Doug Alexander
From dKosopedia
Doug Alexander is a candidate for Atlanta City Council President.
From "Four names to ponder if you live in Atlanta" by Colin Campbell in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
[T]he only white candidate, [Alexander] is a former public relations man who served eight years on the City Council. Lately he has worked for the Georgia Rail Passenger Authority. Alexander thinks he can win the council presidency because he's the only candidate who has won two citywide campaigns. (The two other former councilmen in the race represented districts.) His plan is "to help the council members work well with each other and with the mayor. I want to be a conductor rather than a composer." He is married, with two sons.
"I would like the opportunity to effectively change how things operate. I want to bring my own style of inclusive leadership," Alexander said.
"I want to have an attitude where I am not the composer, but the conductor. My job is to make everyone work in concert."
Alexander said things have not always been that way in city government, as mayors have battled council presidents and council presidents have battled council members. During his time on the council from 1994 until 2002, Alexander served with presidents Marvin Arrington and Robb Pitts.
Alexander said that if elected, he would meet with each member of the council "in their office, at dinner or over a beer and say, 'What are you working on, and what can I do to help you?'
"When I was on the council, I never heard that," Alexander said. "If you listen to folks and give them an opportunity to let them tell you what they want to do, you get results. . . . "
Alexander, a native of Atlanta and graduate of Boston University, has been involved in politics by default most of his life. After college, he went to work with Wyche Fowler and Cleland, but he left in 1987 to start "Georgians for the Flag," a campaign to get rid of the Georgia flag that included the Confederate battle emblem.
Doug Alexander's campaign office at 14th and Spring streets in an old doughnut shop is packed with flags. Of note are an old city of Atlanta flag given to Cecil Alexander by former Mayor Ivan Allen Jr., an old American flag with 48 stars and, perhaps his favorite, the Barnes state flag.
"I will try to get the message out to all corners of the city and try to see everyone," Alexander said. "My door is open, and my mind is open."
Alexander is pushing tax cuts, public transportation - particularly streetcars - and improvements to the city's infrastructure. He said he supports the proposed penny sales tax, which also will be on the ballot. The tax, which would give Atlanta the highest sales tax in Georgia, would be used to help the city pay for sewer repairs.
"I'm never in favor of more taxes, but we need to show the state, the federal government and the county that we are going to take responsibility for the problems we made," Alexander said.
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