Tag Archives: City Council

On the agenda: Speechless?

Posted on October 21, 2008 | Leave a comment

You could say that people in Birmingham, AL would be that way yesterday after learning that while Trinity Medical Center prepares to move to property along U.S. 280 with an assist from the City of Birmingham (Item 30), Carraway Medical Center (yes, we’re still calling it Carraway) was going to close as a result of bankruptcy (and not without the city trying their best to save it as well) while word spread about plans for the an item on today’s agenda (Item 35) that calls for the next sitting council to receive a $20,000 raise in addition to another $10,000 added to their expense allowances (Item 36).

We were actually quiet due to some traveling from yours truly, though I found some time to write my thoughts on a couple of those issues over on my Birmingham this morning.

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On the agenda: City Stages

Posted on September 30, 2008 | Leave a comment

Today’s actually an extremely light agenda for the Birmingham City Council. The most interesting item of note, besides the one that cleans up the hurdles left in the implementation of the city’s new curfew laws going into effect today (#6), is #12, currently listed as being on consent.

If approved, it will provide the Birmingham Cultural and Heritage Foundation (the group behind City Stages) with up to $300,000 to assist in producing next June’s 21st edition of the music festival “to maximize family participation from all walks of life.” We’ll see if it’s pulled off from consent for discussion if not in person, online starting at 9:30 a.m.

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On the agenda: It’s about getting around today

Posted on September 16, 2008 | Leave a comment

A quick glance at today’s Birmingham City Council agenda gives you the impression that it’s all about getting and moving things around. There are ordinances securing our transit authority’s operating contract (Item 10)  providing additional funds for the system (Item 6); allowing for Alagasco to get around town (Item 7); securing an incentive for the relocation of Intermark’s 110 employees to the former Rogers Trading Company building; allowing for Jim Burke Automotive to consolidate more of their dealerships downtown (Item 5). There’s even one approving plans to move forward on making it a more attractive drive down one of our streets (14th Street North – Item 15).

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Council gets tougher on finances

Posted on September 15, 2008 | 1 comment

Birmingham City Council President Carole Smitherman has probably already made her proposal to the council’s budget, finance and administration committee today. The News reports that the proposal would include requiring Mayor Langford to present monthly reports to the council in addition to making the city’s 3-month reserve fund a requirement (which would make it difficult to touch for regular expenses). This comes after an interesting few days, including a Saturday meeting that turned heated and an interesting discussion of no-bid contracts.

Of course, you could just listen to (and watch) Smitherman explain it herself.

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On the agenda: a lot actually

Posted on August 26, 2008 | 6 comments

This morning’s City Council meeting is going to be interesting. Two new establishments that we’ve recently written about, Bonedaddy’s (soon to be Sweet Bones Alabama) and Black Market Bar, are on the consent agenda currently for receipt of their restaurant retail liquor licenses. For those that haven’t figured out where The Black Market will be, the address is 3411 Colonnade Parkway, Suite 800.

Several city agencies that have contracts with the city including Urban Impact, Main Street Birmingham and the BIrmingham Business Resource Center are poised to have them renewed. The biggest news that will come out of this morning’s meeting will probably not be what’s on the agenda, but what is not. Mayor Langford is prepared to ask the council to support a proposal for electronic bingo – an item that is currently legal in 6 of the counties in the state. In addition, he is asking the council via an addendum item to support a grant application to implement a Civil Rights Trail in the city.

We’ll see what happens.

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On the agenda: Progress is coming

Posted on August 19, 2008 | 2 comments

Today’s council agenda is 44 pages long and includes good news for those in town that were wondering about the status of development in Railroad Reservation Park. It also contains good news for those wanting to see a shorter meaning as a vast majority of the items currently listed are on consent.

Once you finally get past all 31 pages of item one, the first item that will possibly lead to an interesting public hearing is the one that calls for changes to the city’s curfew law, including the raising of fines charged (item 5). Items 14, 15 & 16 are currently on the consent agenda, meaning that there will most likely be no discussion of the contracts Bhate Geosciences Corporation (assessing the retaining wall for the park) and Building and Earth Sciences (providing various monitoring services for the park).

We’re figuring you’ve still got time to tune in to the meeting if you haven’t already…

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On the agenda: Council approves 2009 budget

Posted on July 15, 2008 | Leave a comment

Looks like we will have an operating budget before 3 p.m. CDT (after a lengthy discussion that streamed online during their recess). The regular scheduled meeting of the Birmingham City Council ended at approximately 3 p.m. today with the approval of the 2009 general fund budget. The capital budget is the next item to be approved – it will be dealt with at next week’s meeting.

It appears that The final vote will be was 7-0 for most items with one abstention. Councilor Montgomery was absent due to surgery and Councilor Royal is abstaining from most of the earlier items involving the budget on the agenda – though he did vote with the majority for the items pertaining to employee raises.

The council also delayed voting on a proposal that would have started the process of being considered for the 2020 Olympics, as The Birmingham News reported earlier today.

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