Author: Virginia Martin
For Newly Elected Birmingham City Councilor Darrell O’Quinn, the Neighborhood is Still the Thing
This is the first in a series of interviews BirminghamWatch will be conducting with newly elected city officials.
Accessibility and accountability are the main priorities for newly elected Birmingham City Councilor Darrell O’Quinn.
In a close runoff election, O’Quinn unseated current District 5 Councilor Johnathan Austin. After taking office Oct. 24, O’Quinn plans to immediately start working on ways to engage and educate communities on the resources municipal government can provide, he said.
O’Quinn is part of a wave of new leadership headed to City Hall after the Oct. 3 runoff election. Despite his neophyte status in city government, O’Quinn has been heavily involved in Birmingham on the community level since moving to the city in 2001. He currently serves as president of the Citizens Advisory Board and the Crestwood North Neighborhood Association.
That experience has allowed him to see where communities and neighborhoods have been underserved by Birmingham’s city government, he said.
“I’m sorry to say that the bar has been so low that for me to step in and make a significant difference is pretty damn easy,” O’Quinn said.
Recently, O’Quinn spoke to BirminghamWatch about his early priorities as councilor, his plans to address Birmingham’s economic stagnation and his expectations from the new power dynamic at City Hall. Read the Q&A.
Electionland Wins Online Journalism Award
ProPublica and the Electionland coalition won an Online Journalism Award for planned news/events, announced at the Online News Association Conference and Awards Banquet on Saturday.
A collaboration with a coalition of organizations, Electionland tracked voter experiences in the November 2016 election in real time, across thousands of polling sites.
BirminghamWatch participated in the project, monitoring and reporting on local polling places. Read more.
Spelling Their Name Right Isn’t Enough for Gardendale School Supporters Tired of the Limelight
When organizers of an effort to separate Gardendale from the Jefferson County School System began their work, they had no idea it would attract so much attention from national news media — or that much of that attention would be unfavorable to their cause.
The effort to break away and form a new municipal system, which began five years ago and has since landed in the federal courts, has been covered by well-known media such as The Washington Post and The New York Times. The latter aroused the ire of parents of Gardendale High School students when a photographer was allowed to work inside the school. Additionally, reporters from online outlets that specialize in educational issues, racial issues or both have also focused on the city and the separation effort.
Last month alone, two stories were published nationally about the Gardendale breakaway, both casting the effort as part of a larger issue of resegregation in urban public schools. Read more.
JeffCo Rejects Zoning Request Related to Landfill
Oct. 6, 2017 – Bethel Baptist Church of Dora’s church picnic was ruined by flies that frequent the area because of a waste transport business, the Rev. John Foles told the Jefferson County Commission on Thursday.
“I want you to imagine a roadkill that has flies all on top of it, and them being very aggressive,” he said to a packed commission chamber. “That’s what we had to endure for over an hour. We threw food away. It’s not just the flies, it’s the aggressiveness of hundreds and hundreds of flies.”
The flies – and the smell – with which residents of West Jefferson and the like have dealt prompted the overflow crowd to applaud when commissioners denied a request by Sumiton Timber Company and Sky Environmental to change the zoning on a 4-acre property on Snowville Brent Road in Dora.
Sky Environmental has been transferring waste from trains to trucks and then transporting that waste to a landfill in Adamsville. The property is zoned for a pulpwood yard only, and the company sought to change that zoning to permit the legal continuation of its business there. Read more.
Real News or Fake? How Do You Tell the Difference? (Hint: It Takes Work)
Figuring out whether news is real or fake in today’s click-driven media landscape requires increased awareness and diligence by the public, experts concluded at a Thursday night Media Savvy forum, held in the Edge of Chaos room at UAB’s Lister Hill Library.
Media Savvy: Smart Choices in a Changing Information Age included discussion by audience members and presenters about how economics, technology and social media continue to change how Americans receive, understand and trust – or don’t trust – the news and the news media.
“Ten years ago, and it seems almost quaint now, the focus was on accuracy,” said Carol Nunnelley, veteran newspaper editor and executive director of the nonprofit Alabama Initiative for Independent Journalism and its public service reporting arm, BirminghamWatch. “Today’s media have to fight for attention. It’s hard to tell who is telling us what and for what purpose.”
Birmingham Runoff Election Results
Voter Turnout Tops 35 Percent
More than 35 percent of Birmingham’s 119,433 registered voters cast ballots in Tuesday’s city runoff election, topping the 27 percent turnout for the Aug. 22 city election.
Four New Members and One Incumbent Elected to Birmingham Board of Education
The Birmingham Board of Education will have six new members after Tuesday’s runoff election.
Only three incumbents remain on the nine-member board that oversees the state’s fourth-largest school system.
New Board of Education members elected Tuesday – all current or retired educators – are Douglas Lee Ragland, Michael “Mickey” Millsap, Patricia Spigner McAdory and Sonja Q. Smith.
Also in the runoff, incumbent board member Daayge Hendricks was re-elected for a second term.
Read more.
A Bad Night for Incumbents: Challengers Take the Lead in Council Runoffs
A Crestwood North Neighborhood resident experienced a realization as he greeted Darrell O’Quinn Tuesday night in the parking lot of the Shoppes at Crestwood: “We’re going to have to get a new neighborhood president.”
O’Quinn’s term as neighborhood president comes to an end as he prepares to move into his new role as District 5 representative on the Birmingham City Council. In unofficial results, he edged out incumbent council President Johnathan Austin 2,430 votes to 2,271.
The night belonged to those who had never held the offices they were seeking. Read more.
Randall Woodfin Defeats Incumbent William Bell to Become Birmingham’s Next Mayor
A night of upsets in Birmingham city government culminated in the victory of challenger Randall Woodfin over incumbent William Bell.
Woodfin topped Bell in the race by more than 7,500 votes, getting 58.94 percent of the vote compared to Bell’s 41.06 percent, according to the unofficial vote tally.
It was the end of an often contentious campaign in which Woodfin challenged the status quo. “We deserve better” was his campaign slogan.
Bell campaigned on his experience and accomplishments. But ultimately, a public dissatisfaction with Bell’s seven-year administration won out.
“Birmingham, this is our moment,” Woodfin said to a raucous crowd of supporters gathered at his campaign party. Read more.
