Birmingham Blues

Gaynell Hendricks won the Democratic nomination for Jefferson County tax assessor yesterday with 60% of the 14% turnout. Some here will remember that this is the same Gaynell Hendricks who did everything she could to overturn Patricia Todd’s election and get herself crowned the nominee in Alabama House District 54. Quoth Ms. Hendricks:
“This [...]

This one definitely falls in the “What Were They Thinking?” category. Last night, the Vestavia Hills City Council voted to give away a 13-acre tract of land valued at $2 million for $10. Yep, that’s TEN DOLLARS. The land will be “purchased” by Life Time Fitness, which proposes to build a $25 [...]

And another shoe drops…
A federal grand jury is investigating Jefferson County bond deals and Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford’s financial dealings.
Steve Sayler, the county’s finance director from 1989 to 2007, and Norm Davis, who was a county financial adviser during Langford’s tenure as commission president, were in the grand jury room at U.S. District Court in [...]

NBC-13 wants to know what we think about an elevated Highway 280. Actually, the poll question is, “Will an elevated highway solve the 280 traffic problem?”
I think a world of no. Thought so before, but rapidly increasing gas prices make the idea of encouraging more development further from the city center even worse. [...]

Jefferson County senators today approved a proposal that would raise the salary for Birmingham’s mayor $40,000, beginning with the next term of office. The proposed raise now goes to the full Senate for consideration.
A couple of observations — first, $108,000 (the new salary) doesn’t seem excessive to me, given the size of the city [...]

Homewood Mayor Barry McCulley apologized yesterday for giving the McCain campaign a huge discount on the rent for a fundraiser last week. He was, however, unrepentant about providing free inmate labor to set up the event.
The campaign was charged $250 to rent two rooms, which have a posted rate of $1,200.
“I did exceed [...]

Want to let Homewood Mayor Barry McCulley know what you think about his giveaway to the McCain campaign? The folks from Bright Blue Dot have a couple of suggestions:
TODAY, contact the city officials responsible and let them know how you feel:
Mayor Barry R. McCulley
City: 332-6103
Cell: 229-7321
Email: barry.mcculley@homewoodal.org
City Council President, J. “Ginger” Busby
Voice Mail (City) [...]

Homewood Mayor Barry McCulley has stepped in it with this one. He’s supposed to bring requests for discounts to the City Council, but for some reason he decided to rent the McCain people a room at Rosewood Hall for $250, substantially less than the going rate of $1,200 for a weeknight event. He [...]

Mayor Larry Langford to the city of Birmingham: I will put on a big publicity stunt event where I talk a bunch of people into wearing burlap bags, and that will solve the city’s crime problem.
I only wish I were kidding.

If you’re still in sticker shock from your last trip to the gas station, you may be interested in this:
Public Meeting on MAX Transit
Thursday April 24th, 2008 5:30 p.m.
Central Station Main Lobby
For More Information Contact John C. Harris, Chair Transit Advisory Committee Phone: 252-1833 - Email: johnjcharris@netzero.net
Come have an open [...]