Jerimy Littlepage launched his candidacy for mayor Saturday, saying the focus of the city needs to shift back to the people.

Standing in his home community of Titusville, Littlepage listed a litany of problems in Birmingham’s neighborhoods that he said should have been addressed already. He said potholes in many neighborhoods are so deep they damage cars. Homes are allowed to deteriorate to the point they have to be torn down, leaving overgrown lots in their place. Littlepage said the city should be helping people fix their homes rather than just tearing them down.

That would be a big step to addressing the affordable housing crisis, which is hitting even communities such as Titusville said Littlepage, who just turned 26 and now lives in Kingston.

Littlepage said several houses have been built in the community recently that were listed at more than $200,000. Rents are $1,400 or more. People who live in places such as Titusville and Kingston can’t afford those prices, he said.

“We need real affordable housing,” he said, continuing that the neighborhoods need revitalization, not gentrification.

Billions of dollars flow into the city every year, and Littlepage said neighborhoods don’t see nearly enough of it.

He pointed to money the city spends developing entertainment centers and facilities such as the new downtown amphitheater. That’s great, he said, but he believes that what Birmingham needs now is to focus on the lives of its residents rather than entertainment.

He said churches do more work in neighborhoods than the city does. Littlepage said many people in the neighborhood never see their councilors.

“We need accountability,” he said.

Crime also has diminished the quality of life in many neighborhoods, he said. People are afraid to sit on their front porches for the gunfire they hear.

“We need to make Birmingham safe again,” he said to agreement from a group of more than two dozen during his campaign launch at Memorial Park.

But battling crime isn’t just about policing, Littlepage said. It’s about focusing on youth and offering them a better way. He said neighborhoods need more opportunities such as free sports teams, more programing at the recreation centers and occupational training to help youths get jobs that pay enough to support themselves.

The city spends $2 million on the Birmingham Promise scholarship and apprenticeship program but more than $100 million on police, Littlepage pointed out, saying he thinks that ratio is off balance and that the city needs to be giving more money directly to schools.

Littlepage said he has lost more than 25 friends to gun violence in his short life, and his brother died three weeks ago of an accidental fentanyl overdose.

Unfortunately, he isn’t alone in that regard, which one of the reasons mental health also is at the top of his list of things the city should be tackling.

“What goes on in the neighborhoods is so traumatizing for kids,” Littlepage said. He proposes offering counseling in the neighborhoods, possibly even in the recreation centers so kids have someone to talk to.

“There’s so much stuff. So much stuff,” Littlepage said with a shake of his head.

Littlepage is a forklift operator with Ventura Foods and until recently served in the U.S. Army Reserve.

More information is available on his Facebook campaign page.