Tag: Birmingham neighborhoods
Birmingham’s Neighborhood Association Network Faces Challenges at the 50-Year Mark
Once considered a model of citizen participation, the influence of the neighborhood association system is waning as participation lags and leaders complain of declining attention from the city.
Council OKs New Zoning for Small Businesses in Residential Neighborhoods
Birmingham now has an official zoning category to allow for small businesses in high-density residential neighborhoods that are walkable and close to transit. Read more.
Councilors Discuss Spending $500K to Send Neighborhood Leaders to Convention but With Report Requirement
Each year, the Birmingham City Council approves funding for hundreds of neighborhood officers to attend the Neighborhood USA conference. This year, though, that approval will likely come with the stipulation that attendees report back to their neighborhood associations on what they learned.
Pending a council vote next week, the city’s 99 neighborhoods will each have the option to send two representatives to NUSA, which this year will be held in El Paso, Texas. The conference offers what it describes as “cutting-edge workshops” and “tools and training to improve and maintain great neighborhoods every year.” Read more.
Birmingham to Spend $4 Million on Home Rehab Program
Birmingham residents will have a short window this month to apply for the Critical Home Rehabilitation Program, which will distribute more than $4 million to homes in need of repair around the city.
That’s the most the city has ever dedicated on housing rehabilitation, Mayor Randall Woodfin told councilors on Tuesday. He noted that, in the previous three years combined, the city spent $2 million to rehab 224 homes, at a cost of roughly $15,000 per home. This year, the city will spend $4 million to repair at least 250 homes, with an allocation of $30,000 per home. Read more.
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.
Birmingham Council Approves Sending Up to 297 Neighborhood Reps to Conference
Despite some concerns of excessive spending, the Birmingham City Council voted Tuesday to send up to 297 neighborhood representatives — up to three from each of the city’s 99 neighborhoods — to this May’s Neighborhoods USA Conference in Little Rock, Arkansas. Read more.
