By Sym Posey and Barnett Wright | The Birmingham Times
Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin spent the better part of Tuesday delivering his State of the City address in the afternoon to business leaders at the Harbert Center in downtown and in the evening delivering his State of the Community to residents at the Boutwell Auditorium.
Woodfin, delivering his annual State of the City message before the Kiwanis Club of Birmingham at the Harbert Center, spent much of his talk about recommendations from the city’s crime commission to curtail record-breaking homicide numbers and what the city is already doing.
Birmingham ended 2024 with 151 homicides, the highest number in the city since 1933.
As Woodfin seeks a third term in August the issue of crime has already become a central political theme from critics and challengers.
But five hours later when he appeared before residents and opened the floor for questions at the Boutwell, surprisingly crime was rarely mentioned by those in attendance.
The mayor began his State of the Community address at the Boutwell with the same speech he delivered earlier in the day to the Kiwanians, which included his administration’s focus on crime reduction. And as he did earlier, he began a question-and-answer portion with those in attendance at the Boutwell.
Cards were handed out for residents to write their questions which were then read to the mayor by his Director of Communications, Rick Journey.
The first question from a Druid Hills resident: “What are we doing about blight on 23rd street?”
The second question from a North East Lake resident. “What can be done about the trash that is being dumped in some of the alleys?”
And that’s the way it went for nearly an hour. The mayor took a dozen questions from those who lived in Belview Heights; Norwood; Wylam; Spring Lake/Huffman, West End and other areas.
And the questions read were mostly about belongings left outside of vacant houses; can a program be put in place where Foot Soldiers can go door to door to promote cleanliness and neighborhood obligations? what the city would do about homelessness in the Spring Lake/Huffman community? and new sidewalks.
That doesn’t mean crime didn’t come up. The final question of the night? From North East Lake: “Would it be possible to have more police presence in the neighborhood?”
“Yes,” replied Woodfin. “It’s the shortest answer I will give tonight,” he said.
