Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin’s State of the Community address at Boutwell Auditorium on Tuesday evening highlighted city leaders’ successes, such as violent crime reduction, as well as areas for improvement, such as finding uses for large, derelict buildings.

The mayor said that since Jan. 1, the city has seen 51% fewer homicides, overall crime is down 15% and the department’s clearance rate is 100%.

“That is sending a very clear signal,” Woodfin said. “If you harm somebody in the city, you shoot somebody in the city, you kill somebody in the city, you will be arrested.”

During his speech, the mayor also highlighted two new city programs:

• The Black Male Initiative: a program for Black male youth that will provide mentoring, education support and mental health services.
• A park for the unhoused that will serve as a homeless outreach service as well as an outdoor recreational center.

Tuesday’s event also included questions from the audience, which officials estimated to be more than 200 people. One resident asked when they could expect the Family Fun Center planned for Five Points West.

Woodfin used the question to address the wider issue of delays to major redevelopment projects such as Ensley High School and the site of the former Ramsay-McCormack Building.

He said these projects are often contingent upon private capital or state or federal funding that is completely outside the control of Birmingham’s leaders.

Woodfin added that the city could do more to promote redevelopment if it didn’t have to spend $25 million in weed abatements on private property in the past eight years.

“You should be pissed about that,” he said. “I am.”

Woodfin said Birmingham leaders are lobbying for the passage of four bills in the Alabama Legislature that would help hold irresponsible property owners accountable.

“Because it’s hard to keep spending your public tax dollars on the slum or people who are abandoning their property,” he said.

Concerning the Family Fun Center, though, Woodfin apologized for the delay and said construction is scheduled to begin the second quarter of this year, with completion estimated to be a little over a year from breaking ground.

Another resident asked how the city could help get more citizens involved in their own communities. Woodfin and other officials pointed to Birmingham’s Academy of Civic Engagement, which, according to the city’s website, is a program “aimed at bringing everyday citizens together for a deeper understanding of how the City is working for them and how they can plug into a variety of opportunities.”

One question involved the city’s push to have property owners link their security cameras to the Connect Birmingham program, and whether any of that data will be shared with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Woodfin was unequivocal in his answer.

“We do not share any information with DHS (Department of Homeland Security) or ICE, which is one of the agencies under DHS and, ladies and gentlemen, we have actually no contractual relationship with DHS. … We don’t have officers and/or BPD embedded in ICE. The city of Birmingham, as it relates to our police officers, are not a part of any immigration enforcement,” he said.