Birmingham Councilman Parker to host Jan. 31 meeting about Zion Memorial

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Birmingham City Councilor William Parker will host another in a series of public meetings to air citizen complaints about maintenance and customer service problems at Zion Memorial Gardens cemetery on Tues., Jan. 31, at 5:30 p.m., at the Brownville Heights Community Center.

The community center, located at 9225 Airport Road, has served as the venue for several other meetings that Parker has hosted in recent months regarding problems at the privately owned graveyard.

The City Council, as part of its consent agenda, passed a resolution at its regular meeting on Jan. 24 encouraging citizens to attend the event.

Several residents appeared at a council meeting in October to voice their complaints about the cemetery.

“The customer service is poor” at the cemetery, and “the residents are tired,” Parker said during a council meeting in September.

The facility’s owner, Cedric McMillan, gave an interview to wiat.com in September but subsequently declined several interview requests from Iron City Ink.

Other business

With the exception of one minor zoning case, the council dispensed with all of its 64 agenda items today as part of its consent agenda, which passed 8-0.

Here are a few of those items—

  • The council approved the city’s acceptance of the donation of six tax-delinquent parcels of land in Pratt City from the Birmingham Land Bank Authority. The parcels are to be used for such purposes as new housing, a park, a community center, an amphitheater and a trail network.
  • An ordinance was approved authorizing Mayor William Bell to effect the transfer of a sanitary sewer easement located at 2331 Bessemer Road for use as part of the Birmingham CrossPlex Retail Development project.
  • The council accepted an equipment grant in the amount of $17,100 from the Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation Inc. for the Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service Department.
  • Mayor Bell was authorized to apply to receive 20 AmeriCorps VISTA volunteers valued at $228,400, who will serve in various city departments and agencies.