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Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin told local young people Tuesday that if they cannot accept resources the city provides free to keep them off a path of violence, then they can sit in a jail cell.
“If you cannot respect public places to commit your reckless behavior that ends up leaving someone hurt, shot or killed — especially an innocent bystander — the behavior is unacceptable, and we will not tolerate it,” the mayor said, speaking during the City Council meeting.
Woodfin’s remarks followed a weekend of violence in which three people were killed in multiple shootings on Saturday, two of which took place near Legion Field after the 85th Magic City Classic.
Reducing violent crime became a top priority for Birmingham leadership after the city recorded a record 152 homicides in 2024. Officials established a violence reduction commission, invested in community intervention programs and approved a major recruitment and retention package for police officers. They also have taken action to shut down or pursue legal cases against establishments with repeated violent incidents.
Murders in Birmingham have dropped since then, with the city recording 35 homicides as of Oct. 26, compared to 67 at the same point last year and 134 in 2024, according to Birmingham Police Department data.
Councilor Crystal Smitherman regretted that the violence came at the same time as the Classic, saying it was heartbreaking to see such an event overshadowed.
“I hear people saying, ‘Oh, that’s why I don’t go to Magic City Classic.’” Smitherman said during the council meeting. “No, this is about HBCUs. As an HBCU grad, it makes me angry because those institutions were there for us when predominantly white institutions would not even let us look at the door of those schools. Not even look at that.
“That is a family reunion, a tradition … I wish Birmingham would come together and just be more positive around it,” she continued.
Birmingham Police have arrested a 17-year-old in connection with shootings outside Legion Field’s perimeter, in which one 19-year-old was killed and and eight other people injured. Two other men also were killed Saturday in unrelated shootings in Powderly and Midtown.
Neighborhood funds allocated for traffic calming
The council also Tuesday approved spending nearly $15,000, mostly from three neighborhood associations, to install speed cushions. The neighborhood allocations transferred to the Birmingham Department of Transportation for traffic calming improvements were $5,357 each to the South Eastlake and Killough Springs neighborhoods, and $4,017 to the Roebuck Neighborhood.
The work is part of a program established earlier this year that allows neighborhood associations to request traffic safety measures for residential streets. Each neighborhood association may submit up to two projects per application cycle to BDOT.
According to city staff, BDOT evaluates applications based on traffic speeds, vehicle volume, crash history, roadway conditions and emergency vehicle access. Approved projects move forward with installation costs shared between the city and the requesting neighborhood association. Information on program criteria, eligibility requirements application opportunities is available on the city’s website.
