Category Archives: Citywide

Langford’s had a busy day…

Langford with school children. acnatta/Flickr

Mayor Langford speaks to students at Phillips Academy during Wachovia’s Way2Save event on April 22. acnatta/Flickr.

Larry Langford’s been a busy individual this morning. Here he’s seen talking to area school children during today’s Wachovia Way2Save event. Representatives from four area schools each received $2,000 for their scholarship funds at the event. The mayor spent most of the time he was at the event taking pictures with the children and answering questions about this morning’s approval of his proposal to pay for free bus rides in Birmingham beginning in May and running through August by the City Council.

According to the blog post made earlier today by The Birmingham News, the BJCTA board still needs to approve the proposal during their board meeting tomorrow.

SxDS: It’s on!

SxDS logoWe’ve just learned that SxDS is going to happen September 26 – 28 here in Birmingham, Alabama. There will also be a WordCamp rolled into the event; it would be the first WordCamp in the Southeastern United States. Yeah, that’s on top of already having the Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival that same weekend (it’s 10th!). The announcements will appear on their sites at approximately 2:30 p.m. CDT.

More details to follow, but for now check out their official website or follow them on Twitter. You can also sign up to assist with the WordCamp through its Google Group.

Blogging in the ‘Ham: A great resource for “Mom”

Birminghammom.com screenshot

Screenshot from Birminghammom.com

Searching around the web to see what we haven’t seen about Birmingham always brings some interesting results. The most recent discovery was that of a blog started to help make life easier for area moms. Birminghammom.com started last October as what has become a resource for area families to spend more time together. I’d try to do a better job describing it, but I will leave that to the original Birmingham Mom herself.

People are talking about laptops today…

… and it’s definitely a mix of opinions across cyberspace. It appears that even though the story broke several months ago, mainstream national media is just now beginning to report about the pending arrival of our school system’s XO laptop computers and it’s getting really interesting.

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UPDATE: Good viewing for city council’s possible online debut

UPDATE #2: This week’s meeting is now streaming live on the city’s website – and as of 12:39 p.m. they were currently hearing public comments about the Glen Iris item.

UPDATE #1: A quick check of the city’s website now lets us know that meetings will begin streaming next week Tuesday, March 11. Today’s meeting appears as though it will be available in the archives later today though.

As we first shared with you in December, the City of Birmingham’s new website would allow them to do some new things – including giving residents the opportunity to watch live streams of city council meetings from the comfort of their computer monitors. The Birmingham Business Journal reported yesterday that today would be the first time that this feature will be used. A current check of the site though shows only last week’s meeting available in the archives. It will definitely be a good day to watch online if it is in fact available (though it is not currently available as of the posting of this item).

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Rep. Davis holds crime forum tonight

U.S. Congressman Artur Davis will be hosting the Save Our Streets Crime Prevention Forum tonight beginning at 5:30 p.m. in Birmingham City Council Chambers.

The forum comes as a result of recently released FBI crime statistics indicating Birmingham ranked 8th in the nation in homicides and 18th in violent crime. Congressman Davis hopes that the forum will allow for the exchange of information and best practices about how to begin taking back our communities.

Panelists will include:

  • Chief A.C. Roper, Birmingham Police Department
  • Kenneth Kaiser, Federal Bureau of Investigation
  • Fred Grebauer, New York City Mayor’s Office
  • Lt. Col. James Whalen, Cincinnati Police Department
  • Rachel Laser, Third Way

AEC: All plastics now accepted

AEC logoArea recycling enthusiasts should be quite happy with this announcement by the Alabama Environmental Center.  Beginning this past Monday they are now accepting all plastics, #1-7.

Previously the plastics had to have a screw-on lid, so you couldn’t take in frozen entree trays, most kitty litter bins and things like that because different processes were required to recycle them.

Just in case you need a reminder about what items are accepted at the drop-off center in downtown Birmingham, click here to see the list. You can also check out this page to learn more about Birmingham’s current curbside program or here to watch a video explaining your options.