Author: Virginia Martin
Birmingham City Council Delays Proposed $30 Million Renovations to Legion Field
Dec. 5, 2017 — The Birmingham City Council discussed a proposed five-year, $30 million renovation to Legion Field during Tuesday’s meeting.
Though parks and recreation committee Chairman William Parker eventually elected to withdraw the measure from consideration, members of the council indicated that discussions of the proposed plan would continue.
Parker’s plan, which he said was “in the infancy stage,” would spend just less than $30 million dollars on improvements to the stadium, which opened in 1927. Though 2015 renovations to the stadium improved its scoreboard and sound system, Parker’s proposal would take a more holistic approach over the course of five years, starting with the 2018 fiscal year and ending in 2022.
“I really applaud Councilor Parker … for coming up with this plan, because whatever revitalization is employed with respect to Legion Field, then it needs to be a comprehensive plan,” Councilor Steven Hoyt said. “We’ve still got some things to figure out, but at least we have a starting point, and we have a facility that can be transformed to something even greater and better.” Read more.
Doug Jones and Roy Moore Vary Widely on Top Issues in Senate Race
Alabama voters will choose between candidates with contrasting views on topics ranging from health care to abortion, and taxation to immigration when they vote for a new U.S. senator on Dec. 12.
Republican Roy Moore and Democrat Doug Jones have outlined their positions on a broad array of issues as they campaigned for votes in the special election. The winner will succeed Sen. Luther Strange, an Alabama Republican who was appointed to the seat by former Gov. Robert Bentley after Jeff Sessions resigned to become attorney general.
Following is a look at the stances of Jones and Moore on several leading issues, drawn from their comments on the campaign trail and in various media reports, as well as from material posted on their web sites. Read more.
Alabama’s Coming Road Quandary
Alabama’s roads and bridges are in relatively good condition compared to other Southeastern states.
More of the state’s roads are in good condition compared to other states, fewer are in poor condition, and the percentage of its bridges that are deficient and need to be replaced is about average for the Southeast, according to the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama.
But in its “How Alabama Roads Compare” report, PARCA found that the state has devoted an increasingly large share of its budget to preserving existing roads, and it has a shrinking pool of money available for new projects. In fact, in recent years Alabama has borrowed more than $1.3 billion, but the authority to borrow has been exhausted. In 2018, Alabama will have about $250 million less to spend on roads than it had in 2017 because of the loss of money to borrow and an increase in the state’s debt service.
PARCA in its report notes that Alabama has not raised its 18-cents per gallon motor fuels tax in 25 years. Meanwhile, improved fuel economy of cars and trucks means less gas is being bought in Alabama, and so the tax revenues have dropped.
Read the full report here.
With First Demolition, Woodfin Promises “Aggressive” Approach to Blight
Dec. 1, 2017 — Mayor Randall Woodfin oversaw the demolition of a dilapidated house in Rising-West Princeton on Friday morning, an event that he said would exemplify his administration’s more aggressive approach to combating blight.
Woodfin said the issue of abandoned structures was “easily” one of the top two complaints he had received during the course of his mayoral campaign.
“People want their property value protected. They want to feel safe where they live,” he said. “The minimum we can do is getting more aggressive about getting rid of these dilapidated structures.”
Woodfin said his administration was beginning to inventory dilapidated structures across the city and then determine which should have their demolition prioritized. Read more.
Alabama Faces Another Drought Season With No Plan for Water Use; Governor Shifts Direction in Who Will Produce One
Memories of Alabama’s devastating 2016 drought must be short.
A reminder: The Cahaba and other rivers stopped flowing in places, and water utilities were slow to place restrictions on their customers when reservoirs ran almost dry. The worst of the eight-month drought didn’t end until spring 2017.
Now, as Alabama’s climatologist predicts dryer months ahead, Gov. Kay Ivey has disbanded a broad panel charged with developing a comprehensive water use plan for the state.
Environmental groups are voicing surprise and dismay. The leader of one says disruption in the planning process delays a plan that is needed quickly.
The action puts future water plan efforts in the hands of an appointed commission that has no public members and has not produced an actionable water management plan in its 27 years of existence. Read more.
Police Chief A.C. Roper Retires as Mayor Woodfin Looks to Make Personnel Changes at City Hall
Nov. 29, 2017 — Less than 24 hours after Mayor Randall Woodfin took office, Birmingham Police Chief A.C. Roper announced his retirement.
Roper, who has been chief since 2007, said in a statement that he’d informed Woodfin of his decision on Nov. 8. He said he had decided not to reapply for his position “after a considerable amount of prayer.” Roper said he’d stay on for the next few months as the search process begins for a new chief.
Roper’s future with the department had been in question since Woodfin’s election, though Woodfin stressed Monday that Roper’s resignation was voluntary. Throughout his campaign, Woodfin expressed concern over the increase of crime in the city. The city logged its 100th homicide of 2017 on Monday — roughly on track to tie 2016’s homicide count of 109, the highest number since 2006’s 110.
Woodfin when he spoke with BirminghamWatch on Monday described gun violence in Birmingham as an “epidemic” and said the city would have to combat crime “in a different way” than it had been.
Woodfin Takes Office as Mayor, Promises Spirit of Collaboration at City Hall
Nov. 28, 2017 — “Truthfully, this is not my inauguration,” Randall Woodfin said shortly after he was sworn in as Birmingham’s 30th mayor. “This is our inauguration.”
That sentiment — that Woodfin’s administration will be a collective effort to improve the city — extended throughout most of the inauguration ceremony Tuesday afternoon. Before Woodfin took the oath of office, political commentator and motivational speaker Jeff Johnson urged attendees to ask themselves what they could do to improve the city. Singer-songwriter Sebastian Cole performed a cover version of John Legend’s “If You’re Out There,” a call-to-action anthem that quotes Gandhi’s “be the change you want to see.”
After Woodfin was sworn into office by Judge Nakita Blocton — with his mother, Cynthia Woodfin-Kellum, holding the bible — he, too, emphasized the importance of community collaboration. He cited the “grassroots movement we built from scratch” as having propelled him into office.
For much of his speech, Woodfin referred to himself and the nine members of the City Council as a unit, at one point calling them up to join him at the podium.
“The 10 of us collectively not only represent you, are dedicated to fighting for you, but wholeheartedly we believe in you,” he said. Read more.
As He Takes Office, Mayor Randall Woodfin Looks to Hard Decisions Ahead
Randall Woodfin was officially sworn in as the 30th mayor of Birmingham today, beginning a four-year term that he has promised will bring major changes to the organization and operation of city government, including pushes to increase transparency and reduce crime.
He’ll start his tenure with an audit of city finances and reassessment of the structures of all city departments — which, he says, is going to lead to some “heavy” decisions. There are other challenges ahead as well, he said, in working to reduce the city’s rampant gun violence, advocating for an increased minimum wage, and improving the quality of life for Birmingham citizens.
Read the Q&A with the new mayor.
Woodfin to Be Inaugurated as Birmingham’s New Mayor Tuesday
Randall Woodfin will be officially sworn in as Birmingham’s 30th mayor Tuesday, following his upset of incumbent William Bell in last month’s runoff.
Woodfin’s campaign was sometimes presented as a populist insurgency, leaning heavily on grassroots fundraising and endorsements from progressive figures such as former Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.
Bell in a controversial speech he gave to members of his staff in August characterized Woodfin’s campaign as part of a nationwide effort focused on “restructuring the Democratic political dynamic” and compared Woodfin to Chokwe Lumumba, a self-described “radical” progressive candidate who became mayor of Jackson, Mississippi, earlier this year.
Woodfin has downplayed the narrative of himself as a far-left candidate, telling In These Times’ Katherine Webb-Hehn last month that he considered his platform as a “people-centered” and “lean-left” platform, not an “extreme” one. Read more.
Inaugural Day Events
Swearing-In Ceremony
Tuesday, 12 p.m., Linn Park
Watch Woodfin officially take the oath of office in Linn Park, just outside of City Hall. In a statement published on his website, Woodfin describes the event as “the culmination of more than a year of hard work by many, many people across our city who joined together to with his important election.”
Green Carpet Inaugural Reception
Tuesday, 5:30 p.m., Birmingham Museum of Art
Woodfin says he is “not a red-carpet kind of guy,” so he’s getting around that by changing the color of the carpet. The green carpet is meant to “recognize all the thousands of people who worked at the grassroots level to make our election a reality.” All are invited to the event, which is being held in conjunction with the Birmingham City Council.
What Happens If CHIP Goes Away? Congress’ Failure to Fund Popular Health Program for Kids Could Leave Thousands in Alabama Uninsured
It’s a $53 billion* question for Alabama, and that’s just the U.S. government dollars at play in a year in the state. There are also the personalities, policies and practices setting the direction of federal influence on everything from Alabama retirees’ Social Security checks to Boeing Company’s more than $900 million* in contracts. Today’s report on the Children’s Health Insurance Program is the first of BirminghamWatch’s looks at the Alabama-Washington connection.
If your child needed medicine for asthma or ADHD or treatment for an infection or injury, what would you do if you didn’t have insurance or the funds to pay?
That’s the scenario thousands of Alabama families face if Congress fails to reauthorize funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program, known as CHIP. Despite bipartisan support, including professed support from the Trump White House, CHIP was not reauthorized in time for a Sept. 30 deadline. And now as the clock ticks, the funding for 160,000 children in Alabama hangs in the balance.
About 77,000 of those children have insurance paid for by the state’s Medicaid program, using CHIP funds. Medicaid could still choose to provide insurance for these children if Congress fails to act, but the state of Alabama would have to pick up the cost for covering them. Medicaid routinely faces yearly struggles for funding in the Alabama Legislature.
But 83,000 children whose insurance through Alabama’s ALL Kids program is subsidized by about $200 million from CHIP would find themselves without insurance that many of their parents can afford. If Congress doesn’t act soon, that’s what will happen early in 2018, said Cathy Caldwell, director of the ALL Kids program.
“If CHIP funding is not continued, it’s very likely that the ALL Kids program would go away,” Caldwell said. She estimated the program could be canceled in about February. Read more.
