Glenn Stephens

Ammons Resigns from Jeffco Commission, Will Head Birmingham Business Alliance

Steve Ammons resigned Friday from the Jefferson County Commission and has accepted the position of CEO for the Birmingham Business Alliance, the region’s primary economic development agency.  “I am proud of the work the commission has done and for the support of my fellow commissioners in making Jefferson County a great place to live,” Ammons wrote in his resignation letter. “I have great respect for each of you and am confident in the decisions you will make down the road.”  Read more.

by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.

Jeffco Commission Approves Billing Agreement with Birmingham Water Works Board

The Jefferson County Commission, in a specially called meeting Tuesday, approved a new billing agreement with the Birmingham Water Works Board. The agreement follows months of negotiation between the two entities.  Birmingham Water Works has served as the billing agent for Jefferson County Environmental Services for residents who are BWWB customers. These bills show both water charges and sewer charges. The sewer charges are based on the water usage for the same billing period.   “We negotiated with them and came to a billing agreement which will allow more dollars available for our sewer repayment and make a more realistic and true cost of sewer billing for our customers,” Commission President Jimmie Stephens said. “It was a cooperative effort. We're proud to partner with the Birmingham Water Works Board on this and to be partners in perhaps future cost-saving methods surrounding the billing of water customers.” Read more.

by Solomon Crenshaw Jr. 

Birmingham City Council Working on Plan for Overhaul of Water Works Board

As the Alabama Legislature considers a complete overhaul of the Birmingham Water Works Board, the Birmingham City Council is mulling its own legislation to meet state lawmakers halfway. For the second week in a row, the council on Tuesday postponed action on an ordinance that would place additional prerequisites on its BWWB appointees. The proposal, which first appeared on the council’s April 11 agenda, would tighten background and training requirements for council appointees. The language in the delayed ordinance closely echoes a bill currently being considered by the Alabama Legislature, which would add similar strictures to board appointees. But the Legislature’s bill, HB177, would go much further, firing all current board members and reducing the number of BWWB directors from nine to seven — removing two council-appointed seats from the board entirely. Read more.

by Sam Prickett

New Book Explores Stories of Early African American Activists in Birmingham

Segregation in the New South: Birmingham, Alabama, 1871-1901 (Louisiana State University Press, 2023) by Carl V. Harris Birmingham is known around the world as a place where African Americans fought and sometimes died to secure their rights as citizens and dismantle Jim Crow segregation. But Jim Crow did not spring up fully formed, nor was it a system that had always existed. It was the product of a long and tortuous push and pull between blacks seeking justice and whites seeking control. At its birth in 1871, Birmingham was a Reconstruction-era city, and Birmingham came of age in a time when white Southerners and African American Southerners, many only a few years removed from enslavement, were struggling to find their places in a new post-war racial order. This is the story, and the stories of early African American activists who are largely unknown today, that Carl V. Harris tells in his new book Segregation in the New South: Birmingham, Alabama, 1871-1901. Harris, who taught history at the University of California, Santa Barbara, died before completing this book. His colleague, W. Elliott Brownlee, edited and finished the manuscript. Harris’ earlier book, Political Power in Birmingham, 1871-1921 (University of Tennessee Press, 1977), was the first scholarly book on Birmingham’s history and it is still indispensable for anyone wanting to understand the political dynamics of Birmingham’s early decades. Read more.

by James L. Baggett

Birmingham City Council Approves Violence-Reduction Effort for City High Schools

The Birmingham City Council on Tuesday approved a three-year partnership for conflict resolution programs in city high schools. Birmingham-based nonprofit the Penny Foundation will implement and administer the Common Ground initiative, a program using the Habilitation, Empowerment and Accountability Therapy (H.E.A.T.) curriculum, which is “designed for people of color and/or others facing socioeconomic issues which applies a holistic, culturally relevant, responsive, strength-based model that emphasizes a positive and engaging approach to handling anger management and conflict resolution.” Read more.

by Sam Prickett

Jeffco Commission Discusses Proposed Downtown Amphitheater

A proposed $50 million amphitheater that could seat up to 9,000 people received a less-than-enthusiastic reception when it was presented during Tuesday’s committee meeting of the Jefferson County Commission.  Commission President Jimmie Stephens doled out copies of The Star Uptown Amphitheater Opportunity, a seven-page information booklet produced by Corporate Realty, to fellow commission members. The plan calls for an amphitheater that could seat from 8,500 to 9,000 and would be owned by the Birmingham Jefferson Civic Center Authority and managed by Live Nation.  The downtown entertainment venue would be located north of Protective Stadium and west of The Star at Uptown development on the old Carraway Hospital campus. It would replace the “aging” Oak Mountain Amphitheater, which is managed by Live Nation.  Read more.

by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.

Birmingham City Council Approves Package That Will Bring 76 Research Jobs to City

Kratos Defense and Security Solutions, the San Diego-based company that purchased Southern Research’s engineering division earlier this year, will receive up to $228,000 in city incentives to bring 76 new jobs to Birmingham. The Birmingham City Council unanimously approved the development agreement at its meeting Tuesdsay. Kratos acquired Southern Research’s engineering division (SRE) in May for $80 million; it will invest an estimated total of $26.6 million into the division’s campus, located at 757 Tom Martin Drive. That will include hiring and training 76 new employees over the next five years; for each new hire, the city will refund the company $3,000 in occupational taxes. Read more.

by Sam Prickett

Jeffco Commission Rejects Opening of Courthouse to Saturday Absentee Voting

An effort to open the Jefferson County Courthouse for Saturday absentee voting was squelched Tuesday during the commission committee meeting.  Commissioner Sheila Tyson presented the resolution for consideration to be placed on the agenda of Thursday’s commission meeting. Commissioner Lashunda Scales moved the item and Tyson seconded it before it was defeated 3-2 on a rollcall vote. Read more.

by Solomon Crenshaw Jr. 

Birmingham City Council Moves Toward Approval of Cannabis Dispensaries

Birmingham has taken “the first step” on the road to legalizing medical marijuana. The City Council voted Tuesday to approve an ordinance authorizing medical cannabis dispensaries to operate within Birmingham city limits. The Alabama Legislature authorized the production and distribution of medical marijuana in the state last year, though it maintains strict regulatory control over the licensing process. That process is ongoing — the state is not expected to issue licenses until July — but Tuesday’s vote opens the city up to potential licensees. Read more.

by Sam Prickett

Tiara Young Hudson, Democrat, Jefferson County Circuit Court, Place 14

Tiara Young Hudson Jefferson County Circuit Court, Place 14 Party: Democratic Residence: Birmingham Political experience: None. Professional experience: Practiced law and served as a certified guardian ad litem in family and probate courts; works for the Jefferson County Public Defender’s Office for 16 years; member Alabama and George State Bar Associations. Civic experience: Union Bethel

by Virginia MacDonald