Anthony Brown enters Cedar Rapids council race

If elected, Anthony Brown would become the youngest member of the City Council - by far.

"I'm kind of an Average Joe wanting to stand up and be a servant leader - to offer a fresh perspective and voice for the community," says the 29-year-old Brown. "I want to give voice to the underrepresented."

Brown, a 2002 Jefferson High School graduate who has taken classes at Kirkwood Community College, is manager of community engagement and development at Diversity Focus, a corporation-supported non-profit organization that promotes diversity, cultural awareness and inclusion in Cedar Rapids and in the Corridor.

Brown is openly gay.

He says he is not running against the current City Council, and generally, he says the council and its nine members are doing a good job.

At the same time, he notes that the average age on the council is in the high 50s - it's actually 61 - and no member is younger than 52, which is Mayor Ron Corbett's age. He knows that the council has had only two council members in their 30s, Brian Fagan and Sarah Henderson, since the city changed to a part-time council with city manager in 2006.

Generally, people of certain ages have certain circles that they operate in, "but there are numerous other circles out there," Brown says.

In the city election of 2011, Justin Wasson, then 23, and Taylor Nelson, then 19, ran without success.

Brown was born in Wichita, Kan., and grew up in a broken home with "difficult childhood experiences," which led him to Iowa with his mother when he was entering the 10th grade. He is an older brother to seven sisters.

"(I) wouldn't change those experiences for the world," he says. "It has let me experience both the good and bad in society."

He reports that he worked nearly full-time in a Westdale Mall restaurant to help support his family while in high school, where he played cello in the high school orchestra.

He has worked in the production department at Yellowbook and for an Internet design firm. In 2010, he served as a Democratic Party field organizer for then-Gov. Chet Culver's re-election campaign. He has been at Diversity Focus since March 2012. He is a volunteer for an assortment of community groups and a board member on others. This year, he created a monthly downtown concert series at the Opus Concert Café after listening to people complain there wasn't enough to do, he says.

Brown calls himself a "community builder" and "connector" and says he as a council member he will foster innovative business development and push for Cedar Rapids to be a "thriving" urban area.

He has supported the city's 1-percent local-option sales tax for flood recovery and the two unsuccessful attempts to extend the tax, which expires June 30, 2014, to help fund flood protection, and in one instance, also to fix streets. He proposes that the tax now be extended with most of the revenue going to fix streets.

Brown also supports the construction of a casino because it will bring more entertainment options to the city. He says that the city did the right thing to buy and renovate the downtown hotel, and he thinks the city may now be able to sell it in the years ahead and use the revenue to help pay for flood protection.

Brown, who resides with his partner at 834 25th St. NE, is in council District 2, which is represented by Monica Vernon. He says he likely would run for the District 2 seat if Vernon, who is not up for re-election but who is running for Congress, would decide to step down. She has no such plans, she reports.

As a result, Brown will seek one of two at-large council seats on the November ballot.

To date, incumbent Chuck Swore, former council member Jerry McGrane and Ralph Russell, retired former head of HR Green Inc., are running as at-large candidates. Incumbent Don Karr has not announced his intentions.