City Beat: Push for testing; city pays state fine; Century Plaza to be razed
The COVID-19 pandemic isn’t over, not even close — no matter how much we’d like to wish it away. In response to the recent surge in cases, the Birmingham City Council is seeking to help increase access to testing.
Meanwhile, the Black Lives Matter Movement continues to resonate in Birmingham, a long-dead mall is to be torn down in the Eastwood area, and Avondale is now an official entertainment district.
MORE TESTING
The Birmingham City Council has partnered with local health care providers to provide more testing sites in the city.
In July, the city held appointment-based, drive-through testing events in several communities, including Roebuck, Collegeville and North Birmingham, according to a council news release.
The drive-through site at Legion Field, which opened in May, tested more than 800 people the week of July 6.
Birmingham City Council President William Parker believes the need for testing and other COVID-19 services will continue into December.
He’s planning to request $7 million in federal CARES Act funding from the county and state, according to the release.
On Aug. 5, there will be COVID-19 testing available — for those with or without symptoms — at Macedonia 17th Street Baptist Church at 1405 14th Ave. N. from 9 a.m. to noon. To make an appointment, call 205-407-9696.
PAY THE FINE, MOVE AHEAD
The Birmingham City Council voted June 30 to pay the $25,000 fine levied against the city by the state following the city’s recent removal of a Confederate monument in Linn Park that had stood for 115 years.
The Alabama Legislature passed a law in 2017 that protects historical structures, such as monuments or other statues, that have been on public property for 40 or more years.
After the city removed the 52-foot obelisk June 1, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall filed a lawsuit against the city for violating the 2017 law.
The June 30 vote settles that lawsuit, and the money goes to the state’s Historic Preservation Fund, according to a council blog post.
Mayor Randall Woodfin ordered the monument removed after seeing the passion of the young people who tried to take it down themselves during protests downtown May 31.
He didn’t want anyone to get hurt and their actions were unlawful, Woodfin recently told Iron City Ink.
“But the bigger picture was, ‘You know what? If you’re listening to their outcry, not only should I sympathize and empathize, I’m in a position to do something about it, even if there are consequences,’” he said.
“I would prefer to pay a civil fine than have more continued civil unrest in our city,” Woodfin said.
BLM INSTALLATION
The city painted a large “Black Lives Matter” street art installation on First Avenue South between 16th Street South and 17th Street South alongside Railroad Park in mid-June.
Similar to a piece created in Washington, D.C., in June, the art was completed in time for the celebration of Juneteenth on June 19.
Cara McClure of Black Lives Matter Birmingham and local mural artist Shawn Fitzwater independently suggested the idea, according to a city news release. They both worked with the city’s Transportation Department on the project. Joseph C. Baker III of the “I Believe in Birmingham” Facebook group also participated.
A TRUE ICON
A powerful voice since the 1960s, Birmingham native Angela Davis finally received the Fred L. Shuttlesworth Human Rights Award from the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute during a virtual event June 19. The event was hosted by Dr. Wendy Greene, a professor at Drexel University.
A famed author, teacher and activist, Davis was invited by the BCRI to accept the Shuttlesworth Award in 2019, but the organization rescinded the award due to her support of Palestine. In the blowback from that decision, three BCRI board members resigned.
The BCRI said in a statement in June that Davis “has been deeply involved in movements for social justice around the world” and that her teaching has been about “building communities united in the struggle for economic, racial and gender justice.”
ANOTHER DEAD MALL
The Birmingham City Council voted unanimously July 14 to change the zoning for the long-vacant Century Plaza Mall on Crestwood Boulevard in Eastwood, clearing the way for the construction of a package distribution center.
The zoning will change from CB-2, or Contingency General Business District, to “Q” I-1, or Qualified, Light Manufacturing District.
The old shopping mall, vacant since 2009, will be demolished and a new single-story building measuring about 200,000 square feet will be constructed.
Birmingham Business Journal reported in May that an Atlanta developer had the property under contract and was proposing a delivery center with Amazon as the tenant.
Martin Evans, a local attorney representing the developer, Edwin B. Lumpkin Jr., told the City Council the zoning change is appropriate because the immediate area is “very highly developed.”
The developers are also not asking the city for any incentives to complete the project, which should create more than 300 jobs, he said.
The Eastwood Neighborhood Association voted 6-5 in May to recommend that the city deny the zoning request.
Councilor Hunter Williams, who represents the district, acknowledged that vote but said that his office has “received tremendous support for this project.”
ENTERTAINMENT DISTRICT
The Birmingham City Council voted unanimously in late June to create the Avondale Entertainment District on 41st Street South between Fifth Avenue South and Second Avenue South.
Within the boundaries of an entertainment district, patrons are allowed to carry open containers of alcohol outside as they walk between bars and restaurants.
The intention of the district is to “make the area safe and walkable and more vibrant,” said Allison Wise of Post Office Pies and the Avondale-Forest Park Merchants Association.
This will be the city’s fourth entertainment district, following ones established in Uptown at the BJCC, Pepper Place and Five Points South.