ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Before nearly everyone had cell phones, which wasn’t that long ago, a pocket full of change could get you a phone call to just about anywhere. There aren’t many working payphones left, and in places like Rochester, there are none. But in the Flower City, those pieces of nostalgia are slowly popping back up, refurbished, and a call won’t cost users a dime.
In Rochester’s Monroe Avenue neighborhood, something old is also something new. On a corner outside Church of the Blessed Sacrament, where a Frontier Communications payphone used to be, Eric Kunsman and a small group of volunteers are launching what’s called The Good Phone Project.
“Once the payphones were gone, what was going to replace somebody trying to call home their doctor or family?” said Kunsman…