A forum with the candidates for City of Rochester mayor will take place at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 21, in Hoyt Auditorium on the University of Rochester’s River Campus. Participants will include the three candidates seeking the Democratic nomination—Robert Duffy, Tim Mains, and Wade Norwood—and attorney John Parrinello, who is considering a run on the Republican ticket.
Free and open to the public, the forum is sponsored by the University’s Minority Student Advisory Board in conjunction with Students for Social Justice, the Department of Political Science, the Frederick Douglass Institute for African and African-American Studies, the College Diversity Roundtable, and the Office of Minority Student Affairs.
The forum will be moderated by Curt Smith, public affairs commentator and columnist and senior lecturer in English at the University. The candidates will each make brief opening remarks. Smith will pose questions to the candidates on issues relating to the Fast Ferry, city-county relations, economic development, and state aid. The audience will also have the opportunity to ask questions.
Duffy, a Rochester native, joined the city’s police department in 1976 and was named Chief of Police in 1998. He stepped down in March to run for mayor. Duffy serves on the boards of numerous organizations, including Families and Friends of Murdered Children, the Boys and Girls Club of Rochester, the Boy Scouts of America, and the American Red Cross. He received his undergraduate degree from Rochester Institute of Technology and a master’s degree in public administration from Syracuse University.
Mains has served on the Rochester City Council since 1985 and is currently chair of the council’s Public Services, Health and the Arts Committee. In 2002, he became principal of Helen Barrett Montgomery Public School No. 50 in Rochester after serving 30 years in the Greece Central School District. He is on the board of several area agencies, including Action for a Better Community, The International Network of Lesbian and Gay Officials, and the Rochester Economic Development Corporation Board of Directors.
Norwood, a graduate of the University of Rochester, is a 15-year veteran of the Rochester City Council. He currently chairs the Economic Development Committee, is a member of the Rochester Economic Development Corporation board, and a director of the Rochester Ferry Company. Norwood is a former special assistant to State Assemblyman David F. Gantt. He serves on the board of the Hillside Work-Scholarship Connection, United Way Executive Search Committee, and is active with other local agencies.
Parrinello, a local defense attorney, received his bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Rochester and his law degree from Syracuse University. He is a retired U.S. Marine Corps captain and a partner in the law firm of Redmond & Parrinello, LLP. He served on Rochester City Council in the 1970s and was vice mayor for two years. Parrinello is the recipient of the Ronald Reagan Republican Gold Medal, has been named to the list of “The Best Lawyers in America” since 1983, and is chairman of the board of trustees of Monroe Community College.
For more information, contact (585) 275-0651.