Rochester City Hall Green Roof

The northwestern view from the City of Rochester's green roof. (6/21/14)

The final official day of Spring in upstate New York was a beautiful one, and I had the good fortune to visit one of the more unique (and photogenic) green projects in Rochester, New York, the City Hall green roof. Modern green roofs consist of manufactured layers of waterproofing, drainage, soil or growing media, and then vegetation. I have been interested in checking out the roof since it's installation in 2010, but as this roofs is not designed for people to visit, except for maintenance--this is a roof after all--I had to wait for the right moment. Due to the stars aligning, and the perfect weather conditions, today I found myself getting a tour.

Vegetation changes color depending on the season; here Spring becomes Summer. (6/21/14)

Green roofs require minimal maintenance. (6/21/14)

The gravel ballast, previously used to keep roof material down in the wind,
now only supports around the perimeter of the growing medium. (6/21/14)

The filter fabric between the existing roof system and the pre-planted vegetation. (6/21/14)

Close up of green roof vegetation. (6/21/14)

The City Hall building on which the green roof is installed from outside. (6/21/14)

Once again, I find myself wishing I'd paid more attention in science class. The green sciences and technology, as evidenced from the numerous environmentally sound and efficient projects being explored and pursued at all levels of government (and industry) is such a practical application of much of what I've forgotten from high school. The green roof is just one of many green initiatives currently being installed at City Hall, some of which are currently being installed right now.

Source: 
City of Rochester Green Roof

SOS, Woodsy Owl!

The corner of Harvard and Vassar Streets in Rochester, NY. (12/14/13)

Recently there has been an increase in vandalism in my neighborhood. Much of it can best be described as graffiti or "branding," someone spray painting logos with a template on stop signs, mailboxes and hydrants. Yesterday while driving home from the supermarket, my wife even noticed a sign tacked to a tree that offered a reward for information leading to the arrest of vandals who had stolen lawn ornaments. The images posted above and below were taken within a two-block radius of our home.

This is not to suggest the city is not putting forth an effort to curb such silliness. Our upstate New York city government's Defacer Eraser does an excellent job covering up the sophomoric artistic attempts of would-be-Banksys (I would guess those who tagged and stenciled in the images below fancy themselves advant-garde artisans). These efforts just don't seem to make much difference. While graffiti removal programs do briefly remove or cover graffiti, the strategy does little to dissuade perpetrator from returning (and repainting) the scene of the crime over and over and over again. With this, I bet my old hero Woodsy Owl might be able to offer a hand wing.


Unfortunately, the only real way to eliminate this type of communal property damage would be to educate and instill in those involved that this is the wrong way to go about expressing themselves--something Woodsy did very publicly through appearances and public service announcement (PSAs) in the 1970s. It would be fair to suggest that maybe he (and USDA Forest Service who sponsor his efforts) have not been too successful as here we are 25+ years later still dealing with the same issue.

Despite this, I still believe in Woodsy Owl and his messages regrading litter and vandalism. Unfortunately, in an age when we glorify criminal activity such as graffiti by imbuing it with some sort of artistic or political merit, even a kindly six-foot, 300 pound owl in a triangle hat is going to have difficulty reaching people. At least until a sense of community well-being and respect is restored...

The artistic genius with this stencil  must paint while delivering his mail;
once removed, it magically re-appears days later. (12/14/13)

The Not-So-Secret Meaning of Typography

Last Wednesday during lunch, I went to the local town hall to apply for a passport. As I was checking the nameplates outside each office for the correct room I couldn't help but notice a very large tarpelin sign proclaiming that one group of offices was clearly under the auspices of "Cheryl Dinolfo, Monroe County Clerk."

What struck me most about the sign, other than the shear size of it, maybe 12' x 5', was the comparative fonts and type sizes used to communicate each piece of information. The typography (size and font of the type) of the lettering used to trumpet Ms. Dinolfo's involvement, as well as her title, was of a significantly larger point size than that of the other relevant information. In fact, Only the county seal was a hair larger than her name, and the information present on the seal was indecipherable from a distance.

One is about as likely to find visual evidence of this phenomena online as you are to find a real picture of a Sasquatch... eventually, after first googling a myriad of possible word chains with the intent of finding an image online, it became clear that without a photographic recon mission would  proving this the existence of this phenomena would be difficult.

Looking forward to The Amazing Spider-man 2 starring.... Maggie Brooks?!

Fortunately, in my community, this is "elephantitits-of-type" only employed by Ms. Dinolfo. I have also noted on a number of occasions that our Monroe County Executive, Maggie Brooks, also has a penchant for having her name and title presented in juxtaposition to the County Logo on signs in such away that the information to be quickly processed by passersby is her name first. The County's seal taking a subordinate role to all else. Surprisingly, as seen in the photo below, somehow her name was not larger than that of the companies being represented below.

Drivers are hard pressed to figure out just for whom Brooks work for.

Both Dinolfo and Brooks are seasoned local politicos, with even more veteran operatives, so this is most surely not a printing error that was made once and never corrected. As students' of rhetoric, my high school Advanced Language and Composition classes quickly realize the implications and message of this choice on the part of the messenger. Visual rhetoric consists in part of text so obviously visual that its visual nature and power is often invisible. This type size conundrum is also a great example of one of those things that consciously goes unnoticed by some, but is subconsciously meant to "say" or communicate a message.

So, is this intended to suggest that when looking for service such as passport applications that the key piece of information one should look for is Ms. DiNolfo's name and title? The use of a rhetorical question here is intended by yours truly to suggest strongly that you know perfectly well what is being implied, as well as which politician's ego is being stroked by seeing there name (and office) in "lights."

Maybe the meaning is not so secret (or subtle) after all...



The message from a Monroe County banner: I love New York, Maggie Brooks,
and Sports--in no specific order.

Sources: Purdue Online Writing Lab