Mayor Bell and challenger Woodfin square off at Downtown Democrats luncheon

Birmingham Mayor William Bell and his upcoming challenger in the Oct. 3 runoff, Randall Woodfin, both spoke to a meeting of the Downtown Democrats at the Harbert Center on Friday, Sept. 8, at noon, and both men largely stuck to the same talking points that have carried them this far in the campaign.

Woodfin, a city attorney and school board member, told the group that Birmingham is “a tale of two cities,” with a booming downtown but many other neighborhoods that he says have been neglected by the current administration.

He said that greater efforts are needed to fight crime, improve police morale, increase city funding for education and help smooth the process for small businesses that go to city hall for permits and licenses.

And Woodfin criticized what he said was Bell’s unwillingness to work collaboratively, with the city council and others, to solve problems.

"City hall needs “a servant leadership that will use any means necessary to help people,” Woodfin said.

Bell said that he helped bring the city back from the steep financial hole he found when he took office, and he trumpeted the impressive revitalization of the downtown area that has occurred the last decade.

He also said that “you can’t do it all alone,” citing his work with Birmingham’s corporate community to bring downtown back in a way that has attracted positive national press attention.

The mayor also defended his record in the other neighborhoods, citing the Crossplex athletic complex and other new or planned amenities in Five Points West.

He cited his efforts to rebuild Pratt City after the April 2011 tornadoes and to help bring new housing and the Rushton Early Learning Center to Woodlawn.

And there are small businesses popping up in Avondale, according to Bell. “There are some former food trucks who now have brick-and-mortar locations and were supported by the city’s community development department,” he said.

“We have a lot of growth and development, and that is due to the leadership I’ve provided in difficult times,” Bell said, citing the Great Recession.

Woodfin was the leading vote-getter in the Aug. 22 municipal election, with Bell – who’s been mayor since 2010 and is seeking his second full term – finishing second.

When asked to name his proudest accomplishment, Woodfin said that he took pride in helping the school board turn around its finances and win approval from voters for new tax revenue for education.

Bell countered that after the state takeover of the Birmingham schools in 2012, he met regularly with state administrator Ed Richardson, who Bell claims preferred to rely on the mayor because he did not trust the school board.

The mayor said that the city bought up a lot of unused school buildings from the school board to improve their bottom line.

“That’s how they got their revenues up, due to the city of Birmingham,” Bell said.

Woodfin said that the biggest change voters will see if he is elected is that he “will actually work with the city council and make the revitalization of all 99 neighborhoods a priority.”

“We have to commit to the entire city, and we can’t just do it during an election year,” he said.

Doug Jones, former U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama and candidate for the U.S. Senate, gave the gathering a brief update on his campaign.