Birmingham City Council gets updates on Rickwood Field, Carver Theatre
Badly needed repairs at Rickwood Field -- the nation’s oldest baseball park -- should be complete by the end of 2017, according to Andre Bittas, the city of Birmingham's director of planning, engineering and permits.
“We fully expect to complete that this year,” Bittas told the Birmingham City Council at its regular meeting for Tuesday, May 9.
The city announced April 7 that “structural shoring and repair” would be needed before Rickwood, which opened in 1910, could host another event.
This forced the Birmingham Barons and the nonprofit Friends of Rickwood to move the annual Rickwood Classic regular-season Southern League game -- scheduled for May 31 -- to Regions Field downtown.
Bittas told Council President Pro Tem Steven Hoyt that he was not sure how much the repairs would cost but would have a report ready for the council within about 30 days.
His department is currently taking concrete samples and doing an analysis of the structure, according to Bittas.
Hoyt noted that the city already appropriated some bond money to make improvements at Rickwood. However, Mayor William Bell said, ”Those funds were not for the problems we found recently.”
Bittas said the city was inspecting the historic ballpark, built in 1910 as a home for the Barons, in preparation for doing some planned upgrades when it found some other “structural deficiencies” in the bleachers and elsewhere.
“We are using the money from the bond phase to do the samples and analysis,” he said.
That bond money amounts to about $450,00, according to a city news release in April.
To see an Iron City Ink photo gallery of Rickwood Field, click here.
Carver Theatre to get some love
Another important Birmingham landmark will receive some much-needed attention, as well.
During the council meeting, Bell signed a contract to allow renovations to begin on the Carver Theatre, an old movie house on Fourth Avenue North downtown now used for films, performances and the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame.
The council approved about $4.3 million in improvements to the city-owned theatre in 2016.
“It’s a great day,” Hoyt said.
“I almost want to have a standing ovation,” said Councilor Lashunda Scales. “The Carver is long, long overdue.”
“The folks from the Carver are fired up and ready to go,” Lundy said.
Scales expressed the hope that the Carver renovation can help boost the historic Fourth Avenue North business area.
“My family had a business on Fourth Avenue for 20 years, and it looks like a ghost town,” Scales said. "It needs some love.”
LSVs and pedal buses
As part of its consent agenda, the council approved the first certificates allowing some operators from Birmingham and the Tuscaloosa area to operate pedal buses and low-speed vehicle (LSV) service in the Magic City.
The council granted certificates to Joyride of Tuscaloosa to operate LSVs.
They granted certificates to Birmingham Pedal Tours and to Downtown Pedal Tours of Northport to operate pedal buses.
LSVs and pedals buses are used typically in busy urban areas and entertainment districts or at large events. They can also be used for tours. The council approved the use of LSVs, which are similar to golf cars, on March 28.
They approved the use of the slow-moving pedal buses on April 18.