Timothy Carter, a small-business owner and longtime resident of Berkeley, is running for a seat on the Berkeley City Council.
For more than 20 years, Carter has lived and worked in Berkeley. He built his own business in West Berkeley over the past 20 years, according to his website. In his campaign, Carter is focusing on homelessness, affordable housing and the small-business community.
Carter said being a small-business owner has inspired him to engage with members of the small-business community because he doesn’t think they “have a voice as small-business owners in the community.”
He added that he believes the attention to small-business owners is lacking in the City Council.
Carter is also chair of the Personnel Commission for the Berkeley Unified School District to ensure fair hiring practices. His children have grown up in the Berkeley public school system, according to his website.
“I’m vested in the community. I have children in the community,” Carter said. “You won’t find anyone more committed to get this job done.”
If elected, some of the first issues Carter would like to tackle are the homeless and affordable housing crises in Berkeley.
Carter said he feels that homelessness can be addressed in a much better manner than it is right now.
“The first thing I’d do when I get elected is address the housing issue,” Carter said. “We need to see an impact in our homeless neighbors to have sustainable housing in 18 months.”
Carter also said allowing nonprofits to purchase land for housing, rather than allowing corporations to charge high rents, would be a step in the right direction.
According to Carter, community engagement has been a consistent problem for the City Council, and he wants to improve that relationship.
Improving the relationship requires creating specific plans so the community is aware of what the council is doing to help, even if those plans fail, Carter added.
“It’s OK to not be 100% right, but we need to take action, and if the action isn’t sufficient, we learn from it but continue to take that action,” Carter said. “That’s what I’m going to bring to the council.”
While Carter has outlined the issues he wants to address in his campaign for City Council, he is still working on developing his platforms.
He aims to build his ideas up as he speaks to residents in order to create specific plans to address during his campaign.
“This is my first time into the political foray,” Carter said. “I’m a man who wants to make a difference.”
The general election will be held Nov. 3.
