The question of trust when considering our local politicians has been one on the minds of many recently, especially in light of the recent trial and conviction of former Birmingham City Councilor and Jefferson County Commissioner John Katapodis on federal charges. Birmingham Weekly’s Kyle Whitmire wrote an extensive piece on the issue of political corruption in Alabama for last week’s edition while The Birmingham News‘ Joey Kennedy decided to ask “Who’s your favorite convicted Jefferson County commissioner?” on his al.com blog. The poll’s still open…

So we were wondering…

Which politician in metro Birmingham do you trust the most? Share your answers on Magic City Question.

Earlier this afternoon Skirt! Magazine here in Birmingham announced via its Twitter feed that it would no longer be associated with Media General, owners of NBC13HD. Subsequent tweets asked for anyone interested in helping save the magazine to contact them via direct message on Twitter (typing the letter “d” in front of their username (skirtBirmingham) or via email. The magazine was founded in 1994 in Charleston, SC and Birmingham is one of 21 markets currently served by it. They do plan to move forward with the local edition of the publication.

We figured we’d take a moment to check out something most residents don’t get a chance to visit often - those waterfalls located between the Birmingham Museum of Art and the Boutwell Auditorium.

The word out in the Twitterverse that yesterday was your last chance to enjoy food from Johnny Ray’s - at least as we knew it. The current owners of the 55 year old local barbecue chain have decided to retire with different plans being made for all of the existing locations.

The chatter online has been sparse, though it was apparent that the changes were expected, though some early moves left folks unsure.

Thanks to @bmcgraw for the heads up on the news about the local franchise.

Logo: courtesy of the restaurant’s website.

Folks looking for a parking space around Birmingham today may notice that it will most likely be costing them a little more to do so. Last week The Birmingham News reported that parking rates are going up; city officials hope that new parking meter mechanisms will be installed by the end of the year allowing them to double parking fees at 30 minute, 2-hour and 3-hour meters. Municipal parking deck and lot charges in the city center and at the airport will also be going up starting today. Don’t forget that parking ticket rates went up last year, with last July serving as the first of two months of amnesty for those with unpaid citations.

Photo: André Natta/bhamterminal.com

Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford shared his intentions with the audience assembled in The Harbert Center early this morning. He hoped that the Birmingham City Council approves his request to release funds to begin construction of the much-talked about multipurpose facility for the BJCC campus downtown.

Or to put it simply, he’s saying, “Let’s do the dome… NOW!”

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For those that visited the site this weekend, the post at the top of the page best summed up my thoughts about the situation involving  The Bottletree and City Stages. So of course the next question was, what else to do besides asking folks to go. The answer is simple -> ask them to come out!

We’re calling a Terminally Happy Hour for this Thursday, July 2 - only this time it’s a Bottletree Bailout! We’re asking all of you that see this (and your friends) to come out to The Bottletree whenever you can during happy hour on Thursday - we’ll be getting there at around 4 p.m. - and enjoy meeting people from elsewhere in metro Birmingham while providing business for a venue that’s done a lot for us.

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