"As a candidate for Mayor of Hawthorne, I am proactive in collaborating with local law enforcement to ensure safer neighborhoods, advocating for housing policies that provide affordable options for all residents, and championing initiatives that attract businesses and create jobs, fostering a thriving community for everyone.
Additionally, I oppose new taxes and excessive salaries for elected officials, ensuring that our city's resources are used efficiently and responsibly.
LIST OF ISSUES
ECONOMIC PROSPERITY
As Mayor, Amie Shepard resolves to work tirelessly with the City Manager and local businesses to maintain a balance between Hawthorne's bread-and-butter small businesses and large corporations. Shuttered storefronts are not acceptable!
While working as a professional Commercial Realtor, Amie has targeted blighted areas like Hawthorne Blvd, Inglewood Ave, & Prairie Ave working to bring new businesses into the city. Her pride in the city works to establish long-time partnerships with our Business Community. With previous endorsements from the BizFed Pac, Amie Shepard is a clear choice to expand the footprint of Hawthorne's business economy into the region.
As part of her robust Economic Redevelopment Plan, she would engage a Business Incubator. These positions have ranged across the country from a single Economic Development Director, to an entire Economic Task Force whose sole priority is to recruit top-notch businesses of all sizes. This Incubator would be responsible for creating a public relations campaign to draw business into Hawthorne.
Because her policies are "revenue-driven," the creation of this Incubator is paid for entirely through commission derived from Business Tax revenue. Not a dollar needs to come from the General Fund to pay for this!
She is committed to "Shop Small," a movement to encourage local, small business shopping in our communities. As Mayor she would be dedicated to helping small businesses flourish. By creating tax-based incentives, generating a pipeline of micro-investors & raising the economic spending power of our neighborhood, we can create job growth & prosperity for our residents and business owners.
LIMIT CAMPAIGN DONATION LIMITS
After the 2020 Elections, Hawthorne City Council members voted to establish Campaign Contribution Limits to $100,000. This is unacceptable and creates a Pay-To-Play environment with Special Interests.
Amie Shepard believes Campaign Contribution Limits should be set at $5500, the standard in most California elections, to ensure that residents and small businesses get their voices heard!
STOP THE CITY CHARTER
Say NO to $95,000 Salaries for Council Members!
Back in 2022, the City Council created a City Charter to enhance their salaries to $75,700 per year. Under the guise of becoming a Charter City instead of General Law City, they have used this opportunity to draw attention the Land Use protections while failing to clearly explain lavish salaries. Amie Shepard said NO to this pork-barrel legislation and called 13,129 neighbors to ask them to join the fight against the Charter! You fought it and WON!
Today, we still have higher priorities than bloated salaries and a new City Hall building. But earlier this year, the City Council hired a consultant to redraft this Charter nonsense. Instead of focusing on our homeless crisis, decreasing crime, restoring law & order, and illegal dumping/fireworks, they are trying to pay themselves AGAIN!
There is still time for voters to say NO in November IF they publish the text. In an email dated July 8, 2024, the Deputy City Clerk stated that the presentation in February 2024 Council chambers "produced no responsive documents." It was just a presentation.
That didn't stop the plans for new offices. Check out the UNFUNDED project here. CITY HALL REVITALIZATION
Hawthorne City Council still prioritizes themselves over the people they serve! Amie Shepard thinks any extra funds should be given as Down Payment Assistance to renters with good jobs who are unable to build wealth through homeownership because of rising California prices.
READ THE 2022 CHARTER TEXT HERE. - City Council Compensation
"Measure I is a proposed charter adoption that would allow the city to obtain maximum authority over City affairs, allow all Council members to appoint member to City commissions subject to approval of the council, uphold the authority of the City Attorney to prosecute misdemeanors and set annual compensation for Council members at the 2021 HUD low-income level for a family of two ($75,700) with any future salary adjustments subject to general law. ."
BAN THE BANG! ELIMINATE FIREWORKS PERMANENTLY
Once again, current elected officials profit from the FIREWORKS stands in Hawthorne. It’s unconscionable that so many residents complain and utilize police resources to mitigate the damage these fireworks have in our community, and we get ignored by our electeds. Shame on City Council for doing nothing but profit!
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As Mayor, she will PERMANENTLY BAN all fireworks within the City of Hawthorne.
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I will hold the Hawthorne Police Department accountable for issuing citations and encourage them to repeat Gardena PD's success in BUSTING the BAD GUYS in a 75-ton BUST of illegal fireworks stored dangerously in a warehouse.
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She will vote to INCREASE FINES to $5000 for persons caught lighting illegal fireworks and $10,000 for those selling, transporting or illegally storing fireworks.
HAWTHORNE MALL PROJECT
Multiple administrations have tried, and failed to develop the mall. With her unique experience in Commercial Real Estate, she has the business experience needed to bring developers back to the table.
The City of Hawthorne is a crowned jewel in the South Bay economic arena, home to major corporations like SpaceX, Tesla, and Amazon. On the precipice of a business renaissance, the former mall site is a diamond in the rough. For decades, the defunct mall has been an embarrassing blight to the City and a drain on our resources. She is motivated to work with new developers to bring a quality project to our neighborhood, worthy of a home in our City.
The Downtown Hawthorne Specific Plan was a community-driven urban renewal plan that our elected officials campaigned on. Not ONE SINGLE element of the plan has been implemented. As Mayor, Amie resolves to get this project back on track. She will work diligently to ensure an ethical, transparent project that involves the community at every level possible. It is an essential goal to preserve the integrity of existing businesses along Hawthorne Boulevard, while progressing the City forward with new development.
As Mayor, Amie Shepard will move to abandon the fruitless lawsuit and get back to the negotiating table with a prosperous plan for City and Developer. She will fight for LOCAL CONTROL of our urban planning and OPPOSE legislation like SB9, SB10 and AB2011 which gave Developers the ability to carve up Single Family lots an develop abandoned, blighted commercial property for HIGH-DENISTY housing with little City oversight.
For current information on the Downtown Hawthorne Specific Plan & proposed mall project, please link to Amie's social media page here.
AFFORDABLE HOUSING PROGRAMS
As a dedicated local and experienced realtor, Amie Shepard is committed to implementing comprehensive strategies for affordable housing in Hawthorne. Her main priority is Down Payment Assistance for hard-working families that can qualify for a mortgage but have a hard time saving a 20% down payment with rising inflation costs and stagnant wages.
These programs work as micro-loans, being repaid when the home sells, allowing the homeowner to realize equity but also making the program sustainable for generations to come. As a 3rd generation Hawthorne resident, planting roots is so important to establish a sense of community but also to grow passive wealth while you work at your career!
She advocates for zoning reforms that incentivize the construction of affordable housing, and utilize public-private partnerships to leverage funding and resources. Additionally, she prioritizes the preservation and rehabilitation of existing affordable housing stock to ensure long-term sustainability.
Amie's plan includes collaborating with developers to create mixed-income housing projects that integrate affordable units seamlessly into new developments.
By fostering community engagement and working closely with stakeholders, a diverse range of housing options that meet the needs of all Hawthorne residents is created, ensuring that everyone has access to safe, quality, and affordable homes.
VERMONT GALAXY TRANSITIONAL LIVING
In 2023, Amie Shepard was humbled by an invitation to join other local Realtors in creating the Vermont Galaxy Transitional Home on Vermont Ave in Los Angeles. The vision of a few regular people culminated into the transformation of a local defunct church into a Transitional Home for 80 men in LA! Vermont Galaxy is currently in negotiations with the Department of Veteran Affairs to launch a pilot program to house Los Angeles' most vulnerable group of vets who diligently served our country.
Amie Shepard on the Issues
Amie Shepard on the Issues
