Lovely Warren facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Lovely Warren
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| 69th Mayor of Rochester | |
| In office January 1, 2014 – December 1, 2021 |
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| Preceded by | Thomas Richards |
| Succeeded by | James Smith |
| Member of the Rochester City Council from the Northeast district |
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| In office 2007–2013 |
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| Preceded by | Benjamin L. Douglas |
| Succeeded by | Michael A. Patterson |
| Personal details | |
| Born | July 1, 1977 Rochester, New York |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | Timothy Granison |
| Children | 1 |
| Alma mater | John Jay College of Criminal Justice (BA) Albany Law School (JD) |
| Profession | Lawyer |
Lovely Ann Warren (born July 1, 1977) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 69th mayor of Rochester, New York, from 2014 until her resignation in 2021. She was previously the President of the Rochester City Council. She was the first woman to serve as mayor of Rochester, as well as the second African-American after William A. Johnson Jr.
Early life and education
Warren was born and raised in Rochester, New York. Her mother, Elrita Warren, a South Carolina native, who once worked at Kodak, ultimately became a health aide in nursing homes and hospitals.
Warren graduated from Wilson Magnet High School and later earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Government from John Jay College of Criminal Justice, followed by a Juris Doctor degree from Albany Law School of Union University.
Career
Warren began her career as a legislative assistant and chief of staff to New York Assemblyman David F. Gantt. She clerked for Rochester City Court Judge Teresa Johnson. She served as summer law clerk to New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. In 2004, Warren was admitted to the New York State Bar Association.
In 2007 Warren was elected to the Rochester's City Council. In 2010 she was elected as the fifth president of the Rochester City Council, the youngest in Rochester's history.
In 2011, she was a participant in the We Live NY Summit at Cornell University. She has appeared on panels sponsored by Rochester Downtown Development Corporation and the Rochester Chapter of the League of Women Voters. She also hosts a youth event at City Hall for students of the Rochester City School District. She has been a guest speaker at events for young people in the Rochester City School District and colleges including, the University of Rochester, Albany Law School of Union University, Towson University and Howard University.
2013 Rochester mayoral election
She won the 2013 Democratic primary over incumbent mayor Thomas Richards 57 percent to 42 percent.
While Richards endorsed Warren and ended his active campaign, he remained a candidate on the Independence and Working Families lines. The Independence Party created the grassroots Turn Out for Tom campaign in an effort to get Richards re-elected mayor. Warren defeated Richards in the general election 55 to 39 percent.
Tenure
Warren was sworn in as Rochester's 69th mayor on January 1, 2014. She began her second term on January 1, 2018, after winning re-election in 2017.
While in office, Mayor Warren focused on "job creation, fostering safer and more vibrant neighborhoods and improving educational opportunities for Rochester’s residents." Warren also oversaw the Inner Loop East project, started under the Richards administration, which filled in the eastern section of the Inner Loop expressway, turning it into a street and allowing for construction of new buildings.
Warren launched several strategic initiatives, including the introduction of a Kiva crowd funding loan program, a Vanpool, support for ride-sharing such as Uber and Lyft, and a market-driven community co-operative called OWN Rochester.
Under Warren's direction, the Rochester Police Department underwent a reorganization to implement a neighborhood-based patrol model that converted the patrol structure from two Patrol Divisions (each covering half of the city) to five smaller Patrol Sections. The RPD also implemented a successful body worn video program during Warren's first term.
Warren convened an early learning council to help expand Pre-K programs in the city. She also developed a "3 to 3 Initiative" to help children to set three-year-old children on a path to read at grade level by third grade. To help achieve these goals, she eliminated fines for children's books and materials at city libraries.
In December 2016, Warren ended the city's red light camera program. The insurance industry objected, citing its own studies which showed that cities that had used red light cameras between 2010 and 2014 had had a 21% drop in the number of fatal red light running crashes, while cities that had stopped using the cameras had had a 30% increase in such deaths. In response to these studies, Warren justified her decision to remove the cameras by saying, "I reached the conclusion the benefits simply don't justify a further extension... I'm very concerned that too many of these tickets have been issued to those who simply can't afford them, which is counter-productive to our efforts to reverse our city's troubling rates of poverty."
Though designated as an elector in the 2020 Presidential Election, New York Assembly Majority leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes, served as her alternate.
On June 22, 2021, following a troubled second term, Warren lost the Democratic primary to Rochester city councilman Malik Evans, conceding the race to Evans later that night. As part of a plea deal to resolve her charges of breaking campaign finance rules in the 2017 election, Warren formally stepped down as mayor on December 1, with deputy mayor James Smith serving as acting mayor until Evans was inaugurated on January 1, 2022. Her final act in office was to submit a proposal for a guaranteed basic income pilot program for impoverished families in the city.
Personal life
Warren and her husband Timothy Granison have one daughter together.
In 2016 Warren put a red, white and blue sign next to Susan B. Anthony's grave the day after Hillary Clinton officially won the nomination for President at the 2016 Democratic National Convention. The sign stated, "Dear Susan B., we thought you might like to know that for the first time in history, a woman is running for president representing a major party. 144 years ago, your illegal vote got you arrested. It took another 48 years for women to finally gain the right to vote. Thank you for paving the way."
