For Immediate Release: January 10, 2025

Contact: [email protected]

(Rochester, NY) Rochester Mayor Malik D. Evans today announced his intention to seek re-election with a promise to continue the collaborative and transparent “we not me” governing style that became the hallmark of his first term.

“It has been an honor to serve as Rochester’s mayor over the last three-plus years,” Mayor Evans said at a news conference before an enthusiastic audience at the Laborers’ Local 435 union hall on Fourth Street. “While we have come a long way since 2021, our work is not done. I am looking forward to finishing the historic work we have started.”

Mayor Evans said he and his City Hall team will accelerate the momentum gained through the many accomplishments since January of 2022, when he assumed the mantle of the City’s 71st Mayor.

These include:

• A 53 percent reduction in gun violence and a 45 percent reduction in homicides.
• Creating the Office of Violence Prevention to end violence through prevention and intervention.
• Expanding the Person in Crisis team for emergency responses to mental health challenges.
• Initiating a Vision Zero program to improve pedestrian safety and end traffic deaths.
• Advancing more than $1 billion in investments in affordable housing.
• Securing more than $200 million in State and Federal funding to remove the Inner Loop North and restore minority neighborhoods torn apart by the expressway’s construction.
• Continuing the progress of the ROC the Riverway waterfront revitalization program, including completion of Austin Steward Plaza; the Rundel Library North Terrace; and the Pont de Rennes.
• Advancing the revitalization of the Bulls Head neighborhood.
• Eradicating long-standing blight at the corner of East Main Street and South Clinton Avenue.
• Facilitating almost $1 billion in private sector investment to establish a live, work, play environment in downtown.
• Creating the Office of Financial Empowerment to foster economic mobility with a focus on entrepreneurship, home ownership and financial literacy for City youth.
• Launching the Buy the Block program with the construction of new homes for home ownership to reverse the effects of disinvestment and redlining in minority neighborhoods.
• Strengthening neighborhoods and fostering neighborhood pride with a focus on housing quality, code enforcement and facilitating citizen engagement.
• Installing more than 7000 residential lead water service lines to replace all lead pipes by 2030.
• Adding 6,000 street trees to the urban forest to close the tree disparity in minority neighborhoods.
• Increasing City purchasing contracts and service agreements with minority and women owned businesses by more than 120 percent.
• Welcoming Constellation Brands, a Fortune 500 company, to downtown.
• Ending historic labor impasses with the City’s collective bargaining units.

Mayor Evans intends to seek the Democratic nomination in the Monroe County primary election on June 24.

“We have planted the seeds that will bear fruit for years to come,” Mayor said. “By working with our partners in government and the people of Rochester, we will continue to accomplish remarkable things for our city.”