Derek Hoyle for City Council

Q: Why are you running for City Council?

Derek: I've long felt the need to give back to my Community, and for several decades have performed volunteer work for many different public benefit organizations.

Almost four and a half years ago some issues came before the City Council that dealt with my neighborhood (Bainbridge Park) and thanks to one of my wonderful neighbors getting me involved, I attended a public meeting on a passionate issue, and like most citizens, I only had a vague idea of how City Government worked.

Oh, I had my ideas, but I was mistaken due to my incomplete knowledge of how City Government actually functioned. I started attending every City Council meeting, and eventually as many of the City Committee meetings as I could make the time for, where I eventually learned how all the City´s different Departments functioned as sort of a big 'machine'.

During the first of the four years I attended these many meetings I had no political aspirations, I just wanted to be self informed on every aspect of the City's Governmental process and to learn how the City functioned as a unit.

However, after one City Council meeting, and much to my surprise, one of the Council members asked me if I was going to run for City Council. I was taken aback because I hadn´t thought about it, so I said "maybe", and then thought about it for a few months. During that time several other people who noticed me at all these meetings started asking me if I was going to run, adding that I would make a 'good' Council member.

So I then sought out advice from informed people whom I trust and admire, and soon after that there was a vacancy on the Fort Bragg Planning Commission. I applied with my resume and I was appointed to the FB Planning Commission by (then) Mayor Hammerstrom in 2011, and then elected Chair of the Planning Commission in 2012, and reelected Chair in 2013.

I've enjoyed serving on the Planning Commission, but I'd like move on to the the City Council now that I have the extensive background necessarily to be an effective representative to serve in the best interests of Fort Bragg, it´s Citizens, Businesses and other organizations.

Q: Why should I Vote for You?

Derek: Well, for several reasons, but mainly because as a volunteer I´ve done all the hard work of getting to know a great deal about City Government. This gives me more of an insight into the ´big picture´ and the ability to distill it down into a more user friendly way for the average informed, or wanting to be more informed Citizen, so my ability to communicate the City issues is one reason.

Another reason is that I love Fort Bragg, and I´m passionate about it´s survival. I´ve lived within 3 blocks of Downtown FB for over 13 years and I know many of my local neighbors, and also business owners and employees all over town.

I promote and support Local Business as often as possible, and purchase most of my needs locally from our wonderful array of interesting businesses. I love the ocean views looking West down many of the local streets, I enjoy our wonderful Parks and fascinating Historical Museum. I not only want Fort Bragg to survive, I´d like to see it thrive and not wither into another dead former Mill town.

Q: What will you do on the City Council if Elected?

Derek: I´ll be looking towards the future and do my best to represent the Citizens and Businesses of Fort Bragg by doing whatever I can to help keep the City infrastructure from deteriorating, and doing my best within reason to be accommodating to existing and new businesses that want to grow in Fort Bragg.

I´ll continue working to help our local youth in any way possible, because they are Fort Bragg's future and we need to keep them engaged so they'll feel like a part of this town and want to live here and take care of it long into the future.

And I´m always looking for ways to build a stronger Community, Fort Bragg is a very special and diverse small town that lost some of it´s past Community feeling, especially after the Mill and then several small businesses closed down, prompting many families to move away, so I'm open to any help or ideas that will go towards building a stronger Community.

Q: Who shot the photos on this website?

Derek: All photos on this website were taken by Derek Hoyle ©2013, unless otherwise clearly attributed. And all were taken inside the Fort Bragg City Limits, with the exception of three of them (can you guess which three?).

Many thanks to Paul House* for making the background image on this website available. It's a view of long ago Franklin Street at Oak Street, looking North up Franklin Street.

I count nearly 50 human figures in this image, how many do you see? For a large view of this image click here.

Q: Who built this website?

Derek: I did, yeah, it´s nothing fancy, I built it old school, no html editor, I code by hand. I had a website design business from 1999 until early 2001 where I built 30 to 40 websites until the Dot Com crash chilled the market for small time players, I closed down with the exception of doing Volunteer website work for local non profits.

Derek Hoyle for City Council