William A. Johnson, Jr.

William A. Johnson, Jr. was elected the 64th Mayor of the City of Rochester, New York State’s third largest city, in November 1993, receiving over 72 per cent of the vote. It was his first run for any political office, and he succeeded a 20-year incumbent. Johnson has the distinction of being the city’s first African-American mayor.
In November 1997, Mayor Johnson was re-elected without opposition in either the primary or general elections. In November 2001, he was re-elected to a third term with over 78 per cent of the vote. Mayor Johnson announced during that campaign that he would not seek a fourth term.

Mayoral Legacy

As Mayor, Mr. Johnson instituted innovative programs, which were widely recognized for their success. In 1999, Mayor Johnson was named the United State’s Local Public Official of the Year by Governing Magazine. In 2004, he was a finalist for the World Mayor Prize, which honors mayors internationally who have served their communities in an outstanding manner and who have made contributions to the well-being of cities nationally and internationally.

Several of Mayor Johnson’s initiatives were among the first such programs in the US, and included:

Community Oriented Policing, which was widely credited with improving police-community relations in Rochester and motivating a number of collaborative efforts between citizens and police to reduce crime and violence in neighborhoods.

Bi-Racial Partnerships, which matched people of different races and economic status in order to break down racial misunderstandings in the city. In the aftermath of 11 September 2001, a separate partnership linking people from Islamic and non-Islamic countries was started.

Good Grades Pay, which connected scholastic performance with summer job opportunities for deserving students.

At the center of Mayor Johnson’s efforts to revitalize Rochester was the Neighbors Building Neighborhoods Program, or NBN, which introduced the principles of meaningful citizen participation and empowerment to every city neighborhood. As a result of training in leadership and technical skills and continuous consultation, citizens became fully engaged with City Hall at every level of decision-making involving their neighborhoods. NBN has been called “arguably the boldest and most successful citizen empowerment process in modern America.”

A 2006 analysis of NBN by Cornell University found that “numerous milestones have been achieved. Through NBN, hundreds of neighborhood projects have come to fruition, while many others have broken ground. These projects include physical improvement, beautification projects, the construction of new schools and stores, better public services, and increased public safety measures. NBN also received awards for its successful neighborhood revitalization efforts, and is recognized as a model of best practices.”

Mayor Johnson was also an ardent proponent of regionalism, understanding that America’s historic cities could no longer extricate themselves by their own initiative from the structural problems that inhibited their economic viability. He recognized the strength of regional economies and how all municipalities working collaboratively within their regions could increase their economic and political competitiveness. He established working relationships with colleagues across political and geographical boundaries, and lectured widely on the challenges of urban sprawl and the benefits of regional cooperation. Mayor Johnson was one of the first elected officials in the US to support, and articulate the importance of, sustainable development.

Mr. Johnson retired as Mayor in 2005 and became Distinguished Professor of Public Policy at the Rochester Institute of Technology.

Earlier Career and Education

Prior to his election as Mayor, Bill Johnson served for 21 years as the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Urban League of Rochester, responsible for developing and overseeing programs and project in education, youth development, family services, employment training, and affordable housing.

Bill Johnson is a political scientist by training, earning B.A. and M.A. degrees from Howard University in Washington, D.C. in 1965 and 1967 respectively. He was honored by his alma mater in March 2003 with an Alumni Award for Distinguished Postgraduate Achievement. Mr. Johnson is a native of Lynchburg, Virginia.

Other Political Ventures

In 2003, Mr.Johnson ran unsuccessfully for Monroe County Executive on a platform of fiscal responsibility and regional cooperation and innovation. In 2011, after a tumultuous period in which the City of Rochester had three different mayors in three weeks after having only three mayors in the previous thirty-seven years, Johnson ran again for Mayor in a special election to serve the remainder of the term of former Mayor Robert Duffy who resigned. As the Independence and Working Families' Party's candidate, Johnson lost a close election to Democrat Tom Richards. Mr. Johnson garnered more votes than any previous candidate in New York State on the Working Family Party's line.