White Ribbon ambassador Arman Abrahimzadeh OAM to run for Adelaide City Council
DOMESTIC violence campaigner and previous Young South Australian of the Year Arman Abrahimzadeh will throw his hat in for the Adelaide City Council elections.
DOMESTIC violence campaigner and previous Young South Australian of the Year Arman Abrahimzadeh will throw his hat in for the Adelaide City Council elections.
The 30-year-old White Ribbon Ambassador, which has helped earn him a OAM, will run for a area councillor position at the November local government elections.
Mr Abrahimzadeh, who began his advocacy against domestic violence when his mother Zahra was stabbed to death by her estranged husband at the Adelaide Convention Centre in 2010, said living and working in Adelaide was the inspiration to put his hand up for council.
“Every day I come across some sites in Adelaide that I believe have a lot of potential and could be activated,” he said.
“Personally I believe there could be a lot done in North Adelaide.
“I think that when people talk about the city they sometimes forget about North Adelaide, so I believe connecting the CBD and North Adelaide would be a crucial thing I would like to pursue.
“We have so many great laneways and similar things in the city and I look at O’Connell St and Melbourne St and think why can’t the council look at something similar... I used to work on O’Connell St about nine or 10 years ago and the O’Connell St I remember is not the same.”
He also said improving accessibility for people running around the city through trails would also be an issue he would like to pursue.
“I was running on West Tce and when I was going to cross the road I thought how great it would be if we could connect the city to all the parklands and have a continious run across the parklands,” he said.
“And again that could be used to link up North Adelaide to the CBD.”
Mr Abrahimzadeh announcing his candidacy comes after The Advertiser revealed author, filmmaker and movie star Quentin Kenihan wants to also run for an area councillor spot.
Nearly half the spots on the Adelaide City Council could be up for grabs in November, and Mr Abrahimzadeh said a large scale change could be a good thing for the city.
“Sometimes it is a good thing to have people with fresh eyes and new ideas coming into the place,” he said.
