David Russell can often be found at local seats of government. It is rare that the 74-year-old retired insurance salesman is not present for meetings of the Jefferson County Commission or the Birmingham City Council.

But Russell aims to not just be in the room as Birmingham leaders assemble. The Smithfield Estates resident wants to be the person who is establishing policy for the city, having tossed his hat into the ring of those vying to be the next mayor of Birmingham, one of nine people with that aspiration in the Aug. 26 city election.

Russell said he brings experience and a commitment to the people who live in Birmingham to the race. Incumbent Mayor Randall Woodfin, he said, is only serving some of the people.

The candidate blames Woodfin for the not-yet complete project to restore the historic A.G. Gaston Motel. Further, he said, money that was designated for businesses in the Fourth Avenue Business District has not reached those business owners.

Russell also suggested that Woodlawn is higher on Woodfin’s list of priorities than some other areas of the city.

“This is why the money that was supposed to be designated for Ensley went out to Woodlawn,” he said.

Russell’s dream is to make downtown Ensley into a “Black Wall Street,” like the one that existed decades ago in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with thriving Black-owned businesses.

“We’re gonna (rename) 19th Street for Eddie Kendricks,” he said, adding an aim that Avenue I be renamed for Paul Williams, who like Kendricks was a member of the R&B group The Temptations.

“Paul Williams’ mama still has their house on Avenue I,” he said. “We’re gonna take and turn Ensley (to) a Bourbon Street,” patterning that project after the entertainment space in New Orleans.

Russell said he has aspirations for the space where the Ramsay-McCormick Building stood before it was demolished in 2021. He cites that as another project that has not been completed during the Woodfin administration.

“We want to put a hotel there,” he said. “We want to take the E.D. Nixon Building and put a Chamber of Commerce there. We want to take the E.D. Nixon building and put in there where District 9 and District 8 of the City Council can have an office in that building. We want to have in that building where County Commission (Districts) 1 and 2 can have offices in that building.”

The retired insurance salesman said he wants to bolster the ranks of the Birmingham Police and Fire departments by employing at least four students to every fire and police precinct.

“We want to get them trained,” he said. “Now, the Birmingham Police Department is out recruiting police officers.”

The candidate recalled a time when the police department had officers who grew up in Birmingham and were familiar with the city. Bringing students into the precincts would create an incubator of students coming up to populate the ranks of officers and firemen, he said.

Russell added that every employee hired under his administration would receive $15,000 or a piece of land to build a house.

Annexation Ideas

Russell said he wants to return Birmingham to being the largest city in Alabama.

“I want to annex everything, such as Lipscomb, Brighton, Fairfield, Midfield, everything from Sherman Heights down to the river,” he said. “I want to bring that back in the city, including Forestdale.”

Russell’s goal of growing Birmingham includes putting a river boat down on the river near Alabama 269.

“I want to bring all of them into the city so we can get Birmingham to be the No. 1 city so we can start getting those federal grants like we used to get,” he said. “We want Birmingham to be the No. 1 largest city.”

As mayor, Russell hopes to bring Alabama A&M University back to the table in negotiations to purchase the former Birmingham-Southern College property. He cites a proposal for a bowl game to be named in honor of former Birmingham Mayor Richard Arrington between Miles College and Alabama A&M University at Birmingham, the institution that would have been created had A&M been able to buy the 192-acre site.

Russell, who is divorced with one adult son, has not been elected to public office, but he has been on several ballots, running most recently for the District 9 seat on the Birmingham City Council in 2021. Before that, he was a candidate for the Alabama Public Service Commission in 1982; Birmingham City Council District 9 in 2001, 2005, 2009, 2013 and 2017, and Alabama House District 60 in 2002, 2006 and 2010.

The candidate is a member of the Jefferson County and Alabama Democratic executive committees. He was an administrative assistant at Alabama State University for 15 years.