After 18 months, the city of Birmingham has begun construction on permanent barriers for their Safe Streets: East Lake initiative.
Construction for the East Lake crime curbing project in began in late December and is expected to be completed by March 30, according to a city of Birmingham spokesperson. The temporary concrete barriers, placed to literally stop crime from entering the neighborhood, have long been a controversial topic for some residents. But officials say the project has been successful at improving quality of life in the neighborhood.
“There have been serious crime concerns. You have to strike a balance…When you look at the balance of public safety versus someone’s convenience, I think all of us are going to err on the side of public safety,” City Council President Darrell O’Quinn told AL.com.
The Safe Streets initiative, which launched July 2024, aimed to make East Lake safer by controlling and limiting access points to the neighborhood.
For a year and a half, city officials worked to deter speeding, shootings, theft, prostitution and violent crime through targeted blight removal and by placing speed bumps, stop signs and temporary concrete barriers at 19 key access points.
In September 2025, the Birmingham city council approved a $372,482 contract with Gillespie Construction LLC to install the new, permanent barriers.
The new barriers will include steel bollards and planted trees.
18 months in the making
Between the project’s launch and now, city officials knocked on doors and held meetings to inform residents of updates and listen to their comments and concerns.
The temporary barriers, brightly painted concrete blocks normally seen at construction sites, were a controversial topic for many residents.
In January 2025, during a city council meeting some residents said the barriers had not improved their quality of life. One resident said bullets were shot into her home.
O’Quinn said the benefits of the barriers outweigh the negatives.
In December 2025, O’Quinn and other city officials sat in on a neighborhood association meeting to answer questions and field concerns from residents.
“What I’ve heard from residents is almost uniform appreciation for the project,” O’Quinn told AL.com. “The concerns that I’ve heard are mostly related to convenience and not safety concerns.”
He added that Birmingham police and fire officials have reported that response times to emergencies in the neighborhood have not been affected by the barriers.
“I’m sure there are some folks who have some negative things to say about the project. However, by my observation, they are in a clear minority, and most of the folks who have cared to show up or write correspondence have been positive about the project,” O’Quinn said.
What’s next
O’Quinn said that with reports of violent crime on East Lake’s First Avenue North dating back to the 1980’s there is still more work to be done to make the neighborhood safer.
“This is not a silver bullet. There’s still serious safety concerns in that area,” O’Quinn said. “The city has done a lot of work to try and address those issues in that neighborhood, and I don’t see those priorities really changing significantly.”
The city of Birmingham website states that there are plans to expand the Safe Street initiative across the city.
“With this type of project, the Safe Streets initiative, code enforcement, additional staffing in the Birmingham Police Department, and new technologies, I think we’re on the right trajectory towards improving conditions that have been less than desirable in neighborhoods like East Lake for the past few decades,” O’Quinn said.
