Derrick Boazman
From dKosopedia
Derrick Boazman was a candidate for Atlanta City Council President in 2004. Before he resigned to run, he served Atlanta City Council District 12.
From "Four names to ponder if you live in Atlanta" by Colin Campbell in the Atlanta Journal Constitution:
In his nearly two terms on the council he made a reputation, first as pro-Bill Campbell and later as anti-Franklin and highly visible. He can be witty and charming; he's also given to long speeches. Boazman sees himself as an outspoken protector of his black constituents from crime, neglect, ripoffs and rising city fees. He says his life as a consultant has mirrored his political life: Boazman advises nonprofit groups and others in organizing and workplace diversity. He's single.
Boazman was a consistent ally of Campbell, siding with him on most issues. Later, Boazman became a vocal critic of Mayor Shirley Franklin.
As a councilman, he has stirred controversy by advocating removing the name of former Mayor William Hartsfield, who was white, from Atlanta's airport, and renaming the airport after former Mayor Maynard Jackson, who was black. (The airport ultimately was named Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.)
Boazman came to politics early in life, and he wasn't afraid of radical tactics. He was president of student government at Morris Brown College when, in 1989, he led a takeover of the administration building. It was a protest over a plan to expel students who had fallen behind in their tuition payments.
"I learned that when you take a stance, you have to be willing to see it all the way through," Boazman told a reporter at the time. The 22-year-old student often toted a briefcase that held a copy of the ancient Chinese treatise "The Art of War."
Boazman went on to become a leader of his neighborhood planning unit (NPU-Y), fighting against a junkyard and pushing the city to clean up trash-strewn lots. He kept the same focus when he first ran for City Council in 1997, saying he would take on the prostitution and drug dealing along Metropolitan Parkway. . . .
In a recent interview, Boazman said he wants to be council president to advocate for the entire city on the issues that absorbed him in south Atlanta. He said his experience and government know-how make him a strong candidate.
And he said he cares about issues - trash in the streets, crime, clean and efficient government, rising sewer rates, housing prices - that affect just about everyone. He said Buckhead and south Atlanta are flip sides of the same coin: Buckhead suffers from too much development, while south Atlanta suffers from too little. Not everyone in Buckhead is rich, he added.
Boazman said there is plenty of common ground among Atlantans. "There are really no major differences" between residents north and south, he said. "I think there are perceptions that there are."
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