The only scheduled debate in the Democratic primary for Rochester mayor spanned a range of topics, from poverty and public safety to housing and economic development.
The debate saw incumbent Mayor Malik Evans on the defensive for much of its run-time. His opponents, second-term City Councilmember Mary Lupien and IT executive Shashi Sinha, painted Evans’ first term as failing to meet the acute needs of the city, from violent crime to rising costs of housing.
“Rochester is broken, and people in charge either don’t see it or don’t know how to fix it,” Sinha said, setting the tone for the night in his opening statement. “Rochester is one of the poorest cities in the country. One in four live in poverty. That’s what broken looks like. That’s what failure looks like."
Evans, meanwhile, stood by his track record and promised to expand on his policies if elected for a second term.
The Voice of the Voter debate on Wednesday was a collaboration among WXXI News, 13WHAM, the Democrat and Chronicle, and WDKX. The three candidates are set to face off in the Democratic primary election on June 24.
Evans is vying for a second term in office after first being elected in 2021. His position in the debate largely relied on his track record of policies.
On the question of housing affordability, Evans touted the Buy the Block program as an example of his success. That program, which builds houses on city-owned lots for sale to first-time buyers and was spearheaded by former Mayor Lovely Warren, has built several dozen houses in the city.
Evans described the program as undoing a history of racial discrimination in housing.
“We will never apologize for that equity program that we put forth,” Evans said. “But that is just one piece of the overall puzzle when we look at housing.”
But Lupien and Sinha both characterized Buy the Block as a financial failure, costing too much and delivering too little. It was a line of criticism that recurred throughout the debate. Lupien pointed out that the program received $13.4 million in federal COVID relief dollars to build a relatively small number of houses.
"When we're not intentional about building focused investment, we can cause displacement of the very people that we are trying to bring equity into their neighborhood,” Lupien said. “Because when you build, when you improve neighborhoods, and you build new housing, it increases the housing costs.”
Sinha also critiqued the program, calling it a “financial disaster.” He simultaneously offered his own proposal.
“I'm proposing building 4,000 housing units for ownership on 3,000 vacant lots that the city has, and I will do that in four years built and sold, at-cost, all around $100,000,” Sinha said.
On the issue of guaranteed basic income, a pilot program that paid out $500 monthly to select city residents, the candidates offered differing opinions.
Lupien fully supports reinstating the program with city funding. The pilot finished last year and was funded by federal COVID relief dollars. Evans is awaiting a report from the Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities at the University of Notre Dame to guide future decision-making and is seeking public-private partnerships if the program does continue.
Sinha called GBI a “luxury” that the city can’t afford or sustain. He said the focus should be on core issues, like affordability, adding: “We do not want to make a dependent economy.”
“If you're talking about $50 or $100, what meaningful impact that might have on a family, and at the same time you're draining the city budget, or some budget, my approach is different,” Sinha said. “We got to get to the root cause of the problem.”
Rochester’s sanctuary city policy also sparked some division. The city is currently being sued by the Trump administration over the policy, which prohibits city employees from aiding federal immigration enforcement.
Evans stands by the city policy, which was first adopted in 1986.
“I believe we are on solid ground,” Evans said. “...We will defend this vigorously in court; we already have. And we're not going to be bullied and we're not going to be punked.”
Lupien said the policy does not go far enough, and she wants explicit outlines for discipline of employees who violate the policy. Lupien and her allies on City Council have already floated a bill that sets out to do that.
“I want sanctuary city policy that clearly spells out, what are the disciplinary actions that will happen should this policy be violated?” Lupien said.
Remarks about crime and public safety ran the gamut from better resources and interventions for youths to better access to economic opportunity and more proactive policing.
Sinha said he supports more police walking patrols in high-crime areas.
“I'm going to put police officers where we know the crime is happening, I'm going to put blue light cameras there as well to make sure that we have more security,” Sinha said. “We know that when those things happen, crime in those areas goes down.”
Evans, meanwhile, pointed toward economic opportunity and workforce development as the best interventions.
“One of the best ways to prevent crime is to make sure that people have access to jobs and opportunity,” Evans said. “We want Rochester to be a hope-filled city with an exciting future, and that means making sure that they have access to good jobs.”
Lupien said policing is not the only tool to improve Rochester public safety — highlighting the promise of youth intervention.
“I know many of these young people and it's horrific, the things that they are dealing with, and they are acting out,” Lupien said. “They are crying for help, and we need to show up with that help.”
