Cover Stories Jawane Hilton - The Right Man at The Right Time for Carson
Councilmember Jawane Hilton is completing the interim term of former Carson City Councilmember and current Assemblymember Mike Gipson. Now the councilman is looking to begin his own term and set forth his own vision for the city of Carson.
“We have made great progress in Carson but there is still a lot for us to do” said Councilman Hilton.
“While we were not successful in bringing an NFL team to Carson, we still have a very promising site that will be developed into a first class retail and entertainment center for not only our residents to enjoy but for the entire South Bay Region to enjoy which will mean a significant increase in revenue to the city and a lot of new jobs for our residents.”
Jawane Hilton has always been involved in working to improve the quality of life for Carson Residents. He has been working for years in the community serving as the pastor of City on the Hill Church in Carson, but he has also been on the human relations commission and the public safety commission.
“We have had great success in the city of Carson for the past 14 months that I have been on the city council. We have opened a number of new restaurants, we have approved and completed a lot of new development projects which are bring both business and new residential units to the city. We have passed public transparency. Utility user tax which will keep the city of Carson from experiencing a fiscal crisis like so many other cities have had to struggle with. We have passed a city budget on time and managed to expand services to our youth, our public safety departments and our seniors. All while being able to put approximately 22 million dollar in the city’s reserves”
Carson politics have often been hard to manage. Former mayor and city clerk Jim Dear was beaten in his bid for re-election for mayor and then after winning the city clerk election by a very narrow margin and after several months of confusion, attacks and disruption citizens launched and were successful at re calling him. Now the city has put these difficult issues behind them and the city council is looking to move the city forward in a more conducive and united fashion.
“For the first time in a long time Carson is on the rise,” Hilton said.
“We are moving the city forward by leaps and bounds. We are bringing for the first time the Porsche Experience to the city, which will bring thousands of visitors to the city. We have a 5 star restaurant coming to the city. For the first time in a long time people are excited and want to do business in the city of Carson.”
Carson is a very unique city. It is a very middle class suburban community, but right in the heart of the county of Los Angeles with Compton, South Los Angeles and Watts bordering the city lines. It also is a very diverse community with a large African American, Latino and Pacific Islander population. The city also is the home of Cal State University Dominguez Hills. “Dominguez Hills for years was the college of last choice, but now the University is so well respected that is becoming a university of first choice,” said University President Dr. William J. Hagan. City Hall and the University work very well and very closely together and collaborate on a lot of projects. The university is looking to expand and certainly the city will play a vital role in helping the college grow, which would be nothing but a win/ win for both institutions. “Now Dominguez has a waiting list to attend the university and I am looking to take full advantage of this university to insure Carson residents benefit from having a world class institution right in the heart of our city. In the past 14 months since I have been on the council I have built a pipeline between the city and the college. I have developed an intern program for the students at Cal State Dominguez who want to work in government so that they get the opportunity and the experience of working for municipalities such as ours (Carson)”.
Carson is also a very family oriented city and Jawane Hilton has been at the forefront of providing opportunities for the young people of the city. The utility users’ tax that was just passed, the second biggest line item in the tax is for services for our parks and recreations department. “We have the greatest parks and recreation department of any city the size of ours in the country” stated Hilton. The city’s parks are open every day of the week, they have created internship programs to provide jobs for over 1000 of our youth between the ages of 16 and 18 as long as they had a 2.5 GPA or better. We are really working to live up to the city’s motto Future Unlimited”.
While Juwan Hilton is completing Gipson’s term, he says he always keeps in the forefront of his mind that is following in the footsteps of the first African American elected official in the City of Carson Gil Smith (who he reminded me is a supporter of his in this upcoming election). “We definitely like to support those individuals who shoulders we stand on in the city. Every day we have programs for our seniors. We have recreational programs to keep them active both physically and mentally or to just keep them entertained. We also make sure that we provide for their medical care.” Carson is the only city this side of Palm Springs, California which has a stroke center within the city providing much needed services to Carson residents and the surrounding community.
People often don’t like when cities enact new taxes, but the councilman is quick to point out that this tax was needed and helps to keep Carson moving and has been supported by the city’s residents. “The main focus of this tax was to provide more and better public safety to our residents, to expand our Parks and Recs. Services and provide more services for our seniors.”
Carson has much to do, but the city seems to be moving in the right direction. With a united city council, with a clear vision of where the city is looking to go and what they are looking to accomplish over the next 4 years the future appears to be nothing but up for the City of Carson. And with young progressive leadership of Jawane Hilton whose political future seems to be boundless we see nothing but great things for Carson. That is why The Los Angeles Watts Times and The Los Angeles Sentinel are proud to endorse Jawane Hilton for Carson City Council.