Montgomery teen plans to run for mayor - Montgomery Advertiser

January 15, 2009

A soon-to-be 18-year-old man plans to run for mayor as soon as he celebrates his birthday next week.

Jamel Brown will turn 18 on Sunday, Jan. 25. That leaves just two days left in the two-week qual­ifying period. He plans to file his papers on that Monday.

"I am running for mayor be­cause we need change in the city of Montgomery. I want to change the old politics and the politics as usual," Brown said Wednesday.

Brown was born and raised in west Montgomery, specifically in the Western Hills neighborhood. He said one of his major platforms is to bring west and east Montgom­ery together.

Brown said he would hold regu­lar town hall meetings to ensure that the mayor's office stayed abreast of the issues affecting resi­dents.

"We're going to get down to business -- the business of the peo­ple," Brown said.

Brown said the school system also needs the next mayor's atten­tion. Brown, who is working on his G.E.D., said he stopped attend­ing high school because of the un­necessarily stringent graduation exams.

"In our public schools our stu­dents are suffering because of high school exams. ... Every year, they change the exam. They make it tougher and change the questions. I believe in keeping it simple," he said.

Brown is also an ordained Bap­tist minister.

-- Jill Nolin