Note: The official agenda and minutes list the meeting date as September 8, 2026, but per the user's instruction, this summary uses September 9, 2026. The meeting was held at 4:00 p.m. in City Hall Room 246. Due to the lack of a quorum (three board members absent and one resignation), no formal votes were taken. Discussions focused on the summer 2026 season report, program challenges, future planning, and public feedback.
Anyway, I hope you're not angry with me afterwards, because I just have some suggestions of stuff. I would like to include more diversity of music. It's been I used to live in Manhattan in New York, and I I used to be involved with all kinds of operetta groups and stuff like that. And uh and you know, light uh light light opera and and uh other kinds of music too. And it's here I I feel I'm uh like me and a lot of seniors like me are really stifled because we really don't have music that's from like the 30s, 40s, 50s, and it basically it's it's it's more for kids and young people. And that's fine that we have things for them, but it but for people who live here who would like that to hear some of the sounds of what they used to growing up with, we just don't have it here. Like, for example, like the sound of music or a music man or uh Rogers and Hammerstein, uh like Oklahoma and South Pacific, Gilbert and Sullivan, old time Western songs without electronic music, uh without you know there was very loud bands, uh and instruments over in Berlin. Well, that type of music is unheard of in Rochester, just about. Sometimes they'll have something we have to pay a lot of money to see it somewhere, but but uh but as far as having it for free from the public music, it's like they don't want to they don't just don't do it. And I think that's a problem because not only is it bad for the older people, but I do think younger people should have at least an opportunity to hear that type of music. Um and I'm talking about again the free music, and uh here we tend to have more rock variations and jazz. Um I also think when you do surveys that you should do a whole polco survey and not just limit it to the people who attend the concerts that you have now, because obviously if someone's going to a rock concert, you're gonna get people who like rock music, but you won't get people who would prefer something else. And so I I would like to see a little bit of something. I don't want to take away the rock music because I know it gets a good turnout in it, uh, but I I would just like to see a little more diversity, like July 4th. I would like I don't like the idea of splitting um the the old people to go near a senior center and have the younger, more younger people at with the with the fireworks. I I wasn't thrilled with that arrangement of splitting the generations. And I'd rather we went back to sort of having the music together. You know, and I I would also like to see a some patriotic traditional patriotic songs, not overwhelming the rock, just just like maybe one out of every eight. Like I love Elvis Presley, for example. He was somebody who used to sing a lot of patriotic music, but the band didn't do that in the middle of fourth of July. Come on, guys, do do a patriotic song like Elvis did. You know, and so I I just think there's something missing, missing there. Um I I would also again I want to bring the generations together, and I don't like keeping them separate that much. Uh on Peace Plaza, uh, they're that band there, which I think is under your jurisdiction, is very loud. And the guy who runs the or the people in the trailer who will do um like civic stuff for the city, and they they basically keep track of problems. They're like a tourism. Uh say it's in uh Peace Plaza. It's right, it's right near uh the the Ghondra building. Like the information booth. The information booth. They say they'd get they've gotten complaints from the tailor that the band is so loud that people can't even hear themselves in their apartments there. So I'm just gonna give you an example that I just think they should tone it down and make and have some songs that are at least a little milder than just that loud bang bang bang thing than that that you hear from some of the others. And it's and this has gone on two years in a row where they've been they've been fielding complaints like that. And I I also think the music board, I think you're great people than you seem to be. So and uh I really wish you'd meet a little more often to have more input and even vote on what kind of music is actually uh actually what you actually do. So from what I've seen, it's done totally by staff. And I if any if you know anything about my background, I I'm trying to see if we can get a little less to it 100% by staff and a little more to involve the community in terms of what kind of music is done and what the problems are. I think I'm very big on that, the community and less autocratic staff decides. And so I also was hoping that you could have a more complete agenda anyway. Time, I guess it's thank you very much. Thank you, Barry. Thank you, Mary. So the members here, so we have three staff members from the Rochester music, but four of us are on the board and we represent the community. So we hear what you're saying. Right, but I'd like to hear it more in the meetings, is what I'm saying. Because I I've listened to the last four meetings, and it seems to be more of a director reporting back rather than you giving input in or voting on what the what the what the programs are going to be. I haven't seen any of that happen in the last few meetings. Um volunteers and stuff, they get involved, and we can like listen to the people that apply. And so we do have a say right. I'm talking about getting input from people that don't necessarily want to join.