One of Phoenix City Council’s District 8 special election hopefuls, Camaron Stevenson, decided to run after working on what he calls the “other side of politics.”
That “other side” according to Stevenson, is his previous work with political campaigns along with being a writer and activist.
“Writing about issues and advocating for them can only go so far if no one is listening to what you’re saying,” he said.
Stevenson was born and raised in Phoenix and attended ASU, where he graduated from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. He then became a writer for the website Upworthy, writing about “community solutions to worldwide problems.”
“I did a report in 2014 about the militarization of police. We found that Maricopa County had a stronger military force, in terms of arms and weaponry, than over 100 countries,” Stevenson said. “They were taken off that program, Sheriff Joe lost his tank. It was something that I felt did a lot of good.”
Last year, Phoenix had the most police shootings in the entire U.S.; it is a hot topic for anyone running for office in the city.
“My issue with the police force is two-fold: the community doesn’t feel safe, and the police force is under stress,” he said, adding that he felt a lack of transparency contributed to the problem.
Stevenson wants to initiate a citizens’ review board, giving members of the public the opportunity to review body cam footage and subpoena power.
“We have seen a few instances over the years where the police have acted in a brutal fashion and other police departments have investigated and found no wrongdoing, which unfortunately seems more as if they’re working to protect their own rather than trying to protect the people,” he said.
Stevenson also wants the city of Phoenix to pull out of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency’s 287(g) program, in which both state and local law enforcement work to enforce immigration law.
“Currently, it’s illegal for us to not cooperate with immigrant enforcement agencies,” Stevenson said. “What we can do, though, is make them foot the bill.”
Stevenson’s plan is modeled after one that the city of Tucson passed, which essentially charges ICE for the use of their jails, vehicles and manpower.
“If we’re going to do their job for them, we need to have them pay for it,” he said.
Currently, Stevenson is a communications director of the Arizona Housing Coalition. Affordable housing is important to him. Stevenson wants to enact a vacancy tax.
“If anyone opens more than one unit, if the second one is vacant for more than half the year, that incentivizes them to either lower the rent or those funds would be used to build affordable housing,” he said.
Stevenson maintains that a large part of homelessness is due to a lack of affordable housing.
“The majority of people in that situation will be in that situation for on average 28 days. The reason that is, is because they got evicted, they just have to save up,” said Stevenston, citing that people typically have to pay two month’s rent along with an extra fee after being evicted.
As for what he calls “chronic homelessness,” he plans to start a “one for one” program, where around a 100 people will work one on one with those who are homeless and attempt to help them out of their situation.
“Every single day they’re going out and learning about the person they’re assigned, learning their name and their story and showing them there’s someone who cares,” he said.
Another big aspect of Stevenson’s campaign is advocating for workers’ rights. He plans to initiate a citywide minimum wage, because he believes there is a possibility the state could revoke the increase that passed in 2016.
“I also want to create a mandatory two-week scheduling law: if you’re working an hourly job, you need to have a two week notice to what your schedule is going to be, along with doing away with non-emergency on-call positions,” he said.
Stevenson’s campaign is currently running out of his house and he has been canvassing himself.
“I first met Camaron shortly before we hired him onto Kathy Hoffman’s campaign. I regard him as the best political digital strategist in the state,” said Christy Love, a member of his staff. “Since that time I have been consistently impressed with his depth of knowledge, willingness to listen, and commitment to progressive ideals. His work ethic can’t be matched, and I’m confident he’ll bring that same dedication to the City Council.”
The special election vote will take place on March 12, but early and absentee ballots have already been sent out.
Contact the reporter at nhthomps@asu.edu.
