Birmingham Council Discusses Changing the Neighborhood Association Structure
Several Birmingham City councilors on Tuesday called for significant changes to the city’s current organization of neighborhood associations. Discussion over an item setting neighborhood elections for Oct. 18, later passed by the council, veered into a discussion of councilors’ broader dissatisfaction with the system. Most of that centered on low attendance at neighborhood meetings, leading to uncontested elections. District 5 Councilor Darrell O’Quinn, a former president of the Crestwood North neighborhood, suggested that there were “other ways of devising a system that provides representation and embraces the reality that even though there may be hundreds of residents in a neighborhood, there’s only ever going to be a handful of people who actually engage in neighborhood-level conversations.” O’Quinn added that many neighborhood leaders are elected almost by default because no one else signs up to run. Read more.
