Mayor remembers slain officer at City Council meeting
The Birmingham City Council regular meeting for Tuesday, Jan. 15, began on a somber note, with Mayor Randall Woodfin expressing sadness over the death of a Birmingham police officer who was shot and killed last weekend.
Sgt. Wytasha Carter was killed and another officer from the North Precinct was badly wounded early Sunday morning while questioning two people suspected of trying to break into cars near a nightclub, according to numerous media reports.
“As a city, our hearts and thoughts are with the Carter family,” Woodfin said during his weekly remarks to the Council.
The mayor expressed support and solidarity with the city’s first responders.
“We stand with our Birmingham Police Department,” he said. “We stand with Sgt. Carter’s family. We stand with the other officer. We stand with all the officers involved in what happened. And we stand with the whole police family.”
And Woodfin noted that five police officers have now been killed in America over the last two weeks. “That is something no community or city wants to be a part of,” he said.
According to councilor Hunter Williams, chair of the council’s Public Safety Committee, the plainclothes officer who was wounded in the incident is currently at UAB Hospital “fighting for his life.”
Williams also paid tribute to the city’s first responders, including the city’s police. “They make a lot of sacrifices, all the way up to the ultimate sacrifice that Sgt. Carter and his family made a few days ago for the city of Birmingham,” Williams said.
“We lost one of our own,” he said.
At William’s request, the council members and attendees had a moment of silence for the slain officer.
PEPPER PLACE ENTERTAINMENT DISTRICT
The council voted 9-0 to pass an ordinance to create a new Pepper Place Entertainment District in the area around the Pepper Place retail and office development in Lakeview.
The establishment of such a district allows for open alcoholic beverages within that designated area and within certain hours.
Julie Bernard from the city’s legal department told the council that the ordinance was based on an application submitted by the Lakeview Business Association.
The ordinance has been reviewed by the city departments and recommended by the council’s Public Safety Committee, according to Bernard.
The district designation will go into effect this February, according to a news release from Sloss Real Estate, which developed the 350,000-square-foot Pepper Place.
“We believe that by Pepper Place becoming an entertainment district, tenants will see increased foot traffic and sales, and the area will become an even more popular destination for both locals and visitors alike,” said Tom Walker, Sloss Real Estate CEO, in the new release.
EAST LAKE PARK IMPROVEMENTS
As part of its consent agenda, members also accepted and approved a lump sum bid of $283,000 from Richardson Construction Company of Birmingham to do the work called for in the East Lake Park ADECA Grant Project.
This was the lowest and best bid submitted, according to the text of the resolution, which also authorizes the mayor’s office to sign a contract with the company.
Gov. Kay Ivey and ADECA — the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs — announced the grant for East Lake Park, part of a package of $1.5 million in grants for outdoor recreation around the state, in January 2018.
According to a news release from the state, the grant was for $150,000 with a $150,000 local match.
The work to be done at East Lake Park is to include parking, landscaping and sand volleyball courts, as well as the clearing of vegetation along the creek at the site.