{"id":12457,"date":"2026-09-25T19:07:50","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T19:07:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/candidates\/denise-hamilton\/"},"modified":"2026-09-25T19:07:50","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T19:07:50","slug":"denise-hamilton","status":"publish","type":"candidate","link":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/candidates\/denise-hamilton\/","title":{"rendered":"Denise Hamilton"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Previous Offices Held<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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First time running for office<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Top Three Priorities<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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My top three priorities are thoughtful growth, infrastructure, and independent research. Growth must be balanced with the capacity of our roads, schools, public safety, and other services. We need to maintain and plan for infrastructure before problems become more costly. I will independently research issues, ask questions, seek different perspectives, and base decisions on facts and what is best for Scarborough as a whole.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Why are you running?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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After several years of attending meetings, researching issues, asking questions, and listening to residents, I realized I wanted to do more than advocate from the public comment podium. I\u2019m running to bring that same preparation and independent approach to the Council table. I want residents to feel heard and decisions to be based on facts, thoughtful planning, and what is best for Scarborough as a whole.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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What is the biggest challenge facing your town\/county? The biggest opportunity?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Scarborough\u2019s biggest challenge is managing growth while keeping pace with infrastructure, services, traffic, environmental impacts, and the burden on taxpayers. Our biggest opportunity is to plan more thoughtfully for the future, balancing new development with the needs of existing residents, protecting what makes Scarborough special, and making decisions today that are sustainable for generations to come.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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If you could change one thing about how the town\/county functions, what would it be and why?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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I would strengthen public communication and involvement earlier in the decision-making process. Too often, residents become aware of an issue after significant work has already occurred. Clear, timely information and meaningful opportunities for input before decisions are largely shaped would build trust, improve outcomes, and help ensure residents feel they are part of the process, not simply being informed of the result.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Do you support more development \u2013 i.e. more housing construction and business building in your town\/county? Why or why not?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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I support thoughtful development, not growth for growth\u2019s sake. New housing and businesses can benefit Scarborough, but infrastructure, traffic, environmental and taxpayer impacts must be considered. I also support requiring a percentage of housing in larger developments to be affordable, including options for seniors, so more people can afford to remain in the community they call home.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":7180,"template":"","meta":{"voter_guide_candidate_first_name":"Denise","voter_guide_candidate_middle_name":"","voter_guide_candidate_last_name":"Hamilton","voter_guide_candidate_suffix":"","voter_guide_candidate_race_id":12443,"voter_guide_candidate_age":62,"voter_guide_candidate_hometown":"","voter_guide_candidate_occupation":"Assistant controller and small business owner","voter_guide_candidate_bio":"Scarborough resident, small-business owner and finance professional. For several years, I have actively followed local government, researching issues and participating in municipal meetings.","voter_guide_candidate_education":"some college","voter_guide_candidate_years_in_municipality":"","voter_guide_candidate_headshot_url":"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/open?id=1prLrorKP1Z8vfqNHbpJEuxCGSUT9S_iH","voter_guide_candidate_date_filed":"","footnotes":""},"vg_party":[1186],"vg_residence_municipality":[],"class_list":["post-12457","candidate","type-candidate","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","vg_party-non-partisan"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates\/12457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/candidate"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates\/12457\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12458,"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates\/12457\/revisions\/12458"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"vg_party","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vg_party?post=12457"},{"taxonomy":"vg_residence_municipality","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vg_residence_municipality?post=12457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}