"𝗛𝗶, 𝗜'𝗺 John Larochelle, and I'm running for city council for Ward Three again.

Give you a little bit of my background. Like my mom and dad, I was born and raised in Rochester. Rochester was a great place to grow up, and it gave me the motivation to try to give back as part of my background.

I served several terms on city council, two terms as mayor. I'm currently a police commissioner, and I'm serving as a state rep in the state house. Again, I'd like to come back and serve the city of Rochester and city council.

I'm a US veteran, as I mentioned. I was lucky. My father and I were both infantry support for tankers. My dad arrived on Omaha Beach, and I got there by jet plane. It's a little joke, but my background also includes a strong education in physical science. I have a PhD in chemistry. I think I bring that strength to city council. I have in the past, and I'd like to do so again.

I'm a strong fiscal conservative. If you see me drive up in my 17-y old cars because that car serves my purpose and I don't need to spend money for a new car. Spend only what you need. I believe in providing essential services, but I believe so in doing so in a way that we can afford. And I Okay, I know taxes are tight, and it's very hard on some of the people in lower income group. So I believe in setting priorities and then going through things in the top down in priority. I try to use a cost-benefit analysis to help myself with those priorities and pick out the ones that give us the biggest bang for the buck.

I have no political or personal agenda. I simply want to serve the citizens of Rochester and the individuals. I believe in protecting individual rights. People give me phone calls. I generally get back to them.

I'm an evidence-based snicker. That's goes along with being a scientist. Love to do research. And I do things normally aren't as simple as they seem on the surface. I am not a knee-jerk environmentalist. I'm an environmentalist, but I go into it in depth with research.

Unfortunately I'm a widowerower, and fortunately I'm a retiree. That means I have a lot of time to spend to do research and to serve the city of Rochester.

So I say say my style is collaborative. I think education is very important from a national defense perspective and for bringing businesses here looking for educated students.

So, I'd like to ask you to please vote and consider me as as candidate."

Notes:

The Public Information and Community Engagement Office for the City of Rochester is pleased to announce that the Meet the Candidates video series is now available for viewing ahead of the upcoming Municipal Election.

The nonpartisan series introduces voters to candidates for Mayor, City Council, School Board, and Police Commission. Each candidate was given up to three minutes to speak directly to voters, share their priorities, and present their personal message.

To ensure fairness and transparency, all videos were recorded live in a single take, without edits, hosts, or predetermined questions.

The views and opinions expressed in the following video are those of the candidate and do not necessarily reflect the views of the City of Rochester, its elected officials or staff. The content is presented as part of a public information effort to provide equal opportunity for all candidates to address the community.

Transcript was taken directly from the GovTV website closed captioning. AI added bold/italic fonts for emphasis and separated paragraphs where appropriate.

In this survey, the candidate answered the following questions:

• "Why are you running?"
  
  

• "Do you support the city’s tax cap and for what, if any, reasons would you support going over it?"
  
  

• "How can Rochester ease the burden on residential property taxpayers?"
  
  

• "How can the city further the affordability and availability of housing? Do you support efforts in the state legislature aimed at reducing local control of zoning rules and regulations?"
  
  

• "What can Rochester do to attract new small businesses and support the small businesses already in the city?"
  
  

• "Rochester purchased the old Care Pharmacy and nearby properties for more than $3.3 million. Do you agree with this purchase and what should Rochester do with the property it now owns?"
  
  

• "Short-term and long-term, what should the mayor/council do about the growing homeless population in Rochester?"
  
  

• "The Legislature has empowered cities to create “social districts” where outdoor drinking of alcoholic beverages is allowed. Do you support bringing social districts to Rochester?"
  
  

• "What else would you like voters to know about you?"

You can view the survey by clicking here.

Information About John Larochelle

• Current Wards 3 & 4 Police Commissioner

View the Candidate's Responses in the 2023 Foster's Candidate Survey by Clicking Here!

Resources to Learn More About John Larochelle

Rochester, NH City Profile