This 18-year-old, full-time community college student ‘feels an obligation’ to run for Huntington Beach City Council

Amory Hanson said despite his young age, he sees himself as someone who can help Huntington Beach thrive.

The 18-year-old lifelong resident said he “feels an obligation” to run for city council.

“I feel our city needs some new, fresh leadership,” he said. “Also, I felt this would be a great way to help people.”

Hanson, who is enrolled in community college full-time, said the revitalization of downtown and homelessness are his main concerns.

He said downtown should be transformed to an area that attracts “different types of people,” aside from bar-goers.

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A performing arts center, he said, would be a perfect solution. He also recommends moving governmental buildings like City Hall to downtown Huntington Beach.

“Downtown is not supposed to be an area for late-night drinking, in my opinion,” said Hanson, who lives downtown. “It should be a place where government runs and where government does its actions. I think we could expand the library down there and move City Hall downtown.”

While he ideally sees a performing arts center put in a Verizon retail store at 520 Main Street, he admitted he has not studied the city’s budget to see what could be affordable. He suggested the center could be funded by donations or a cultural interest grant.

“We need something,” he said. “If it’s not a performing arts center, we need something that’s different from what we have already.”

He also said he believes the city should combat homelessness more.

While the city and police department each have homeless task forces, Hanson said he thinks more could be done, though he didn’t have any specific examples.

“I ride the bus everywhere I go pretty much, and it’s very troubling for me to see a lot of homeless people who are sometimes endangering the welfare of other bus passengers,” he said.

He added he believes affordable housing in the city should be more staggered.

“We keep packing a ton of apartments into certain developments,” he said. “I don’t think it’s necessary for every single house in a development to be affordable housing. I don’t like the idea of slums coming to Huntington Beach. But I do think we need to have affordable housing in every area of the city, including downtown.”

He said he fears Huntington Beach is “heading into urbanization” and could attract a gang problem similar to cities like Santa Ana and Anaheim.

Regarding his youth, Hanson said his age wasn’t an incentive to run, but added he thinks younger people should be more civically responsible.

“I feel it’s a right every citizen is given,” said Hanson, who eventually wants to become a social sciences teacher.

“It’s unfortunate a lot of youth don’t partake in their civic government, and I actually would like to change that. I want there to be more education on the importance of voting, and I feel that’s important because I want our people to be aware that our city is probably one of the most civically involved of any city. I want to include our youth as well.”

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Brittany Woolsey, brittany.woolsey@latimes.com

Twitter: @BrittanyWoolsey