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Birmingham City Council

Public Hearing on New Birmingham City Council Districts Set for March 29

The Birmingham City Council has set a March 29 public hearing to discuss proposed changes to the city’s council districts based on 2020 census data. Last month, the council hired Crimcard Consulting Services to lead the redistricting process, which is required each decade by city law. After several individual meetings with councilors, Crimcard presented proposed districts to the council Feb. 14. A digital map of the proposed changes has not yet been made available; that information will be shared on the city’s website this week, officials said, but video of the presentation is available on the council’s Facebook page. The redistricting process has already proven controversial, with District 3 Councilor Valerie Abbott expressing dismay that part of the Five Points South neighborhood would be reassigned to District 6, currently represented by Council President Pro Tem Crystal Smitherman. Read more.

by Sam Prickett

Mahogany Club Given Stay of Execution, New Birmingham Council Hearing Set

Once again, the Birmingham City Council is considering the closure of a nightclub due to several instances of gun violence and other crimes. This time, the club is Mahogany Social Bar and Lounge, at 1709 Third St. W in the city’s Rising-West Princeton neighborhood. Temple’s attempt to obtain a new liquor license and dance permit for Mahogany was met with open skepticism by many city councilors based on claims by police that the nightclub is a threat to public safety. But one councilor said neighborhood officers had written a letter supporting the club and its owner, who they said had responded to previous complaints. Read more.

by Sam Prickett

New Library Board Taking Over as Birmingham Council Replaces Five Members

The Birmingham City Council appointed five new members to the Birmingham Public Library’s board of trustees Tuesday, replacing a majority of the board’s current lineup, including President Eunice Johnson Rogers. It’s a high-profile shake-up for the library board, which over the past several years has proven a lightning rod for controversy. Read more.

by Sam Prickett

Birmingham Council Eyes Redrawing District Lines

The city of Birmingham has hired a local consulting service to review and potentially redraw City Council district lines in accordance with 2020 census data. When the city opted to shift to single-member districts in 1989 — meaning that each district is represented by a specific councilor and school board member — it included a provision ensuring that the districts would be responsive to changes in census data so that the populations of each district would remain roughly equal. “If you’ve got unequal districts, the weight of one person’s vote in a smaller district bears a heavier weight than if you’ve got a very large district,” assistant city attorney Julie Barnard told councilors Tuesday. “The goal is to try to get the population between districts as balanced as possible. That’s the primary thing driving this.” Read more.

by Sam Prickett

Bham Council Approves $500,000 in BOLD Funding, Sets Legislative Priorities and Pledges In-Kind Services to Support USFL

The Birmingham City Council voted Tuesday to approve more than $500,000 in grant funding for five local nonprofits as part of the city’s Building Opportunities for Lasting Development initiative. Mayor Randall Woodfin launched the BOLD program in 2018 as a mechanism for distributing city funds to local nonprofit and economic development organizations. The council also voted on its legislative agenda. At the top of the list for councilors is expanding the city’s number of entertainment districts from five to 15. It also approved $500,000 in in-kind services to the new United States Football League, which this year will be playing its entire season in Birmingham, including eight to 11 games at Legion Field. Read more.

by Sam Prickett

Carpenter Added to Transit Authority Board, Four Members Reappointed

The Birmingham City Council voted Tuesday to reappoint four members of the Birmingham-Jefferson County Transit Authority board whose terms had expired. The council also appointed one new member, Becky Carpenter, to replace outgoing board member Kevin Powe. The city of Birmingham appoints five of the BJCTA board’s nine members; Vestavia Hills, Hoover, Homewood and the Jefferson County Commission round out the other four appointments. Four of the city’s 2017 appointees — board Chairman Theodore Smith, Vice Chair LeDon Jones, Darryl Cunningham and Willie S. Davis — have all been reappointed to a second four-year term on the board; their terms will expire in September 2025. But board member Kevin Powe, who was also appointed to the BJCTA board in 2017, will not be back for a second term. He’ll be replaced by Becky Carpenter, a project manager at Corporate Realty Associates. Through her job, Carpenter has worked on several major redevelopment projects in the city, including that of the former Carraway Hospital and Southtown Court housing project. Read more.

by Sam Prickett

Birmingham Council OK’s Agreement With ICE, Disturbing Advocacy Groups

The Birmingham City Council has approved an agreement between the city’s police department and U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement that would deputize several BPD officers as customs officers for ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations jurisdiction. The agreement was approved unanimously despite tense opposition from several advocacy groups worried that it could lead to more deportations in the city and give ICE too much power. The agreement — a continuation of a previous 3-year deal — went before the council Nov. 2 but was delayed due to councilors’ concerns that it would require the police officers involved to participate in the deportation and removal of undocumented Birmingham residents. Read more.

by Sam Prickett

Birmingham Loosens Rules on Taxis to ‘Modernize’ Service

The Birmingham City Council voted Tuesday to “modernize” the city’s taxicab ordinance, loosening restrictions on the appearance of taxis and allowing them to use third-party GPS technology to calculate fares. The change comes as traditional taxi companies compete against ride-sharing operations that aren’t under the same rules as cabs. “The goal of this is updating, modernizing some of the (ordinance) to the way the industry operates now,” Assistant City Attorney Julie Barnard told the council. “There’s a lot of changes. The primary thing is, this opens the city up to more modern operations and taxis, and that’s the goal here.” Read more.

by Sam Prickett

Birmingham Council Transfers Two Sewer Stations to Jefferson County

The Birmingham City Council has approved the transfer of two sanitary sewer pump stations in the city’s Fairmont neighborhood to Jefferson County. Operations of those stations already had been turned over to the county as part of a 1998 unification agreement, but the properties themselves had remained under city ownership. Read more.

by Sam Prickett
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