Mayor-elect Grassie: People don't trust government, and I want that to change

Rochester Mayor-elect Chuck Grassie sits down with WMUR political director Adam Sexton during a recent interview (WMUR screenshot)

ROCHESTER - Rochester Mayor-elect Chuck Grassie said when he takes office in January he hopes to begin to build better trust with the public.
During a Monday interview with WMUR political director Adam Sexton, Grassie acknowledged that "people tend to distrust government."
"That's because they don't really know what's going on, and it's not explained well to them," he added.
Grassie, a former state rep, said he wanted to use a variety of strategies to make sure constituents better understand what the government is trying to achieve.
"We have to utilize social media and the press to get info out to the public to make sure they understand the mechanics of what we're doing," he added.
Grassie noted that more affordable housing is key, and that he would be using every tool in the tool box to make it happen.
"Let's throw everything at the wall and see what sticks," he said. "Let's see what works and what doesn't work."
He added that some of the options he's been talking about are pallet shelters for the homeless, transitional housing, working with the county and tri-city mayors "to get people into homes, so we get them out of back yards and out of the woods."
He also touted The Ridge Marketplace as one of the city's greatest economic engines.
He also noted that the Phase II and Phase III portions of The Ridge would increase traffic on Route 11, but added that the state would be helping with improvements to the highway to ease the crunch.