Toy museum passes up opportunities

One of the first lessons kids learn in the sandbox is to share their toys. It's too bad the dedicated volunteers behind the now-closed Marx Toy Museum couldn't figure out how to share the trains, planes, action ...

[fat phil]

the blogger was right,the entire town of erie,pa.does stink!we don't miss it one bit.

[MCR]

This is not Erie's faut. The problem appears to be with Betty Portenier. If she truely cared about the museum she would have taken the help offered. I was there 2x's, the place was not open. It would have been great to be able to get to a location with set hours,where everyone could see the toys.

[Susan Beates]

Bravo! I would think the Erie County Historical Society would have been glad to cooperate but would Ms. Portinier?

[BigWheelForever]

I'm confused. This whole fiasco has been very unorthodox.

It's a shame that the golden era of toys in Erie County be represented by this.

[The Rochester Blog]

The Rochester Blog can be found in full at this address:

http://www.groupofsix.bravehost.com/musings.h...

[JMT]

Those two ladies would be a perfect fit for City Council.

[Lynn]

I don't understand what "sandbox lesson" was learned... That an 87-year old woman was the reason Erie doesn't have a toy museum, because she wouldn't share? Seems like a convenient excuse. Maybe the town itself is to blame. How many projects have the kibosh put on them because some cranky 87-year-old puts her foot down?

[Lynn]

fat phil wrote:

the blogger was right,the entire town of erie,pa.does stink!we don't miss it one bit.

Any specific reason?

[The Real Rochester]

By JAN WONG
Toronto Globe & Mail
Saturday, November 29, 2003
ROCHESTER, N.Y.

......
Rochester's homicide rate, at triple the U.S. average.
The car-theft rate is 2.6 times the U.S. average.
Robbery is nearly triple the national rate.
Then there's the culinary treasure known -- this is true -- as the Garbage Plate.
Rochester's homicide rate, at 17.4 per 100,000, is double New York City's.
In 2001, Rochester had 39 homicides, mostly execution-style hits.
"Only a couple of times a year, a purely innocent person gets shot," the mayor says.
In a sign of how few tourists come to Rochester, rooms at Microtel Inn & Suites cost $39.95.
Rochester's star attraction: a 30-metre waterfall.
Downtown, all-day parking is $3.
Traffic is so sparse it's unnecessary to look left or right when crossing the street.
A hundred years ago, George Eastman invented the 10-cent flexible film roll and the $1 Brownie camera here. His 50-room mansion, which now houses a museum of photography, is the city's only five-star attraction. In 1932, at the age of 77, the lifelong bachelor declared his life's work done and shot himself in an upstairs bedroom.
Rochester's decline can be traced to governor Thomas E. Dewey. In 1948, Rochester voted against him when he ran for president, ensuring he lost the state -- and the White House. Two years later, Mr. Dewey saw to it that Interstate 90 bypassed Rochester on its way from Buffalo to Syracuse.
In the past decade, Rochester's population has shrunk 6.3 per cent to 220,000 (Greater Rochester has about a million) and taxable city property values have plunged 15.3 per cent. It now ranks 173rd among the nation's 200 largest metropolitan areas in terms of job creation and economic performance.
Not surprisingly, Rochesterians prefer to look to the past. Visitors are told to go to Mount Hope Cemetery, where Frederick Douglass, the slavery abolitionist, and Susan B. Anthony, the women's suffrage leader, are buried. Her home is another attraction, but everyone from cab drivers to Ms. Miller to the mayor warned against venturing into the neighbourhood.

[Lynn]

The Real Rochester wrote:

By JAN WONG
Toronto Globe & Mail
Saturday, November 29, 2003
ROCHESTER, N.Y.
...... mayor warned against venturing into the neighbourhood.

Well, if you didn't actually cook the facts you're certainly, and unfairly, selective in your cull of facts... But let's not talk about your selective cull of information/dishonesty for the moment.

How about these couple of facts… First, Rochester may lead Erie in murders… but Erie has the sick distinction of having a higher crime ratio when it comes to rape. You want to brag about that?

And how about this for a relevant fact... compare the Strong Toy Museum to your now defunct Marx Museum. Here's the Strong's web address:

http://www.strongmuseum.org/

[The Real Rochester]

Lynn wrote:

<quoted text>
Well, if you didn't actually cook the facts you're certainly, and unfairly, selective in your cull of facts... But let's not talk about your selective cull of information/dishonesty for the moment.
How about these couple of facts… First, Rochester may lead Erie in murders… but Erie has the sick distinction of having a higher crime ratio when it comes to rape. You want to brag about that?
And how about this for a relevant fact... compare the Strong Toy Museum to your now defunct Marx Museum. Here's the Strong's web address:
http://www.strongmuseum.org/

I'm looking at the FBI crime stats sister, and Rochester ain't too safe.
Erie, on the other hand, is one of the safest cities in PA as well as the country for that matter.

Anyway, why would someone risk their lives to go to see some toys in Rochester?

[Lynn]

The Real Rochester wrote:

<quoted text>
.
Anyway, why would someone risk their lives to go to see some toys in Rochester?

They do. If you want to try to fight reality a little more, feel free.

[Lynn]

Lynn wrote:

How many projects have the kibosh put on them because some cranky 87-year-old puts her foot down?

I've got to correct that I called an 87-year-old woman "cranky". The original Rochester blog about Erie now has an addition which describes a conversation with the 87-year-old. She is not cranky, just knows her own mind. She wanted to keep the museum independent -- which is her prerogative as she was the person who volunteered years of her life to keep the thing going.

[The Real Rochester]

Lynn wrote:

<quoted text>
They do. If you want to try to fight reality a little more, feel free.

Sister, I'm not the one fighting reality. You are in complete denial about the rampant crime in Rochester.

Quit whining about a so-called toy museum in a place you don't live. It's getting a little tired.

[Rochester Blog]

The Real Rochester wrote:

<quoted text>
Sister, I'm not the one fighting reality. You are in complete denial about the rampant crime in Rochester.
Quit whining about a so-called toy museum in a place you don't live. It's getting a little tired.

What's a little tired is someone who isn't bright enough to make his own points without excerpting other people's articles. You should learn to use your own words.

[The Real Rochester]

Rochester Blog wrote:

<quoted text>
What's a little tired is someone who isn't bright enough to make his own points without excerpting other people's articles. You should learn to use your own words.

You need to get a life.

Uniform FBI crime statistics from 2006:

Rochester, NY - 49 murders.

Erie - 3.

Spin that honey.

[Gail Potts]

MCR wrote:

This is not Erie's faut. The problem appears to be with Betty Portenier. If she truely cared about the museum she would have taken the help offered. I was there 2x's, the place was not open. It would have been great to be able to get to a location with set hours,where everyone could see the toys.

These ladies were all vounteers and did everything on no salary from the city..the city was even interested in it...now, someone comes along and the city jumps on th band wagon...It's not right to judge these ladies...they acquired all of the toys and maintained and payed for everything.

I know Betty personally and she's fiesty and she know what she's doing and talking about. I am proud to call her my friend and no one should condemn her, did you do all of the work that they did...did you pay all of the bills when just a meager amount of people showed up...where you there to help these ladies who gave their precious time? "NO!"

I rest my case and I have to say I love Betty..you're all a bunch of losers!!!