Two small residential properties in Birmingham’s Druid Hills neighborhood took on much larger significance during Tuesday’s City Council meeting, as a chaotic debate over whether they should be rezoned to accommodate their owners’ legal practice ballooned into a discussion of the economic future of Birmingham’s black neighborhoods. Read more.
For the second week in a row, the Birmingham City Council found itself mired in a debate over the proposed closure of an Ensley gas station where three homicides have occurred. In contrast to July 24’s meeting, though, the discussion Tuesday was more procedural than emotional, with District 8 Councilor Steven Hoyt launching what he characterized as a “protest” against the public safety committee’s decision to keep the matter from coming before the full council. The Shell station in question is located on the 800 block of Third Avenue West in Ensley — which is in Hoyt’s district — and has been the site of three homicides since 2015. Most recently, Antonio Jerrell Taylor was shot and killed there on June 10. Read more.
Birmingham residents can now see detailed financial reports for the city at its new Open Checkbook portal. The website is part of the effort to increase transparency and accountability in city government, according to a press release from the city. Read more.
Tempers flared on the Birmingham City Council during Tuesday’s meeting over a proposal to revoke the business license of a gas station where several people have been killed. Item 53 on the council’s agenda would have revoked the business license of the Shell station on the 800 block of Third Avenue W. The station of three shootings. District 8 Councilor Steven Hoyt, whose district includes the Shell station in question, unilaterally placed the item on the meeting’s agenda despite the recommendation of the council’s public safety committee, which is headed by District 2 Councilor Hunter Williams, to keep the issue of the gas station in committee. The committee voted during its July 17 meeting to keep the station open after an attorney for the business owner, Mohamed Nasher, presented a safety plan that included extra “no loitering signs,” additional security from off-duty police officers, and an increase in cameras and lighting at the gas station. The station will remain under committee review for a year. Read more.
The Birmingham City Council has approved a 60-day period of amnesty for outstanding minor traffic, parking and non-moving violation tickets. Read more.
A proposed incentives package for grocery delivery company Shipt nearly stalled over procedural questions at Tuesday’s Birmingham City Council meeting. But after an impromptu presentation by Mayor Randall Woodfin’s office, the council voted unanimously to approve the measure. The incentives package gives Shipt up to $1.762 million from the city to “expand and grow” its Birmingham headquarters, according to the resolution. This will come in the form of reimbursing the costs the company incurs in finding and developing new hires . The city will pay Shipt $2,000 for each new employee, for an expected total of 881 employees. The average salary of these new jobs would be $50,000 per year, Shipt representatives told the council. Read more.
A new restaurant is officially headed to the Negro Southern League Museum. The Birmingham City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to approve a funding agreement for the city’s PACE Board to build out and lease the space in the museum to Michael’s Steak and Seafood — but not before taking time to address critics of the plan. Council President Valerie Abbott started discussion by remarking that her office had received “a lot of email” regarding the deal. The main question, she said, was why Michael’s had been offered the deal — which includes two free years of rent — when other restaurants had not received offers from the city. Read more.
For the first time in several years, Birmingham’s city government will enter the new fiscal year with a budget already in place. During Tuesday morning’s regular meeting, the Birmingham City Council voted unanimously to approve the city’s FY 2019 budget, nearly two weeks before the fiscal year’s July 1 start. That timely passage of the $436 million budget — the city’s largest to date — represents a victory for first-term Mayor Randall Woodfin and the current council. Budget delays in recent years often had been viewed as symptoms of a communications breakdown between Woodfin’s predecessor, former Mayor William Bell, and the council. But speaking after Tuesday’s meeting, Woodfin said the new budget represents a renewed focus on governmental cooperation. “Collectively, the message we’ve sent today is, ‘We know how to pass a budget on time, thereby knowing how to work together, negotiate, compromise and communicate with each other,” he said Read more.
Security in Birmingham City Schools will be getting a boost this fall, after the Birmingham City Council voted Tuesday to allocate $3,665,000 in funding to the city Board of Education. According to the agreement, which was passed unanimously, that funding will be divided among school security, academic and athletic support, and after-school care and summer enrichment programs. Of that $3,665,000 — which comes from the city’s general fund — $1,362,000 will go toward the purchase of 14 walk-through metal detectors, 20 handheld scanners, door alarms, security officers, and crossing guards and substitutes. Read more.
The Birmingham City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to provide the neighboring town of Mulga with one of the city’s surplus fire trucks, in a move the council referred to as “a great example of regional cooperation.” Mulga Mayor Keith Varner said the deal happened as a result of discussions he and Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin had looking for ways to implement a “big-brother, little-brother” relationship between the two municipalities. Read more.
