Wow, I've never had to sell a city before. This is kind of exciting.
The Erie Canal is one of my favorite parts of Rochester. There are a lot of really great canal parks in the area where you can go for a jog, walk the dog, eat, or shop.
The city is surrounded by two things: a small sprinkling of suburbia and a lot of open country. Even if you decide you want to live in the heart of the city, you can still get away for a while without having to travel further than 30 minutes in any direction.
Lake Ontario is in the Rochester area. There's quite a few beach areas and piers. Although I wouldn't suggest swimming, it's still nice to spend some quiet time there.
Food is HUGE in Rochester. There's Ming's, the greatest Chinese place ever; Fujiya, the greatest sushi place ever; the garbage plate, which is one of the strangest concoctions you will ever find, but it's strangely delicious; Aladdin's and King David's, both really great Mediterranean places. Lots of fabulous little out of the way bistros, cafes, and bagel shops. We also have an ample supply of Wegman's, Tops, and Aldi's in the area so grocery shopping wouldn't be an issue.
We have a TON of cultural venues. The Little Theater, Geva, the Bread and Water Theater (which is GLBT focused), the Eastman House, the Rochester Museum of Play (go visit this while you're in Rochester, you won't be sorry), a planetarium, a giant Pride festival, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, the Rochester Gay Men's Chorus, etc., etc.
We also get a lot of great bands here. I don't know what kind of music you listen to, but Flogging Molly comes here practically every year, the Barenaked Ladies come out, we had the Tragically Hip a few months ago. The radio stations here are pretty great, including an indie/alternative station. Again, not sure what it is that you prefer but there's something here for everyone. We even have an oldies station (which Buffalo, much to my chagrin, did away with a few years ago).
We are a pretty GLBT friendly city. Obviously there's prejudice everywhere but Rochester has a lot of really great stuff that is made with it's GLBT residents in mind. There's Equal Grounds (a GLBT coffee shop), a few stores, some bars and clubs, the Empty Closet (a newspaper that comes out every month), etc. The gay-straight alliances of the area colleges (of which there are a ton: Nazareth College, St. John Fisher, Monroe Community College, SUNY Brockport, University of Rochester, to only name a few) have started Campus Out, an alliance of alliances in the Rochester-area.
There are more school districts in this area than there are people in my hometown. I swear. They sprout up all over the place and a lot of them are really high quality schools. I don't know if you have children, but if so, there's places for them to get an education.
I don't know what else you'd like to know but whatever it is I'm sure I could either give you a first hand account or find the information out for you. Please don't hesitate to ask. I love this city and will gladly talk it up for days. Hope that your interview goes well!
