Thank you to everyone who was able to attend the parish meeting this past Sunday to hear about the latest news and updates regarding the Mayo Bold.Forward.Unbound expansion project and Calvary’s involvement in that work. Apologies to anyone who was disappointed that we could not livestream the meeting – we just aren’t equipped technologically in Crawford Hall to do that well. Here are some bullet points from the meeting:

1. Parking – when construction starts in earnest around Calvary, it will begin with the dismantling of the Damon Parking Ramp.  At that time, sometime in August, Calvary members may park in the Baldwin Building Ramp – using the patient parking entrance, we will go down to the subway parking level and then come up to the street level, and there are 77 spots there to accommodate Calvary members only.   An additional parking lot will be “Lot 3”, which lies south of the Baldwin Building, between Baldwin and the new Kellen Building. It is not a covered lot but is very large.Some parking options are still in negotiation, as these two options are not great options for people needing accessible parking close to Calvary, and are difficult to use in heavy rain or snow. We will clarify more parking options if they emerge in the next few weeks but it is probable that the street metered parking, which is free on the weekends, will be available during construction on 3^rd Avenue and 2^nd Street.
2. Accessibility – sometime after August and before late fall, the Ozmun buildings will be demolished. As that happens, utility work will begin under 4^th Avenue, alongside our building. The Mayo construction teams have worked hard to ensure that we can access the west entrance drop-off during the whole time of 4^th Avenue utility work. They will do their work in two phases, so that half of our 4^th Avenue block will be closed at a time, and so that Calvary members and staff, and our contractors and service people, can access the west entrance.  We will simply learn new traffic patterns twice during an approximate 6-week period, coming into 4^th Avenue from different directions. Signage will be plentiful and updates will be posted on our website, Facebook page, and when necessary, through parish-wide emails.During this 6-week period, and likely before and after it, it will be difficult for Calvary members to utilize the west side pull-in for quick Mayo visits and errands.  Starting immediately, please give the office a call before you come to make sure that there is space there for your car.  We are working on better parking options for our staff, including continuing renting a few spaces at Christ United Methodist Church, and working on getting temporary passes for staff to use the Mayo Park and Rides, in order to use a shuttle bus to get to work.
3. Building Protection – our Nuts-and-Bolts Team meets monthly with our Mayo Construction partners so that we can continue to partner effectively with all of the intricacies of such a huge project.  Currently we are waiting to hear from an expert who is appraising our stained-glass windows (we hope to get his report soon), and are working with Mayo Construction engineers on the very important project of installing vibration monitors on our windows and in our undercroft and foundation area. While we are working on many items, these two are priority at the moment.
4. At the meeting, we heard a report from a new team at Calvary: Forward in Faith has been tasked with being the “listeners” at this time – they have already conducted a series of listening sessions with many of you and will continue to do so. These meetings have produced some great ideas of ways we can be more connected with one another and with clinic staff, and they with us.  One idea resulted in having an Op-Ed published in the Rochester Post Bulletin on May 4, about the historical relationship between the Mayo family and other founding families, and the founding and early years of Calvary.  Other ideas have included  us making a new connection with Trinity Episcopal Church in lower Manhattan, New York City, renewing an historical relationship that began with the then-Rector of Trinity, friends of Bishop Whipple, gave a donation of $500.00 that matched Bishop Whipple’s $500.00 donation, and $500.00 raised by the brand new Calvary congregation, to build our still standing church, and organizing a meeting with Bishop Craig Loya and the medical and administrative leads on the Mayo project.

There will be more updates to come – sometimes we will meet in person, and sometimes updates will come via the Visitor and special emails.  As you can imagine, the details that tie together a $5 billion project are fluid and flexible, until the very minute that they are no longer flexible! It is important for you all to know today, that every member of Calvary will be needed to respond in action, as much as you are able, to the nuts-and-bolts opportunities, and to the ideas and outreach that will come out of the Forward in Faith and other discussions. It’s going to take all of us, working together and loving one another, to help keep Calvary sustainable and vibrant, and listening to the invitation of the Holy Spirit to wonder just what God is up to at Calvary Episcopal Church.

As always, do not hesitate to offer questions and ideas to me, Nathan Spillers, Jean Fox, and any members of your vestry.

In gratitude,

Beth+