Links
Welcome
Thank you very much for taking some time to come to my website and look over my platform. If you are reading this then you are likely to know that I am a candidate for the Geneva City Council, 4th Ward. My approach is quite simple: protect and enhance - Geneva's financial security, our beautiful lake and lakefront, our neighborhoods and the public peace, the urban character of downtown, and the political process. I hope to address the wide variety of opportunities and challenges facing the Geneva community with creative solutions and will apply rigorous analysis in developing our options.
I present my platform in a short, easy-to-read version below. (The medium-length version immediately follows.) After that is an abbreviated bio of my personal history and involvement in the community which now encompasses more than half of my 58 years of life.
My original web announcement regarding my candidacy can be found in the section call "Local." It is essentially a narrative that keys off of the word "protection." If you have any comments or suggestions, please feel free to email me at rkcamera@gmail.com. If you would like to talk to me in person about your views and aspirations for the next four years of City government, please come to my Meet-the-Candidate night reception at the Geneva Free Library, Wednesday, October 10th. from 7pm to 8pm. Otherwise, I will see you in the neighborhoods of the 4th Ward.
I hope after you read my platform statements you will find a reason to support my candidacy and vote for me on election day.
Thanks again....
Ken
September 13, 2007
Camera platform for City of Geneva, Geneva City Council, 4th Ward - (Short Version)
1. Taxes - Reprioritize discretionary spending, make some tactical cuts to stabilize taxes; strive for no tax increases for the next four years; develop revenue strategies, add to reserve accounts, take long term approach...
2. Neighborhoods and Social Peace - Identify the whole complex of issues regarding neighborhoods and safety; identify roles of City Council and Administration, Families, and Schools; invigorate neighborhood groups and better integrate communications with police and City Administration...
3. City Gov't and Council - Foster a more open and accountable City government. Make City Council more user-friendly - display public presentations and reports using overhead projection so live and television audiences can see materials. Be friendlier. Develop objective information to improve criteria for decision-making.
4. Environment - Improve City's carbon footprint and energy efficiency through better spending practices...
5. Future - Embrace touristic future of Geneva - natural beauty (ecology) and wine...
6. Town of Geneva - Engage Town in joint projects that reduce costs; remind Town of moral responsibility to assist City
7. Aesthetics - Give City a make-over; start detailing gateways and public spaces... and push for better maintenance program for downtown.
8. Protection - Neighborhoods, trees, traditional downtown urban character, Seneca Lake, lake access, tax base, the interests of unaffiliated residents'...
9. Lake and Lakefront - Protection or enhancement lake water quality must be a component of all economic development; rigorously review all proposed lakefront projects; assume regional and social perspectives regarding new projects; resuscitate Interpretive Center concept for the lakefront.
10. Financial and Economic Development Perspective - Ask questions and apply Retern on Investment (ROI) criteria before approval of all projects.
September 8, 2007
Camera platform for City of Geneva, Geneva City Council, 4th Ward (medium length)
1. Governance - Foster more transparency in local government business.
a. Create fact sheets on important topics of public interest and Council agenda topics so that Council persons and the public have more accurate information about these matters than what they can read in the newspaper/s.
b. Advocate for better defining and then following political processes so that we can improve/enhance public participation in local affairs.
c. Ask all council persons and City administrators to resign from membership in organizations which put them in a position of conflict of interests as defined by NYS Attorney General's office.
d. Advocate for better definition and separation of City, County, and IDA processes related to economic development so that Council can more effectively monitor the affiliations and disbursements that are made by the City administration.
2. Taxes - Actively promote the financial solvency of the City. Virtually all the area's charitable and non-profit organizations are concentrated within the City limits but are enjoyed by all area residents. In spite of the positives of employment, services and educational and cultural enhancements the financial burden of maintaining all the necessary services is born by City property owners. Therefore I will support initiatives that reduce waste and increase efficiency in City government and also increase City revenues including by:
a. Supporting the implementation of a local hotel occupancy tax
b. Initiating a dialogue with the Town of Geneva regarding areas where we can work together to share services and reduce costs.
c. Establishing budgetary guidelines which hold the City to small or no tax increases for the next four years
d. Supporting the new governor's strategy of consolidation of local government entities which are a hold-over from another era...
3. Downtown - Preservation and enhancement. Actively support initiatives and programs to preserve and enhance the traditional downtown urban character of the City that uniquely distinguishes us from other communities and is at the core of our economic development and tourism strategies.
4. Lakefront Development - Access, vistas, and interest. In any additional development of Geneva's Lakefront, I will follow these guidelines: preservation of Lakefront access, lake visibility from 5&20, walking paths and tree stands. I don't see condo construction as a viable option for the lakefront. I do support the development of a tasteful Seneca/Finger Lakes Interpretive and Wine center on the Lakefront.
5. Environment - Review City spending practices to enhance the environment. Encourage the City Administration to consider the environmental impacts of all the expenditures it makes to assure residents that we are being good stewards of our local and regional environments.
Robert (Ken) Camera
163 Lafayette Ave.
789-2458 office, 781-2246 home.
Biographical Information
____________
Robert (Ken) Camera
My full name is Robert Kendrick Camera. I have lived in Geneva, NY. in beautiful upstate New York for over half my 58 years. I am married and have two girls, 13 and 9 years old. We also board two groovy cats - Marta and Duncan. I am GM of PRES Energy Procurement, a division of PRES Services, LLC - an energy services company that develops energy efficiency projects and assists large customers buy electric and natural gas supply for their facilities.
Education -- Hobart College, Geneva, NY
BS Economics 1972
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
MS Energy Management and Policy 1984
Work -- Facilities Management; Energy Consulting (domestic and international assignments); Business Planning and Start-ups, Energy Information Systems; Commodity Sales, Energy Procurement.
Activities -- Co-Founder, Secretary, President of the Finger Lakes Regional Art Council; Established in 1978-1982 to preserve the Smith Opera House
Geneva Soccer Club 2002-Present
City of Geneva Planning Board 2004-2005
City of Geneva, Overlay Zoning Advisory Committee 2005-2007
Site Council Representative, Geneva Middle School 2005-Present
Board Member, St. Peter's Arts Academy 2006-Present
Co-founder of the Geneva Middle School (GMS) Parent Initiative February 2006 - Present.
| Support Ken for the 24th! |
Current News
Note for Viewing. Best is at screen resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels. If you need to change, go to Control Panel, Display, Settings and adjust Screen Resolution.
Federal Budget Assessment and Health Care Commentary. April 2006. David Durenberger, Former Republican Senator from Minnesota and now Chairman of The National Institute of Health Policy, wrote a commentary on the Bush's FY 2007 Federal Budget (starting October 1, 2006). In this commentary he uses words like "unrealistic," "pork," and "unethical" to describe a number of legislative activities before finally talking about health care. Go to Budget and Health Commentary for an enlightening read.
Health Care Debate. April 2006. The World Health Care Congress just wrapped up its conference in Washington, DC providing a great overview of health care issues of concern - cost and quality. There are two competing views regarding the direction the country should pursue - "Consumer directed" approach (championed by the Bush Administration) making extensive use of health savings accounts OR the Single-payer approach (championed by Ted Kennedy and others) which is what is currently practiced in most of the country (group practice/"integrated medicine") but extending it to all citizens. Regardless of which approach one favors, the conference made it clear that neither system can really deliver its promise without making medical information more readily available to consumers - the prices of medical procedures and services and the quality of medical treatment ("outcomes") by physicians and hospitals.
Money and Politics. April 2006. According to a a recent article in the Democrat & Chronicle (4/13/06, J. Machacek), the price of the 24th Congressional District's seat in Congress has appreciated almost 300% from the $1.7 million spent by Sherwood Boehlert (who is retiring) and his opponents in 2004 to the estimated over $5 million expected to be spent in a combination of party primaries and then the election in November. The tactics of off-term elections are focused on the districts where a seat has a chance of changing hands from one party to another and thereby making a difference in which party controls the House of Representatives. The major parties identify the districts that are contestible and then all resources are shifted to these elections. It would be interesting to know where the money comes from. Is "all politics" really all that "local?" Or maybe voters in the 24th Congressional District have that kind of money to spend on political campaigns.