Birmingham City Council sets public hearing for East Lake "Project Safe Streets" Pilot Program
The Council voted to set a public hearing for the East Lake "Project Safe Streets" pilot program for the Tuesday, January 14th Birmingham City Council meeting.
In order for the pilot program to continue during that period, and to be in compliance with public notification laws, the Council also voted to extend the pilot program for up to an additional 90 days.
According to city officials, the goal of cordoning off streets is to reduce the number of points of ingress and egress in the neighborhood to prevent drive-by shootings and perpetrators evading law enforcement due to the limited number accessible streets.
At an October meeting, city officials indicated that the program has been a success thus far, and residents have bought into the plan – of the 381 neighborhood residents who responded, 305 were in favor of the program continuing.
“I want to thank those residents who stepped up and have been a part of the solution. I think these measures are a huge step in the right direction towards stabilizing the community,” Councilor JT Moore said. “I have residents who have shared with me their thoughts on this solution and how they appreciate it. This isn’t far from my home and I’ll tell you, people do speed, and I see kids playing near the road all the time. Being able to slow that traffic down is a big deal… I know for a fact that with the success of this pilot program, this same strategy could be deployed elsewhere.”
According to the Mayor’s administration, citizen engagement and planning with this pilot program began in April, with 90 percent of respondents being in favor of this pilot program prior to its deployment. This included a town hall meeting, neighborhood association meetings and knocking on roughly 500 doors within the perimeter.
Council to consider amendments to food truck ordinance
Last Tuesday, the Council deferred an item until this week’s meeting that will update the City’s food truck ordinance and streamline the process in which vendors can acquire permits.
The City first approved this ordinance in 2017. During the first year of this law being passed, less than 10 food truck vendors had applied for permits; currently there are 191 vendors that have applied for permits in 2024.
The amendments are aimed at reducing the time it takes to process the applications and prevent redundancy – cutting the time to secure a permit from several months to 48 hours.
The three main changes include reducing the number of available permits to a single one for vendors (previously there were multiple variations of food truck permits and it complicated the process, according to vendors).
The changes would also require a fire inspection from the City of Birmingham, and not an outside entity.
Lastly, there will no longer be designated spaces for food trucks on city streets. In turn, they will be able to park and operate at any metered space in the city, so long as they are in compliance with previously existing regulations such as not operating within 150 feet of an existing business.
This is a developing story, there is more on this to come.
District 4 Councilor JT Moore provides funding for victim support program
The Council approved an ARPA-funded project from Councilor JT Moore to provide support for the Jefferson County District Attorney’s office for a Certified Victim Service Officer program.
The stated goal of this program is to provide support and engagement for victims of crime by offering direct comprehensive services to help alleviate reluctance of victims who might feel unsafe navigating the criminal justice system.
This program is another component of supporting victims and people who are most at risk of violent crime. The City has seen a lot of success with similar programs like the hospital-linked violence intervention program with UAB. In the recent years that program has been operational, we’ve seen 98 percent of the participants not be involved with another violent crime.
“I’m glad to be able to support this project with the federal funds that have been made available to my office through ARPA,” Councilor JT Moore said. “Often times we talk about ‘if you see something, say something.’ But there are people who have been victimized who are genuinely afraid to speak up and provide information to law enforcement. This is a huge barrier for us to overcome. I believe in this support system, I believe in amplifying their voices and I believe in the work that’s being done on this front with the Jefferson County District Attorney’s office.”