Category Archives: Birmingham

Dog Day Afternoons



	A crowd gathers for the opening day at one of the first Dairy Queens. This year, DQ celebrates 62 years of Dilly Bars and dip cones.

Every time the mercury hovered near the 100-degree mark on the thermometer outside the kitchen window, a three-block trek to Dairy Queen to relieve the relentless heat was our summer ritual. Life in Selma was pretty uneventful, so the Dairy Queen was our Taj Mahal — an oasis that added a flurry of exhilaration to pointless afternoons. Times were different then, and during the 1960s, there weren’t too many black folks venturing into white territory for an ice cream cone. The serving window marked “Colored Only” was consequently rarely occupied, which only fueled my impatience as an eight-year-old waiting in line with a dozen other white people.

Dairy Queen ice cream was more fun to eat than “store-bought” because it was much softer; no bending of stainless steel spoons (or breaking your mom’s antique silver) while attempting to scoop from a carton, or crumbling a cone while trying to load it with supermarket ice cream. DQ vanilla or chocolate dispensed into a cone or Dixie Cup and crowned with a trademark curly-cue (often resembling a pig’s tail) made long walks on hot days worthwhile. Even more amazing than the soft texture was the hard shell created when the cone was dipped into chocolate. (This treat was eventually put on a stick and called a Dilly Bar.) The menu at the Dairy Queen was too good to be true: hot fudge sundaes, peanut butter parfaits, banana splits, foot-long hot dogs laden with an avalanche of onions and kraut, and a strange, brain-freezing drink called a slush.

In 1940, J.F. “Grandpa” McCullough introduced soft serve ice milk in his fast-food restaurant in Joliet, Illinois, a dairy joint that he guaranteed would be the “queen of the dairy business.” When the United States entered World War II, there were 10 Dairy Queens in the country. By war’s end there were 100, which grew to 2,600 a decade later. Today, there are 5,900 restaurants worldwide.

Everybody in Selma, including our dog Timothy, swore by Dairy Queen ice cream. It was common for Timothy to climb the backyard’s four-foot chain link fence during summer’s hottest days and disappear for the afternoon, though we usually knew where to find him: three blocks away, lounging around the cement tables outside the Dairy Queen, watching people eat ice cream with the hope that someone would buy him a cone. Sometimes they did, and Timothy didn’t even care if it came from the counter marked “Colored Only.”

Buddy Miller

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By Ed Reynolds

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	Buddy and Julie Miller

Buddy and Julie Miller have been harmonizing for 20 years with a passion not heard in country music since the heyday of A.P. and Maybelle Carter. Julie’s little-girl voice contrasts with husband Buddy’s sandpaper howl in an eerie yet soothing style that brings to mind the grand duets of Porter Waggoner and Dolly Parton; Loretta Lynn and Conway Twitty; and George Jones and Tammy Wynette. As a guitarist Buddy Miller is widely considered a musical wizard, his unique “less is more” style earning him the role of lead guitarist and bandleader for Emmylou Harris as well as contributions to Lucinda Williams’ classic album Car Wheels On a Gravel Road. The couple recently released their first “official” recording under the family name, “Buddy and Julie Miller,” which was up against the likes of Bob Dylan, Lucinda Williams, and Gillian Welch for best contemporary folk album.

Black & White: Where did you and Julie meet?

Buddy Miller: In Austin. She’s from there, and I auditioned for a band that she was the chick singer in. In trying to be discriminating, she told them not to hire me. They hired me anyway, and we became pals after that.

B&W: Did she give a reason for not wanting you in the band?

Miller: She was a teenager and she wanted to appear like she had good taste. So she just said, “No, he’s no good.” But they hired me anyway.

B&W: I was impressed to see that Little Jimmy Scott had recorded one of your songs.

Miller: Yeah, one of Julie’s songs. In Nashville, a lot of the things that get recorded are by Nashville artists, and we’ll hear about it in advance. People that have our songs will be real excited and call us up and say, “Hey man, so-and-so’s cutting this song.” So I was on a gig out in L.A. with Emmylou and somebody said, “Hey, Little Jimmy Scott cut Julie’s song ‘All My Tears,’” and I just looked at him and said, “Nah, you must be wrong.” And later on at the gig, the guy went out and bought the record and brought it to me, and I flipped. It was such a cool version of the song. I took a red-eye home, and got back at seven in the morning. Julie was still asleep, and I just put it on the record player in the bedroom, and she didn’t even recognize her song until about a minute into it.

B&W: Is there anyone who you would like to hear record one of your songs?

Miller: It sounds funny to say it ’cause he’s so fashionable, but we’ve always been such huge Ralph Stanley fans. That was one of the things that we had in common when we met way back when. Julie actually wrote that song “All My Tears” with Ralph in mind. And we did get to sing it to him on this last “Down From the Mountain” tour back in his dressing room. We were in Emmylou’s band for that whole tour.

B&W: Has the success of O Brother, Where Art Thou? and Down From the Mountain been a boost to your career?

Miller: I don’t think so. Things were going OK before that kicked into high gear, and they’re going OK now. It probably is, and I just don’t know it. I think it’s helping everything a little bit. If people hear good music, I think that can only be a good thing. I don’t know if it’s changed country radio. When I’m flipping television channels — I don’t watch that CMT thing — I see the little 15-year-old video disc jockeys talking about bluegrass every once in awhile.

B&W: Nashville has a pretty vibrant scene that’s apart from the typical country stars.

Miller: Yeah, we live right down the street from all that. We’re real close to Music Row. We’re so disconnected from that. There’s such a great community of singer/songwriters and folks that are so like-minded with us. It’s a great town; there’s so much going on.

B&W: Do you and Julie have similar tastes in what you listen to?

Miller: It’s funny. Julie can write a great country song and sing great. But she just wants to rock if left to her own devices. Whenever she comes down into our music room when we’re working, she wants me to put on Social Distortion. So, we kind of have our little feuds, but I love singing with her.

B&W: I heard someone say that you can play guitar every bit as well as Richard Thompson, but you’re funky.

Miller: [Laughs] Well, I wish I could play like Richard Thompson. He’s just unbelievable. I did get to meet him once, but I’m sure he wouldn’t remember. We’re huge fans of his songs and his guitar playing. I love guitar players who go out on a limb and don’t even think about it. It’s just what they do. They get out there and if they get back, great. If not, great. Richard Thompson, Daniel Lanois. Dave Rawlings, I think, might be my favorite guitar player. He plays with Gillian Welch.

B&W: Ever see George Jones and Tammy Wynette perform together?

Miller: Yes. The night I saw them, they closed the show with “The Ceremony” [a 1970s hit where George and Tammy basically sing wedding vows to one another], and when he got to the line about “I’ll take this woman” he pointed to a girl in the front row. When I got in my car to drive back home, the news came on and said, “Tammy Wynette filed for divorce today.” [Laughs] It must have been 1972 or 1973 and they still had the bus that had “Mr. and Mrs. Country Music” on the side.

B&W: You’ve done the Grand Ole Opry with Emmylou?

Miller: Yeah, a couple of times. I did it at the Ryman and did it at the new Opry. It was a real thrill. I’m a big Porter Waggoner fan. He was so far ahead of his time. When I went with Emmylou to play the Opry, I was really sick. I told her, “I’ve never asked anything of you, but I want to meet Porter Waggoner.” But I was too sick and I think she spaced out. She was having a gig and her drummer kinda disappeared. You know, the Opry is a tightly run ship, and she has her 10 minutes or whatever on stage. When it’s time, you’re on stage and playing, whether you’re there or not. She’s introduced and we’re up there, and we’ve got no drummer. She was a little upset at him after that. Well, actually, she wasn’t. She’s very forgiving, but she had to tell a joke on stage while [the drummer] was chitchatting with Grandpa Jones at the Coke machine. &

Buddy and Julie Miller perform on the Blockbuster Stage on Saturday, May 18, at 6:35 p.m

City Hall — Langford Defends Visionland

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City Hall

By Ed Reynolds

Langford Defends Visionland

On March 15, Mayor Kincaid’s office released a report from the city’s financial advisor, the Swarthmore Group, that indicated financial hemorrhaging at Visionland. The subjective tone and sarcastic phrasing of the report caused quite a stir at city headquarters. The report questions the hiring and firing of park managers, alleged payments to Fairfield Mayor Larry Langford and Fairfield City Clerk Melvin Turner, and debilitating financial losses incurred in 1999. One conclusion reads “There’s more blood here than at the local Red Cross unit” and the park’s dreadful 1999 season is summarized as one of “Rape, Pillage, and Plunder.”

Swarthmore’s Dan Maze, the author of the report, told the Birmingham News that the wording was intended for effect. “I wanted somebody to continue to read it,” Maze said. “Did I go over the line? I don’t know.” The 1999 season saw attendance fall by a devastating 100,000, resulting in a net loss of $9.2 million, even though the minutes from the July 8, 1999, West Jefferson Amusement Park Joint Board meeting claimed, “All’s well at Visionland.” Among the original 13 board members were Langford [chairman], former Governor Fob James, Elmer Harris [retired president and CEO of Alabama Power], County Commissioner Betty Fine Collins, and former State Legislator Jimmy Butts, who was recently convicted of accepting bribes relating to business with Visionland. No one was accused of offering the bribe. Visionland was a sponsor of a NASCAR race car driven by Butts’ son, reportedly a $50,000 investment.

According to the Swarthmore report, the Board of Directors of the West Jefferson Amusement and Public Park Authority [WJAPPA], which was created by 11 surrounding municipalities to deliver financial assistance to Visionland during the beginning years, met biannually until July 1999. Because the board did not meet again until November 2001, observers wondered who approved the hiring of the Ogden Park Management Services in June 2000 for $750,000 a year. The Swarthmore report urged the city to support the park for another year, then recommended that the facility be sold.

The City Council convened a committee-of-the-whole meeting on March 21, approving payment of the $1 million currently owed to the amusement facility. Councilor Carol Reynolds, the lone “no” vote against paying the $1 million, had invited Larry Langford to address the council that afternoon. Langford said he did not attend the meeting to defend himself. He addressed what he termed “bogus reports” that he was being paid by the park, explaining that he was only reimbursed for expenses. Langford urged the council to ask to see the checks allegedly paid to him. “If I did what they said, call the attorney general and put me in jail. It’s a real simple thing.” Langford said there has been interest expressed in purchasing the park. “It was never intended for us to try and stay there and operate the park until hell freezes over,” Langford said as he explained that the intent had always been to sell the amusement park in “five or six years.”

Langford blamed much of the disastrous 1999 season on bad luck. “The problem was, we had 52 days of rain, and by the time it stopped raining, the heat index went to 110 degrees and stayed there for the rest of the summer.” He added that an E. coli breakout at amusement parks around the country that summer frightened away patrons. Langford reminded the Council that a $6 million ride malfunctioned the first day of its operation. “The park overall has done what we had hoped the park would do,” said Langford. The property purchased for the park at the time sold for $3,000 an acre. Today, property in the area goes for $250,000 to $300,000 an acre, according to Langford. He noted that 27 million people pass along Interstate 20/59 between Birmingham and Tuscaloosa yearly. “What we were trying to do was find a way to get people to stay here in Alabama for a couple of days and quit treating this state like a service station — come to get your gas and drive on through.”

“Our problem has been, how do you penetrate Jefferson County?” Langford said. He noted that if one out of every three county residents visited the park one time a year, in 10 years Visionland would be as large as Six Flags. “We can sell the park quicker with the park being open than if we closed it,” Langford said. He concluded by pointing out that Visionland had at least initiated “the first sign of real regional cooperation.”

Noise Ordinance

Councilor Joel Montgomery has had his fill of loud music booming from automobiles cruising past his District One home. “It’s killing me,” said Montgomery. The noise also shakes “the front door of St. John’s United Methodist Church, where I worship on Sundays,” Montgomery adds with obvious disgust.

So the councilor decided it was time to tweak city codes addressing noise abatement. The present noise ordinance is considered unenforceable, according to Birmingham Police Chief Mike Coppage. Requirements that Birmingham police use decibel meters to gauge volume levels makes it difficult to catch a perpetrator in the act. By the time police arrive, the offending noise has been turned down. There are only about a dozen decibel meters at present for the entire force, adding to the difficulty of enforcing the law. Coppage explains that the only way to consistently deal with the problem is to have complainants sign arrest warrants against noise level violators, yet most are reluctant to do so because they fear retaliation or future harassment.

As Public Safety chairperson, Montgomery collected noise ordinances from various states and municipalities in search of a model for Birmingham’s code. He found his answer in Kansas, where a state noise code explicitly addresses vehicle stereos. “This is the first step to revising our noise ordinance as a whole,” promises Montgomery. Changes in city noise laws will only affect vehicles. Other sections of the overall noise ordinance will remain intact until they can be addressed at future Public Safety Committee meetings.

“This is going to free the police officer. If he hears somebody within a distance of 35 feet, in an automobile rumbling, this is going to be his discretion as to whether or not he can write that individual a fine,”

Montgomery explained. No decibel meter will be needed. “To me there’s no difference in this and if you were writing somebody a speeding ticket and you had no radar device in the car. You’re still taking the police officer’s word against the operator’s word.” The new law stipulates that discernable noise heard by other vehicle passengers within 10 feet of an automobile or 35 feet for those in buildings will be considered a violation.

Montgomery emphasizes that he has no problem with what anybody listens to “as long as I don’t have to hear it. And I certainly don’t want to hear it when I’m lying in my bed.”

Councilor Montgomery originally suggested a minimum hearing range of 50 feet from a building with regards to a passing vehicle stereo, but Chief Coppage asked for a compromise. “I think that the 50-foot limit is a little bit gracious,” said Coppage, who suggested a 25-foot minimum. Captain Roy Williams of the Birmingham Police Department estimates he could write up to 50 tickets a day just on the volume of music in cars in traffic. “Sometimes I can’t even hear my radio,” Williams says.

The ordinance must be reviewed by the city’s Law Department, then voted on by the Birmingham City Council. Penalties will not exceed $500 or more than six months imprisonment or both.

“This is really trite,” said Councilor Reynolds. “But what about the popsicle man? Will he be required to have a permit to play his music?” Chief Coppage said that he would have to consult the legal department about the popsicle man. Coppage stressed that the ordinance is aimed at “boom boxes” that shake cars and rattle houses when they drive past. “To me, that is minimal compared to the fighter jets going overhead,” Reynolds said, referring to noise pollution at her home near the Birmingham Airport where an Alabama Air Guard is housed. She explains that she is simply trying to find a realistic way of enforcement “without creating a police state.”

The ordinance will include exemptions for emergency and public safety vehicles, vehicles used by municipal utility companies, sanitation trucks, and vehicles used in authorized public activities such as parades, fireworks displays, sports events, and musical productions.

“Praise the Lord!” Montgomery noted with a smile when he read the sentence addressing limits on “bass reverberations,” surmising, “One day noise pollution will be as much of an issue as air pollution.”

The Cause That Refreshes

A few weeks after Council President Lee Loder chastised Councilor Gwen Sykes for allowing a Highland Avenue coffee shop [which supplied the Council with pastries] to plug itself during cable television broadcasts of meetings, Coca-Cola got in on the action. After presenting the city with $100,000 towards the restoration of Vulcan, Coca-Cola United President and CEO Claude Nielsen accepted accolades from the Council commemorating the soft drink’s 100th anniversary. Coca-Cola’s humble beginnings were nothing more than “one mule, one employee, and we delivered 18 cases of Coca-Cola,” said Nielsen. “Next year, in this community, we will sell over eight million cases of Coca-Cola.” The CEO expressed appreciation for the “opportunity to refresh each of you every day. You can count on us for at least another hundred years of refreshing this city.” In honor of the anniversary, six-pack cartons featuring the Birmingham skyline and a rendering of Vulcan were presented to each councilor. Loder held a carton so the TV cameras could get a close-up as Councilor Carole Smitherman laughed, “Everything goes better with Coke!” &

Tired No More

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Tired No More

By Ed Reynolds

The mystery of Ira “Tex” Ellison’s disappearance months ago was resolved recently when his green 1985 Fleetwood Cadillac was discovered at the bottom of the Coosa River near Pell City. Relatives speculated that the 72-year-old Ellison, a diabetic, became disoriented and accidently drove into the river. Birmingham barbecue aficionados knew Ellison as the Tired Texan, the late-night barbecue king who maintained unorthodox hours, his barbecue stand sometimes open only three days a week, from noon to the wee hours of the morning. His first location, a tiny concrete structure at 8th Avenue North and 15th Street, was a smokey pit of intoxicating aromas and a late-night oasis for the uninhibited. Leaning into a small window illuminated by a single bulb, a diverse clientele of doctors, lawyers, bartenders, prostitutes, and drunks congregated to order barbecue. Picnic tables across the grassy parking lot were the only seats available. There patrons gnawed on ribs until sunrise. Slices of white bread often functioned as napkins, when not used as edible sponges for sopping up barbecue sauce.

Ellison began selling barbecue with his wife Madeline in the late 1950s as a Marine stationed in Beaufort, South Carolina. The couple opened the Tired Texan Country Club at the military base, building the structure with the help of Marine privates under Tex’s command. Heavyweight champion Joe Frazier and jazz legend Lionel Hampton were pals who sometime stopped in for a drink. Ellison had joined the Navy at age 16 in 1945, but switched branches three years later when the Marines offered to send him to electronics school. By 1956, Tex had been assigned to El Toro, California, where he was the Marine Corps’ first black air traffic radar technician. Ellison also maintained a profitable television repair business. “I always had other things going on the side,” laughed Tex during a recent interview. “I had a TV repair service and barbecue place while I was in the Marines.”



	Ira “Tex” Ellison, 1928-2001

Ellison left the military in 1967, eventually moving to Birmingham to start the Tired Texan and T&T Records, where he and his wife recorded Church of God in Christ services to sell as 8-track tapes. Although he relocated his restaurant between Legion Field and BirminghamSouthern College in the 1990s, the menu remained the same: sliced pork, hot franks, pig ears, ribs, sweet potato pie, pineapple-banana cake, and the legendary Dammit to Hell Sandwich. The Dammit to Hell was a red hot, sloppy Joe-style creation made from sliced pork scraps, bits of hot franks, and chicken necks, hearts, livers, and gizzards that Tex bragged would “dissolve in your mouth.” Oddly, the sandwich didn’t start selling until Tex raised the price. “They think you’re using scraps, and that’s what you’re using. That’s what you have to be able to do, be able to deviate. If they won’t buy it under one name, dammit, give it another name and raise the price. Make ‘em want it.” The secret to the Dammit to Hell’s fire came from the original Mancha’s Mexican restaurant on Birmingham’s Southside. Owner Carl Mancha traded his atomic Agent Orange sauce for Ellison’s pig ear delicacies. Tex poured Agent Orange into his own sauce without restraint, adding ground cayenne peppers (including the seeds!), which were grown in his backyard. Tears flowed as customers drained endless styrofoam cups of sweet iced tea (blended with coffee) to extinguish the inferno. Tex finally had to give up tasting the blistering sauce at age 60 due to stomach problems. “The sauce started biting back,” he laughed as he demonstrated his mastery of sniffing to determine the correct amount of pepper spice to add. Dining on ribs and sweet potato pie one evening at his west Birmingham home, Ellison explained the appeal of his barbecued pig ears. “I had a special pig ear, what you call a sandwich ear — a little ol’ pig about seven months old with no hair. You cut the fat off and cook that sucker till he falls apart on you.”

Tex finally closed the Legion Field Tired Texan in 1996, just after the Mexican Olympic soccer team lost. “As long as Mexico won, we stayed open, ’cause the Mexicans were the only ones spending money,” the shrewd restaurateur laughed. Once Mexico lost, he shut the doors for good, citing “too many headaches” and the beauty shop next door. “Some of those ladies needed to spend 50 bucks to get that ugliness out!” Tex howled as he recalled his constant battle with the shop over parking space. The VFW Post 668 lodge was the final stop on Ellison’s 30-year odyssey of barbecue joints, an appropriate final bow for an ex-Marine who introduced Alabama to sweet barbecue sauce [his grandfather's 1899 recipe] and the incendiary trademark Sandwich.

Ira Ellison was a paradox. Tex might begin a sentence with a string of obscenities and end it quoting scripture. He often bagged his sandwiches in Krystal Hamburger sacks, and he carried a gun. “I’ve always got my .38 with me. Even in church. And everyone knows I’m kinda crazy from my Marine days — crazy enough to use it.” His wife Madeline says that in the past year he had talked of having a mobile barbecue stand near the recently opened Honda plant in Lincoln. Above all, his work ethic was relentless, and a grill was his constant companion. “I barbecued everywhere I damn went,” Tex claimed. “Even now, if it’s 3:00 in the morning and I can’t sleep, I’ll go out in the backyard and fire the grill up. Cook some hot dogs or something. Relaxes me.” &

Holy Cow, It’s Good!

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Holy Cow, It’s Good!

By Ed Reynolds

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Promised Land Dairy in Floresville, Texas, is truly the land of milk and honey. On 1,300 acres of mesquite-covered countryside once occupied by honey bee hives, 1,100 Jersey cows graze in divine splendor, producing milk so hallowed that the dairy prints the words of Deuteronomy 26:9 on each bottle. Having sampled several flavors, we can attest to the fact that the milk is indeed richer and creamier than most brands. That’s because Promised Land milk flows from the supple, velvety teats of doe-eyed brown Jersey cows, rather than being jettisoned from the tough-nippled jugs of black-and-white spotted Holsteins, which are used by most dairies. Jersey cows produce milk with more calcium, protein, and nonfat milk solids.

Promised Land milk, a staple on Texas grocery shelves for 13 years and currently sold in 27 states, began appearing in Birmingham dairy cases at Super Target and Wal-Mart Super Centers a month ago. Glass quart bottles sell for about $2, and they are worth it. Homogenized white milk, 2 percent reduced fat, and fat-free milk are available, as are chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, banana, and peach flavors. The latter cries out for fresh peaches, vanilla ice cream, and a blender, ditto the strawberry flavor. As for the rich chocolate milk, Promised Land may have produced the current gold standard.

The Promised Land farm is an integrated independent dairy operation, an old-fashioned throwback to the days when a dairy controlled the herd and its diet, processed the milk, and supervised its distribution. “There are many dairies that have herds. But not many of them have cows and a creamery,” says Melody Campbell-Goeken, who handles public relations for the dairy. “It’s one of the last integrated independent dairies in Texas, and probably one of the few in the nation.”

The automation and biotechnology of the modern dairy industry has resulted in a bland product with little distinction between brands flavor-wise. Unlike its competitors, who inject cattle with artificial hormones to increase production, Promised Land refrains from the practice. “They tried using hormones with the product years ago, and the cows just would not produce the milk with the same flavor. So they decided not to use any more hormones,” explains Campbell-Goeken. The milk is available only in glass bottles, which add a nostalgic touch while keeping the product colder and fresher.

During the holiday season, the dairy offers its lavish egg nog, which tastes like melted ice cream. The egg nog is so distinctive that the label is adorned with its own Bible verse, Isaiah 11:6: “The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the goat, and the calf and the lion and the yearling together, and a little child shall lead them.”

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.” &

City Hall — July 31, 2001

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City Hall

By Ed Reynolds

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July 31, 2001

Airport Authority budget faces more scrutiny before approval

Controversy rages around accusations of “secret” Airport Authority board meetings centering on budgets and future plans of the Birmingham International Airport. Today is the final showdown. Councilor Bill Johnson wants $3 million of the airport’s operating budget profit to be partly designated for noise mitigation and neighborhood improvements. Johnson praises the removal from the capital budget of a $10 million line item for a controversial parallel runway, but asks why the runway remains in the airport master plan.

Airport Authority executive director Al Denson says immediate plans focus on development other than the parallel runway construction, but admits that the new runway, which would wipe out East Lake neighborhoods, is still a long-range consideration. Alternatives to the parallel runway must be examined, urges Johnson, as East Lake Park and 1,100 homes would be leveled in the construction of the runway. Johnson asks that the parallel east-west runway be removed from the master plan, explaining that airport consultants had earlier noted there was plenty of time to study other options. When asked why the air carrier apron [the area around the terminal where planes are parked] rehabilitation jumped $5 million while the proposed extension of Runway 24 skyrocketed $13 millon in two months, Denson explains that earlier cost estimates for the air carrier apron increased after bids were received. As for extension of Runway 24, early figures were “very, very preliminary numbers” that have since been updated, according to Denson. Johnson is concerned at the high percentage of cost underestimates by consultants. “I know y’all know what the land looks like,” notes Johnson, still baffled by the cost surge. “But we’re just basically talking about pouring concrete [in] some places.” The councilor asks that further budgets include line items addressing what the airport will do to abate noise problems.

Councilor Lee Wendell Loder requests that the council be allowed to monitor any future talk of the parallel runway since the council approves airport budgets anyway. Loder asks what to expect if air traffic capacity is reached without additional runway space. Denson says that options must always be available, then offers this contradictory statement: “I would hope that we start putting more emphasis over the next 10 years on projects that can truly be a major benefit to this city rather than bargain and put a lot of synergies and energies into something that’s 10 or 20 years out.”

Gunn flip flops as he skips across East Lake Park

Insisting that his initial concern was the well-being of East Lake residents, Councilor Aldrich Gunn says that he never intended to “tear up the Airport Authority’s program for expansion.” Gunn applauds the Authority for its cooperation, noting, “I think you met me more than halfway.” The senior councilor’s recent enlightenment on the airport’s future came to him on a trek north to study Chicago’s O’Hare Airport. “I saw a presentation that gave me a whole, complete, new revelation about what we are doing,” reveals Gunn. The councilor suddenly focuses his attention on photos of past city leaders covering the back wall of the council chambers as he searches for the perfect metaphor. “If I’m looking at those pictures on that wall, and my vision stops at those pictures, I’ve missed the purpose of the airport,” Gunn philosophizes. The councilor explains that one day flights from Birmingham to Tokyo will take no longer than flights from Birmingham to Los Angeles. “We can not wait until that technology is here to start planning for it,” he warns, adding that adequate runways will be needed to land aircraft of the future. Gunn says that what finally changed his mind on airport expansion was the need for nonstop flights from Germany to Birmingham because of the Mercedes plant near Tuscaloosa. “Now I have a broader horizon of what is happening,” Gunn concludes.

Councilor Sandra Little says her main concern in the airport hoopla is the neighborhoods. “You all have degrees in aviation, so I look for your recommendations,” Little says admiringly as she addresses Al Denson. “You have people that do studies, and you pay a large amount of dollars for these studies.”

Expressing confusion about “how the Airport Authority does business,” Councilor Jimmy Blake pursues ongoing concern that budget changes were made in secret. Denson can not give Blake the dates of public meetings where budget increases were discussed, but insists that he acted promptly and responsibly in reporting escalating costs to the Airport Authority board. Blake continues to call the Authority’s action illegal, referring to the budget as an “abortion of the law.” The councilor is alarmed that “quasi-governmental bodies too often feel like their job is to scam the public.” Blake says that anyone who understands the Authority’s intent on the controversial parallel runway is “a mind-reader.” Blake condemns the Authority and those on the council who are ready to “rubber-stamp” the airport budget, chiding them for not holding proper public debate and therefore rendering the public “irrelevant.” He accuses the Airport Authority of keeping runway plans secret in order to drive down property values so that the properties could be later purchased at depreciated prices. The “ambiguity” of the plans is just like putting guns to the heads of residents, says Blake as he explains that selling homes is impossible when no one knows the fate of neighborhoods threatened by possible expansion. “Look, I’m not going to be here after October, thank goodness,” notes Blake angrily. “But folks, this is what [kind of] leadership the city of Birmingham has. A council, an airport authority, a school board . . . every organization thinks that the public should not know what they’re doing. And that’s going on daily!” Councilor Pat Alexander, who serves on the Airport Authority board, refuses Blake’s request that neighborhood residents be allowed to speak, noting that this is not a public hearing. The Airport Authority budget is approved over objections from Loder, Blake, and Johnson. Councilor Don MacDermott is absent.

August 7, 2001

Racial stereotypes

The city’s Park and Recreation swim team, made up of swim teams from across the city, is recognized for medals won in recent competition. Council President William Bell calls the team’s success a “miracle” considering the lack of swim training available to inner-city children. Team officials praise the swimmers for “competing effectively against over-the-mountain teams.” Mildred Kidd, team statistician, says it’s time swimmers got the recognition basketball players get. Kidd praises the children for medals won competing against year-round programs with indoor pools. “Everybody knows we exist. We don’t come in last in anything,” Kidd notes proudly. “A lot of people don’t know that black children swim. I’m gonna go ahead and be honest about it.” [For the record, the team includes a few white children.] Bell presents a check to the program so that the swimming coach can secure adequate instructional training to properly prepare the team for next season. “Come on up here, Ms. Kidd. You weren’t shy in my office when you were asking [for financial help],” laughs Bell as he hands her the money.

The other Birmingham

Councilor Don MacDermott salutes a pair of British business students from Birmingham, England, visiting the city to research a retail business project they’re studying back home. The Summitt, of course, was included on the research spree, as was the Galleria and Bruno’s food stores, which one of the pair calls a “forward-thinking supermarket.” The council is amused by the students’ enunciation of the word “Birmingham.” The Brits note their surprise at the city’s warmth considering that their New York hosts warned them about the dangers of the South. The welcome mat rolled out by the city upon the students’ arrival at the bus station across the street from City Hall was greatly appreciated after their 22-hour bus ride, the students note. They are presented with keys to the city.

God’s Gangster rides again

“The Frank Matthews Show,” the city’s latest summer political charade, fizzles and pops dramatically as the controversial Matthews, a Birmingham radio personality, reels off a list of perceived local enemies at meeting’s end. Presented as a pit bull prelude to October council elections purportedly in an effort to gain support for Jefferson County Citizens Coalition candidates [including his own possible bid for Bill Johnson's seat], Matthews has created furor with recent newspaper and radio ads bearing his name that lash out at the Cahaba River Society. Known as “God’s Gangster,” Matthews, who has personally asked that he be quoted in this space because of “all that stuff I say” when addressing the council at the end of each meeting, attacks those who question his methods and motivations. Matthews defends the validity of his urban projects, some of which have been approved to receive city funds. The community and political rabble rouser berates Mayor Kincaid for comments made on local talk radio, accusing Kincaid of spending too much time running for selective offices. “I am highly offended!” thunders Matthews, addressing councilors who question the validity of his allegedly offering GED programs through his crusade to aid inner-city youth. “When I did take the GED program, I took it in Colorado, and I made one of the highest scores of anybody who ever took the test in Colorado!” Matthews also notes that he graduated from a ministerial school in San Diego. “I’ve read the Oxford Dictionary, numerous encyclopedias, New American Standard dictionaries, and I can word-play just like our illustrious ‘wanna-be.’” He does not clarify who he is referring to as a “wanna-be.” Matthews takes issue with suggestions by some councilors that he was using city money to finance recent anti-Cahaba River Society ads, and denies that he is the pawn for political shenanigans, as suggested in this publication’s previous issue. “[Black & White] is used for outhouse toilet paper,” bellows Matthews angrily. “They got my name all in it! It could be used for the wall dressing for an outhouse. That’s the appropriate place for the Black & White !” &

Apocalypse Now

Jaws dropped and heads shook in disbelief as a helicopter carrying District Two City Council candidate Frank Matthews descended to a crowd of approximately 150. Sunday, August 12 was the official kick-off of Matthews’ campaign at his Oporto-Madrid headquarters in East Lake, and the candidate known
as “God’s Gangster” made an entrance few will forget.

The event was a thinly-disguised Jefferson County Citizens Coalition rally, with former Mayor Richard Arrington and councilors Sandra Faye Little, Aldrich Gunn, Leroy Bandy, and Pat Alexander basking in the political glow. Little praised Matthews for “continuously putting his life on the line,” while Arrington bemoaned the poor leadership that has “everything bogged down at city hall.” Teenaged campaign workers circulated through the audience soliciting donations as the faithful dined on ribs, chicken, and watermelon.

Candidate Matthews finally emerged, shouting “Que pasa, amigos!” Behind him two youths held aloft a huge sign laminated with newspaper headlines touting Matthews’ community activism. A Spanish interpreter to his left tried in vain to keep up with Matthews’ evangelical fervor.

“I like being in the air. That way I’m closer to God!” Matthews bragged about his entrance to shouts of “Amen!” from the crowd, half its original size now that food had been eaten. Over the next 20 minutes Matthews praised the Jefferson County Citizens Coalition for “electing more officials in Alabama than
any other organization,” pledged to “take the door off the hinges” in his council office at city hall if elected, and promised a designer clothing outlet in District Two so “you ladies won’t have to go to Cullman and Boaz!”

As a dilapidated wagon harnessed to a Clydesdale waited to whisk Matthews from the rally, the candidate shook hands with rabid supporters, whose numbers had dwindled to less than 50. A zealous devotee who had commandeered the microphone shouted, “People say Frank Matthews is crazy! Frank, if you’re crazy, stay crazy!”

Art in the Park

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Art in the Park

By Ed Reynolds

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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.

City Hall — May 24, 2001

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City Hall

By Ed Reynolds

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May 24, 2001

May 8, 2001

“Let’s talk about George McMillan,” suggests smiling Councilor Jimmy Blake as McMillan walks down the aisle of the council chambers, replying, “Let’s don’t.” The City Stages president briefly plugs his looming City Stages 2001 event, touting this year’s talent as the best ever. It’s the lone highlight of a morning abbreviated by Council President William Bell so that councilors can join a motorcade protesting a lawsuit by businesses along Richard Arrington Jr. Boulevard, formerly known as 21st Street. The businesses have filed a lawsuit recently over address-change expenses and other inconveniences, including disruption of some mail service.

Bell announces that the meeting will resume at 1:30 p.m, though it never does. The vanishing Council meeting is the latest questionable action by Bell regarding Council meeting procedures. Two weeks ago Councilor Blake said that Council Administrator Jarvis Patton told him that Bell ordered Patton to shut off Blake’s microphone for a good two minutes while Blake was debating Bell on an issue.

In other city business, an irate citizen being levied a fee for the removal of suspected weeds on his property claims that the city mowed down his kiwi crop. The Council also approves UAB’s request for the removal of 15th Street between 11th and 12th Avenues South so that the street can become campus property.

May 15, 2001

Slashbuster added to city’s flood-fighting roster

Street and Sanitation Department head Stephen Fancher addresses Councilor Sandra Little’s queries about the newest trouble-shooter residing at City Hall, the much ballyhooed “slashbuster,” a phenomenal 21st Century machine that purportedly clears creeks of “debris and clothing and things,” according to Little. Fancher confirms the machine’s incredible powers, including a “25 to 30-foot” range of motion. “It can crunch up a tree or limbs or any kind of vegetative growth on the creek,” explains Fancher as he obligingly details the slashbuster’s current itinerary: It has been in operation for two weeks on Shades Creek. Next stop is Five Mile Creek, then Village Creek, and on to Valley Creek. Councilor Little snickers when told that Shades Creek, the first stop, is in Councilor Johnson’s area. “I don’t know why you didn’t start out in District Seven [Little's district], because we have quite a bit of flooding,” says a miffed Councilor Little. “Is there a reason why we started in that area? Did you study what you were doing?” Mayor Kincaid quickly answers, “Yes, ma’am. It [creek water] flows east to west. So we started on the eastern side of town.” Little admits to suspicions that Kincaid was “biased” towards Johnson’s district because of Johnson’s support of the Mayor’s policies. She alludes to possibilities of a class action lawsuit from residents in her area affected by flooding. She asks when the slashbuster will be in her district. Fancher responds that it all depends on how long it takes to clear Five Mile Creek, pointing out that foreseeable problems include exit from the creek each time the machine encounters a bridge. The slashbuster then must find another suitable point for re-entry into the water.

Councilor Blake, noting that “water is very non-partisan in the way it runs from upstream to downstream,” disagrees with the procedure, explaining that if the downstream is not cleared and rate of flow increases upstream, then downstream will be worse. Fancher explains that the clearing of Shades Creek started downstream, then worked back upstream. The Street and Sanitation Department head also explains that Shades Creek was a good training area for practice with the new clearing contraption.

Gunn urges cosmetology students to open hair “saloons”

Councilor Sandra Little salutes Wenonah High School cosmetology students for their recent second place finish in a state business skills competition. Little promises that she’ll “be coming up there to get a new hair style!” Councilor Loder notes the current increased interest in cosmetology. “Any profession where you can get $30 or $40 just to wash somebody’s hair is a pretty good profession to be in,” notes Loder. “And not only that, they have to be chemists now, and know a lot about math in order to make sure they mix that material [hair dye chemicals, etc.] properly so their folks don’t have to come see me [Loder is an attorney],” he adds, laughing. Councilor Gunn bemoans the fact that “trades have been thrown away.” Gunn urges the students to look at opening their own business. “You can be the owner of your own enterprise, saloon and all!” encourages Gunn. The councilor boasts that he knows how to braid hair.

Budget wars begin

Mayor Kincaid delivers his Fiscal Year 2001 budget and capital improvement address, noting that economic and political circumstances presently at play in the city of Birmingham have created some “unique and formidable challenges for the coming fiscal year.” Kincaid says those challenges, however, will not hamper plans to move the city forward. Kincaid then surprises the audience by announcing that, according to a fax he received 45 minutes before the Council meeting, bond rating agency Fitch IBCA had downgraded the city’s bond rating from AA to AA minus. The New York bond agency’s adjustment of the rating was “triggered by the disclosure of significant political discord over a long period of time, and conflicting legislative and judicial actions concerning ownership of the Water Works,” according to the Mayor. Kincaid also announces a three percent cost of living pay raise and absorption by the city of increased health care premiums for city employees.Battle lines immediately take shape as Councilor Bill Johnson takes issue with the proposed budget for not including a separate pay raise for police and firefighters that had earlier been approved unanimously by the Council. Johnson also suggests that a uniform allowance be given to public safety officers. He notes that the city is understaffed by approximately 100 officers [10 percent of the police force] as he wonders aloud who will staff the proposed $550,000 police precinct Kincaid outlined in his address [the precinct, the city's fifth, will be located in the western area]. Johnson urges the Council to go on record approving significant pay raises for safety personnel, forcing the Jefferson County Personnel Board to explain why they won’t approve the raise. Kincaid explains that the Jefferson County Personnel Board is simply acting in accordance to law. The Mayor also notes that HUD questioned city proposals detailing compensation for police and fire fighters through housing programs.

Councilor Blake urges Kincaid to look at withdrawing from the personnel board if association means further migration of law enforcement officers to higher-paying suburbs. Blake notes that Hoover, which is luring many city police officers, is not part of the county personnel board system. He also points out that the city has twice as many employees as it did 20 years ago, when the population was significantly larger. Back then, pay raises were competitive, says Blake. The councilor suggests a hiring freeze in some city departments so that salaries can be boosted to competitive levels. Kincaid says that the city plans to ask the Jefferson County Personnel Board to closely examine substantial pay raises for safety personnel in line with what surrounding municipalities pay during the comprehensive salary review process that is scheduled for 2002.

They don’t build ‘em like they used to

Mayor Kincaid withdraws a request for $625,000 to be transferred from Boutwell Auditorium cosmetic repairs to Legion Field structural repairs. Director of Engineering, Planning, and Permits Bill Gilchrist explains that further inspection of the structure shows that repair needs are not quite as extensive as once feared. Gilchrist notes, “I’m going to give thanks to God that we had an engineer in the early 1900s that over-engineered that structure [Legion Field].” He adds that many early public works were over-engineered, citing the Brooklyn Bridge as an example, explaining that the bridge is seven times stronger than necessary. “When people were doing these structures early, they had higher levels of caution and safety factors than what we would consider.”

See no evil

Only one week after the oddly suspended Council meeting, Council President William Bell sternly orders camera operators recording the meeting for Tuesday evening’s cable channel 4 broadcast to “leave the cameras off!” during an argument with Councilor Aldrich Gunn. Bell instructs camera operators to resume videotaping when he gives the command, which he does after telling Councilor Gunn to confine his comments to the subject at hand. &

City Hall — April 10, 2001

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City Hall

By Ed Reynolds

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April 26, 2001

April 10, 2001

Elections on the layaway plan

Councilor Sandra Little offers an amendment to a recently delayed resolution by Mayor Kincaid that seeks payment of the $175,518.12 bill generated by the February 27 Water Works referendum. Little’s amendment would pay only the $42,670 owed to poll workers. She continues to decry Kincaid’s reference to the referendum as a “pre-Council election warning” to councilors who oppose the Mayor. “There’s a lot of politics going on, and those poor people are stuck there,” says Blake as he compares the plight of unpaid poll workers to the spy plane crew recently detained in China. Blake supports Little’s proposal to pay poll workers, though he would like to see the entire debt paid. Councilor Johnson asks the Mayor to address the debt. “Here we go again, playing games,” Councilor Blake can be heard muttering off-mic. Mayor Kincaid demands that the Council approve payment for the entire debt as obligated by state law, noting, “We look petty by not paying it, or by trying to parcel out [payments].” Kincaid asks the bottom-line question that everyone has thus far ignored. “How reasonable is it to believe that the voting machines we used in the special election, which are [needed] for the City Council election 182 days from today–how can you believe that you can go back to the county to get those machines for the Council election when we have a debt?”

Who else is counting?

Councilor Aldrich Gunn refuses to put up with the Mayor’s weekly countdown reminder any longer. “Countdown 182 days before the Council election? And I welcome it. I welcome it! He’s [Kincaid] got men out there with muscles big as mine holding up a picket sign. They need to have a job! They need to be working!” Gunn bellows in reference to Kincaid supporters who gather daily in front of City Hall with signs urging the defeat of all councilors seeking re-election but one–purportedly to be Councilor Lee Wendell Loder. “It’s 730 days before another election–the Mayor’s election!” Gunn notes, appalled that the Mayor insists on paying off the entire $175,000 referendum debt. “You come to a place of reconciliation, and then you scoot out on these jive things,” Gunn says disgustedly as he urges that poll workers be paid. The councilor then readjusts his previous arithmetic and declares, “It’s 912 days ’til the Mayor’s election!”

Councilor Blake requests an itemized list of election services not included in the poll worker payments. Blake wants the list so that the public can know who is not being paid. He urges the Mayor to put the item back on the Council agenda. As Council President Bell asks the Council to move on to the next issue, Blake again can be heard off-mic, offering a quiet “Hallelujah!”

An elected Birmingham school board

Councilor Bill Johnson continues his push for an advisory referendum allowing Birmingham voters to decide if they want to elect the school board rather than have it appointed by the City Council. The State Legislature earlier voted to hold an election addressing an elected school board in 2003 rather than October 2001. Councilor Loder commends Johnson for placing the item on the agenda, but is disturbed that the aforementioned February referendum on the Water Works has not been paid for. Loder supports the advisory referendum because the public would be directly included in the future of Birmingham schools, but Councilor Bandy argues that anyone has the opportunity to send in a resume for school board vacancies. “This proves that the public is not left out,” says Bandy. Councilor Blake also supports Johnson, and notes that Republican State Senator Steve French amended the bill introduced by Democratic State Senator Carolyn Smitherman to delay the elected school board issue until 2003. “If Steve French represents anybody in the city of Birmingham, it’s minuscule,” says Blake, who calls the Democratic and Republican team effort to delay the vote “a beautiful example of how we have nonpartisanship when it comes to screwing the public.” Councilor MacDermott says he cannot support the financing of a referendum as long as people in his district continue to have flooding problems. Councilor Johnson interrupts MacDermott to explain that his referendum proposal would be held during the October Council election, and would not be a special election.

Councilor Gunn suddenly launches a personal attack on Johnson. “Everybody wants to help our children. And that guy [Johnson] down on the end there, he’s good at it,” says Gunn. Gunn recites a frequently referenced Gunn parable about “getting the rat out of the barn instead of burning the barn down,” insinuating that Johnson is the”rat,” one supposes. Gunn glares at Johnson and notes, “Yeah, I said that.” Councilor Gunn concludes with praises for the new Carver High School, calling it a “testimony” to providing a good learning environment. He labels the old school “a swamp.”

Council President Bell says that Johnson’s motivation for proposing the referendum is “to create another issue for the upcoming Council election.” Bell continues: “If he had good motivations, he’d be down in Montgomery with the legislators right now instead of grandstanding on this particular issue.” He dismisses Johnson’s referendum proposal as nothing more than a “sham of an election.” Johnson requests that the resolution be amended to be held in conjunction with the October Council elections, but the amendment and resolution fail on a four to four tie. Councilors Loder, Johnson, MacDermott, and Blake endorse the referendum. Bell, Little, Bandy, and Gunn oppose it. Councilor Pat Alexander is absent.

Blake crunches redistricting numbers

According to Blake’s redistricting plan, Councilor Gunn’s district would be one of the more significantly affected. Blake offers Gunn advice on the safest way to confront the dilemma of getting re-elected in an altered Council district. “I’d be happy to furnish a parachute, Mr. Gunn, if I had one. I think that the way you parachute is don’t run for re-election in October–or at least that’s my way of parachuting,” says a grinning Blake as he prefaces a presentation of his redrawing of Birmingham’s nine council districts [which is required by law after each census]. The presentation of Blake’s plan is not on the agenda for a vote; the councilor is simply fulfilling an earlier promise to show that the city had resources to do its own redistricting as opposed to spending money on outside consultants. Blake explains that his goal is not “to establish the district plan, obviously,” but rather to “provide a framework, where the Council and the Mayor can work out a district plan.” But Councilor Gunn promptly takes issue with Blake’s parachute comments. “You say you hope I wouldn’t run. I been running ever since I’ve been here. And I’m still running.” Blake denies that he said he hoped Gunn wouldn’t run, but Gunn continues to accuse Blake of trying to take away his district. “The only thing he’s [Blake] doing is cutting out District Five, and sending me way up into District One.” Gunn tells Blake that he “ought to see the [redistricting plan] that I’m working on.” Blake offers to move the lines for Gunn “as long as they meet the criteria.” Gunn explains that he would lose Woodlawn, Avondale, 16 churches, seven schools, and two community development centers if Blake’s plan were adopted. “Now I can deal with numbers. You don’t play me short on that,” says Gunn in reference to Blake’s plan. Gunn claims his own plan includes “fair participation,” as well as inclusion of the city’s Southside in his district [Blake's current district is comprised of most of Southside]. Blake reminds Gunn that District Four [Gunn's district] has lost considerable population, and notes that minority districts must be taken into consideration, according to law. Blake admonishes Gunn for interrupting him, to which Gunn apologizes profusely: “I know you admire me.” The Council breaks up in laughter. “Well, ‘admire’ is not necessarily the word I would use,” Blake replies to Gunn. “But I am rather fond of you, Aldrich, I will say that. You have provided considerable entertainment over the past seven and a half years.”

April 17, 2001

Was Bell duped or devious?

The Council receives word this morning that the city of Birmingham is suing itself. Recently, the city’s Law Department discovered that the ordinance signed by Council President William Bell transferring Water Works assets back to the Water Works Board differs from the ordinance passed by the Council in July 2000. “This is a very, very serious issue,” says Blake to Bell. “Basically, you were hoodwinked. They [attorneys for the Water Works Board] gave you documents that were much less favorable to the city than the actual documents that the majority of the Council had when we drafted the ordinance.” Bell remains stoic, staring ahead as Blake continues, “It just boils down to fraud! I hope they just handed you the wrong documents, and you signed the wrong documents because the city attorney, the clerk . . . nobody had a chance to review those.” Blake notes that millions of dollars have been transferred away due to Bell’s action. City Attorney Tamara Johnson responds to Blake’s charges: “The city is not alleging fraud in any situation. Basically, what the city is trying to do is to protect the integrity of the Council’s actions. Whether the transfer was good, bad, or indifferent is not an issue for me at this point.” Blake angrily replies, “This is an incredible scam that has happened here!” says Blake. “The Water Works Board attorney, or the Water Works Board in its entirety, are responsible for ‘bait and switch.’”

When Blake asks what the city intends to do regarding the lawsuit, Mayor Kincaid notes that he is listed as a defendant in the lawsuit, and doesn’t know how the complaint should be addressed. Kincaid, however, does agree with City Attorney Johnson that a declaratory judgement is needed. Council President Bell stops Blake’s response in order to forbid any “long, drawn-out discussion” on the matter. Interrupting Bell, Blake replies, “I can see why you might be a little sensitive on that point, Mr. President.” Bell tells Blake that the judge not Blake would determine what the facts are. Bell questions City Clerk Paula Smith’s failure to sign the document on February 23 at his request, suggesting that Smith did not sign the document because she was either against the transfer or instructed by the Mayor not to sign. Bell also notes that the relevant issue is whether or not the alleged changes to the Water Works document were “substantial,” which Bell defines as a “vague term.” The Council President says only the court can decide if the signed documents are legal or not, as he stands by his actions relating to the transaction and the “surrounding circumstances.”

Councilor Gunn defends the function of the court system as he agrees with Bell that the court will ultimately decide the controversy. “If you don’t like the way I cross a ‘T’ or the way I ‘split a verb’ and you carry me to court to settle it, that’s good! That’s what the courts are for.”

Blake asks, “Is the Council on the side of the city, or is the Council on the side of the Water Works Board?” Blake finally asks Bell if he bothered to read what he was signing on February 23. Blake continues to challenge Bell on whether he’d take “the city’s side or Charlie Waldrep’s’ side” on the Water Works assets issue.

Water Works referendum payment continues to be stalled

Back on the agenda is an ordinance to appropriate $175,518.12 to cover expenses for the February 27 referendum. After City Attorney Tamara Johnson explains that the Council has no authority to amend the ordinance, Councilor Little withdraws her ealier proposed amendment to pay only the $42,670 needed to cover poll worker expenses. Little thanks Johnson for “defining the situation,” and concludes that the poll workers’ payment lies in the hands of the Mayor’s office.

Councilor Loder doesn’t understand how the Council can shun payment for an election that the citizens petitioned for, and still continue to praise the civil rights movement and the “right to vote.” Loder notes that the democratic process was allowed to work. The councilor adds that he has always been one “to respect the public’s opinion even when it’s adverse to my personal opinions.” Loder is philosophical about the fickle nature of public opinion. “At some point in time, the public’s gonna be mad at everybody. And I’ve got sense enough to know that,” he concludes as he urges his “colleagues” on the Council to pay the election expense. Councilor Little says that her constituents “did not send me down here to play games with people’s minds.” Little notes that in the February referendum “there were a lot of things out there to confuse the minds of the people.” She addresses the poor turnout for the referendum: “The super majority of the people said ‘no’ because they stayed home. They did not go and vote.” The councilor continues her weekly tirade against Mayor Kincaid’s frequent characterization of the referendum as “a pre-Council election, an advisory referendum on who’s gonna be on the Council come October!” Little reminds the Council that Judge Hanes refused to make the city pay for the referendum in a recent ruling, and continues her demand that the city focus on paying poll workers instead of being preoccupied with other expenses such as ballots and voting machines. “Those were bodies that got up that morning [to work the voting places],” says Little. “Those other things were machines !” &

The Silencing of Jimmy Blake

No precedent is available to justify the turning off of Councilor Jimmy Blake’s microphone during the April 17 meeting of the Birmingham City Council. A heated debate had developed between Blake and Council President William Bell over Blake’s remarks during discussion of a lawsuit filed by businesses along Richard Arrington Jr. Boulevard. The lawsuit against the city charges improper procedure by the Council in changing the name of 21st Street to honor former Mayor Arrington, which has apparently inconvenienced mail service to the respective businesses. Councilor Sandra Little called the lawsuit a “slap in the face.” Alluding to racism as the motive behind the lawsuit–which coincides with jury selection in the trial of Thomas Blanton, one of two men accused in the bombing of 16th Street Baptist Church that killed four children–Little labeled the timing of the lawsuit “suspicious.”

Councilor Blake immediately called Little’s charges “outrageous,” explaining that the businesses were only standing up for property rights. Blake suggested that the Council meet in executive session to confer with attorneys over what action to take. Councilor Little protested Blake’s “executive session” reference, but Bell suddenly interrupted Little to attack Blake. “Dr. Blake made all kind of accusations of fraud, made all kind of accusations of illegality, made assumptions of opinions into facts,” charged Bell, “and now he wants to allow the judge to make a decision before we start . . . ” Blake promptly interrupted Bell and angrily responded, “William, as usual you are lying and mischaracterizing what I’m saying. It’s the same racist [unintelligible] that goes on here everyday!” Blake denied having made any reference to “the judge,” but Bell disagreed. “You said that this matter was in court and we should let the system work,” said Bell. “But in the other case [presumably the lawsuit by the city attorney on behalf of the city which charges that the transfer agreements for the Water Works assets signed by Bell are different than the ordinance passed by the Council last July], you want to get the information, and then you want to be the judge, the jury, the executioner, and everything. I’m just pointing out the disparity of which you speak.” As Blake began to respond, his microphone went dead. For the next minute-and-a-half Blake could not be heard in the council chambers (or on the Tuesday evening recorded telecast). But Bell could be heard as he condemned Blake for alleging fraud against him, and for “slamming” Councilor Little for her conclusions. Blake apparently remained unaware of the situation and continued to debate Bell. Eventually Blake walked over to Council Administrator Jarvis Patton to pose a question as Councilor Gunn began to address the lawsuit. Patton appeared to respond indifferently to Blake, who immediately returned to his microphone, which was now working, to shout at Bell, “Point of personal privilege.” Bell allowed Blake to speak: “My point is that during the last debate, my microphone was apparently cut off,” Blake bellowed loudly to Bell as he grabbed the Council President’s microphone and asked, “Where does that come from? So we’re getting censorship from the president of the Council?” Bell explained that he had no knowledge of what Blake’s was talking about. Blake responded that Patton told him that Bell ordered Blake’s microphone turned off. Blake asked Bell if this was true, but Bell ignored the question. During the next minute Blake continually interrupted Councilor Gunn by blowing into his own microphone to see if it was working again.

Councilor Blake later said that he observed a set of controls in front of Jarvis Patton’s chair on the council dais that he had not previously noticed. Blake said that he thought the only control switches for microphones were the ones in front of each councilor’s dais seat. The bewildered councilor surmised, “That was all very strange.”

William Bell did not return phone calls requesting clarification of his side of the story. When asked for comment regarding Blake’s accusation of Patton’s involvement in the microphone controversy, Jarvis Patton replied, “I don’t do interviews.”