Members of the public will be able to address Birmingham city councilors Aug. 29 regarding proposed changes to local ordinances regulating towing from paid parking lots in the city. City councilors are considering revisions to the ordinances after widespread public complaints about predatory towing and other parking-related issues around Birmingham. Read more.
Mike Bolin took his first dip into the legislative branch of county government Tuesday as he took part in his first committee meeting as a member of the Jefferson County Commission. The former Jefferson County probate judge and Alabama Supreme Court justice admitted to some trepidation as he “put a foot into the water” since this was just his sixth day on the job. “I don't care how smart or how dumb you are, you can't acclimate to everything that goes on in there until you've gone through two or three rounds,” Bolin said. “I enjoyed being there. I enjoyed the back and forth. Read more.
UPDATED —The Birmingham City Council has passed on the option to submit a full slate of nominees to the Jefferson County Board of Equalization, the body that oversees property tax appraisals in the city and countywide. At its Tuesday meeting, councilors voted to nominate only one candidate, incumbent board member Karen Wadlington, to continue service on the board. Alabama law allows the council to nominate up to three candidates for each vacancy on the three-member board. The terms of two of the board’s three members have now expired, according to a county spokesperson, which allowed the City Council six total nominations. Read more.
The Jefferson County Commission is back up to its required five members after Mike Bolin was sworn in Monday as the newest commissioner. Shown are commissioners Lashunda Scales, Joe Knight, Bolin and Sheila Tyson, with Chairman Jimmie Stephens (center front). Bolin recently was elected to the District 5 seat, left vacant when Steve Ammons resigned to become CEO of the Birmingham Business Alliance. Read more.
County Manager Cal Markert displayed a wry smile when asked if he is looking forward to budget hearings in August. “I look forward to it being over and done, I guess,” he said after the Jefferson County Commission’s meeting today in Bessemer. “It’s coming up and we’ve got to do it. It’s just a lot of extra work. Not extra work but a lot of work.” Setting the county’s budget is an annual balancing act of determining where funds can be allotted to accomplish needed projects, and it involves hearings during which department heads meet with Markert and county commissioners to make their case for requested funds during fiscal 2024. Read more.
Michelle Farley remembers Rico. He was a member of the Youth Action Committee at One Roof, the Birmingham homelessness services organization where Farley serves as executive director. In 2019, Rico was shot, according to Farley, and remained hospitalized for weeks. He was then released, she said, “with no more resources for conflict resolution or violence prevention than when he entered.” Just a few weeks later, Rico was shot for a second time. He didn’t make it. On Tuesday, the Birmingham City Council approved a pilot program to provide services to those impacted by gun violence in the Magic City. Read more.
Jefferson County Commissioners today received a progress report on construction of the Cooper Green Mercy Health Services Authority building. The new clinic is being constructed where the Cooper Green Hospital parking deck had been. Administrator Laura Hurst said the building will have five stories with the first four being occupied upon completion. The fifth floor allows for expansion. David Randall, board president and CEO of the health authority, said the construction is only part of the changes at Cooper Green. Read more.
The approved map aims to address the federal court ruling but leads to tensions and claims of voter suppression. Read more.
Republican supermajorities in the Alabama House and Senate approved two separate congressional maps with a single majority-Black congressional district and one with a Black population ranging from 38% to 42%. Democrats in both chambers, who support maps with two majority-Black districts, opposed both proposals and said they would not satisfy federal courts that ruled that the state’s earlier congressional maps violate the Voting Rights Act. Read more.
House and Senate Republicans approved two different congressional maps in committees Tuesday, potentially creating a conflict just days ahead of a deadline to submit proposals to a federal court. The House State Government committee approved a new state congressional map that creates a majority-Black congressional district in western Alabama and a 42% Black district in the southeastern part of the state. But a Senate committee Tuesday approved a map that lowers the Black population to 38% in the southeastern district while reducing the Black population in the western district to about 50%. Read more.
