Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

In the race for Rochester mayor, a political unknown is promising change

Shashi Sinha smiles in a portrait photo.
Provided photo
Shashi Sinha, Democratic candidate for Rochester mayor

Shashi Sinha is the definitive political outsider.

The fledging candidate for Rochester mayor announced his candidacy this month during an intimate gathering at a bed and breakfast he owns and operates next door to his house in the Park Avenue neighborhood.

And when he sat down with WXXI News a couple of weeks later to discuss his platform, it was his first interview — not just on the campaign trail, but ever.

Sinha, 51, a native of Patna, India, moved to Rochester about 14 years ago when his wife took a job at the Rochester Institute of Technology. He is an IT executive at Comcast, a real estate investor, and an unknown as a public figure. He has little, if any, backing from establishment figures. Many of the contributions to his campaign so far come from friends and family.

He hopes to upend the re-election bid of Mayor Malik Evans, 44, in a Democratic primary election in June. City Councilmember Mary Lupien, 43, also is seeking the party’s nomination.

And while Sinha's campaign committee had more cash on hand than his two opponents combined — reporting a closing balance of nearly $358,000 this month — nearly all of that was money he loaned to the effort.

Sinha said he was motivated to run after being invited to a city auction on tax foreclosed houses in October. Sinha had trepidations, feeling wary about kicking people out of their homes.

“Even though I got out, it stayed with me for two weeks, and it made me angry every single day,” Sinha said. “Why is this happening? That’s when I told my wife, I’m going to fix this damn thing.”

His top priority in running for office is two-fold, Sinha said: lowering city property taxes and increasing the availability of housing to the tune of 4,000 new units. If elected, he would borrow to construct, or rehabilitate, houses in the city.

Doing so would give the city the freedom to create a vibrant, affordable housing stock, he said — estimating a new build, 600-square-foot house might cost $45,000 to $70,000 to build.

“If you agree that it doesn’t need to be subsidized housing, the possibilities are endless,” Sinha said. “You are not constrained by how much aid you’re getting.”

Sinha’s estimate for new builds appears very conservative. Home Builder’s Digest, a national trade publication, estimates the lowest cost for a new house in Rochester is $265 per square foot. That translates to $159,000 for a 600-square-foot house.

In his run for re-election, Malik Evans pointed to a drop in shootings, investment in the Inner Loop, and the move of Constellation Brands as key accomplishments.

Housing sits at the core of most of Rochester’s issues and contributes to the city’s economic and crime issues, Sinha said. On the latter, he said he thinks a restructuring of Rochester police duties could help quell serious crime in the city.

“I'm going to move all of these minor issues where cops are spending a lot of time on, like traffic stops and minor issues going to different things,” Sinha said. “Just take those away from their shoulders, and say, ‘Okay, this is your focus.’”

Evans has touted the reduction in violent crime seen over the past several years as a major achievement of his first term. Most cities across the country saw spikes in violent crime during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the trend downward has been seen both on the state and national level.

“I want to send the message that I want to get to functional zero gun violence,” Evans said, in a recent interview. “That is my goal. I believe that we can get there if we continue down this trajectory. But we just have to continue to work at it.”

Mary Lupien, a second-term Rochester City Councilmember, plans to challenge incumbent Mayor Malik Evans in the June Democratic Primary.

Lupien has said she decided to run because she doesn't think the Evans administration has done enough on issues of housing costs, youth violence, and mental health.

Sinha said while the foreclosure auction was his “trigger point,” his run for mayor was spurred by years of seeing unmet potential across the city.

“I'm living a happy life, beside my family, nobody knows me,” Sinha said. “But if that kind of individual, average people like me, don't stand up, who will?”

Gino Fanelli is an investigative reporter who also covers City Hall. He joined the staff in 2019 by way of the Rochester Business Journal, and formerly served as a watchdog reporter for Gannett in Maryland and a stringer for the Associated Press.