National park will be economic boost to Civil Rights District, Mayor Bell says

The designation of Birmingham’s Civil Rights District downtown as a national park or monument could occur in the next few weeks, according to Birmingham Mayor William Bell.

And this designation – in addition to helping boost the “prestigious image” of the Magic City – would have a positive economic impact on the entire district, including the traditional African-American commercial strip along Fourth Avenue North, according to Bell.

“It will also mean access to some federal dollars, as well as grants and other funding for the entire district, to improve quality of life in that area,” Bell said during a press conference at City Hall on Tuesday.

“We see that this national park designation would not only help the A.G. Gaston Motel, but would help [Kelly Ingram Park] itself, the Fourth Avenue commercial district and a number of other areas and would put them at the forefront of getting additional funds,” the mayor said.

As far as the timing of the designation, Bell told the Birmingham City Council during its meeting on Tuesday that it could occur as soon as “a couple of weeks.”

He offered a similar assessment during his press conference. “We feel that we are very close and that some action will take place by Christmas, barring any unforeseen circumstances that might arise,” he said.

City officials have been working with the National Parks Service office in Atlanta and believe they have completed all of the legal requirements necessary, according to the mayor.

“Once the legal requirements have been met then we’ll submit that to the White House for … review,” Bell said. “That should take them a couple of weeks for them to do that.”

The goal is to have President Barack Obama sign a proclamation creating the new park before he leaves office in January, according to Bell.

“We have been working with the White House team, in conjunction with the Park Service, and we don’t want to have to go back through that entire process again,” the mayor said.

National Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis and U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell visited civil rights-era sites in Birmingham and Anniston during a visit in October.

Bell discussed the issue at the council meeting after a presentation by Ivan Holloway, the executive director of Urban Impact, which is an economic development agency dedicated to revitalizing of the Civil Rights District and Fourth Avenue Business District. Holloway was named to the post in April.

“We are on the cusp of really reinvigorating that part of downtown,” said Holloway.

Council President Pro Tem Steven Hoyt stressed the importance of ongoing efforts by the city to help fully renovate the Carver Theatre at Fourth Avenue and 17th Street North.

“We need you to champion that,” he told Holloway. “Once we do that it will have a ripple effect on that area.”

The recently restored Lyric Theatre on Third Avenue and 18th Street North is “wonderful,” Hoyt said, but he noted that the Carver is important because it’s located at the heart of Fourth Avenue. “We want that same kind of synergy and the same kind of interest that we’ve had for the Lyric.”

“I think Fourth Avenue has a history of its own, and I don’t care what color you are, if you haven’t had Green Acres [Café] chicken, you’re not in Birmingham,” said Councilor Lashunda Scales, who added that her father operated a business in that area for 30 years.

“I am looking forward to getting the Carver Theater [and] that whole area down there the tender loving care it deserves,” Scales said.

Even if the national park designation is not approved, the city should still work to revitalize the commercial district, according to Scales. “I’m looking for us to find some money, by any means necessary,” she said.