City Beat: Pardons for Progress, Super 7 football, crime numbers

Mayor Randall Woodfin wants to make it easier for people who’ve been convicted of minor marijuana charges to find jobs. The city will once again host state championship high school football beginning in 2021, and the Birmingham Police Department is reporting some progress in reducing crime.

OFFERING ‘A SECOND CHANCE’

On Nov. 25, Woodfin announced an initiative called Pardons for Progress to help remove barriers to employment for Birmingham residents convicted of misdemeanor marijuana possession.

The program will allow people previously convicted in Birmingham Municipal Court of unlawful possession of marijuana, second degree — a Class A misdemeanor — to apply for a pardon.

“It is my firm belief that many men and women who have been convicted deserve a second chance in order to secure a job that may be blocked due to a one-time possession conviction,” Woodfin said in a news release.

The initiative “will not apply to pending cases or multiple cases,” Woodfin told the Birmingham City Council on Nov. 26.

For details, go to birminghamal.gov/pardons.

SUPER 7 TO RETURN

The Super 7 Football State Championships — presented by the Alabama High School Athletic Association — return to Birmingham on Dec. 1-3, 2021.

The event, to be held in the new Protective Stadium currently under construction at the BJCC, will also be in Birmingham in 2024, 2027 and 2030.

The AHSAA and the city announced the plan Nov. 25.

The Magic City will host the event for the first time since it hosted the old Super 6 at Legion Field from 1996-2008.

Two other cities — Auburn and Tuscaloosa — will continue to host the Super 7 in other years.

On Nov. 26, the City Council voted to approve an agreement between the city and the AHSAA, the BJCC and the Greater Birmingham Convention and Visitors Bureau under which the city will pay up to $125,000 of financial and in-kind related services as an incentive for the event, which is expected to have an estimated $10 million in local economic impact.

CRIME

Birmingham Police Department recently reported that crime had dropped in the city in several categories. As of Nov. 5, homicides were down 9.1 percent, assaults were down 13.3 percent, robberies has dropped 18.6 percent, shot fires had lowered by 16.5 percent, total violence was down 14 percent and more than 1,700 guns had been taken off the streets.