From Sky news.

This is connections.

I'm Evan Dawson.

Our connection this hour will be made at polling locations across Monroe County in just two days.

Saturday is the start of early voting, and this hour we continue our series of conversations with the candidates on the ballot.

In the second half of this hour, we'll talk with Kevin Berry, the Democratic candidate for Penfield Town supervisor.

First, we're sitting down with two of the candidates running in the races on the ballot for Monroe County Legislature.

Let me welcome our guests in studio.

Narcisse Jeffrey is the Democratic candidate for district number 12, which covers Radio Wheatland and part of the town of Henrietta.

Welcome, Masters.

Thanks for being with us.

Hi.

Thank you.

Evan.

Marv Stephan is back with us.

Marvin is the Democratic and Working Families Party candidate for district number three.

And that covers chili.

Welcome back to the program to you.

Thank you for having me back, sir.

Well, and I want to say that is opponent in the Monroe County legislature.

District number three, Republican Scott Hand.

Did not respond to multiple invitations to join this program.

The two additional candidates in the district 12 race are Republican Leslie Schultz and West Side First candidate Deborah Campanella.

Schultz is unavailable to participate.

Campanella did not respond to multiple invitations.

Always our goal to bring the candidates together to you.

We do what we can.

Can't always get people to say yes, but we're always grateful when people will give the time and marvel.

Start with you just because, you know, we've had this conversation.

You've you've made the effort before you care.

I know you care about the community.

And, this is not your first time running for politics.

So tell people a little bit about why you're doing this again, why you're giving this another go.

And about your your background.

For people who don't know, you appreciate that effort.

So, again, you know, thank you for having me on.

Definitely.

This is the fourth election run ins because, you know, my commitment to public safety, you know, the 27 years and military, 25 years in law enforcement and 13 years in education shows a breadth of experience.

But first of all, commitment.

And so it's that same, committed spirit, that same tenacity of saying that, you know, just running once or running twice or even running a third time.

If you haven't reached the goal of trying to be a part of change or trying to be a part of improving, governance, then you have to continue until you reach that goal.

And so that's why coming back out and running the fourth time was so important.

And, let me ask your, your colleague right next to you, Narcisse Jeffrey, to introduce yourself.

Tell us a little bit about who you are and why you decided to make a run for your district.

Yeah, I appreciate it, Ivan.

And thank you again for allowing me this opportunity to be on here today.

I've decided to run because I am a lifelong Henrietta resident.

I grew up here, and I see the opportunities, that are abound here that we need to really tap into to make things applicable for just not people my age, but also our seniors and people across the board and suburban and rural areas as well.

And I saw this opportunity to be a voice for that community.

I am a scientist by training, and so I've always had a little bit of a political leaning as well.

And I believe in facts and evidence based and data driven policies that really work for the people, by the people.

And so what I want to do is just be that voice, bring that evidence to Monroe County, and make sure that we are providing services and opportunities for growth and development for all.

Well, both of you are running in places that are going to be, have historically been uphill battles in recent years, recent decades for Democrats.

I mean, Ma, this is your fourth run.

You know how difficult it is for someone in the Democratic Party to win in the geographic space that you're in?

Do you think it's getting better?

And what do you think would give you traction that would allow you to be competitive?

So yes, I do think first of all, that, it is getting better.

I've looked at the numbers increase each time I ran.

And I did some research and I looked at, you know, the fact that David Dunning and Tracy, the floor, you'll start out as Democrats before they became Republicans out there.

So, we do have the numbers as far as Democrats in Chile.

It's just a matter of getting them to turn out to vote and giving them something to vote for so that that's why, like Nancy said, you know, being a native of Rochester, having a love for the community, certainly being a resident with my family for 20 years in Chile and having served on the school board, you know, I know some of the pushes and pull for our young folk in that community, for the seniors.

And I want to make sure that, when I come to the doorstep, I bring that experience, and I'll let them know that, you know, I'm going to continue to battle and fight, for them as one of labor.

Where do you find common ground with people who might be suspicious of voting for a Democrat?

So, funny enough, they look at my literature and they see even, law enforcement, military in education.

They go, you sure you a Democrat?

You know, Republican?

So is my resume.

That really, resonates across party line.

Which is part of my my, my mantra.

You know, it's people over politics.

You know, I'm a working class person.

I and I got endorsed by the unions because I support labor.

And so much of Chile is labor.

You know, you you go from one door step to the next, and they're either working in, you know, health services.

They're educators.

They're, public workers, like a construction electronic, electrics, plumbing, you name it.

It's a very vast and diverse community, but at the end of the day, what we have together that's common is that we're working class people.

And so having somebody who actually represents because you live that, that that's what I'm, bringing to the doorstep.

You know, there's a there's a new book that I'm looking forward to reading on rural American politics and how obviously, now we have a big divide, but that's a new a relatively new development.

And as as late as the 1990s, if you were in rural America, Democrats were more likely to be winning than Republicans.

And it's shifted in the last 25 to 30 years in a massive way.

But for decades and decades and decades, that was not the story.

And so what that tells us is we have this recency bias to think, well, if you're in a city next to either the the conservative candidate for mayor in the city of Rochester will be here.

He has an uphill battle and the city of Rochester Republicans have an uphill battle in American cities.

But it's not impossible that that would change.

There have been Republican mayors of American cities, big cities.

There have been Democratic, candidates elected in rural America, much more so than in the last few years.

So we have this divide.

It hasn't existed forever.

And certainly your party needs it not to exist forever.

So what's going to start to bring down some of those?

The strength of the Republican Party and the opportunity for Democrats.

What's going to flip it?

What's going to make that change?

So I think a lot of that is already taking place when people sit back and look at, you know, what you're saying versus what you're doing, right?

So if you're taking away health care or you're taking away insurance and telling people that you got to go to work and you don't get paid.

You know, like we're seeing right now with the furloughs that resonates.

People say, I live paycheck to paycheck.

There's no way I can go to work.

At some point I'm going to need to put gas in my car.

You don't get to pay my rent or my mortgage.

What if I get injured or if I call?

Can I call in sick?

You know, childcare.

So there's there's a lot of things that, you know, I think democratically, we can start to speak to, and be genuine about it.

Is that quality of life, livable wages, clean air, clean water, food that's affordable, housing that's affordable.

Those things resonate.

You don't have to try to sit down and do a blueprint.

It's already there.

And you know that one party is actually fighting for that.

And one party is.

And it's just a matter of just, you know, exposing the truth.

But I think I'm curious to know why you think the at least the stereotype of the reputation that the parties have in rural America, when you talk to people in rural America, they tend to say that Republicans are for the working class.

Republicans are for people on farms and agricultural communities in rural areas.

The Democrats are out of touch.

They're cosmopolitan.

They don't know how we live.

Why do why do you think if you say it is a perception issue versus reality?

Why hasn't the reality resonated more if what you're saying is correct?

I think a lot part of it is the education.

You know, we talk about getting information out there.

You gotta go where people consume information.

So for the young folk, it's going to be social media.

You know, for, for the most senior, you know, is is getting a newsletter out there.

You just got to make sure that you keep, the truth out there rather than let a narrative be spun, be it mainstream media or other platforms where people give you this perception of fear.

So I think I think what I'm hearing you saying is if you get frustrated that people are, that you think people are being misinformed or they're listening to sources that you think are propaganda or not helpful, that it's not a good enough move by your party to say, well, I'm not going to go where these people are, then I'm not going to run races.

I'm not going to go on the shows that they listen to.

I'm not going to.

I'm just going to kind of withdraw because I reject some of that stuff.

You're saying that's a mistake?

Oh, absolutely.

I mean, my numbers went up on the previous elections because I went to places where I was told not to go.

You know, don't go.

Don't bother wasting time going to the apartment complexes.

It's a high transient population.

And they're not really tracking as voters.

And when I went there, people, like, they never come here.

We vote every time.

So it's a matter of.

And I think that's where the diversity of candidates is so important, because you have one demographic that, has just one lens because they haven't explored in other communities.

And, and, and so it's a matter of when you have representation from those other communities.

Now we can bring the actual truth of that.

Hey, the urban environment isn't as violated.

You think it is.

It's just a matter of lack of resources and, and and so many other challenges that that are systemically, creating, the situation that we see.

Right.

So if we get those resources there, we can actually impact other areas.

It's the same thing with getting information out there and saying that, you know, you can show up.

The Democrats are going to listen to work and family is going to listen because we have representation that looks like you and I that are actually at the table that are crafting policy because they're bringing lived experiences.

They're bringing factual information is so diversifying our party, diversifying, the experiences also goes into those policies.

And that's where, you know, you'll see that like when I see representing district 12, she's going to bring a lot to the table.

You know, as a woman, as a scientist, I mean, there's so many layers to her.

And that's where, you know, it's important to get her out there and get her to the doors and get her messaging out there.

So in a moment, we're going to talk to more of about policies that you want to pursue.

If you're elected here, what is at the top of the list?

But let's talk to Narcisse Jeffrey, who is the Democratic candidate in district 12.

Again, that's right.

Wheatland and part of the town of Henrietta.

And safe to say, a pretty rural district.

Yes, yes it is.

So I'm wondering the same kind of things here when you see the shift in this country in the last 25, 30 years, there is a sentiment that kind of says, well, don't even try.

You have no chance.

You're a Democrat in rural Monroe County.

And number one, obviously you don't agree with that.

So let's start with where you when you talk to voters.

Does anybody come to the door any more?

By the way, I always ask people this like, I'm very curious to know if anybody answers the doorbell.

It depends on the time of day.

Yeah, I guess so.

When they when you get a chance to talk to people, where are you finding common ground?

First of all, I think so I'm going to start off by saying that a lot of situations that we see ourselves in, it tends to be a PR problem.

Science has the say thing.

It's a PR problem, and Democrats have a PR problem as well.

And it's a matter of just talking to these people and understanding why do you think that Democrats don't?

And the values that the Democratic Party holds doesn't resonate with you.

And when you start talking, and this is what I'm getting at the doors as well, is that, you know, it's all the common stuff.

People are afraid of how expensive things are getting about their opportunities, their livelihoods.

The farmers out there are being like that.

You're seeing the USDA being cut in half, and they're worried about their own farms and what they can do, and they don't understand how Democrats or Republicans can help them in that situation.

And they're feeling alienated and alone.

So it's a matter of making sure that we're listening to what their needs are and being able to meet them where they are at the level that they're are at as well.

Why do you think the last 30 years has seen such a shift?

I would say it's probably because, you know, as cities have dominated for Democrats, it's been easier.

It has been just more abundant.

And for people to be focused on cities and areas like this.

But by doing so, we've alienated an entire class of people that we should never have in the first place.

The rural community offers so much.

There's so much amazing nature out there.

And opportunities as well, especially that can be brought in and services brought into the rural areas from the cities as well.

Let's just talk making sure that we make those connections and that we kind of bridge those gaps to make sure that people are able to access everything.

I've got a I gotta pull up the name of the author in this book that I want to read, because maybe we can get her on the show and rural America.

In an interview this week, she said that one of the common things she hears from Democrats about why they've been losing so much in rural America, she said Democrats.

And again, this is just a generalization.

This year, a lot is well, there's a lot of racist people out there.

Is that the explanation?

Is that an explanation for you?

I think it can partly be an explanation.

Right.

I think there's something to be said about the lack of diversity that you can see in rural areas, but it also can be kind of contributed towards, just not having enough exposure as well.

If you have someone of color out there that's also farming, those people tend to be more respectable and have not have those racist tendencies.

And so it's just a matter of making sure that, you know, we have opportunities that if somebody wants to be a farmer that's not typically a farmer, can go be a farmer.

Still to this day, what's the name of the book?

Meghan Mac Suzanne Mettler is the author.

And one of the points that Mettler was making was that if you just want to say, well, it's racism, you are ignoring the actual shift in the impact of a very, very different economy from two generations ago to now.

And, you know, Mettler is not using her book to say there's no racism, there's no bigotry, there's no problems.

She's saying that it's much more complex than just that.

And the Democratic Party is falling into a trap.

If you only think that way, you agree with that 100%, and it's always going to be more nuanced than that, and that every person is going to end up being in a gray zone.

And so by categorizing people like that, we're just doing ourselves a disservice.

The book's called rural versus urban.

Thank you, Meghan Mac.

Rural versus urban the growing divide that threatens democracy.

And we'll see if we can have the author on the program soon.

So, Narcisse, Jeffrey, if you are elected, what are policies one, two and three?

What do you want to work on most if you're in the county legislature?

That's a great question.

So my background is in economic development.

I think Monroe County has so many great opportunities here, not only in the rural agricultural areas, but the fact that we have so many amazing educational institutions as well.

My story is that I was educated here.

I got my bachelor's from Saint John Fisher and my doctorate from University of Rochester, but I had to leave in order to pursue my career.

I had to exit Monroe County, New York State in order to do so.

And it's such a waste of the talent that we're producing here, then making sure that we're able to retain that talent and able to take what we are researching and producing here at the universities and applying it to other areas in the suburban, in the rural areas, thinking of, clean agriculture practices, being able to reuse agricultural waste to create clean energy, making sure that we have programs and opportunities like that, and making sure that we keep things affordable at the same time.

Now, what is the county's role in keeping things affordable?

I mean, there's a lot of different layers to government here.

And how much does the county impact someone's, in how affordable their life is?

I mean, one of the biggest things the county has is the county taxes, right?

And so making sure that we can be fiscally responsible, maintain a budget, provide services and jobs to people while also maintaining that affordability within Monroe County is such a huge thing.

One of the things that drives people to upstate New York in Monroe County is the fact that it's affordable, and if we lose that, we're going to need to servicing ourselves.

Okay.

Margaret Jefferson, give me some at the top of your list if you're elected, what do you want to work on right away?

Oh, wow.

So, affordable housing, you know, whether it be, a mortgage or a rent, transportation, again, connecting communities.

And again, the quality of life, falls in that area.

So, and, like I said, coming from law enforcement, coming from military mental health, when I was on the school board, mental health with our students.

So when I say that it's it's on a macro level, you know, oftentimes when we see a break, in society, you know, they'll say, well, the person was going through crisis and, we got to put more policies in place.

And I'm saying that, you know, you got to address the social needs, and that is with quality of life.

If you got affordable, housing, you can afford to, to go to the store and still get food and your medication, the transportation to that.

So those are some of the things that that are really encapsulated.

And what I'm looking at doing in and that is addressing that within our public safety community, within our community at large, and connecting the communities with the transportation.

It is a huge part of that as well.

So if you're not going to my door and I say, okay, but that sounds like that's a federal issue, or some of that stuff sounds local, local, like what's county government got to do with that?

What's the answer?

So county government has a lot to do that.

I mean, right now we're looking at state and local, funding.

They try to keep just our basic infrastructure, in place and functioning because of the split that's happening right now on the federal level.

So I think by doing something locally, one, we we solidify a foundation where we don't have to lean on the federal government, as much.

And so you do have like, an arts, right.

But let's look at doing some other streams of, of connecting communities when we talk about transportation.

Right, which would, could create jobs as well as connecting young folk and older folk who don't have the same ability, but have the same challenges of not having access.

Right.

So my youngest daughter, who doesn't have a car, but she's working two jobs and going to school.

How does she get to those different places?

Right.

My my mom and my my mother in law, who are seniors, who live in a, in a senior, living center, community, but don't have access to the stores or to their pharmacy because, the way it's so stretched out and they're not built up around those communities, but you you want to create, an affordable way of being able to get them from A to Z. And I think when we see those communities connected like that, then that also will bring, our young folks, you know, back to this affordable, community, of upstate New York and two of the jobs we'll see folks actually, applying because they got ways to get to and from home and to other social, areas.

So it's a lot, I know to say that, you know, one, two and three.

But certainly when you look at transportation, when you look at affordable housing, livable wage, you know, and then we have a state park in a few years, it's going to be right here.

At High Falls is being one of the park commissioners.

I was at, our, meet and greet on Monday, having the community come out and share their vision of what they would have the state park look like.

You know, we talk about the parks prescription of getting out into clean, environment.

Those are the types of things and innovations that I would, we want to bring, to not just the city of Rochester, but to our county as well as we have so many state and county parks, and we want to utilize those resources, to make sure that that, our community is healthy.

And so if they have access to it now, we can see an improvement which would decrease crime.

So as a public public safety officer, I know that you can't police your way out of social issues.

But if we're addressing the social issues, we'll see a diminishment in crime in those areas.

And now our law force can actually work, in, in the real, you know, criminal element rather than, trying to do a social, function which they're not even trained in doing.

And I know that because I was a trainer for 20 to 25 years.

Right.

So I'll just share it with Natalie's.

I was saying that how about having a collaboration with a social workers?

Or how about actually getting our officers certified as social workers?

So now you had naught more tools in your belt to actually address social issues.

And we're not seeing the same breaks, between the community and law enforcement, because they only bring in one, you know, faceted way of, of dealing with a social issue.

All right, before I wrap up here with these candidates, want to let listeners know we're going to link in our show notes to their websites.

You can learn more about the candidates.

And we always urge you to to read and learn more about them.

Want to remind you their opponents were invited to join us and, either didn't respond or turned down that invitation.

So let me close with a couple of questions.

One from a listener who says, County Legislator Rachel Barnhart writes and speaks a lot on her Substack about County Executive Adam Bellow and what Barnhart says is the administration's lack of transparency.

Where do they stand on bellow?

Are they Rachel Lights or Bella Crats?

I've never heard that term.

Okay, I, Marvin, are you one of the other, I, I'm a people credit.

Okay.

You know, if dodging the question, if I'm fighting for you, there's going to be times that we agree or we disagree.

And that's what either Rachel or, Adam bellow.

Right?

I've often heard, this said by Joe Madison, God rest his soul.

There's no permanent friends, permanent enemies, just permanent interests.

And so as long as you keep the interest focused, you'll actually address the issues with people.

And if they're in alignment, we're going to be in agreement.

If they're not, then they gotta get on the right side of history and you're willing to call out your own party.

I've done it in the law enforcement.

I'll do it in the county ledge.

How's the administration doing that?

You think Nazis, Jeffrey?

I mean, there's always going to be positive and negatives for every administration, and there's going to be people that are upset one way or another.

I think what Adam Bellow has brought to the table is significant, and there is something to be said about that.

But there are also can be more transparency across the board as well.

And Rachel's not wrong about that.

And I also, I think making sure that people are able to, communicate what's going on and why decisions are being made the way that they are is so important.

And it's a big part of my campaign.

All right.

Let me close last question.

Do you have a political hero?

Nazis?

Jeffrey Louise Slaughter was actually my inspiration when I was a little girl, because she was a microbiologist and she was also in politics as well.

So kind of following in her footsteps as a scientist who went to go serve in government.

Yep.

Okay.

My first Everson wow.

I knew Louise personally.

So it's like it's hard to say.

Wow, I've never met Frederick Douglass, but I would say Frederick Douglass just, the courage that he, exhibited in a time where in that type of courage was fatal, and yet he didn't fear to stand up on truth.

And so it is, that, that body of courage, that I would, hope to bring to my position of Connie is representation, that they would say Mara was like Frederick Douglass.

And being fearless, win or lose, will you both pledge to come back on this program and talk to us about your experience and talk about what's going on in your communities always?

Absolutely.

Well, thank you for doing that.

Marvin Stafford in the Democratic and Working Families Party, candidate in district number three in the Monroe County Legislature.

Thank you for making time for us.

Thank you, sir.

And Jeffrey, great having you.

Democratic candidate in district number 12.

Thanks for making time for the program.

Thank you so much.

More connections in a moment.

Coming up in our second hour, we're joined by Lewis Szabo, the conservative running for mayor in the city of Rochester.

Yesterday we sat down with the Democrat in the race, the incumbent mayor Malik Evans.

He's obviously running for a second term and his opponent on the ballot is a conservative named Lewis Sabo, who's going to tell you all about himself.

Good to hear him talk about the issues next hour on connections.

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This is connections I'm Evan Dawson.

We're talking politics and we're talking about candidates on the ballot before the election.

This is part of our series of conversations with the candidates.

We've been doing it for the last several weeks, and early voting starts on Saturday.

So we are wrapping up these interviews this week.

So you hear from the candidates at length.

Now, once again, I want to say it is always our goal to have the candidates on at length together if we can.

And this is a case where we just were not able to arrange getting the Republican and the Democrat together.

Kevin Barry is the Democrat running for Penfield Town Supervisor, and I do appreciate you making the time to be here.

Thank you for making time for the program today.

Thanks for having me.

So let me just start with a little bit about your own background here.

And before we kind of even dig into that here, part of the background of this race is if you win, you'd be the first Republican to win the seat.

Since when?

To win it since 1981.

The last, Democratic supervisor left office in 1983.

So, I mean, again, that's part of the theme.

Next hour, we talked to Lewis Szabo, conservative running in Rochester, for far as we can tell, the last Republican to win the mayor, Marion mayoralty.

That's the word in the city of Rochester.

Stephen May 1970.

Served in through 1973 well in Penfield.

Democrats having won the supervisors position in 44 years.

Correct?

Okay.

And tell us a little bit about your service, your background, why you're running, and more about who you are.

Okay.

I am currently on the town board.

I am the liaison to the town public safety department.

I am currently running with two running mates, Bill Lang and John Getz.

Bill is the director of development for the town of.

Around Kuwait.

And John.

John Getz is a prominent attorney in the area.

I am the vice president of operations at the Arc of Wayne County.

And basically, I support people with developmental disabilities to have meaningful daily activities.

And in the hopes of having integrated community employment.

I want to say that we are running on the Working Families party line, also and endorsed by the New York State United Teachers, by the AfL-CIO and the UAW.

And we were very, grateful to have those endorsements, on behalf of working families.

Why I'm running.

There's really two reasons.

One is that residents have urged me to run several times.

You know, when I get emails, I answer them.

When I get phone calls, I return them, I go out and I meet with people, in groups.

I meet with them one on one, and I, they get answers from me.

Sometimes they'll get solutions to their issues, which is great.

I love to do that.

But they'll get answers and sometimes there'll be answers.

They don't like.

But they've got the answer and they're grateful for that.

And they've said, you know, I like what I see here.

I think you should run.

The second major reason I'm running is that I'll be a supervisor who collaborates with the town board.

They are the elected representatives of the people.

As supervisor, I'll be the town administrator.

But I'll also be the leader of the town board team.

And being that leader of the team, you know, I'll be communicative.

I will keep people in the loop.

I will welcome positive conflict.

Because positive conflict will lead to the best results for the people of of Penfield.

So those are the two major reasons why I decided to run.

When you ran for the town board.

Correct me if I'm wrong here.

We cover a lot of races.

On election night, I was looking at the numbers and it said Kevin Barry has won a seat on the town board by one vote.

Now, after the final counting, it took out to like, a couple dozen votes.

On election night, it was one vote.

It was one vote.

And actually, you had me on the show.

We talked about the idea of how people feel like their vote doesn't matter.

And your race was the one where we went.

Wait a second.

This is really the case where every vote mattered.

An election night.

It was a one vote margin, and it turned out to be 25.

And I. And I will tell you, my boss was a Republican who lives in Penfield, and I had to deal with him telling me he was the one vote for weeks until the recount was done.

So so obviously, you know what it's like to win in a very, very tight race.

Yes.

And in a race where it's contested and and it's a challenge again, people in your party, you know, you've won on the town board, but in the town supervisor, it's been 44 years.

Why has the Democrat not been able to win in 44 years in the seat?

Well, for one reason is that Democrats, didn't run a lot at the time that most of the races in the interim were one party races, because the Republicans were so dominant in the town.

Now, there are more registered Democrats than there are unaffiliated and more unaffiliated than there are Republicans.

But it's basically a three way split.

Okay.

So you feel like you've got a legitimate shot here.

Absolutely.

The the your opponent, the Republican incumbent is Supervisor Jeff Lee in How to.

We reached out multiple times and the supervisor I want to say, I want to show a lot of grace here and say I think he is very busy.

He indicated finally this morning that he's just been very, very busy and was not able to respond before this morning and was, you know, trying to make it work on a schedule but just didn't, really have time to get back to us.

So, I understand that and I just want to offer respect to Jeff Lee and how it's I mean, we're not trying to keep his voice out of the program, but we were up against it this week with the scheduling and trying to get everything in this week.

So, you know, you're on the town board.

You've worked with Jeff Lee in.

What's your view of his performance in that role?

I like Jeff.

I think that Jeff is a nice guy.

I'm not going to disparage him in any way.

I just think that I can do a better job, and I'll.

I'll leave it at that.

Okay.

But I'm tempted to peel back a little bit more, but let's talk about you.

So let's talk about what you want to do here in your town.

What is priority one if you're the supervisor?

One of the things that I really want to do is to work with the county and the state regarding our traffic safety and pedestrian safety issues.

You know, I would work with the sheriff's office.

I would work with the state police.

I would also work with representatives.

And I have relationships with a lot of those representatives, with Sue Hughes.

Smith, who is on the county legislature and, represents part of Penfield with Jen Lunsford, the state assemblyman, and the somber Summer Brooke, the state senator.

We have lots of positive relationships, and we can tap those, to work.

Well and to solve problems for, traffic and pedestrian safety.

And I also want to work across the aisle with with Republicans as well, to make sure that we have safe, roads and sidewalks.

And it's safe for cyclists in Penfield.

The implication that you're giving me is that right now, it is not safe enough for cyclists and for pedestrians.

Is that how you feel?

Correct.

And let me point out one intersection.

It's the intersection of routes 250 and 441.

The crash rate there is six times higher than the state average for a similar intersection, and a lot of people have heard about these roads.

Empire Boulevard, Atlantic Avenue 441.

There are a lot of traffic safety concerns in Penfield.

Okay, but why then, if you've got an intersection that's six times more dangerous or even more deadly?

What's different about it?

People do not follow the rules there.

I travel that every day.

And every time I am at that intersection, virtually, I see someone run that light.

And there are things that we can do about that.

For example, I was talking to someone from the sheriff's office and, you know, they're they don't have the resources to have a patrol person stationed at that intersection.

One of the things that we can do is apply for grants from the state to pay sheriff's deputies overtime to patrol in Penfield.

We need to do things like that in order to ensure the safety.

Okay.

How can that's not getting done right now?

I mean, you're on the town board.

Is this something you brought up?

I've brought up traffic safety repeatedly.

I have mentioned that.

You know, I think that a lot of the time, the thinking is that that, you know, state roads are not our roads.

County roads are not our roads.

We need to focus on what the town can control.

The supervisor has the ability to reach beyond the town and to liaison to other entities, to other officials, and really work to solve these problems.

That's one of the reasons why I'm running for supervisor as a town board member.

I am a part time employee, and I'm at town town hall for meetings, stuff like that.

I want to be in the town hall all day, every day, advocating for the people of Penfield.

Talking to Kevin Barry, who is running for Penfield Town supervisor, he's the Democrat on that ballot.

So give me another issue.

We talked about safety for pedestrians, road safety, etc.

what else is on the list for you?

There's several things.

One I'll bring up is that I want Penfield to become a pro housing community.

There is a lack of generally, I'm sorry, generational and workforce housing in Penfield.

So basically, my children, got priced out of the Penfield market, and they had to live elsewhere.

That didn't make me happy.

A lot of people retire and don't stay in Penfield because they they can't afford to live in Penfield in their retirement by becoming a pro housing community.

We would open up a lot of funds to do a lot of things in Penfield, and it would go beyond residential.

It would also go into commercial.

You know, there's downtown revitalization funds.

There is New York Main Street funds, there is the new New York Forward program.

And you have to be a pro housing community in order to qualify for those funds.

And we need to go through that process and really work on this problem.

How is seeing is an issue all across the country, and it certainly is an issue in Penfield.

What's the best argument against becoming a pro housing community?

I don't know.

You can't think of any for the people of your town who oppose that.

What do they tell you?

What are they worried about?

I have not heard anyone say that they are opposed to it.

I think that it would open up new types of of housing that there are for a different group of people and that that's, that's the only difference.

For example, lower income.

We're not talking lower income.

We're talking regular income.

We are talking teachers at the at the schools who come into Penfield and are new teachers and are contributing to their community at the school, but can't live in the community.

So that's what we're talking about.

So it's lower income than the current average income.

Is that fair?

Yes.

Okay.

What's wrong with lower income housing, though?

What's wrong with low income housing?

Anything.

My personal opinion.

I mean, I have no problem with lower income housing.

I don't think that that is the demographic that a lot of people are wanting to start targeting.

I think that right now the issue is the generational and the, workforce housing more more than that.

Okay.

So would it be fair to say that Kevin Barry's position is you don't oppose lowering low income housing, but you're focused on the kind of housing that a teacher in the Penfield School District could afford that they currently can't.

Absolutely.

And the reason why is because that is what I'm hearing from families, people who want to retire or have their mother stay in town, and people who want their kids to live in town.

The reason I ask about low income housing is because, you know, we're going to talk to the candidates in Pittsford tomorrow.

We've talked to candidates in a lot of different communities.

And when Governor Hochul wanted to push forward a housing plan across the state, she wanted every municipality to buy in to raise their housing stock by was at one 2%, something like that.

Every, every community.

And there were communities that were saying like, well, number one, we're probably fully built out or, you know, we don't want more density.

We don't want multi-unit housing, we don't want rental housing.

And sometimes, you know, people feel like that's coded for certain things.

We want lower income.

We want more diversity.

Did do you remember what the governor's proposals were?

What was it like in Penfield when it was like, okay, this is going to be a bar.

We've got to hit this if this goes through.

Should we improve it?

Should we increase our housing stock?

Well, actually, increasing housing stock is part of what occurs with the housing community.

Okay.

Initiative, in order to be designated a pro housing community, we have to demonstrate with data that we are indeed increasing our housing stock.

If we are not increasing our housing stock, then we need to pass a resolution on, pro housing.

So that is part of this particular initiative.

Okay.

When was the last assessment?

A few years ago.

Okay.

How are people feeling about their home values?

I ask because, you know, we've talked about this in Rochester.

We talked about in Brighton.

And on the one hand, home values have gone up.

So the idea is you've got more equity and that is ostensibly a good thing.

But if you have to sell a house, then you often have to buy a house.

And it is not easy to buy a house right now.

So how are people feeling about, you know, either their home values or also the idea of moving within Penfield, having to buy, you know, what's going on with prices there?

I mean, Penfield has done well.

As far as value of houses go, and I'm sure that as the values are going up, up, up.

Yes.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And competition is up in Penfield for sure.

So people are very pleased with the value of their own homes.

It is competitive to buy homes in Penfield.

Okay.

And to kind of close the loop on the pro housing community.

That's why I wanted to explore all these threads, because sometimes you hear about, well, should we be a pro housing community?

What does that entail?

And I think sometimes residents hear that and they think, well, I don't want more housing.

I don't want multi-unit.

I don't want low income.

I don't want more.

We're good with what we got.

And it sounds to me like you're not hearing a lot of opposition when you explain it to people what it is.

But what about the supervisor?

What about the guy you're running against?

What about your colleagues on the town board?

How do they feel about a pro housing community?

I don't know exactly how my opponent feels on the pro housing community.

You haven't had a conversation with him about it?

I have, I have brought it up.

We have not had any in-depth conversations.

He knows that.

I think that it would be a good thing to do.

Okay.

You know, I, I know that my Democratic counterpart, Linda, take lashes in favor of it.

And I'm sure that the two Republicans who are currently on the board would be willing to have a discussion.

I do know that my running mates are in favor of it.

You know, as I said, Bill Lang is the director of development in to Kuwait, and he is very familiar with this initiative and the benefits of it.

Talking to Kevin Barry, who was running for town supervisor in Penfield.

So, but before we talk a little bit more about actual development, economic development, different kinds of development.

What else is on your list that you'd want listeners to understand about your platform?

Here?

One of the things is that I simply want to ask or continue to ask residents what initiatives they want.

You know, I do not want to preside over sameness as the town supervisor.

You know, one example is I'm going door to door.

Many, many people bring up that they want leaf pickup in Penfield.

Now, Penfield is interesting because part of it is very suburban and part of it is quite rural.

Normally people who live in the rural area do not need leaf pickup, and therefore they're probably not that interested in paying for a leaf pickup.

Sure.

People in the western part of the town are quite interested from what they're telling me.

So what we need to do is look at issues like that, listen to the public, and then figure out how to make it work for everyone.

You know, our slate name is United Penfield.

And that's one of the things is to meld together those different interests, such as rural and suburban.

Does the town feel divided too?

I don't think so.

I think that sometimes there's different interests.

Just because of the fact that, you know, we have farmers, we have people who love open space.

We have people who live in apartments.

There's just very different interests in that regard.

There's a lot of diversity in the town of Penfield.

As you said, one of your running mates for a town board position is a director of development in another town and around the court.

What is the right kind of development in the future for Penfield?

What does that look like?

Well, it needs to follow the comprehensive plan that.

That is one thing.

And we really need to look at, the codes that we have regarding, development to make sure that it really makes sense for the town.

Think things have changed over time.

You know, Covid affected everything, including, the need for different types of development.

That kind of thing.

We need to look at the current economic realities and to have codes that really match the needs of Penfield today.

We need to make sure that the development is smart in that it's in the best interests of the residents of the town.

We also need to listen to the concerns of the residents regarding development.

And and I have a good history of doing that.

Well, let me get some listener feedback.

If you don't mind.

Here.

This is from Jennifer, who says, thank you for discussing pedestrian safety, the speeding in the Scribner school zone, and the blatant disregard for kids in the crosswalk has been brought up with past leadership for years with no resolution.

I hope this conversation can be re addressed.

What would you say to that?

Well, I think it should be.

And a particular area has been a concern for us.

Parents also brought up that when they were making the turn off of Scribner Road, that they were being, blinded by excessive brush growth.

And, so the town made sure that that got trimmed back.

That is definitely something that, I am concerned about.

School zones in general are an issue.

And there's things that we can do to put in more traffic calming, things like that.

And if it's not under our jurisdiction to advocate for putting in traffic calming measures.

Jennifer, thank you for the email.

Here's Patrick who says this is what he thinks about the wants of the people.

He says if that's all we consider, then there won't be a cohesive vision for the future.

Sometimes people don't know what's good for them, and most people don't know what's good for an entire town.

They just want what they want.

And one could find out that the wants are not aligned with the greater good, or a vision for the future.

That's from Patrick.

What do you think, Kevin?

I think that's interesting.

I think that collaboration is definitely the way to go.

I think that there if if we are, you know, being accessible to folks, if we're listening, you know, not everyone is going to agree.

You know, I don't ascribe to the whole idea that the public doesn't know, what they want or what they need.

You can't make everyone happy, but you can certainly try.

And you and you can make things better.

You know, that email reminds me more than one.

Connections listener has sent me a note today saying.

You got to do a conversation on this new audio piece that The New York Times has today about people in younger generations just really laying into baby boomers, basically saying baby boomers were too selfish.

Baby boomers did not know how to sacrifice.

Baby boomers set up a society where it's harder to have the same standard of of life and quality of life.

It's brutal.

I'm not endorsing the piece.

If you're a baby boomer.

I'm not saying I'm endorsing everything.

I'm just saying listeners are asking me to do a follow up on that.

And the larger point I think Patrick is making is there are times where leaders need to ask people to sacrifice a little or give a little that is outside of their own interest.

Are you able to do that?

Yes.

I mean, that's part of life, right?

I mean, if we are going to cooperate, then we need to be able to compromise some and work together.

And I was actually born the last year of the baby boom.

And my children definitely know that I did sacrifice and I was concerned about the greater good.

But I get what younger folks are saying.

I understand their concern.

I see my own kids who who are both married and have children.

I see their struggles.

They are very different than what we had.

And I get it.

They want to be able to live in the same community they grew up in.

If they choose correct and they're struggling to do it.

Yep.

And that goes right back to what I was talking about with the generational housing.

Okay, so let me wrap up with this just briefly.

There's all this debate about affordability.

And housing is obviously a big part of that in your community.

How much impact does local government, town government have on affordability?

Kevin.

Well, it has it has a lot of impact on it.

You know, we've also we've already talked about housing to a certain degree.

You know, attracting a new business is, helping to fill our empty commercial spaces will help, enhance the tax base and will, make it easier to keep taxes low for, the residents of Penfield.

You know, we've worked very hard to have the lowest taxes on the East Side town taxes and to maintain our services.

And and that's something we're quite proud of.

So, to affect the tax base, to affect housing, there's a variety of ways in which the town can affect affordability.

Do you have a political hero?

I heard the other interviews, and I knew you were going to ask this question.

And it's hard to have one political hero because we all know that everybody is imperfect, you know?

And if you look at people's places in history, there were different ways of thinking in different times.

You know, I, I really respected President Obama just for being like, no drama.

Obama, as they called him, cool under pressure.

And, that's definitely the way that I want to be.

Do you have a website you want to share with listeners?

Yeah, it's United Penfield United penfield.org United penfield.org.

Thank you for making time.

And can you pledge that win or lose, you'll come back on this program.

Talk to us in the future about your town and what's going on.

Absolutely.

Thank you for making the time for us.

Thanks for having me.

Kevin Barry is the Democrat running for Penfield town supervisor.

It took a bit to get in touch with the supervisor.

He's a very busy guy.

I want to thank the Republican Jeff Clean House for getting back to us this morning.

Just weren't able to arrange time for him to come on together with Kevin.

But that's always an effort we make.

And of course, post-election, we will extend an invitation to whoever is the winner.

And if it's supervisor Lee in House winning reelection, we certainly hope you'll come back here on connections.

More connections coming up in just a moment.

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