In a setting that felt more like a tent revival than a press conference, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge announced Wednesday that Birmingham had landed a $50 million community redevelopment grant. Read more. Read the Details: Birmingham OKs Rezoning in West Birmingham Ahead of Possible Redevelopment Plan
Birmingham taxpayers will provide $5 million toward the construction of a proposed 9,000-seat open-air amphitheater on 25th Street North, adjacent to the site of the former Carraway Hospital. In its meeting Tuesday, the Birmingham City Council voted 7-1 to approve the amphitheater funding. Councilor Valerie Abbott voted against the measure, and Councilor Carol Clarke abstained. Tuesday’s discussion also revealed new details about the management of the planned venue, including an overview of a planned 20-year Live Nation contract to promote and operate the amphitheater. Read more.
Eight West Birmingham properties have been rezoned to make way for a federally funded “transformation plan” in the city’s Graymont, Smithfield and College Hills neighborhoods. The properties rezoned by the City Council Tuesday include the Smithfield Library, the Smithfield Court Housing Community, the former Hill Elementary School and the former Jefferson County Committee for Economic Opportunity headquarters, all of which were redesignated as either “mixed-use medium” or “multiple-dwelling districts” on Tuesday. The rezoning is intended to support the city’s bid for a Choice Neighborhood Grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The city has been announced as a finalist for the $50 million grant, which would be used to redevelop much of the area surrounding Legion Field. Read more.
Alabama ranks 45th in the country overall for child well-being, according to the 2023 Kids Count Data Book issued this week by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. That’s one slot higher than last year. But the “improvement” says less about progress in Alabama than it does about losses in other states, according to the report. Read more.
High food prices and the end of extra food-stamp allotments mean hard choices around the country for lower-income people. “You’re having to make the decision between ‘am I paying my mortgage, or my medical bills or my medication or buying food?’” said Stacey Andernacht with hunger relief organization Feeding South Dakota. But in her state, there’s yet another factor pushing up costs: South Dakota is one of just three — along with Mississippi and Alabama — that levies its full sales tax rate on groceries without a credit or rebate to offset the costs. Read more.
Strengthen Alabama Homes gives residents up to $10,000 to retrofit homes to the Fortified standard. Other states see it as a model for their own insurance woes. Read more.
A Birmingham restaurant will receive $1.3 million in city incentives to renovate part of a downtown parking deck into a 5,760-square-foot eatery. Yo’ Mama’s, a counter-serve restaurant that has operated on Second Avenue South since 2014, will take over the ground floor of the city-owned Birmingham Parking Authority Deck 3, at 2098 Fourth Avenue North. The deck was initially constructed in 1976 and expanded in 2009, but that expansion left an incomplete, street-level retail space that the Birmingham Parking Authority unsuccessfully attempted to lease out over the subsequent 14 years. Read more.
The Birmingham City Council has paved the way for a new restaurant to open in Highland Park, despite residential concerns over traffic and parking capacity. The council approved Tuesday a request to rezone the vacant property at 2614 Highland Ave. to allow for George’s, a new “city tavern” that developers said would hearken back to the nostalgic age of dining. Residents said they already have trouble parking and doubt the neighborhood’s capacity for a full-service restaurant. Read more.
A growing number of hikers are tackling Alabama's longest continuous footpath and trail communities are welcoming the growth. Read more.
A recent report from the Institute for Local Self Reliance laid out 17 problems with dollar stores, but some researchers said there isn’t a consensus yet. Read more.
