Council Platform &
Policy Statements

Improve coordination with the county on providing shelter for families displaced by code violations

Enforce strong tenant protections, continue crackdown on code violations, help landlords upgrade units in exchange for rent caps, provide support for right-to-counsel for evictions, and fund construction of more affordable units.

Enact a housing voucher pilot program, targeting families with children at risk of homelessness

Fight for short-term rental rules that protect neighborhood character and keep housing available for residents

Ensure placemaking plan and zoning reflects current neighborhood conditions and resident feedback 

Invest in focused deterrence strategies that concentrate resources on the small number of individuals driving most of the violence, to prevent reoffending and revictimization

Push for rigorous, independent evaluation of anti-violence programs and scale the ones that work

Expand investments in youth employment, recreation centers, libraries, mental health-focused responses and animal services

Attach energy efficiency and fossil-fuel-free construction requirements as conditions of public investments

Screen capital projects for future climate risk

Reduce household energy costs through funding weatherization, heat pumps, and local solar

Create Community Emergency Response Teams that help neighbors deal with snow, heat and flooding emergencies

Fund a study of transitioning to a public utility

Mainstream updated Climate Action Plan goals into city budget

Support the city’s Vision Zero initiative, including protected bike lanes and improved pedestrian infrastructure

Prioritize housing and jobs along transit corridors so Rochester residents can reach work, school, and healthcare without a car

Provide oversight of the Inner Loop North project, holding developers and the city accountable for financial responsibility, pedestrian and cycling infrastructure, and meaningful community benefits

Provide high-level constituent services, with an emphasis on quality-of-life issues

Restart the city’s guaranteed income initiative and make it a permanent part of the budget

Create a Program Evaluation Office to make sure investments yield results 

Form a Charter Review Commission to study all-district council seats, ranked choice voting and other reforms

Rochester’s public schools should be governed by a democratically-elected Board of Education, where parents, educators and residents have a direct say in how their district is run. Mayoral control concentrates decision-making in one office, without adequate involvement of all stakeholders.

Parents deserve real, high-quality choices in where to send their children. But the current charter school structure drains resources from the Rochester City School District, destabilizing the traditional public schools most families still rely on. Every seat filled in a charter is money and attention pulled out of RCSD, without any coordinated plan for how the two systems are supposed to work together. 

Charter schools should be integrated back into their home districts, so the resources devoted to educating Rochester’s kids serve one coherent system instead of two competing ones.

We should build toward a school district that extends beyond the city’s borders. Rochester’s poverty and disinvestment are concentrated inside city lines. A metro school district or similar model could address deep educational inequality. In such a system, everyone has the same stake in making sure the school system is set up so all children can thrive.

Rochester needs a Police Accountability Board with real teeth. The current PAB has been reduced by the courts to reviewing data and policy. It can no longer investigate misconduct, subpoena officers, or recommend discipline.

The state legislature needs to give cities and counties the clear legal authority to run police oversight boards with meaningful powers that can withstand legal challenges. Rochester needs an accountability structure that is built to last.