Cameron Hamilton
Cameron Hamilton biography
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I am running for re-election to the Porterville City Council because I believe I have an obligation to the citizens of Porterville. I am a fiscal conservative that takes fiscal oversight very seriously. I believe that the citizens must have a represntative that holds their opinion above my own and has a voting record that reflects their interests and not necessarily the opinion of the Government agency. I have started many projects that favor the citizens of Porterville and would like to continue bringing projects and jobs to our area that will increase our quality of life. In the very near future Porterville will be facing a very hard decision about Indian Gaming in our city. I believe it is imperative that the citizenry have a strong voice in this decision and I vow to be their reprentative voice. It has been a priviledge and honor to serve on the Porterville City Council I would very much appreciate the opportunity to represent our City for another term.
Hamilton on neighborhoods
We are governed by law that we can only do certain things with city funds. That being said we do have access to home improvement funds for upgrades on low income housing, which are utilized quite well in our city. The best and foremost thing we can do is upgrade the streets and put in more lighting and landsape. Also we recently hired two code enforcement officers to insure that personal property is not a nuisance and we aggressivly persue this avenue.
Hamilton on Tule River Tribe
I am of the belief that this is the most important decision this new council will be making in the very near future. As such I have called for public input and will vote the will of the people.
Hamilton on jobs
The job market is very competitive, And we as a council new that we had to lay the foundation for new job creation. Our first order of business was establishing an area of industrail zoned, and then bringing the infrastructure of water and sewer to this area, We then aggressively sought out potential companies and our first success was a 35 acre SCE plant that will employ upto 200 employees at approximatley $35 an hour. We have several other companies negoitiating with us at present. We also created a zone for major retail outlets and have been able to establish a 640000 sq retail outlet that will create approximately 800 new jobs. This will benefit the city in sales tax dollars, and also the convenience of not leaving the area to do our shopping. As you can see the present council has been very proactive in job creation and new shopping opportunities.
Hamilton on quashing gangs
Gangs have obviously been a poblem in most central valley towns. Two years ago we started hosting gang awareness meetings and then put a sales tax iniative on the ballot that was passed by almost 75%. we have used those monies to increase both our police force and fire dept. Our approach to gangs is threefold, prevention, suppression and education. Our police force is active in a county wide effort to suppress gang activities, but we also go to the neighborhoods of Porterville and ask for support from churches and individuals to identify the needs of the youth so that their attention may be put into more positive activities. This council supported fanancially the upstart of a boys and girls club for just this reason. As we learn more about what moves our youth toward gangs we will be very active in combating thier recruitment of our young. We also recognized that education and the ability to communicate and read was very important, so through our sales tax measure we fund literacy programs at our city library.
Hamilton on medical marijuana
This is an issue that is very fuzzy. California passed proposition 218 which makes medical marijuana legal in California but it is contrary to Federal law. We have looked carefully at this and have found that the Federal Government is very aggressive in shutting down these institutions, and therefore we have a moratorium on thier establishment in Porterville until the two agency's can come to some consistant legislation. It is my opinion that Prop 218 is to loosely written and that any medical marijauna should be dispersed by pharmacy's just like all other medicines.
Hamilton on city finances
We have already analyazed the city funding for the next two years. We are now reacting to a revenue shortage of just over 1 million dollars. We have been very conservative in recent years and will weather the state budget crisis by using reserves we built over the last few years. Since being on the city council we have never cut off any services, with the exception of closing our library on Saturdays. We may have to put in a policy of Job freezes, but it will not effect overall services that the city provides. I will not support any new taxes, increase of fees or charges.
Hamilton on Porterville's image
The charter change of a city motto to "In God We Trust" is an issue for the electorate. I for one will be voting for it.
I believe that Porterville is the best city in California in which to live. However there is always room for improvement. The city council and the chamber of commerce are presently working on a branding program that will introduce our city to potential new families. We have taken a very hard look at our community and therer is some very exciting new events and programs that are being undertaken