Tag: Woodlawn
BW Recommends | Feb. 22, 2026
Bare Hands Buys Old Church for Its New Home in Woodlawn
The nonprofit arts organization has bought and will be renovating an old church across from Woodlawn High to become the new Bare Hands Community Arts Center.
Woodlawn United, REV Set Sights on First Avenue South Lot for Woodlawn Redevelopment
A request to demolish a rundown Woodlawn business is the next step in a plan for residential and commercial development near the bus rapid transit station. Read more.
Commissary Kitchen Planned for Woodlawn to Boost New Food Businesses, Community
Eugene’s Hot Chicken owner Zebbie Carney hopes to open a commissary kitchen in Woodlawn that would offer kitchen space for the metro area’s growing number of food trucks and add to the revitalization of Woodlawn. Read more.
‘The Road Diet’: Project to Reduce Traffic, Add Room for Bikers and Walkers Transforms Downtown Woodlawn
Downtown Woodlawn’s 1st Avenue South has been transformed with the implementation of a street-calming pilot project called “The Road Diet.” Read more.
Woodlawn Stadium Bid Approved; Stadium Could Be Built by Fall
Karlos Dansby had one more reason to be thankful this Black Friday morning when he learned that the Birmingham Board of Education had accepted the bid to build a football stadium and fieldhouse on the campus of Woodlawn High School.
“Without a doubt, I’m thankful,” said Dansby, a 2000 alumnus of Woodlawn who went on to play at Auburn University before playing in the National Football League. “Happy Thanksgiving to everybody and I look forward to seeing this project come to life.”
The board of education on Tuesday unanimously approved a bid of $8.7 million with Argo Building Company for a new stadium and fieldhouse at Woodlawn High. Work on the project is expected to be completed in fall 2022.
It initially rejected the bid Nov. 9 with five members voting no, two voting yes and one abstaining after the estimated base project cost more than doubled from the initial $4.2 million estimate. Read more.
Sessions Criticizes School Board, Housing Authority for Cutting Ties with Church of the Highlands
When Jeff Sessions arrived at Woodlawn High School for a Wednesday morning press conference, Dr. Terrell E. Brown, the school’s principal, was waiting for him in the parking lot.
The press conference couldn’t be held on school grounds, he said — but Sessions was welcome to move to a parking lot across the street. Sessions’ campaign staffers begrudgingly acquiesced. “Well, that’ll make it part of the story,” one staffer muttered as they lugged the podium across the busy street.
The former U.S. attorney general and current U.S. Senate candidate was in Woodlawn to express his outrage over recent decisions by the Birmingham Board of Education and the Birmingham Housing Authority to cut ties with Church of the Highlands after founding pastor Chris Hodges “liked” several social media posts by the politically conservative group Turning Point USA.
“This is a matter of real importance,” Sessions said. “It deals concretely with the right of free speech and free expression of religious values and to be able to have independent ideas outside your work environment.”
Read more.
Woodlawn: Change and Challenges Define a City Neighborhood
On one side of First Avenue North, Bayles Restaurant and Catering serves everything from thick hamburgers to lentil soup for a steady stream of residents, workers and even police officers. Across the street, other people flow into the soup kitchen offered by Grace Episcopal Church. A few blocks down at Woodlawn United Methodist Church, volunteers load boxes with meat, dry goods and vegetables for a regular food distribution to needy families.
You don’t have to look far to see both the success of redevelopment and the challenges that remain in Woodlawn.
The Health Community Assessment Tool compiled by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development ranks Woodlawn among the top tier of Birmingham’s 99 neighborhoods in business retention and economic health. The community ranks near the bottom on public safety and blight.
Neighborhood leaders say change is coming and Woodlawn has seen rebirth in recent years – thanks to nonprofits, public-private partnerships, and a community of residents who refuse to let their neighborhood die.
“We just had to stand up,” said Donna Hall, a former officer in the Woodlawn Neighborhood Association. Read more.
Parents Criticize Birmingham Public Schools. Still, ‘Somebody in Every School is Fighting for Something,’ They Say.
“Why are parents having to create battle strategies?”
The question was from Nicholas – a new parent, a teacher, a volunteer supporting Birmingham public schools – and addressed to Birmingham parents of school-age children.
It came in a BW Listening conversation focused on education issues Thursday at Woodlawn United Methodist Church. BirminghamWatch is asking what’s on the minds of Birmingham voters as they approach elections of a mayor, members of the City Council and members of the school board.
Read more.
