Woodfin announces job training, proposal to name CrossPlex for Langford
Mayor Randall Woodfin — during his weekly report to the Birmingham City Council on Tuesday, Feb. 19 — announced what he called an advance in workforce training in the city.
Woodfin told members that Mercedes Benz and Lawson State Community College were making an announcement on Tuesday morning of a partnership to offer automotive apprenticeships that will allow students to develop skills in high-tech manufacturing,
Mercedes Benz is bringing two new vehicles to Lawson State, located in southwest Birmingham, so that students in the automotive training program there can work on them, according to Josh Carpenter, the city’s director of economic development.
The school and Mercedes were having a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Tuesday morning, Carpenter said.
Mercedes Benz, which is expanding its facility in Bibb County, already does training at Shelton State and Bevill State community colleges and is now expanding its programs at Lawson State, according to Carpenter.
This new partnership is “an exciting opportunity for students there, for Birmingham residents, to go there and actually learn the skills they need to get jobs and the skills they need for apprenticeships,” Carpenter said.
Such apprenticeships are “the hallmark of the Woodfin way” and the administration’s approach to workforce development, according to Carpenter.
“They allow people to earn while they learn, and it takes away the cost of going to school,” he said.
Woodfin said that he is also meeting with the Department of Education later this week regarding the possibility of obtaining federal dollars to help support the city’s workforce development effort.
The administration “will continue to double down on bringing apprenticeships to the city,” Woodfin said.
He said he will work with the Department of Education, the Department of Labor and the state of Alabama to help obtain funding.
HONORING LANGFORD
Woodfin told the council he will soon formally propose that Birmingham CrossPlex be renamed the Larry P. Langford Birmingham CrossPlex.
This change would honor the late former Birmingham mayor who led the effort to create that facility, which has played host to many important track and field events, including the NCAA Division 1 indoor championships.
The mayor said that he has discussed the matter recently with councilors John Hilliard and Steven Hoyt.
Langford, who suffered from several serious illnesses, died in the hospital in early January at the age of 72 shortly after being granted compassionate release from serving a 15-year federal felony sentence.
He was removed from office as mayor in 2009 after his conviction on public corruption charges.
Councilor Steven Hoyt, who joined Woodfin in making the announcement, alluded to Langford’s legal problems while urging a larger view of the former mayor’s accomplishments.
“We have to deal with the body of people’s work,” Hoyt said. “We can’t just deal with one segment and judge a body of work. All of us have some issues, one way or another.”
He cited several successful projects in the Birmingham area that Langford proposed or helped push, including the Uptown entertainment district at the BJCC, Regions Field and the Visionland amusement park, now called Alabama Splash Adventure.
“We are better because Larry Langford came through here,” Hoyt said.
Langford’s wife, Melva, was also present for the announcement.
OTHER BUSINESS
The council had a light workload and dispensed with virtually its entire agenda on consent. The items passed included some liquor and special retail licenses, some sales tax assessments and a few small expenditures or budget amendments.
The council, after a motion by Hilliard, approved a one-week delay for one of the two agenda items that were not on consent — the consideration of the nomination of two new members of the Birmingham Parking Authority.
To view the agenda for Feb. 12, click here.