Category Archives: Alabama

City Hall — September 11, 2001

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By Ed Reynolds

September 11, 2001

After the attack on the World Trade Center, the only access to City Hall is the 19th Street entrance. One of two television monitors in the third floor council chambers that usually beam council proceedings close-up is tuned to news reports, and this morning’s Pledge of Allegiance takes on a dramatic mood in the aftermath. Birmingham Police Chief Mike Coppage announces the implementation of the city’s security plan, which calls for additional patrolmen, though Coppage emphasizes there is no credible threat to the city at the time. Councilor Lee Loder asks who is responsible for gathering intelligence. Coppage replies that the city has liaisons with the FBI, ATF, and Secret Service to update impending emergencies.Bell apologizes to Mayor

 

At last week’s council meeting, Council President William Bell denied that he ever said he would be a candidate in the October 9 council election after Mayor Kincaid had said Bell was indeed a candidate. At issue was the appointment of Councilor Jimmy Blake to the Election Commission to replace Bell, who can’t serve on the commission if he is also a candidate. Acknowledging that he is reluctant to do so in light of the morning’s attack, Kincaid plays an April 18, 2001 tape of Bell confirming his candidacy on the air with WATV radio talk show host Shelly Stewart. Bell apologizes to Kincaid for denying his candidacy, and says the Mayor was acting correctly in removing him from the Election Commission.Blake questions loans

A $400,000 HUD Section 108 loan to O’Brien’s Seafood Restaurant in Roebuck creates a storm of protest from Councilors Aldrich Gunn and Blake. [HUD determines the interest rate for the 20-year loan, which is usually below market rates. No letter of credit is required, and the city takes the risk.] Blake notes that the business already has received $1.2 million in loans and benefits, and questions why more money is being loaned. The councilor is also puzzled about the criteria used to determine who is eligible for Section 108 loans. “If I put up a sign saying ‘Low interest money below market rates. Come to the city of Birmingham. You can suck off us’ and they all come in, are you going to give them all a loan?” Blake objects to the notion of taxpaying businesses subsidizing other businesses through taxpayer dollars.Kincaid emphasizes that the city must be willing to take risks for economic development. “Maybe we do need to put out neon signs,” says the Mayor, noting that HUD was concerned that Birmingham was not taking advantage of available funds, which puts the city at risk of not receiving new appropriations. “The triggering device is application. The other businesses have not made application,” explains the Mayor, stressing the importance of a sound tax base. Councilor Lee Loder explains that the loans are designed to stimulate low to moderate income areas that have problems attracting investors. The restaurant is behind on loan payments due to a small mountain in back of the business that is collapsing, destroying a previous retaining wall and thereby boosting expenses.

In a free market system, explains Blake, the government stays out of loaning money because the city is “gambling with taxpayers’ money.” Blake says it is “immoral to take money from one person and give it to another. That is not a proper function of government at any level.” The loan is approved.

Citizen empowerment

Councilor Blake offers a resolution confirming that the city council is elected to represent, and not rule, citizens, and all council authority is based on the consent of the governed. The resolution also states that all property and assets held by the city and affiliated boards and agencies are owned by citizens and are held in trust for their benefit. The right to initiatives and referendum allows citizens to initiate and pass laws, or to overrule council action through referendum, further states the resolution. Bell and Gunn leave the room as the resolution is read, leaving Blake in charge. Blake charges that the council ignored the will of the public regarding the fate of the Water Works assets, and exhibited “contempt for Birmingham voters” by refusing to pay for the February 2001 referendum. [A similar referendum regarding citizens' voice in the fate of solid waste was initiated through petition drives, and would have been on the October 9 ballot. However, last week the council unanimously approved the solid waste referendum, thereby keeping the issue off the ballot.] Approval by the council of the solid waste proposal is a contradiction in relation to refusal to pay for the Water Works referendum, according to Blake. Councilor Johnson, who frequently butts heads with Blake, commends Blake for the resolution. Johnson agrees that citizens hold the right to overrule the council.

Councilor Sandra Little is suspicious of Blake’s motives and sees no need for the resolution. She defends her position not to pay for the Water Works referendum and demands that her district receive the same attention that Blake’s Southside district has received, especially in areas of economic development and street repair. Blake accuses her of changing the issue under discussion. Little replies that Blake is merely attempting to set a trap the council refuses to fall for. “You [Blake] dug that ditch big enough for all your cronies to fall in,” says Little. Councilor Don MacDermott, who has sided with the council majority refusing to pay for the Water Works referendum, says the referendum issue is basically whether or not a city water department should be created. MacDermott says Blake’s statement that 81 percent of city voters supported the citizens referendum is misleading because “only 10 percent” of registered voters participated in the referendum. Noting that all but one councilor (Blake) voted to voluntarily submit to drug-testing one year ago, MacDermott poses the scenario of citizens organizing a petition demanding that all councilors submit to drug tests, and asks if Blake would agree to be tested. Blake fumes that councilors are avoiding the issue.

September 18, 2001

Long-time Aldrich Gunn assistant Hezekiah Jackson quit his $50,000 position the day after last week’s council meeting when he appeared on local radio to announce that he had information regarding Gunn and other Jefferson County Citizens Coalition members that might interest the U.S. Justice Department. The subject is side-stepped during the council meeting, but after the meeting, reporters surround Gunn like “flies,” a favorite term of Gunn’s when alluding to the media. Gunn glares at the persistent mob of notebook, microphone, and camera-wielding reporters as he refuses to “dignify the questions with comments.” It’s one of the few times reporters have devoted attention to the elderly councilor with the golden tongue.

Long live the Cue Ball

Revocation of the liquor license for the controversial Cue Ball in the Lakeview district returns to the council agenda. Councilor Bill Johnson suggests a four-week delay of the item [which has been deferred numerous times since January of this year], but Cue Ball attorney Ferris Ritchey is tired of waiting. Johnson says a delay will allow a compromise that could satisfy everyone. Ritchey responds that the complaining businesses should help the Cue Ball get out of its lease if they want the club to vacate the area. Councilor Blake notes the extent of the nuisance, citing “drug convictions and fights” at the club, and partially blames the landlord for creating the problem by putting a lounge on the block in the first place. Blake agrees that the landlord should be more cooperative in ending the lease.

Noting that the club is licensed and operating in an area that is properly zoned, Ritchey threatens a lawsuit against the businesses for “torturous interference with a business” if the liquor license is revoked. Ritchey says the businesses “don’t want black people in their neighborhood!” Councilor Loder says that only one incident has occurred in the past six months, and the trash problem cited as a nuisance has been addressed. “I’m not going to sit here and be a moral judge, even though I may have some moral differences that go on [there],” says Loder. He sees no justification for revocation.

Calling the complaints against the lounge “a traffic jam of people not following the law,” Councilor Blake notes the large number of arrest and nuisance reports lodged against the Cue Ball. Blake calls Ritchey a “slick lawyer trying to make a racial issue of something that is a nuisance issue.” When Ritchey objects, Blake tells him to sit down because he is not a council member and has no right to monopolize speaking time. (Council President Bell laughs at Blake’s reference to the monopolizing of time by others.) Refusal to remove the license is an example of why businesses flee the city of Birmingham, says Blake. “Businesses don’t come into areas that look like they’ve been bombed out, that are littered, where gangs are hanging out, where traffic won’t move. If you want businesses in your neighborhoods, in your council districts, in local business communities, you must stand up,” he explains. At this point Johnson walks over and whispers in the ear of various councilors, purportedly because character issues are being discussed. Little objects to “hidden agendas going around,” which she calls “totally out of order.” Unable to hide his disgust, Blake replies, “Sandra, that’s such a lie.” Mayor Kincaid also disapproves, protesting that there are Sunshine Laws against “serial meetings” by council. Kincaid reminds councilors that whatever the council does has to come to the Mayor for approval or disapproval. The council refuses to grant a delay, and votes five to four allowing the Cue Ball to keep its license.

“Telegram” poles

Posting signs, political or otherwise, on telephone poles is against the law. Councilor Leroy Bandy protests that his signs have been removed from private property, while other candidates’ signs are allowed to remain on “telegram poles.” Street and Sanitation Department head Stephen Fancher says that department employees are instructed to remove all illegal signs, and discrimination against candidates is not a departmental practice.

Judas Iscariot

Citizen Eddie Turner admonishes former Aldrich Gunn aid Hezekiah Jackson for betraying Gunn. Noting that he previously had tremendous respect for Jackson, Turner is convinced that Jackson is named after Hezekiah in the Bible, who asked God for 15 more years of life when it was his time to die, according to Turner, resulting in eternal damnation. Turner concludes that Jackson is “like a man without a country,” and notes that Judas “went out and hung himself after he betrayed Christ.” &

Art in the Park

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Art in the Park

 


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May 24, 2001

It sounds pretty fancy for Caldwell Park, but on Friday, June 1, the Alabama Symphony Orchestra premiers Sounds for the Summer: The Highland Avenue Series. Featured with the symphony will be Art Garfunkel, the most famous “counter-tenor” in the world. Garfunkel’s memorable style of singing counter-melody to one-time partner Paul Simon’s gorgeous melodies defined the duo’s phenomenal contributions to 1960s radio.

Art Garfunkel’s original stage name was Tom Graph, the “Tom” being one half of the “Tom and Jerry” cartoon moniker he and Simon first adapted. Garfunkel was a dedicated mathematics teacher when he launched his musical career, so the “Graph” bit was a nod to arithmetic.

Garfunkel has been cursed by a lifetime of acute stage fright, and the June 1 performance will be a rare opportunity to hear him with an orchestra. So intense is the fear of performing, the singer often refers to his onstage style as “quivery.” He readily admits that Paul Simon had a “feel for the stage, while I had more of a feel for the notes themselves.”

The show begins at 8 p.m., with the park opening at 6 p.m. Pre-concert entertainment will be provided by a DJ spinning ’60s hits while conducting trivia contests and passing out prizes. Garfunkel will be the first of eight June performers scheduled for Caldwell Park, including Banu Gibson & the New Orleans Hot Jazz, New York cabaret-style vocalist Julie Budd, and cowboy singers Riders in the Sky. Reserved table seats are $29, unreserved table seats are $19, and lawn seating is $9 for adults, $5 for children ages three and up. Call 251-7727 for details.

Wildflower Child

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Wildflower Child

December 07, 2000

It was an odd scene for a small town. The tiny but spiffy art-deco Ritz Theater glowed in yellow and green neon. Pulsating bulbs flashed beneath a brilliantly lit marquee announcing: An Evening With Judy Collins. Across the street, downtown Talladega’s tiny courthouse square remained quiet, the townspeople perhaps reluctant to make a big deal about the presence of a star of Judy Collins’ magnitude.The parking spaces around the town square finally filled up a scant 15 minutes before showtime. Around the corner from the Ritz, a lonesome limousine waited patiently in front of the Talladega Water and Sewer Department to whisk Collins back to Atlanta for a midnight flight to Florida. A strange twist of destiny, indeed, that President Clinton’s favorite singer was scheduled to entertain controversial Palm Beach County the following evening, the same night the Sunshine State first certified George Bush for president.

Five minutes before the 6:30 p.m. show at the Ritz, a crowd of elderly customers suddenly invaded the quaint 1936 theater. Two-thirds of the well-behaved audience were local septuagenarian “patrons-of-the-arts,” silver-haired women who supported the local concert series regardless of the performance. They had no clue who this Judy Collins person was, and their collective, overwhelmingly perfumed fragrance threatened to exterminate the audience. The remainder of the 500 in attendance (almost a full house for the first of two shows that night) was a sprinkling of middle-aged, professional couples and reluctantly aging hippies, enthusiastically embracing Collins and the memories of decades past.

Gracefully strolling onstage in a pink satin suit and pink pumps, the attractive, 61-year-old Collins looked like anything but an aging folk singer. She smiled and picked up a 12-string acoustic guitar as her pianist played the bare, tinkling introduction to Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now.”

Collins was captivating. Her soaring soprano has aged little, and it effortlessly reached for and found all the high notes as she covered the songbook that defined her 40-year recording career. Arlo Guthrie’s “City of New Orleans” was a ragtime piano masterpiece, and her version of Leonard Cohen’s “Bird On the Wire” was a bluesy, solemn ode to Cohen, a composer that she has frequently referred to as her “mentor.”

Between songs, Collins told stories of childhood, tossing off bits and pieces of traditional Irish standards she had learned from her father. Sense of humor intact, Collins frequently interjected wit into awkward onstage dilemmas with remarkable comedic timing. While continually attempting to tune her uncooperative guitar, she apologized that she was unable to make tuning “a spiritual experience, like Ravi Shankar when he tunes his sitar.” Eventually making peace with her tuning efforts, Collins concluded with a shrug, “Well, it’s good enough for folk music.” She even told a favorite sacrilegious Christmas joke, and inquired of the overpowering perfume, “Is there something blooming in here that’s causing my allergies to act up?”

A sparse, almost sacred version of her 1975 hit “Send In the Clowns” ended the show. Accompanied only by her pianist, Collins offered up the endearing melody in hushed tones framed by the song’s climactic piano crescendos. The obligatory encore, an a capella campfire sing-along of “Amazing Grace” ended the evening.

Judy Collins’ Answering Machine Message to the World

The message on Collins’ cell phone voice mail the afternoon before her Talladega show offered a revealing glimpse of the singer’s contagious enthusiasm for life. “And we will fly beyond the sky. Beyond the stars. Beyond the heavens,” Collins sings into the telephone, her distinctive speaking voice sharing her home telephone number with the caller at message end. A second call attempt a few minutes later found her preparing for that evening’s Atlanta concert. Collins gladly agreed to take time out to reflect on her career, which started at age 10 with classical piano lessons from famed international orchestral conductor Antonia Bricoat. (Collins produced and co-directed a documentary on Bricoat, and subsequently received an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary in the mid-1970s.) Collins addressed a question about her ever-evolving musical endeavors: “I’m not so sure it’s about the changing of musical styles. I think it’s probably about being timeless, and integrating what I knew as a child with what I’ve learned as an adult, and sort of tying it all into one kind of music, which I can’t really define. I think it’s more like Judy Collins music than anything else. I’ve been called a lot of things-folk singer, country singer, classical pianist, and so on.”

Judy Collins’ father, Chuck Collins, was a blind singer and pianist who had a career in radio from 1937 to 1968-a fact about which the younger Collins is noticeably proud. She credited her father’s unique ability to spot good songs with her exposure to early songwriters, such as Rogers and Hart, and laughs about the subliminal presence of folk songs in her childhood home. “I grew up on folk without realizing it,” admits Collins. “My father was constantly singing traditional Irish stuff, things like ‘Kerry Dancers’ and ‘Danny Boy.’” Collins adds that “an element of timelessness” is what she looks for when choosing songs to record.

Collins believes her piano background is a primary resource for writing. She abandoned the piano in the early 1960s when her folk career blossomed, but soon returned to her first love. “I’m so grateful that I have this wonderful background in the piano,” noted Collins. “I do my writing on piano. I still practice, just like I used to. I practice and do my scales [laughs] and exercises every time I sit down to play.”

Send in the Clowns

“I was planning a new record, and was looking for material. The show, A Little Night Music, by Stephen Sondheim, had been out for a couple of years. Others have recorded the song, but my version seemed to strike a chord, and I’ve always felt it was because of that very, very sympathetic orchestration that Jonathan Tunic did,” Collins notes with pride when asked how she came to record the 1975 classic “Send In the Clowns.” She also doesn’t hesitate to briefly knock Frank Sinatra: “A lot of people, including Frank Sinatra, had recorded that song. I have a theory about Frank Sinatra’s version. He was working with Nelson Riddle at that time. And instead of taking Sondheim’s orchestration, Nelson Riddle did his own orchestration. And it doesn’t do the song justice, and I think that’s why Sinatra did not have a big hit with that song, in my estimation, because otherwise he would have. I think Sinatra got every single other song he ever sang [right], but he didn’t get that one [laughs]. So it was my good fortune that he didn’t.” She quickly adds that she saw Sinatra live a number of times, and always went to learn from the singer. “I had the privilege of seeing him work with Joe Pass and Ella Fitzgerald. And that’s the best.”

Songs That Go Bump in the Night

Collins has been awakened in the middle of the night by two of the greatest songs to emerge from the 1960s-a couple of soon-to-be-hits she heard while they were being created by their respective composers. Around 1966, noted musical sideman to the stars (and organist on Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone”) Al Kooper woke up Collins at 3 a.m. to put a young, unknown folk singer named Joni Mitchell on the telephone to sing her latest, “Both Sides Now.” Collins recorded the composition, and Mitchell was propelled from coffee house obscurity to household stardom.Collins’ slumber was also interrupted in 1963 while she was staying at a large house in Woodstock, New York, with Bob Dylan and a few other friends. “In the middle of the night I woke up, because I heard music playing. And I went hunting out through the house,” recalled Collins. “I could hear this voice singing, and hear this music playing. And I opened the door to the stairwell, and there was Dylan sitting on the staircase in this old house on the stairway to the basement, and he was just finishing [composing] “Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man.” &

Cahaba River Threatened by Barber Construction

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Cahaba River Threatened by Barber Construction

November 09, 2000

The recent summer drought has brought into question compliance by the developers of the new Barber Vintage Motorcycle Museum (which will include a racetrack) with previous agreements reached with the city of Birmingham, the Cahaba River Society, and other environmental activist organizations.

On October 6, Birmingham experienced its first steady rainfall in weeks. Samples of water taken from the tributary leading from the construction site of the Barber museum to the Cahaba River revealed an alarmingly high amount of soil particles present.

Dr. Randy Haddock of the Cahaba River Society collected the samples and noted that the tributary was “completely muddy.” Photographs revealed a stark contrast between the clarity of the river upstream from the tributary receiving the construction discharge, and the Cahaba’s cloudy status downstream from the discharge. The Barber construction site is located upstream from the Birmingham Water Works drinking water intakes on the Cahaba River.

Contents of the sample jars containing water filled with soil particles drawn from the Cahaba River, the major source of Birmingham’s drinking water, looked like “chocolate milk” when the collection container was shaken, according to Haddock and several others who attended an October 23 meeting between representatives of the Barber Museum, city officials, the Cahaba River Society, and several other environmental groups. “It’s the worst single event as far as erosion and sediment control failure that I’ve seen in my 10 years associated with the Cahaba River,” noted Dr. Haddock. He also questioned whether proper storm water control measures have been installed by the Barber Museum construction.

Curiosity has also been raised regarding the status of a proposed lake that would catch construction runoff before it could invade the Cahaba tributary. Anonymous sources close to the situation say a dispute has been brewing regarding whether or not the lake was actually included in agreements made between the city and Barber that allowed the building of the museum and racetrack.

When contacted for comment, the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) refused to discuss the issue on record, but said that they was aware of the predicament and were currently looking into the situation.

Officials from Barber did not return telephone messages as of press time.

City Hall — October 26, 2000

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City Hall

October 26, 2000October 10, 2000

The initial order of business this morning: arguments over a citizen-led petition drive that calls for a referendum to allow the people of Birmingham to decide who should own the Water Works assets. It’s unclear if any Council action on the issue is permissible due to Mayor Kincaid’s lawsuit, filed several weeks earlier, to halt a Council vote that returned the assets to the Water Works Board. Councilor Sandra Little says she will support the people’s demand for a referendum to decide asset ownership, adding that she thinks that there are five votes today that would approve allowing the public to vote.Councilor Aldrich Gunn states that the “mere fact that we are sitting here talking about voting on whether or not we vote to transfer the assets is a historical occasion.” Councilor Bill Johnson urges the Council to vote for the referendum today so the vote can be taken during the November 7 election thereby saving the taxpayers the $300,000 that it would cost for a special referendum vote.

Council attorney Michael Choy asks if Judge Hanes, who is currently contemplating a ruling on Kincaid’s lawsuit, can be called to determine if any Council action is legal. Choy explains that if the Council approves the referendum vote, he is sure it will be challenged in court. “That’s gonna cost the taxpayers more money,” he says.

A resolution requesting that Council members submit to voluntary drug testing as “an example of leadership for city employees in an effort to combat drug abuse” prompts a few giggles from councilors. Councilor Don MacDermott, who sponsored the proposal, asks for a one-week delay, which ignites a round of light-hearted jokes. Councilor Lee Loder says that as a new member, he’s had a recent test. Councilor Pat Alexander keeps saying, “I’m ready! I promise you, I’m ready!” Council President William Bell expresses curiosity that “we keep having these nice meetings for some strange reason.” Kincaid requests that “the Mayor be included in [drug tests].”

Councilor Little thanks the Mayor “for a delightful weekend,” to which a chuckling Kincaid suggests that she define her comment. Little is, of course, referring to the previous weekend’s mayor-council retreat at Point Clear near Gulf Shores. A slightly embarrassed Little thanks Kincaid for the “delightful conversation” regarding the Roosevelt City fire station she has been waging war over for the past year. Councilor Alexander thanks Bell for organizing the retreat, admitting that she never gives up hope that the Council and Mayor can one day see eye to eye. Noting that she and Kincaid held hands at one point during the retreat, Alexander tells the Mayor that “I don’t have to like you, and you don’t have to like me. But we got to respect each other. And I think we can do it,” she adds with a smile. Alexander concludes by telling the Mayor that she loves him.

As the Council approves the travel expenses of Raymond Powell, manager for internal audit in the Mayor’s office, for a conflict-management seminar in Biloxi, Mississippi, Councilor Johnson points out that the word “Biloxi” does not have an “e” at the end. The Council votes to correct the spelling.

During the citizen speaking forum held at the end of each Council meeting, former Alabama State Senator Fred Horn addresses the Water Works issue. Horn urges, “I am here to appeal to all of us to stop this buffoonery and put the assets and the Water Works back where it ought to be, as a department of the city. That is our only salvation.” The former senator warns, “Otherwise it will be run by a board that is decided by the state legislature to make the laws.” Horn warns that the state legislature will decide how many people will serve on the board, and who will control the assets. The legislature is waiting until the year after next to decide who will be on the water board, according to Horn. This will be after previously black legislative districts are to be redrawn as ordered by the courts. He again stresses that the only way to control the water system is to make the Water Works a city department.

October 17, 2000

This morning the drama of the weekly City Council meeting spills into the third-floor hallway directly across from the council chambers. A few minutes of threats, possible attempted assault, and a string of obscenities add the perfect touches to the unforgettable freak show. More on the bizarre episode later.A poker-faced Council President Bell introduces new UAB athletic director Herman Frazier as “a man who has been to the mountaintop of athletics. And he understands that in order to achieve great things you have to dream great things.” Councilor Jimmy Blake enthusiastically welcomes Frazier after Bell and confesses, “I personally am very tickled to see somebody who is a track athlete being athletic director at UAB.” Blake notes that he looks forward to seeing the campus “continue to flourish and the social life of students continue to improve.” The councilor also is excited that the school will “continue to move toward being a real athletic power.”

The early morning frivolity ends soon enough. First order of business is controversial Addendum Item 57: Consideration of petition for an ordinance to require a vote of the electorate to sell, transfer, or lease the water and sewer facilities, Water Works and Sewer Board of the City of Birmingham as presented by Probate Judge Michael Bolin for the Council of the City of Birmingham on October 10, 2000, which was submitted by six electors of the City of Birmingham. The six names included in the ordinance are listed for Council record. In question is whether the Council can legally vote on Item 57 since a lawsuit filed by Mayor Kincaid to halt transfer of the assets to the Water Works Board has not yet been ruled on by Circuit Judge Hanes. Mayoral attorney Emory Anthony (a former mayoral candidate) passes out copies of Judge Hanes’ decision that any Council action dealing with the petition and referendum did not violate the status quo.

Charlie Waldrep, attorney for the Birmingham Water Works, addresses the Council to question the legality of the petition signatures. Addressing Choy’s statement to the Birmingham News that the petition is “junk,” Waldrep questions whether or not Choy actually made the comment [Choy appeared on a local talk-radio show the same morning to deny it.] But Waldrep takes the use of “junk” a step further: “Junk has some value. At least it’s scrap or salvage. This [petition] is valueless. This has a negative value because it would be put to an election for an ordinance that clearly, on its face, is invalid.” The Water Works attorney notes that the first petition had 36 percent of the signatures declared invalid and the second petition had 41 percent discarded as invalid. Waldrep adds that petitioners were not required to show identification before signing.

Kincaid reminds Waldrep that voting polls do not require identification to cast a ballot in an election. Waldrep says he obtained copies of the petitions, and after reviewing 95 percent of the signatures, he conservatively estimates that approximately 2000 were illegally counted, including “instances where clearly the signature that appeared on the petition has been signed by one individual on several occasions.” Waldrep admits that he is not a criminal lawyer but points out that Kincaid has a pair of attorneys with “excellent reputations as criminal lawyers” and suggests that “perhaps they could shed some light on what could be applicable to these signatures submitted to the City Council for action.” Waldrep also states that the ordinance is written so that any transaction involving sale of any Water Works equipment [used computers, etc.] would require a vote of the people-a charge the Petitioners Alliance and its attorneys vehemently paint as false
“scare tactics.”

Councilor Blake notes that the citizens’ referendum process was used to “kick Bull Connor and his regime out of office. And this time it’s (being used) to kick a different regime out of office.” Blake asks Waldrep how much his firm makes from performing legal service for the Water Works. Waldrep responds that he would have to check his records. Noting that he has
“great respect for Mr. Choy and generally agrees with most of his opinions,” Blake criticizes what he terms as monopolization of time this morning by those defending the asset transfer to the Water Works Board, especially Waldrep, whom Blake describes as “panicky because he might lose his gravy train.” [Waldrep allegedly collects an annual fee of one million dollars to represent the Water Works.]

Waldrep, who hints at fraud, questions the validity of the petition signatures as he uses an overhead projector to flash some of the signatures on a screen in the council chambers. Councilor Little points out that three of the names on the projected list appear to be in identical handwriting.

In response to Waldrep’s earlier characterization of the petitions as being less than junk, Mayor Kincaid tells Waldrep that it is the “will of the people, and that alone gives it more than just a passing value. It gives it a very deep value.” Kincaid stresses that Probate Judge Michael Bolin had determined that the petitions were legitimate. Kincaid says that certification of sufficiency is not the question at hand today because Judge Bolin appeared in the council chambers last week to verify that the petition met all sufficiency-certification criteria. The Mayor accuses Waldrep of using “scare tactics” regarding citizen approval of easements, rights of way, and the sale of equipment in regard to the Water Works.

Bob Friedman, WJLD radio talk show host and petition organizer [the "Pied Piper," according to Councilor Gunn], addresses the Council. He stresses that his petition does not discourage the sale of the Water Works but, rather, allows the citizens to simply decide if they should be able to vote on who should own the water system assets. Friedman says he knows more about petitions than Charlie Waldrep, and that just because some signatures are invalidated does not mean the people’s convictions driving the petition are invalidated. Gunn jumps in to tell Friedman that he’s not as smart as he thinks he is.

Councilor Little holds up a copy of the petition ordinance, calls it fraudulent, and says that she doesn’t believe that most of the 10 percent of citizens who signed it could understand the petition ordinance, but quickly denies that she thinks the signees are stupid. Little goes after Friedman. “I have lived in the city of Birmingham all my life. Mr. Bob Friedman, a radio DJ that constantly batters the City Council, and to walk around Birmingham coming out of New York or wherever he is [sic], and to lead our people in such a disgraceful campaign to divide and conquer the black vote! Our people, some of us just don’t know what’s happening!” Little concludes her condemnation of Friedman by shouting that “it is not fair to allow people to come in and mess up our minds!” She refuses to support the ordinance, insisting that she is “standing up for those people who didn’t sign it [the petition].” The Council votes down the ordinance six to three, sending the issue to the Election Commission [Kincaid, Council President Bell, and city attorney Tamara Johnson] to finalize plans for a special referendum.

In the hallway following the vote, Charlie Waldrep holds court for the television cameras. Bob Friedman walks up to the gathering to offer an opposing opinion. As WBRC television news reporter Cynthia Gould questions Friedman regarding perceived insults that those who signed the petition could not grasp the ordinance’s concept, Council Attorney Michael Choy suddenly begins screaming at Gould that she “started all this,” calling the reporter a “bitch.” Two men restrain him as he appears to lunge towards the female reporter. Choy breaks away slightly from the men’s grasp, pointing at Gould as he moves toward her, yelling that “you don’t know who you’re fu**ing with.” Again, the out-of- control Council attorney is restrained as he continues his verbal assault on Gould. Choy is finally escorted into the conference room followed by Council President Bell and Council publicist Ken Mullinax. While Choy remains confined to the conference room until he calms down and order can be restored to the City Hall corridor, a speaker in the hallway broadcasts the Council passing a $185-an-hour pay raise for attorney Choy. &

Editor’s note: Choy resigned as City Council attorney after this incident.