Ron Brown becomes third candidate for Hoover City Council Place 2

Ron Brown, a Chicago native who moved to the Birmingham area six years ago from Atlanta, said he never considered politics his cup of tea.

But about a year and a half ago, friends began encouraging him to think about running for Hoover City Council, and now he has decided to do it.

Brown said he will seek the Place 2 seat on the council being vacated by Council President Gene Smith, who is running for mayor. Others seeking the post include Bluff Park’s Robin Schultz and Sam Swiney, Inverness' Mitzi Eaker and Pinewood's Dina Shunnarah.

For the last three years, Brown has lived in The Park at Hoover apartment complex off Lorna Road and said he loves living in Hoover and the city has been great to him.

He said one of the biggest things he wants to do is help improve race relations in the city. The racial turmoil that has happened with the Riverchase Galleria shooting in late 2018 and the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May has stirred a desire in people to have conversations about race, Brown said.

Sometimes he thinks city officials have been too silent on the issue because they don’t know what to say, but at some point, silence about racism become complicity, he said.

“It’s not about white or black. It’s about right or wrong. If it’s wrong, you speak against it,” Brown said. “Sometimes, to move forward, we’ve got to have those tough conversations.”

When Birmingham resident Carlos Chaverst Jr. began calling for people to burn down Hoover and others were promoting rioting and vandalism in the Birmingham area, Brown posted a video encouraging people not to participate in any of that and to stay home. The video went viral.

Brown also praised the way the Hoover Police Department handled the protests related to the Galleria shooting in late 2018 and early 2019. He liked that police let people protest but kept protesters from getting out of hand.

“I think the police are doing a wonderful, wonderful job,” he said.

However, he thinks the department can do better at building relations with the community. Brown said that, overall, he thinks Hoover city officials are doing a good job with running the city, but he thinks they can do a great job.

The COVID-19 pandemic has hit the economy hard, and the effects likely will be felt for the next couple of years, Brown said. City leaders must be creative in bringing new industry, he said. “There is so much this city can do.”

As a councilman, Brown said he would work to increase funding for Hoover schools to make sure Hoover schools have as much technology as possible and can provide the best education possible.

Brown, 45, attended Western Illinois University and completed his undergraduate studies at Atlanta Christian College in 2012 with a bachelor’s degree in Christian ministries.

He worked in retail for many years, including as a shoe salesman at the Foot Action and Finish Line shoe stores, then as a store manager at Eckerd Drugs and market leader for CVS in Atlanta. He ran a barber shop and hair salon for a few years and then spent about five years in the mortgage business.

When the mortgage industry hit hard times, he worked a variety of jobs and was laid off seven times in two to three years, he said.

After getting his bachelor’s degree, he earned a law degree from the Birmingham School of Law in 2016 but has not yet passed the bar exam. He worked for attorney Alexander Shunnarah while in law school, as well as at a Waffle House and Steak ‘N’ Shake. He now works as a consultant and produces commercials for lawyers and The Fritz Clinic.

Brown said he also has helped out with campaigns of Jefferson County Judges Sherri Friday, C.H. Brantley and Maria Fortune.

He and his wife, Naomi, have been married 13 years and moved from Atlanta to Vestavia Hills six years ago and then to Hoover about three years ago. They have two sons, ages 9 and 7, who attend Gwin Elementary School, and he has two children, ages 21 and 15, in Atlanta.

Find out more about Brown on his Facebook page.

The 2020 Hoover election is scheduled for Aug. 25.

See the complete list of candidates for Hoover mayor and Hoover City Council.