The Birmingham City Council on Tuesday set a Nov. 12 public hearing to get residents’ feedback on the city’s Safe Streets pilot program.
As part of the project, which started in July, city officials placed barriers at more than 20 street intersections in the East Lake neighborhood. Blocking the intersections limits the entry and exit points for criminals. City officials say this technique, which has been used in other cities, reduces crime.
As of Oct. 1, the initiative has shown marked success, Mayor Randall Woodfin told the council Tuesday. In just more than 80 days of the program, he said, police seized 19 firearms and made 140 arrests.
Woodfin added that 305 people out of 381 contacted in the neighborhood expressed their support for the initiative. Twelve people opposed Safe Streets while 64 reported being neutral on the topic.
“This type of program doesn’t work without, one, residential buy-in, and, two, residential empowerment, meaning, this only works if the residents want it.” Woodfin said.
The pilot program also included traffic calming efforts and increased code enforcement work to identify and address abandoned properties. The mayor said that from the start of Safe Streets to Oct. 1, police issued 559 traffic citations and city officials established five drug nuisance abatement cases.
The perimeter of the Safe Streets zone includes Division Avenue, Oporto Madrid Boulevard, Higdon Road and 68th Street South.
Birmingham officials chose East Lake because the neighborhood has experienced a significant amount of crime in recent years, with illegal dumping, prostitution and gun crime being particularly prevalent. Birmingham police detected 2,164 gunshots in East Lake in 2023, according to the mayor.
After Woodfin’s presentation Tuesday, several council members expressed their hopes that the program will grow to include other locations.
“With the success of this, all of us know that there are certain areas within our districts that this can be deployed in and bring a sense of hope and security to our residents,” Councilor J.T. Moore said.
The council also voted to extend the operating period of the pilot program to prevent a gap between the end of the program and the public comment period.
Mayor Proposes Plan to Recruit and Retain Police Officers
The council also held a special meeting Tuesday to hear the mayor’s proposal to increase recruiting and retention among police officers. The $16 million plan includes items such as:
- increasing the sign on bonus from $5,000 to $10,000
- relocation bonuses of $2,000
- approving additional take home cars for patrol officers
- quarterly retention bonuses
- a plan to compensate police trainees to prevent attrition
- 12-weeks paid family leave
- up to 8 hours of mental health observance leave monthly
Woodfin said some of the expenses in the plan represent one-time expenditures, so the measure would likely cost less than $16 million in future years.
According to the mayor, the police department’s full-strength patrol is 440 officers citywide. As of Oct. 1, the department is operating at 377. However, the upcoming class of officers in the Birmingham Police Academy has 53 people currently enrolled, according to city officials.
In other business, the council:
- Approved an agreement under which the city will pay $125,000 to the Birmingham Jefferson County Port Authority to operate an inland port facility on the Black Warrior River for recreational, transportational, agricultural, industrial and commercial purposes.
- Approved giving $1 million to IMC Financial Consulting to provide a financial literacy program to the Birmingham City Schools for one year.
- Approved purchasing a railroad corridor from CSX Transportation for $1.1 million. The site is for the Valley Creek Rails-to-Trail project. The city will pay $270,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds — $250,000 from money assigned to Councilor Carol Clarke and $10,000 each from Councilors Crystal Smitherman and Wardine Alexander. The Freshwater Land Trust will pay the remainder, according to city officials.
Amended the budget to reflect the city receiving a $5 million federal grant to help address homelessness in Birmingham. This money will pay for housing and support services for people experiencing homelessness. According to officials, the city is seeking requests for qualifications from developers and once that window is closed and a developer is selected, the city will identify an under-utilized property that will be the site of this new housing development.
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