who at 60 has been purveying novelties on Main Street for 45 years, says the street has been torn up for four years.

"It's not that bad for us, because we've got a lot of unusual things. "People will come through all this to us because they can't get the things anywhere else." But the same isn't true for more common shops. "Two men's clothing stores on this block, they had to move. One went out of business. People aren't going to come down here in all this mess when they can go to a mall closer to home and get the same thing," Smilanich says.

Across from the novelty store, about 20 people waited impatiently for a car as rain began to sprinkle the mall. The sheltered areas for passengers to wait haven't been built yet. "I think (the transit-line) is useless," says Reta Miller of the nearby Allentown neighborhood. "It only goes up and down Main Street There's no east-and-west service. It starts nowhere and goes nowhere.

This is a disaster, what they've done." She was only hop- -ping on a transit car to go shop system and mall won't automatically make Main Street a thriving shopping district. "The merchants themselves have to create some excitement If they get together and properly promote downtown, there's no reason why the shop- -pers won't come." But some merchants couldn't wait for the new age, says George Smilanich. He runs George Gifts and Novelties at 615 Main St. From the front window, a giant yellow chicken peers out at the mall construction. Through the dust and noise of construction, an occasional customer picks his way across a plank walk to the front to holidays and special events at first so that construction can continue.

Regular weekend service is set to begin Oct 1. Main Street is being converted into a mall, most of which will off-limits to motor vehicle traffic. Buffalo transit officials say it will be the longest transit mall in North America when it is finished in September 1986. "Actually, the only one," says Rasuli. "It's a European concept" They promise a landscaped pedestrian walkway (with occasional cross-traffic) lined with spruced-up shops, restaurants and bistros where people can stroll and spend money and grab a ride when their feet or wallets are exhausted.

Robert B. Adam, chairman of Adam, Meldrum Anderson Co. department stores, says the transit "Ooh, it smells just like a new car," said one woman as she stowed her shopping bags. It takes about eight minutes to ride from the northern end of the line to the above-ground section. The rest of the run downtown is slower, since the cars must stop occasionally for traffic.

The final mile from the LaSalle Street station north to the State University of New York at Buffalo campus, near suburban Amherst, won't go into operation until September 1986 because work is still going on at the LaSalle station. The system is highly automated. Tickets are sold from vending machines, and closed-circuit TV camT eras provide surveillance. Each station will have a transit police officer on duty. The 27 light-rail cars, built by the Tokyu Car Co.

of Japan, will run from 4:36 a.m. to 1:24 a.m. weekdays. The electrically powered cars, which cost $650,000 apiece, are expected to run in two-car trains during normal hours and longer trains at rush hour. They will travel at 50 mph underground and be six or seven minutes apart.

Weekend service will be limited INSULATED CASEMENT REPLACEMENT WINDOWS MADE TO FIT ANY EXISTING WINDOW FRAME 00 ROBERT C. GOULD CO. SINCE 1951 374 STATE ST. 454-5614 Let's compromise now before malpractice becomes a billion dollar problem. A Super Toy a Whole Lot More! 1 11 II XX i Too high a price.

Medical liability insurance in New York State is now over $600 million a year. That's too high a price tag. And at the present rate of escalation it could easily exceed billion within ten years. If you believe what we believe. Your Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plans believe: 1 Patients should have the right to recover the cost of real damages resulting from malpractice.

2 Physicians should be free to practice without the threat of frivolous lawsuits and exorbitant medical liability insurance premiums. 3 public should not be penalized with health care bills inflated by extraordinary hospital and physician liability insurance expenses. What's needed is compromise. We support Governor Cuomo's proposal to reform the state's medical malpractice system. It's a good comprqmise.

It protects the injured patient's rights. It strengthens procedures for the prevention of malpractice in 'hospitals. It encourages arbitration to reduce expensive court suits. It regulates legal fees. 'j We favor one change.

We favor the inclusion of ii reasonable limits on compensation that is in addition to payments for actual financial loss. Write your legislators. Urge them to pass malpractice reform legislation this session. Let's not wait for a billion dollar malpractice problem. YOUR CHOICE Dynacraft 20" STARFIRE BMX 1 86 Dynacraft 20" STARBURST HI-RISE 59 EACH Columbia CHARGER 10-SPEED 7986 27" 26" 24" Men's 26" 24" Ladies' HOURS: Mon.

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Michael Nozzoliol 1 28th) Frank G. Talomie, Sr. 1 29th) Louise M. Slaughter 1 30th) Gary Proud (1 3 1st) Audre "Pinny" Cooke 1 32nd) David F.Ganttl 1 33rd) Roger J. Robach 1 34th) James Naglel 1 35th) Richard C.

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