Months after Elaine Spaull, the three-term Rochester City Council member, announced she would not seek another term to represent the East District, five Democratic candidates declared their intention to succeed her.

Bryce Miller, Stanley Martin, Mary Lupien, Wayne Harris and Michael Geraci are all running for office.

Each candidate is looking to represent the sprawling East District, which encompasses parts of downtown around the Central Library, turns north at Goodman Street and expands to Clifford and south to Highland avenues near Brighton’s border.

Bryce Miller, an activist and volunteer whose day job is operations coordinator at Jaguar Land Rover North America, says neighbors should be put first.

“We need to get back down to the basics and make sure we’re the voice of the neighbors. Quality of life is huge,” said Miller. “I think we need to have better community police relations and I think that goes for both sides of the isle. The word compromise is not a bad word.”

Miller also speaks about tackling the drug crisis, saying, “For me, personally, I want to get people the help that they need who have drug addictions and major addiction problems in this city and I want to make sure that we take care of that and give them the best help we possibly can and remove the drug dealers from the corner and put them in prison.”

Stanley Martin has a background in community mental health counselling and human services. She plans on taking her experiences to work on policies to address structural and systemic issues within the city.

“I moved to Rochester in to attend the University of Rochester in 2014 and throughout my time there got a job at the local jail working as a counselor and case manager, so that allowed me to understand that we over-incarcerate people who are of color, people who have mental illness and substance abuse disorder,” said Martin.

Martin has also volunteered for a number of organizations, she said, “I also work with the Community Land Trusts (CLTs) to keep housing affordable, and a wide variety of agencies that are committed to ensuring that people have a good quality of life and have equal access to opportunities.”

Mary Lupien, who ran for a member-at-large seat on the Rochester City Council in 2017, is a city school teacher and activist. Her goals for neighborhoods in the East District include stable, quality and affordable housing, expanding public transportation services and to also ensure police are held accountable by community members they serve.

Lupien states, “I’ve watched how the police have treated my neighbors of color and how differently they treat me and my white neighbors ... I see my neighbors at the bus stop waiting morning and night waiting for the bus that may take them hours to get to where they need to go and I really want to continue the work I’m doing in the community on City Council and really further the goals of the organizations and the people in the community that are working towards change.”

She adds, “I really believe the people in the community know exactly what they need. They just need their city government to listen to them.”

Michael Geraci, a Rochester attorney has received an endorsement from Council Member Spaull. He says born and raised in the East District, he’s very passionate and understands the people’s needs within the district.

“They understand the high stakes in politics and our community, namely the poverty is simply unacceptable in Rochester. That goes hand-in-hand with issues in our school district,” said Geraci who also talks about his expertise and bringing that to the council table.

“The issues that we have today will not be the same issues as next year or the year after, but the process to analyze and understand and to address them is the same. As an attorney and advocate I do that every day. I try and understand both sides of the coin and advocate for justice and what is right,” he said.

Wayne Harris, a former deputy police chief in Rochester, is known for being active in youth organizations and wants to be an advocate for families and businesses while continuing his effort to create safe and vibrant neighborhoods.

“None of them have 30 years of experience working with this city and none of them can say they’ve laughed with this city and cried with this city, seen us at our absolute best and our worse,” claims Harris.

“I’ve been spent years building groups building people together to solve problems that existed in our communities in an effort to make sure that we were strong and that we’re healthy. I have the relationships here and I’m familiar enough with all the neighborhoods in the East District, and I think I can bring us together,” he added.

Though Spaull, the second-longest-serving member of the Rochester City Council’s time in office is coming to an end, each candidate vying for her spot agrees the work has not.