From WXXI news.

This is connections.

I'm Evan Dawson.

Well, our connection this hour will be made on June 24th.

That's the day to the Democratic primary in Monroe County.

Democrats will see a number of candidates for Rochester City Council on their ballot.

15 candidates running in the primary.

And we hope to speak with all of them on this program before you head to the polls.

Now, I said, we're going to talk to all 15.

Not at once.

That would be chaos.

Three at a time.

Randomly selected by our production team, and it's a chance to hear from them at length to understand their priorities for this office, why they're running.

And if you've got questions, comments for the candidates, for office, for City Council, we will take them on our various platforms.

You can email us connections@sky.org.

You can call the program toll free 844295 talk (844) 295-8255.

Or you can find us on the YouTube chat on the YouTube channel for WXXI news, where we are on with this program every afternoon.

Not every afternoon.

We get weekends off.

we have five different discussions scheduled in the next few weeks, and today's the first.

And let me welcome three of the candidates for Rochester City Council.

Kiara Kiki Smith is here.

Kiki, for for city council.org is the website.

Kiki, welcome back to the program.

It's nice to see you here.

Thank you so much for having me.

Across the table from Kiki, is Kevin Stewart a candidate for Rochester City Council?

People.

Slate rock.org and Kevin for the community and socials.

Kevin, welcome.

Thanks for being with us.

Thanks for having me.

Mike.

Well, Powell is with us, candidate for Rochester City Council as well.

Find him on Facebook at Mike.

Well Powell for Rochester City Council 2025.

Welcome back.

Thank you for being here.

Thank you for having me.

All right.

So this is a chance we start with just introductions here.

And for the listening public here.

Kiki, why are you running for the seat?

Tell people a little bit about yourself and why you want to be in this position thank you so much for having me, Evan.

y, my name is Kierra Kiki Smith.

I'm running for city council because I believe that our community is not well, and it has not been for a very long time.

I was born and raised in this city.

I would consider myself a daughter of Rochester.

my family has been doing this work for a very long time, advocating in the city for youth and, for, gun violence.

I was really inspired.

August 7th, 2004, when my cousin, Kenneth Chaz B coach, was murdered at the corner of our street on Corning and Remington.

it changed my life.

It impacted my mental health significantly.

fast forward, I became a program manager for the snug program, where we were able to go 367 days with, without a gun related homicide.

fast forward, Covid came.

I was able to place five food boxes throughout my community, to combat hunger.

and then later on, I became a program officer.

So I'm sitting, at this seat, carrying an invisible bag with three buckets that I believe qualify me the most, to be here.

Even I believe that I carry a bag of policy, a bucket of policy, a bucket of community engagement and a bucket of advocacy.

And I believe that those things make me a strong candidate for this community.

again, I believe that our community is not well, has not been well for a very long time.

And we need strong new, bold leadership to come from the shadows and step into the light on behalf of community, our community.

I think that when we come together collectively, with our voices and with our humanity, that collectively, this the entire city of Rochester can change.

I do believe that.

Kiki, was there a moment when you say that the city is not well?

Was there a moment or something that happened any time recently that convinced you?

This is the seat I'm going to run for right now to try to address that.

I think, again, the community I know that we say that gun violence is down, but I live in one for 6 to 1, and I'm dropping.

when I hear the shots and we're talking about, individuals who have semi-automatic weapons living in our community, our communities are not safe, and they have not been for a very long time.

That is continuously been my message.

prior to running for office, I've been doing this work for well over, 15 years.

and and it's it's it's just time that we see change at a boat level.

And I don't believe that we have leadership across the board that is really speaking up and stepping out, against what's happening in our community right across table.

Kevin Stewart, tell people who you are and why you decided that this is a seat that you want to run for.

Yeah.

Thanks again.

Evan.

I'm running for Rochester City Council, similar to Kiki.

I walk and I drive through our community, and I see people in pain.

I see our city struggling, with the circumstances that we've been dealt, whether that be homelessness, the opioid epidemic, gun violence, you know, the struggles of our youth.

And, you know, also what's happening at the federal level.

And I believe that it is time for bold, decisive action.

The struggles of our city are the similar struggles that we've been facing for decades, and yet we see very little movement on these issues.

the cries of the people I had the great pleasure of working as a legislative aide, on city council for the last three years or so.

And the voices of the people have been very consistent and very clear.

The action from our leaders has been lacking.

And so I looked at council, and I recognize that some of our progressive leaders on that, dais need support, need, need allies.

And, you know, my background is in food systems.

I, I've been working in urban agriculture here in Rochester for the last 5 or 6 years.

I worked with an organization called Aqua Center, building some local food systems that I believe are scalable.

And I don't think that we're doing enough to meet the basic needs of our community food, water and shelter.

I mean, these these things should be guaranteed.

They they're the hierarchy of needs, the most fundamental.

And our our government is not meeting those needs.

We have eight zip codes where 30% of the community is struggling to feed themselves, but we grow 45% of the fruits and vegetables in the state of New York in this region.

We have no excuse for hungry people, especially hungry children in the city.

And the housing crisis is is very real.

You know, it's something that we all talk about.

We all acknowledge and our leaders talk about on the campaign trail.

but I look at our city budget, which I'm sure we'll get into a little bit later.

And and out of a $680 million budget.

Housing is less than $1 million.

So I just don't think we're doing enough.

I don't think we're listening to our community in the ways that we need to.

And, you know, I'm I'm a third generation Christmas tree farmer.

I grew up digging holes.

I worked for 15 years in the restaurant industry.

I'm built to work.

and our commitment is the people's leaders not to to come in and to fix everything and tend to be the saviors.

It's it's to listen and go to work.

And I'm looking forward to doing that.

Was there a moment for you that tipped the scales for you?

That said, now's the time to run for the seat.

You know, I think something that was formative was I had a really brief run back in 21.

I withdrew from the race.

There were some technicalities that that forced me to rescind my candidacy.

But, you know, rather than backing away, it was, how do I help?

How do I stay involved?

And so I served as campaign manager for for a council member and then worked as legislative agent.

And, you know, I think it was watching problems not get fixed.

I mean, I would love to be out working in a field.

I would love to.

My heart is is in nature.

It's it's in growing food for people.

that's what I would love to be doing.

But I think that we have needs that are not being met.

And I was raised to, you know, we have this.

There's a saying, I think, that, you know, you see something, say something.

I was raised.

You see something, you do something.

And I think that's why I'm here.

Michael Powell, want to introduce or reintroduce yourself and talk about why you're running?

Yes, absolutely.

again, thank you so much for having me.

my name is Michael Powell.

I'm a licensed master social worker, a New York State certified drug and alcohol counselor, the executive director of the Reentry and Community Development Centers, a nonprofit that I started.

on North Street.

I've been there for eight years working with people.

That's coming home from jail or prison and also struggling with substance use disorders.

I'm running because I believe that Rochester has a lot of potential.

But if you if you look at the leadership that we have now in the course of the direction of Rochester, we are not maximizing that potential that we do have.

one of the things that's indicative of that is downtown Rochester.

Downtown Rochester in the late 80s and 90s was a booming business district.

And now I feel like, our elected officials have allowed our downtown to become a residential neighborhood.

There's no other city, small, midsize or large, where their downtown is predominantly, a residential neighborhood instead of a booming business district.

So one of the things that I would want to do on city council is make sure that our downtown is thriving for businesses.

We had 3000 empty lots in the city of Rochester.

I would like to see single family homes on some of those empty lots, but right now, our elected officials have been prioritizing luxury apartments there.

The whole some of this land and wait for a large developer, to come in and build units of apartments instead of, single family homes.

So that's one of the things I would like to advocate for.

and as a drug and alcohol counselor as well, I've been a drug and alcohol counselor for over a decade, and Opioid Epidemic is doing a number on our city streets.

If you look at North Clinton Avenue, Joseph Monroe Avenue, Lao Avenue, these places, it's been inundated with the drug and drug epidemic.

And there's no, elected official even talking about, solutions for how do we improve the quality of life by addressing the behavioral health issues on our city streets and as a counselor in a social work, I believe that I'm well qualified.

A lot of my colleagues to have backgrounds on my Kiki has background, has been doing this work.

but I believe that I'm one of the ones that I'm looking for, one of the five six.

And I believe that my background will allow, my expertise to affect legislation, decision making, looking at the budget to see where can we spend some dollars to address some of the issues that we do have.

And, Mike, well, for you, was there a moment or something that triggered this particular campaign this time around?

Yes, absolutely.

I come from a neighborhood called CYO Street.

it's been one of the historically marginalized, disadvantaged neighborhoods, neglected neighborhoods, and decades.

in 40 years, I have never seen a new development in my community where I come from.

so back in 2021, I started, a movement called the D Homes and Business Development Project.

And I was in the city of Rochester to invest, 5 to $7 million and to our neighborhood before they fill in the inner loop.

that some homes, businesses, esthetics make a neighborhood look beautiful.

Then my biggest, barrier was getting through elected officials.

our every excuse in the book, why they couldn't invest into a neighborhood like mine is.

And I feel like, I had to be at the table is just not style Street.

It's all of these other neighborhoods that, that I talked about Jefferson Avenue, Genesee Avenue.

And now they even let them overlapping Memorial avenues to be the pride and joy of Rochester.

I went to Monroe Middle School, and I used to always be up and down.

Monroe is nothing like how I used to be when I was growing up.

So I just that that just made me say, you know, if I want change, I gotta be at the table.

All right.

So for the candidates who are with us, again, three of the 15 candidates with us today, we've got five conversations planned with the candidates in the days to come for Rochester City Council.

I'll start with Mike.

Well, we'll go back across the table and I'll ask all of you.

One of the big issues facing the city right now and its leaders is the response to the new presidential administration.

Questions about immigration.

And, Rochester, of course, was in the national spotlight when the director of Ice, Tom Homan, came.

He said he was here to support Rochester Police, who were assisting federal agents in, arrests, detentions and possible deportation cases.

Now, the mayor of Rochester, Malik Evans, has said on this program that he believes that it is the job of the city and city police to follow the law, but not to do the job of Ice, not to do their job for them, but to do their job within the confines of the law.

Do you think the city has handled that situation appropriately?

Would you have met with Tom Homan?

What message would you have wanted to send?

I'll start with Mike.

Well, I definitely would not have met, with Tom Homan.

I don't think that the city and this is my personal opinion handle, the situation appropriately.

I think that because it's election time, you do have some elected officials, and probably the mayor included, that used it as an opportunity, to to get media attention for themselves and for their campaign.

I probably would have prefer to be a little more strategic.

with that situation, you could have met with police officers separately and then retrained them.

how to to manage that process next time?

you could have went to agencies that's working directly with our refugee population and asked them what kind of support they need.

without making it a media spectacle.

because what you did was you just put on the spotlight, national spotlight on Rochester.

And we as things, you know, sanctuary City, so we want to uphold that.

We want to uphold those laws for sure.

but we just want to make sure that we strategic and we not you could potentially be doing more harm than good.

by trying to, to get the spotlight on how you can be doing more harm to people.

and Trump has already said now he's going to be targeting sanctuary cities.

And that's the exact thing.

And as a social worker, you look for unintended consequences if you do this.

What will be the result?

So instead of going directly to the media and making a big thing out of it, you could have definitely could have went to the police officers themselves and had that conversation.

He could have went and provided resources and stuff like that behind the scenes.

And I just think that it was an opportunity, for a political stunt to make his point.

The Trump administration is suing the city of Rochester, trying to officially strip the city of its sanctuary city status on the grounds that, according to the federal lawsuit, to the complaint that Rochester leadership has shown, a lack of support for police and for federal agents and is not deserving of the status here.

Kevin, you you have an interesting expression on your face here.

I'll let you.

Yeah.

My my smirk is is sort of to the, Rochester not supporting, police enough.

You know, again, looking at the budget, I see $115 million.

That's a lot of support.

the too much.

I think that considering the fact that we're only spending 900,000 on housing.

I think so, you know, I think that I try not to view the world as a zero sum game.

Budgets usually are, you know, budgets.

There's there's a finite amount of resources.

And, you know, for example, there's a, community relations line within RPD.

You know, just their community relations line was increased this year to $12 million.

It's almost doubled in the last five years.

So when I think about allocation of resources, you know, I think that that's always something that comes to mind, is we're spending less than a million on housing and $12 million on community relations.

So but when it comes to the the immigration question, I think that we're talking about protecting some of the most vulnerable people in our community.

These are our neighbors.

And, you know, I watched that video of the incident on Lisle Avenue and, you know, it was horrific.

It was truly tragic.

And, you know, here you see a man clutching his brother from behind and and weeping, you know, because he's hit my reading of this, I have I have two brothers.

I can't imagine a world where I might in an instant never see my brother again.

And I don't think there's anything that the city can do that would be enough or too much to to stop that from happening.

and I think that to, to the, the nuts and bolts of it, you know, our sanctuary city status is my understanding of the Constitution is, is is squarely protected under the 10th amendment.

and I think we need to be stronger.

I think we need to be bolder about that.

And I think that we should pass the ordinance that's been, proposed on council.

I know that there's an article that's been published by Sky about by Gino Fanelli.

I look forward to discussing that.

But, the conflict that exists between that ordinance is a result of a contract that we signed, and I don't think that we should have signed a contract that was in conflict with the city charter, which which I think it is.

Okay.

Kiara Smith.

Kiki, do you want to respond on the question of immigration and how the city has handled it so far?

Yeah.

in agreement with, both my quel and, Kevin, I don't think that they've said anything that I would not say, but I will add that I think that it's our responsibility, to both show up and name and indeed, as it pertains to our immigration population.

no mother should be ripped away from their family.

No father should be ripped away from their family.

No child should be separated, separated from their family.

And so I think, you know, just just and being the humanity of it all.

when I'm, when I'm watching online and I'm seeing families being torn apart and being shipped to God knows where, and then people not being able to contact their family members has to be the most heartbreaking thing that you can ever see on television.

Babies being separated from their moms and their dads.

so yes, I believe that, it is our job and name and deed to uphold, what it means to be a sanctuary city and that it is our duty to protect the most vulnerable in our community.

Okay.

Would you have met with Tom Homan when he came to Rochester?

I think when someone's mind is set on things, that there's no changing it, so I would I'm like, Michael, I would have not met with him.

I would just focus on solutions.

Again, we have individuals here.

Father Tracy Center, and others who advocate for our local immigrants that we can be, strategizing with and working with and actually, as my job at the Health Foundation, we are working closely, with individual those who are part of the immigration population, to protect them and make making sure that they have the resources they need to stay safe.

I to Kevin's point about budgets, it's been said that don't tell me your priorities.

Show me your budget.

And to Kevin's point about why he would be willing to maybe reduce police funding in in favor of seeing other needs met.

if I am, I'm representing your position correctly there.

Absolutely.

Okay.

Can I ask all of you about that?

What do you think?

Police are funded too much.

Vis-A-Vis other needs would you cut police funding?

Would you keep it the same?

Would you increase it?

What I will say is that we have communities that are hurting and that have been harmed in a lot of different ways, and I think that there are just certain places where, there would be a better fit for my Coyle to show up as a social worker versus a police officer to show up.

And so I do believe I am a strong advocate for the credible messaging, component, and investing in those who are closest to the problem are also closest to the solution.

And so I do believe that we can see a significant change in our community if we invest it in our communities.

And so there are places where there are just better fits for mental health advocates to be a mental health professionals to be versus a police officer.

And so, if that means reducing the police policing budget to increase, community safety and other ways that we know work.

then then yes, then that that means that we reduce the, the policing budget in support of community.

I can't speak for City Hall.

I suspect the mayor or her staff might say, look, what part of what you're describing as pick teams, person crisis teams.

And those exist now and those have been increased and they've been working on that.

I think I'm hearing from you know, it's not enough.

I'm saying that it's not enough.

as someone who has worked boots on ground implementing programs, strategic lead to reduce gun violence, I know that there is a grassroots movement that can have a more significant impact.

I believe that the pick team and all of those things.

Yes.

Wonderful.

I'm happy for that.

But I'm talking about boots on the ground grassroots organizations using individuals again closest to the problem, being closest to the solutions, to to create change in our community.

Okay.

Kevin Stewart, as a candidate for city council, do you think most neighborhoods that, you know, are not downtown neighborhoods that may be struggling with violence the way Kiki talked about and, or the way Mike well, talks about lack of investment.

do you think people in those city neighborhoods would want more or less or different policing?

Yeah.

You know, I always try and nuance this conversation, you know, because I think that the the concept of defunding the police has been something that has been, become a very hot button issue.

And so it becomes a nonstarter, you know, which is I always try and contextualize things by getting into the weeds a little bit.

you know, which is which is why I look at that community relations line.

Right?

That $12 million we're spending on community relations, I think, over time is another example.

and, you know, when I think over time, I think special events, special events per the contract are mandated over time, which means crossing guards at the Lilac Festival.

you know, any time there's an event at Blue Cross Arena and we see, you know, half a dozen or a dozen officers there, they're making overtime.

You know, it's it's somewhere in the ballpark of $75 an hour plus for for crossing guards.

and so I think those if we if we talk about those details, those nuances, I think that that is something that we have to ask why those resources are going there instead of into these communities that are hurting.

Because when I think of what actually keeps us safe, right.

Preventing crime, not addressing it after the fact, preventing crime.

I think of those basic needs.

I think of food, water and shelter.

And I can't, you know, I'm not a father.

I hope to be someday.

But, you know, I can't think of a single thing I wouldn't do to put food on my family's table or keep a roof over their head.

And the number of people in Rochester that are struggling to do that is is inexcusable.

And and, you know, we also have library services down for the second year in a row.

We have services for rec and youth services down 32% this year.

We have rec centers down 22% this year.

We have youth services down 12%.

This year.

When I when I see these numbers going down and I see that community relations budget doubling in the last couple of years, these numbers don't make sense to me.

And I think that if we engage with community in in an authentic way and we discuss these details, I think it becomes a much less controversial issue.

I at least I hope to your point about over time.

the mayor has talked about roughly 100 unfilled positions that he still wants to address and is working to address and fill could, over time, be solved by hiring more officers.

So you have more to work with.

And that could affect that, that budget.

You know, I think I think potentially, but I also push back on that narrative a little bit.

With all due respect to the mayor, you know, because if if I were in a staffing shortage, the first thing I would do is cut non-essential services.

And I think that most people are capable of crossing the street, you know, to the Blue Cross Arena by themselves.

I don't think that that is an essential service that they're providing.

We could be putting mental barriers up.

We could be hiring retirees.

We could be hiring, you know, all sorts of people to do that job just as well for much less money.

you know, and I haven't been to the east of Wegmans recently where I didn't see an RPD officer out front.

so when I, when I see these things, and then I hear that there's a staffing shortage, I kind of scratch my head a little bit because I don't see it when I walk in.

I drive through the city.

Mike, what do you think we should do with the police budget in the city of Rochester?

you know, I definitely want to validate, Kiki, and Kevin, thoughts around it, too.

I'm not prepared because because of public safety in the violence.

I wouldn't be quick to say that, we need to reduce police budget, but what I would want to do is see an audit of what the police department is spending, $115 million, and then look to see what can be cut and what can be allocated to other essential, services.

I'm in, nonprofit, the grassroot nonprofit world, and I know a lot of organizations that can assist, with some of the, some of the things that we've seen in Rochester, but they're always underfunded.

so a lot of the funding, 115 million is a lot.

I can name five organizations that if you give them 1 million apiece, they can do great things at rosters.

They can hire staff, they can, scale their businesses up.

so we have to look for opportunities to, reallocate, some of that funding, but only if, is justify in the name of public safety, because, I come from the northeast side, I talk about side of street.

if and police is already underfunded.

So if they gained 150 million and they underfunded cut and resources to put them in another little higher spot.

And these communities that we come from, some some people come from communities to where they don't need the police, they don't need the police.

But I can't say that about North Clinton.

I can't say that about Joseph Avenue and Hudson Avenue.

So I will be the last person to say, that we don't need police, but I will be the first person, once I'm really convinced that crime is down.

We need less police now, right?

But right now, at this point, we need all hands on deck into the into the homicides and shootings and assaults and those types of things really and truly go down.

We need all hands on deck.

Can can I just say, Evan, I think that what my question is, is definitely important because I'm from Clinton Avenue.

I've lived in one for six two when my whole life.

I still live on Clinton Avenue to this day, and police aren't responding when people call.

So I'm not saying so.

And I'm again, I'm not saying that people call police and they're not RPD is not showing up.

RPD is not showing up in certain cases, and I'm not sure if that's the result of the shortage.

So yes, Michael is right.

We need to do an audit to see what's happening at RPD that, folks are calling the police and police are not showing up.

But who?

But guess who's showing up.

Credible messengers are coming in, and they are the ones who are putting out the fires in our communities.

People who have respect in the in the community that the people trust are coming and they're showing up and they are talking to choirboys and they are disarming individuals with weapons, and they are stopping fights and they are preventing break break ins.

And I know that that is an underground grassroots movement, but it's happening and that's that's who's keeping our community as safe as it possibly as it possibly can.

And I'm not saying that we don't.

I'm not anti-police.

I am for Officer Friendly.

Right?

I am for, community relationships with officers that made people comfortable.

and, and and reassured that when they called, they would show up.

So, yeah, I, again, I'm not anti-police and I don't want people to think that I am, but I am for again, looking at this budget and seeing what's happening, how is it being disseminated and, and and where is the money going?

I again, I can't speak for Chief Smith, but with your concern and the allegation that RPD is not sending officers to North Clinton for calls, it's pretty serious claim.

Have you talked to the chief?

Have you reached out to him?

No, I haven't, and this is just something that I've been, you know, little folks have fake supposed to tell me.

Kiki, I've called the police and they didn't show up.

and it's the next.

I'm like, two days ago, you know, I remember you call the police, and they.

And again, I live in a I live in a safer part of one for 6 to 1 Clinton.

Right.

It's not where I grew up.

It it's not where I was five years ago.

but if I call the police, you know, I'm sure that they would probably show up in my neighborhood or in the A m, a Beachwood neighborhood.

If they call the police, I'm sure that they would show up differently.

I think what we need to do is we really need to have conversations between the police and community so that people can hear the concerns, see where the discrepancies are, and then come up with a strategic way that we can work collectively together to keep my neighborhood and neighborhoods that look like mine safe.

We still got to talk PAB housing, opioids.

So just briefly on PIB, I think it's been well covered.

listeners are probably aware that the PAB in state Supreme Court lost a case.

The city has appealed.

That's going to take some time.

But the state Supreme Court ruling strips the PAB of investigatory power, not just disciplinary power, investigatory power be passed passes in 2019 with 75% margin, 3 to 1.

Rochester voters wanted a PB, but now it may not be able to do a lot of what voters might have envisioned.

And the question before council is, do you keep a $3.6 million budget?

Does it have to be scaled back?

Kiki, where are you on that?

Oh, wow.

That's a you would go to me first every, I, I try to keep it random.

Yeah, yeah, I hear you.

I'm a strong supporter of the, the police Accountability Board.

again, like you said, the the community wanted it, our residents wanted it.

We needed it.

and that's why we voted to have it.

I'm lost for words at the ruling.

over this issue.

But what I will say is that we need to be working collectively with the PAB to see where, the gaps are and how we can support.

Now, knowing this new ruling.

and that may mean looking at the budget, in a different way.

I'm actually, you know, I'm, I'm really, again, lost for words that that this happened.

but I am looking to talk to others strategically around how do we continue to support the PAB with knowing this new ruling?

Okay.

Kevin.

Yeah.

You know, in full disclosure, I, I work for the Police Accountability Board, you know, so I, I am certainly a biased party in this.

I too was was sort of.

Struck by it, by this ruling, you know, and I know it is being appealed by unanimously, you know, supported appeal from all city council and the mayor's administration, which which I'm grateful for.

And I think the community at large is as well, when 75% of the community demands something, I expect our leaders to bend over backwards to make it happen.

I don't know that I have seen that level of support historically for this institution.

and, and certainly there are still it losing individual investigatory power is is a loss, you know, to this community.

because they wanted it for a reason.

Right.

There was, there was a recognition that there was something wrong with the way that police was, was were behaving in Rochester.

but policy and oversight is still a really useful tool.

the PAB has put out a number of policy and oversight investigations, you know, including the juvenile use of force where they looked at, 338, uses of force against minors in the city over an 18 month period.

what what our our piano department found is that the average age of the child in those instances was 14.5 years old.

76% of them, I believe, were, boys, and 78% of them were black.

And so this, I believe, is is still essential work, you know, and answers that we need to see the light of day.

so policy and oversight, I do think, is still a vital tool that the baby does possess.

folks can still file, reports.

You can still make recommendations for policy on oversight, investigations or analysis.

but but we need the community support, and we need the support of our elected officials as well.

Okay.

Mike.

Well, Powell.

yeah.

everybody know that I served as one of the first nine founding members of the Police Accountability Board, and I was, grateful to had an opportunity to do that work.

and 75% of the Rochester did, vote for the Police Accountability Board.

The only thing is, is that initially it was for five pillars in investigative power.

Disciplinary power was two of those five pillars.

And I was on the board when they removed the disciplinary power.

They did that early.

so yes, we got the, we need police accountability.

so we had to figure out how we can support the Police Accountability Board and doing the work that they can do.

I just think that, the Police Accountability Board is in a position now to where they got to go to the community and tell them, what can they do?

Just like Kevin was saying some of the things and then garner their support again.

and I know that, when they started doing the work, they had ramped up a lot of staff.

I think they hired like 55 staff.

So that one time they they ramped up on staff.

And so do do they do they need all of those positions?

I'm not sure.

I don't know, but I just think that the Police Accountability Board and executive director have to go back to the community and let the community know why is still important to do this work wise, why is still important to support this work?

And I'm always wanting to city council.

I'm always going to be an advocate of the police accountability Board.

but again, we just can't have have it ramped up so big just to have it in, just to support it has to make sense.

And in order for it to make sense from me, the Police Accountability Board had to tell me why why it still makes sense.

And and I will always support it.

Okay.

Brief follow up there.

Go ahead.

Yeah.

I mean, first I want to agree.

I think that community engagement is is essential, you know, and I also I want to be clear, I'm representing my personal beliefs and not the positions of the Police Accountability Board during this conversation.

but but community engagement is is integral.

And I think the current executive director is doing a good job of that.

but we need more.

the other thing that I want to say is that, you know, we did start with five pillars, and those things have started to be chipped away.

but I think to me, rather than asking pointing the finger at the PAB, I kind of think we should be pointing at the people who are chipping away at those pillars that were demanded by the community.

and once again, you know, similar to the sanctuary sanctuary city issue where, the crux of this conflict with both of these lawsuits is with a single line in the police union contract, right?

That that disciplinary power falls to the chief.

that contract was in place already in 2019 when the PPB was, was, implemented.

It has since been renegotiated.

And for me, agreeing to any contract that continues to hold that clause and doesn't say and also the Police Accountability Board and doesn't say and also city council, because there's, there's a clause in our charter that says with a I think it's a three fourths vote, city council has the authority to fire any employee of the city.

And so I see this newly negotiated contract is as a violation of that charter.

And I think that that's the crux of these court cases, and I think it needs to be examined.

Three candidates on the ballot and the June primary for Rochester City Council are with us.

Kevin Stewart, Kierra, Kiki Smith, Mike well, Powell, all with us in studio.

And they are part of 15 candidate.

I was going to say a slate.

There's different slate slates the wrong word.

There's 15 candidates in total, five positions.

You're going to hear from all of them on connections.

This is our only break.

We're going to come back and we're going to talk housing and opioids and jobs and more with them.

On the other side of this break.

I'm Evan Dawson Tuesday on the next connections, some federal cuts could affect conservation efforts and the efforts to protect endangered species.

On Tuesday, we talk about how the Seneca Park Zoo and the Zoo Society is working on matters of conservation, animal protection, identifying what species are most at risk and what's being done about it.

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This is connections.

I'm Evan Dawson.

the candidates agree on quite a bit.

They disagree maybe on some fine details, but this is a chance to hear them at length here.

Mike.

Well, Powell.

Kiara, Kiki Smith, Kevin Stewart with us here.

Three out of the 15 running for Rochester City Council June 24th is the primary.

But early voting starts on June 14th and runs through the 22nd of June and lots of places to do that.

You can go to the Monroe County Board of Elections website and find your early voting site if you want to take advantage there.

and the candidates have been working on a number of different things, and we've been talking about a lot of what's been in the news.

I guess opioids are still in the news.

Michael Powell but I mean, certainly, it's competing with a lot of other things here.

What do you want to see the city do?

And in regards to dealing with opioids in Rochester, the first thing that I think is, is look at it as a public health crisis is is an emergency.

over 100 people in Monroe County die every year.

That's more than homicides, more than car accidents, but it don't get the attention that it needs.

Maybe because it's undesirable or is undesirable to talk about is undesirable to work with that population.

I work at a methadone clinic right now.

so a lot of people that, they're struggling with the opioid epidemic, they're on my caseload right now.

So it hits a little more harder for me.

And then when I'm riding through neighborhoods and I don't like the pick on Lao Avenue, I don't like to pick on, North Clinton, but, it looks like a war zone sometimes.

Sometimes when you seeing that population outside and doing the things that they have to do, to survive with a drug addiction, it terrorizes the neighborhood.

And I would like to see more resources, that go towards the opioid epidemic.

maybe we should get some, some social workers.

maybe that we should.

We should have people that's available to do assessments with people.

right there on the spot, on North Clinton, people can do assessments and see what, what kind of help they need.

If a person might need inpatient or detox, we can have somebody that can take them directly from where they at, to their, there's no organizations in these neighborhoods to where the opioid epidemic is affecting people the most.

so we have to figure out how do we, centralize or provide access.

so for people that has this drug addiction or a mental health crisis as well, too.

but I just think that it has to be a part of the budget.

I'm not sure I didn't get a chance to review the budget, but I don't know if, the opioid epidemic with some, even some dollars does that's towards addressing that.

so those are some of the things that I would do on city councils.

I will make sure that, our citizens, that are struggling the most, they need a voice.

And I think that I'll be able to be that voice.

Okay.

Kevin, how do you see the city's responsibility and and the current work being done on opioid?

I think we need more.

You know, and I agree with Mike.

Well, I think this is a this is a public health crisis.

and like with most things, it's it's a matter of intersectionality because I think that housing security, you know, and eviction rates and then homelessness rates directly correlate to this problem that we're seeing.

and, you know, as do our other basic needs, you know, food, water and shelter is is always where I will go back to.

But, you know, I've, I've walked, you know, North Clinton, Monroe, Lisle, handing out food and, and supporting some of the wonderful organizations that are doing this work on the ground, picking up needles, you know, and so I see the lack of these basic needs, like the true hunger, you know, people, people are grabbing a sandwich, and it's the first meal they've had in 36 hours.

and it also relates to our, to our immigration crisis, right?

That that some of the folks that are also immigrants or have vulnerable status are afraid to go and get food, you know, and so they're just locking themselves in their homes and in hiding.

But, I think that expanding these programs is essential.

I think that the ambassador program, you know, I've been critical of the budget, but I to be fair, I think the ambassador program that we have in all four quadrants is an incredible program, and I believe it was was renewed in this budget.

it's wonderful.

They they, pay people in cash, who are homeless or at risk of homelessness could be struggling actively with addiction.

they give them jobs, you know, and, and guidance and, and support.

And then they ask those folks to be ambassadors to the rest of their peers, you know, who are still living in this crisis and still living on the street.

And it's effective, you know, and I just think we need to do more of this.

We need to invest more in programs like this.

And I think that we also have to really look hard and, and create a, opioid prevention center in Rochester.

It's a controversial issue, but the research is really quite clear.

These things work.

Supervised use.

I'm I'm open to it.

I mean, I think that the research, that I have seen, unless someone can provide me with different research, is effective and I think that there's a stigma that exists with, with these things.

but my priority is not stigma.

It's it's helping people get.

Well, and I think that we shouldn't choose stigma and taboo over the lives of our neighbors.

we'll get to Shirley and Jacob on the phone in just a second.

Kiki, on the subject of opioids, what should be done?

I don't think I'll say anything different than, either, my quel or Kevin.

I live on Clinton Avenue, and, you know, they refer to it as a gateway to the heroin district in that in that space.

I was, really anti initially, because I had some feelings around, what I was seeing happening in my neighborhood.

but I got to work with I met a person, Gary Harding, shout out to Gary Harding, who taught me a lot around, just seeing the humanity of individuals who are, for me, it was an open usage.

we have children who are coming home from school, getting off busses, witnessing individuals inject themselves, walking over needles as if they're cigaret butts.

And I'm like, I don't that this is not take place in Pittsburgh.

This is not happening around decoy or grease or gates.

And so I was angry because I wanted to know, you know, like, why is my community, plagued, with this epidemic?

but I've since learned, and met and talked to some of those individuals and, I find myself bringing them food on Saturdays and Sundays if I can.

and just recognizing the humanity of it all.

I am for, getting a better understanding of what, safe usage sites looks like, because I'd rather they be there than on the corner of, Clinton and Avenue D, injecting themselves.

And my nieces and nephews have to witness that.

but I think that we need more education and awareness, which is, again, one of the reasons why I am investing and, and my, work experience in bringing forth education and awareness to our community so that black and brown individuals and individuals from all areas of life I see coming on Clinton Avenue purchasing and using drugs, you would be surprised.

and so we need a, a strategic way that is inclusive of all individuals who are, who have been and are impacted by the epidemic.

All right.

Let me just take a couple calls.

This last ten minutes are going to fly.

So let's just keep it moving.

Shirley in Rochester.

Hi, Shirley.

Go ahead.

Is that Shirley?

Let me see that again.

There.

It's Shirley.

That was a that was a user error.

I've only hosted the show 11 years, so go ahead Shirley.

Okay.

Thank you for taking my call.

I'll try to be brief.

Two point about the PAB.

I think we want to be clear.

First of all, I was on the PAB Alliance 100% supportive of the PAB.

I'm still supportive of it.

We should remember, though, that it was 75% of the voters that supported the PAB, not 75% of the community.

And I think that's one of the challenges that the PAB has had since its inception.

There was not enough publicity and marketing to the general community to garner more support.

And have there been more support then we wouldn't have had these crazy decisions about stripping it of its disciplinary and investigatory powers.

So that's one thing.

And then in terms of an opioid, just like when we got the Narcan after more white folks and suburbanites began to be affected by the opioid crisis, then we'll be more serious in this community about an opioid center.

But as well as it affects or as long as people perceive it, affecting folks in the city and black and brown folks, it's not going to happen.

Thank you very much.

Thank you Shirley.

Opioids is a problem everywhere.

We do know that to be true.

I appreciate the phone calls.

anybody want to jump in on any of those points there before we grab the next one here?

Yeah.

I mean, I think I just I agree with Shirley a great deal.

I apologize, I did misspeak.

It is 75% of the voters.

I can't speak for 208,000 people in in Rochester, but I think that it is very likely representative.

And the what I've seen from the community is, by and large, there's broad support for the PAB.

but for opioid prevention centers, I agree this this is an issue that, unfortunately isn't taken seriously enough, because it, it has been impacting communities that are historically and consistently marginalized.

we need to be prioritizing these communities more.

There's a reason that that Lisle Avenue, doesn't vote as much as other parts of the city is because they feel that the city has given up on them.

And I think that we need to move on this issue now because as Kiki Kiki said, it for an OPC, an opioid prevention center folks are going to use when they are addicted to drugs, and they will either use on the street and on the corner and in our neighborhoods, or they can use it.

This OPC, where there will be help and support on hand should they choose to get clean.

Jacob from Rochester next on the phone.

Hey Jacob, go ahead.

Yes.

Good afternoon.

The Rochester Police Department to be able to effectively do their work needs.

X amount of police officers, if they don't belong to the department, there's a shortfall.

Does anyone there know how many were short?

Around 100 is according to the 100, according to the mayor.

Around 200 of them there.

Plus at the same time, I'm driving around my town and I see police patrol Wegmans.

Even though Wegmans is paying their salaries, how can they be out helping people when they're sitting in the parking lot at Wegmans?

Those are my two questions.

How can you actively affect anything when you're short of 100 officers and great for Wegmans, but there are private security firms that would do just as good of a job.

Yeah, let me just jump in.

I can't necessarily speak to how police are spending their day, and I don't I don't anybody want to hit that okay.

No, I think the only thing for me is, again, I have questions about the narrative.

From my understanding, Rochester per capita is one of the most policed cities in the country.

and and, you know, until I see something to the contrary, I rely on the eye test.

And I see these officers at special events.

I see them at Wegmans.

and, and I have some serious questions about that number.

All right.

We're going to lose the our fast here.

I want to give Kiara a little time.

Just talk about community safety a little bit more.

I know you kind of talked about that in your response on opioids here.

If you're on city council, how do you bring focus on community safety?

What haven't we talked about here?

Take about a minute to tell us about that.

I ran into some community members in the a former Beechwood community again and learned that they are the safest community in all of the city of Rochester.

That's the Atlantic Electric cover area.

And I learned about some of the practices that they have implemented to keep keep their community safe.

That, along with my knowledge around gun safety and gun violence and advocacy, I believe that there is a way that we can strategically implement what's happening in the acima beechwood area and what's happening, in one for 6 to 1 on sale on Lisle Avenue on Jefferson and Genesee, again, using credible messengers, investing in individuals who are closest to the problem are always closest to the solution.

Evan.

And I'm always going to stick on that.

So I believe that there's an opportunity to learn, listen and learn from these neighbors who are doing it the right way and collectively coming up with a strategic plan that can keep all of us safe.

and that can give all of us again, I believe that we should have access to barrier free mental health.

We haven't talked about that.

But I said earlier that our community is not well and I believe that one of the solutions, again, is collectively, bringing in these practices, that would help keep our community safer and make us.

Well, Kevin Stewart said earlier, we need to guarantee shelter, housing, take about a minute, tell people how you're going to do that.

Yeah, food, water and shelter are my top priorities.

like I said, we have eight zip codes where people are struggling to feed themselves.

30% of the community struggling to feed themselves.

63% of our city is renters.

And it took us two and a half years to pass.

Good cause eviction.

We still haven't seen movement on rent stabilization.

and you know, the reassessment that went through last year, the average increase for the reassessment was 68% in Rochester.

And I don't think that the communications, were enough on that.

You know, the last thing I think is investing in affordable housing and and what that means to me is looking at the Ami area median income, which is how we calculate what's affordable here in Rochester.

That Ami is based on a nine county assessment.

people in Rochester are not making as much money as the folks in surrounding communities.

So I think we need to reassess how we qualify affordable housing.

We need to do that based on a city income.

And Mike, well mentioned that you want to see a downtown that is vibrant with jobs again, that you see a lot of effort to kind of convert to residential, but you want to bring back a spirit that says, we need to have a commercial business district downtown.

What does the future look like to you if you're successful doing that?

excuse me, the future will look like, a place to where people will want to go, to shop, to work and to play.

right now we have where the historic Midtown Plaza was at is parcel five.

It was it was in negotiations to be a performing arts center, which I would think would have been a good idea.

but now, recently, the mayor, said that is going to be a permanent, permanent event space.

And, you know, you live in Rochester, New York.

so, to six months or seven months out of the year, you ain't gonna be able to do nothing.

What?

It's going to be too cold.

so I just think that it can be something more comparable or better to what we have right there.

And then if you look all up in downtown.

And when I was a kid, from Liberty Pole all the way down to Broad Street, there was businesses on both sides of the street.

so in order to grow a city, when people visit Rochester and they go downtown, there's nothing that say, oh, I want to live here.

I want to make it my home.

we have to make downtown more attractive to visitors, to businesses, fortune 500 companies.

And we can't do that if it's a residential neighborhood.

Get to know these candidates because June 24th is primary day, but early voting starts on June 14th.

Go to the Monroe County Board of Elections website 14th through the 22nd for early voting, 24th for the Democratic primary.

There are 15 candidates running for five seats.

Mike Powell is on Facebook and Michael Powell for Rochester City Council 2025.

Mike, well, thank you for being back with us here.

Thank you.

Appreciate you invite me.

You can find more about Kierra Kiki Smith, candidate for Rochester City Council at Kiki.

The number four city council.org and on the People's Slate as well.

Thank you very much for being here.

Thanks for having me.

And speaking of the people, site people, site rock.org to learn more about Kevin Stewart.

Kevin, the number for the community on socials.

Thank you for taking time to be with the program today.

Thanks very much.

Appreciate it.

We've got more connections coming your way with council interviews over the next couple of weeks here.

And then again, early voting starts June 14th from all of us connections.

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