City Council approves incentives for Sidewalk Film Center & Cinema

Sidewalk Film Center & Cinema Inc. — producer of the annual Sidewalk Film Festival — is currently building its new headquarters, art-house cinema and educational space at The Pizitz downtown.

And the city of Birmingham has agreed to provide Sidewalk with financial incentives of up to $200,000 over a four-year period, in equal installments of $50,000 each, to help support the project.

The Birmingham City Council, at its regular meeting for Tuesday, April 23, voted 9-0 to approve the agreement. The item was recommended by Mayor Randall Woodfin, the Budget and Finance Committee and the Committee of the Whole.

Woodfin told the council that the city was “comfortable” giving Sidewalk the funding because of the positive economic impact of the new facility.

The Pizitz, a multi-use redevelopment of an old department store, is located at 120 19th St. N.

The new facility, which will include two 100-seat screening rooms, is expected to open in time for the film festival, which will take place August 19-25.

The screening rooms will allow the nonprofit to operate a year-round art-house theater, something the city has lacked.

“This is exciting having an indie cinema in Birmingham,” said City Council President Valerie Abbott. “You would think that a city this size would have one.”

“As just a movie lover, the idea that there will be a daily opportunity to see, discuss and celebrate film is insanely exciting,” Rachel Morgan, the festival’s creative director, told Iron City Ink in 2018 just before construction began.

PLASTIC BAGS, LOCAL CONTROL

The council passed a resolution opposing two bills currently under consideration in the Alabama legislature — SB244 and HB346 — that opponents say would prevent municipal and county governments from regulating auxiliary containers, such as plastic bags and styrofoam cups.

The resolution was submitted and recommended by councilor Darrell O’Quinn.

According to the text of the agenda item, municipalities — if they lose the authority to regulate these containers — “will be faced with increased expenditures, inadequate landfill space and challenges with clean water supplies that will become adverse to the public’s interest.”

O’Quinn withdrew a second agenda item, an ordinance that would have allowed the city to ban the use of plastic bags. “I am withdrawing it at this time,” he said.

The ordinance was submitted and recommended by O’Quinn and Councilor Crystal Smitherman.