Doyle McClellan ran for Ferguson’s ward 1 city council position with the support of his wife, Hannah.
Hannah Auston
Layout Editor
On April 7, the city of Ferguson, Missouri held its elections for City Council. Doyle McClellan, a Lewis and Clark Assistant Professor of Computer Network Security and Administration, was in the running for City Ward #1.
“Ferguson is at a crucial point. Right now, almost every resident is asking questions about race in the community, how systemic issues impact people differently, and how we can move forward,” McClellan said. “I want to make sure we use this chance to analyze the underlying system and make deep and substantive changes, rather than knee-jerk reactions.”
Pictured above is a declaration of intent to run for Ferguson’s ward 1 city council position filed by Doyle McClellan on Dec 16, 2014.
McClellan’s campaign platform included six ideas: every plan must be made with the assumption revenues are shrinking, leverage private resources for public service and improvement, adjust law enforcement practices, strengthen social, economic, and cultural ties between residents, adjust code enforcement standards to encourage improvements and to support education.
In a USA Today interview, Ella Jones, who also ran for City Ward #1, said, “We need to start mentoring our young people, getting them the leadership skills they need.”
Getting the younger generations involved is something both Jones and McClellan agree on. In fact, the reason McClellan and his wife moved to Ferguson was to raise their son there: “We must all work together to ensure it is a town his generation will be proud to call home.”
McClellan said there are many city-wide issues that need to be addressed.
“We have got to get law-enforcement, courts, and codes out of the business of generating revenue. Those are parts of government whose top priority always needs to be to serve and to protect,” McClellan said. “In recent years, Ferguson embraced the idea of using these as new revenue streams, when they did, it fundamentally altered the relationship between the city and its residents.”
Doyle McClellan, his wife Hannah and son William with Al Jazeera America correspondent Ash-har Quraishi and producer Marla Cichowski after finishing an interview.
Visit http://bit.ly/1GkaL5y for more information on McClellan’s background or campaign. Stop by facebook.com/thelcbridge for the election results.
Contact Hannah at hannahauston@gmail.com
