ROCHESTER, N.Y. — On Rochester Mayor Malik Evans' 361st day in office, he reflected on his first year serving the Rochester community and shared his administration's excitement for the future. 

"It’s important to look back, but more important to look forward," he said while remembering some of Rochester's finest. “2022 is also a very tough year. We lost not only 911 operators, but also we lost a police officer, Anthony Mazurkiewicz, and we lost firefighter [Elvis] Reyes.” 

What You Need To Know

  • Rochester Mayor Malik Evans is sticking with his strategy of prevention, intervention and suppression going into his second year in office

  • He says homicides are down 5% this year, shootings are down 15% and that the RPD has recovered 800 illegal guns from the streets this year as of Wednesday morning — all despite a historic staffing shortage

  • Evans honored fallen officer Anthony Mazurkiewicz and fallen firefighter Elvis Reyes, as well as 14-year-old Julius Greer, who was the first homicide victim of 2022

  • The mayor plans to kick off 2023 with the Department of Recreation and Human Services workforce development project bringing in more than 2,000 career opportunities among other projects finally expected to come to light at the New Year

  • Evans says he is excited to launch multiple new initiatives in 2022, including the Rochester Peace Collective, the mayor's office's financial empowerment, funding from the opioid settlement helping with affordable housing programs, and welcoming the return of many traditional city festivals

But Evans pushed to the future using his original mantra from when he entered office in January. 

"We move forward with that three-part strategy: prevention, intervention and suppression,” he said. 

Evans touched on multiple projects he plans to kick off at the beginning of the New Year, including infrastructure improvements to avoid situations like last week’s water main break, more than 2,000 career opportunities coming from the Department of Recreation and Human Services new workforce development program and incoming opioid settlement funds to ultimately help with Rochester’s homeless community by adding more new affordable housing programs. 

"Downtown is a neighborhood,” Evans said. “We have never had this many people living downtown. And that is only going to continue to contribute to growth.”

He reverted back to his initial goal to be the “Johnny Appleseed of mayors.”

“Next year in 2023 will be cutting a lot of ribbons because of the seeds that have been planted in the past year,” he said.

Evans also plans to move forward with a $10 million state-funded downtown initiative to create Rochester’s first state park to be able to welcome back more of the city’s favorite traditions. However, he's also mindful of what he calls Rochester’s biggest challenge: violence. 

"With the Rochester Police Department, we are still dealing with historic staffing shortages,” Evans said. “Which is why we included funding for a second police academy in the budget this year to speed up recruitment to fill the vacancies.” 

He says this will continue to help lower Rochester’s crime rate. As of Wednesday morning, Evans reports homicides are down 5% this year compared to 2021, as well as shootings down 15%. He says that the RPD has taken 800 illegal guns off the streets so far this year. 

The mayor notes the department’s success, despite its hardships.

“The RPD has built a historic alliance with our law enforcement partners, including state police, the sheriff’s office, the U.S. Marshals Office [and the] U.S. attorneys to target the most violent offenders and take illegal guns off the street," he said.

Evans says he ultimately keeps the future of Rochester's residents as his priority. 

"As we continue to move forward into 2023, we will build on these accomplishments and make even more progress towards the future we are building," he said. "Rochester is a community that fully embraces the principle of collective work and responsibility.”