By Erica Wright
The Birmingham Times
Mayor Randall Woodfin has officially been in office for 365 days as the mayor of Birmingham and said in an interview that he has managed to accomplish many of his goals.
Those include reinstituting cost of living adjustments and longevity pay for city employees, hiring a new police chief, launching the Office of Social Justice and Racial Equity, which includes the first ever LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer) liaison in the state and creating an office of community engagement which falls under the Office of Social Justice and Racial Equity.
But there is still a lot more to do, said Woodfin, who assumed office November 28, 2017.
For example, public safety is not where the mayor would like it and that will be a focus of year two, he said.
As of November 26, a total of 102 homicides have been reported in the city putting the city on pace for 113 for the year. However, the police department acknowledges 91 “chargeable” homicides, because some of the homicides were ruled justifiable as self-defense by investigators or prosecutors or for other causes.
“Our police are doing everything they can to reduce crime and to enforce the laws,” he said. “I think we isolate our conversations to numbers, and, or murders and I can’t frame it in numbers alone. These are victims who are residents, have parents, children, and spouses and are a part of our community. Some of the people who have been murdered are city employees so it touches all of us, but they’re not the only victims.
“There a lot of victims who have been shot and survived… there’s an element in this community that we have to throw everything at it and address it and that’s why we add cameras as a tool to address crime.”
In September, the city began to install nearly 100 surveillance cameras in crime-ridden areas.
Woodfin said the city has been more aggressive with stops and 2,008 weapons have been confiscated that are illegal. “It doesn’t allow us to solve all crime, but we’re being aggressive in addressing this issue,” he said.
The mayor said he also wants more officers on the streets. “When I campaigned I said I wanted to get our force up to 1,000 police officers . . . Chief [Patrick] Smith has only been in place for five months and so within that five months we’ve hired 34 new officers” which is pretty aggressive when you consider how long the academy takes, Woodfin said.
Woodfin said he expects a comprehensive crime prevention plan that will have a number of elements with a main focus of prevention, enforcement and reentry and there are several steps and processes under those three goals.
Woodfin said the public safety plan would include Birmingham Fire and Rescue and the Municipal Court system.
The plan is wholistic “from police, Division of Youth Services, the mayor’s office, the school system . . . and even economic development as it relates to employment opportunities,” he said.
Neighborhood Watch
Neighborhood Watch teams can also help with public safety, he said.
“I want to see the best Neighborhood Watch program in America,” he said. “I believe I can give y’all the best police force in America and it’s not going to solve all crime . . . we need a new form of the police academy where residents feel empowered,” he said. “We need aggressive Neighborhood Watch programs where residents, whether it’s day time or night time are saying ‘this is my block, this is my street, this is my neighborhood and I refuse to let people be reckless, live reckless or just commit crime without thought of me as a resident in my neighborhood.’”
Speaking of neighborhoods, he’s also visited seven of the nine council districts with the final district scheduled to be complete by early January, when he plans his second annual State of the Community address.
He also announced 100 Houses in 100 Days this year, which has taken some time to get off the ground. That’s an initiative which creates a partnership with Neighborhood Housing Services and will provide money from the City’s Neighborhood Revitalization Fund to make renovations for eligible residents selected from an application process.
“There is no instant anything, there is no ‘I want this’ and next week it happens. Things have to go through a committee, legal department, finance department . . . there’re some fundamentals of municipal government that you have to get right.”
Some fundamentals of government never change: basic services, paving streets, curbs, sidewalks, lights, public safety, trash and bulk issues, and “these are realistic expectations of everyday citizens of government and we have to deliver on those services,” he said.
The City Council
Another area that may need some improvement is his relationship with the council. In October, after the council deadlocked 4-4 on funding for Firehouse Ministries, a homeless shelter, he issued a press release that said in part, “playing politics with a serious issue like homelessness is unconscionable, especially as temperatures are quickly falling . . . the broader issue is about simple respect and civility. We cannot solve real issues we face as a city if we cannot have respectful dialogue without bullying and divisiveness. The people demand more from their leadership during our interactions in council meetings.”
It’s important to note the council on Tuesday voted 6-0-1 to fund the Firehouse Ministries shelter for the homeless.
“Nothing is wrong with the relationship with me and the council,” he said in the interview. “My relationship with the council is important and it’s going to work because I want it to work and they want it to work . . . the beauty of that is, with this council I have to work with them an additional three years so there’s no need to get caught in an argument, emotions or feelings the first year or write somebody off because they don’t agree with you. We don’t have to always agree but I’m committed to always communicating with them.”
Year Two
As part of his attention on neighborhood revitalization for year two, Woodfin is also focused on getting healthier food choices for all nine council districts.
Currently, Districts 1, 6, and 8 have some access to healthy food and District 7 is currently in the process of gaining better access to healthier foods with a Publix grocery store that is designed to serve southwest Birmingham at the corner of Lakeshore Parkway and Shannon-Wenonah.
He may need to attract grocers to provide healthy options citywide.
“I’m probably going to have to get on a plane and go somewhere and sit down with some CEO or COO of a national grocery and say, ‘what does it take for you to have an urban model to provide healthy food in our city limits and let enough people tell me no until we get to yes,” he said.
Also, small business growth and keeping businesses in the city as well as attracting new businesses remains a priority. “There have been 2,100 new jobs created since November 2017, something that hasn’t been done since 2011,” he said.
“We hired a person, Tene Dolphin, who’s only job is to focus on small business growth . . . and how do we make sure for existing businesses they have what they need so they don’t leave.”
Dolphin is the city’s deputy director for business diversity and opportunity.
“They’re working a strategy on not just incentives but around making sure aesthetic wise, incentive wise, business-need wise, we take care of what we have first so there are no more people fleeing,” he said.
