Category: City of Birmingham
Birmingham Debuts New Tech Hub to Help Solve Crime in Real Time
Birmingham leaders officially opened the city’s Real Time Crime Center Tuesday, a project intended to give the Birmingham Police Department new technological tools to help resolve crime more quickly. Read more.
Birmingham Takes Part in Embrace Mothers Guaranteed Income Pilot
The city of Birmingham is taking part in a pilot project to provide guaranteed minimum incomes to 110 female-identifying heads of households with at least one child.
The Birmingham City Council gave final approval Tuesday to the Mayor Randall Woodfin Administration initiative, Embrace Mothers.
The program is in partnership with Mayors for a Guaranteed Income, which is giving the city a $500,000 grant to execute the pilot program. Read more.
A.G. Gaston Motel Restoration Receives $1.1 Million Grant
The A.G. Gaston Motel restoration project has received a $1.1 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to go toward restoration of the interior coffee shop and dining room in the 1968 wing of the historic motel. Read more.
Delta Strikes Birmingham Public Works, but Mayor Says the City Will Get to Your Trash
Approximately 10% of Birmingham’s public works employees have tested positive for COVID-19, causing delays in city services such as trash pickup and grass cutting. Mayor Randall Woodfin, who recently required masks to be worn on city property, urged residents to get the vaccine and asked for patience while public works employees continue to catch up on their work. Read more.
Birmingham Residents Clear Their Traffic Records Quickly With Rocket Docket
Hundreds of Birmingham residents went to Boutwell Auditorium hoping to get their cases settled by getting their warrants removed and receiving a new court date to pay off a ticket, or pay it off then and there. Read more.
Birmingham Police Revise Policies to Disallow No-Knock Warrants
Birmingham police will no longer use no-knock warrants such as the one that led to the death of Breonna Taylor in Louisville last year. Mayor Randall L. Woodfin, Police Chief Patrick Smith and Thomas Beavers, senior pastor of The Star Church, announced that and several other revisions to police policies and procedures during an event Tuesday. Read more.
4 Things to Know About Birmingham’s Homicides So Far This Year
Scroll in and click on each location to read more about the person who was killed. A red ‘X’ indicates a homicide. A blue ‘X’ indicates an officer-involved shooting where a civilian was shot.
The city of Birmingham has recorded 63 homicides so far in 2021, according to data from the Jefferson County Coroner’s Office.
Last year, Birmingham hit a record for the highest number of homicides in 25 years. The city’s police chief, Patrick Smith, told WBHM that even with that record high, the city fared well in comparison to other areas across the country.
“It could have been a whole lot worse,” Smith said. “Certainly, we don’t want to see the loss of life anywhere at all. And I wish that we could do more. But we’re trying to work within the confines of what we have as a department.” Read more.
Economic Opportunity, Community Policing Among Solutions to Birmingham’s Gun Violence
Birmingham has been riddled with crime for decades, and people are concerned about the increasing number of homicides. In 2020, violent crimes such as rape and robberies decreased, but gun-related violent crimes increased almost 20%. Last year ended with a total of 122 homicides, the most in the last 25 years. So far in 2021, there have been at least 60 homicides in the city of Birmingham, according to data from the Jefferson County Coroner’s Office. Read more.
Birmingham Residents Offer Solutions to Gun Violence but Some Victims Feel Hopeless
The spike in Birmingham’s gun violence has many residents concerned and outraged. Local activists have said reducing shootings has to be a community effort, with local government support. Read more.
Birmingham Council Passes the City’s Largest Budget Ever
The Birmingham City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to approve Mayor Randall Woodfin’s FY 2022 budget, making no changes to the proposal presented to them in May.
The $455.5 million budget is the city’s largest to date, indicating a predicted recovery from COVID-19’s impact on last year’s revenues. Woodfin has emphasized that the budget shows the city’s commitment to its employees, including a restoration of merit raises and longevity pay; and its allocations to neighborhood revitalization, including millions for street paving, blight demolition and weed abatement.
The budget does not include the $74 million in federal relief funding from the American Rescue Plan that the city received last month; it will receive a further $74 million next May.
Woodfin told reporters last month that the budget “doesn’t have any pain points” compared to the previous year, which had seen the city reduce or zero out its contributions to various external organizations, including the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, Railroad Park Foundation and Alabama Symphony.
Those organizations were restored to their FY 2020 funding with the new budget, with two notable exceptions. The Birmingham Zoo and Rickwood Field were still allocated COVID-reduced funding — $500,000 for the zoo, down from FY 2020’s $1.9 million; and $50,000 to Rickwood, down from FY 2020’s $150,211. Read more.
