Fellow kossacks!
My name is Joe Shaw and I have decided to run for Huntington Beach, California City Council. I am a downtown HB business owner and I want to make our city more friendly to small business.
I have filed my intention to run papers and my election committee papers. Huntington Beach is ranked as the 25th most conservative city in the United States, according to the
Bay Area Center for Voting Research. The good news is that we run a non-partisan election and voters are allowed to vote for four candidates.
My decision to run is based on the recent actions of our mayor and city staff in their plans to close our downtown Main Street to through traffic. I am not going to bore you with the details, but what I've learned is that our city's Economic Development Department and our city council have no idea of the business dynamics of downtown, our central tourist area.
I have set up a blog, Greetings from Downtown Huntington Beach where you may read more about what's going on in our downtown. The blog has been getting quite a bit of attention in Orange County.
But more important, our city is dysfunctional in its dealings with business and citizens.
The city should be removing obstacles to doing business, not creating them.
Permits take too long to process, both for business and for home remodeling and building. I am proposing to make our permit process less burdensome by putting the permit process online. In addition, we will need to work with city staff to find ways to shorten permit approval times.
City departments should be run like a business and our residents should be treated like customers.
Visit my website, JoeShawforHB, for more of my ideas and positions.
A number of people have observed lately that Republicans are not really very good at running government. That is certainly true of three of the four candidates running for re-election.
Many would consider running against four incumbents a disadvantage, especially in a non-presidential election, when Democratic voters stay home, and where Republicans greatly outnumber Democrats.
What I have going for me is my public relations background, the fact that I have thousands of customers and that I am in my store nearly everyday, enabling me campaign seven days a week.
I am going to win.
I have been told that I need $80,000 to win, and that I would need to raise enough to have at least two mailings and maybe more.
I believe I can win with less, by running a smart campaign, and getting as much free publicity as I can get. I have put a small amount of my own savings into the race.
On July 17, when I file the rest of my candidancy papers, I will need $2200 to pay for the ballot statement. If any kossacks want to help me raise the ballot statement fee, it would be greatly appreciated.
You can donate on my website and clicking through to the donate page.
Please contact me at joe@joeshawforHb.com with any questions, suggestions or ideas, or if you want to volunteer to help us.
Thank you kossacks. I am very proud to be a part of this community.