Last Updated on July 10, 2018, 10:19 PM | Published: July 10, 2018
JoBeth Hamon, 28, announced Tuesday that she is running for the center-city Ward 6 Oklahoma City Council seat open in 2019.
Meg Salyer has held the seat for a decade, first taking office in 2008 after substantial involvement for years in city committees before that. She will retire at the end of this term.
Hamon is the second person to announce a run for the seat which represents core neighborhoods of Oklahoma City.
Downtown, Midtown, Classen-Ten-Penn, and Heritage Hills are in Ward 6 as it runs to NW 23rd Street north of the river.
South of the Oklahoma River, the ward includes Riverside, Airpark and Rancho Village neighborhoods stretching all the way to SW 59th Street.
Contested
She jumps into the race against Nathaniel Harding, a businessman, board member of John Rex Charter School and volunteer member of the Downtown Design Review Committee and the MAPS 3 Citizens Advisory Board who announced in June.
Hamon made her announcement on her 28th birthday Tuesday surprising some with simultaneous announcements on Twitter and Facebook at JoBeth for Ward 6 including asks for campaign donations.
I’ve got some news, Twitterverse! I am so excited to announce that I am officially running to serve as OKC’s Ward 6 City Councilor! I’ve decided to run bc I love OKC & it’s growth but want to ensure that our city isn’t leaving people behind.
— JoBeth Hamon ?? (@jospacebear) July 10, 2018
Full campaign
She also launched her website at the same time, jobethhamon.com, where a bio and a listing of priorities is available for those who want to learn more, volunteer and give.
In her bio on the website, Hamon says that she lives without a car, depending on her bike and EMBARK busses for transportation.
Priorities listed on her website are
- ending homelessness,
- improving OKC public transportation,
- improving bicycle and pedestrian connectivity, and
- increasing sustainability efforts.
She and her partner, Marty Peercy, work at jobs where sensitivity to people’s needs is a daily requirement.
Hamon is the education coordinator for the Mental Health Association of Oklahoma after having been involved in a homeless shelter and food pantry earlier in her life in Chicago.
Peercy is one of the small Curbside Chronicle staff helping their clients advance into housing from homelessness.
She closes her “Priorities” page encouraging growth in the center of the city that includes everyone.
The growth our city has experienced over the past decade is energizing and exciting – however, urban development often comes with the negative consequence of rising property values that push long-time residents out of their neighborhoods. Strong and vibrant cities must work with neighborhoods to ensure mindful growth that curbs gentrification and ensures opportunities for our vulnerable neighbors to benefit from our city’s growth.
Members of the Oklahoma City Council receive $12,000 per year. Terms are four years.
The primary election will be February 12, 2019, for Wards 2,5,6 and 8.
To tell if you are in Ward 6, go to the Ward 6 page on the City’s website and enter your address in the search field at the top of the map.
Founder, publisher, and editor of Oklahoma City Free Press. Brett continues to contribute reports and photography to this site as he runs the business.
