FY 2019 Birmingham budget - the largest ever (Jacksonville, Jackson: city hall, landscaping)

[jero23]

https://medium.com/@bhamcitycouncil/...t-189a625e08e0

The FY2019 Operating and Capital Budge is the largest budget ever for the City of Birmingham. It's very ambitious in the push for major capital improvements to basic infrastructure of the city including the replacement of the Rainbow Viaduct/21st Street/Richard Arrington Boulveard bridge, Complete Street policy implementation along 16th Street and 41st Streets, 16st Street Connector Trail amongst many other projects. It also specifies the dedicated annual funding from the City to the BJCC expansion.

The one stand out is the stripping of funding from the neighborhood associations a part of Community Advisory Committees (CAC).

The public hearing for the FY2019 budgets were held last night at Birmingham City Hall:

https://www.al.com/news/birmingham/i...ods_ask_f.html

Neighborhood officers stood up Monday evening to ask the Birmingham City Council to continue to fund the neighborhood associations in 2019.

Susan Palmer, president of the Central Park Neighborhood Association, said her neighborhood wants to spend the $35,000 it has in its account on a neighborhood sign, pocket parks, schools and libraries, but they are faced with government red tape.

The main concern was the stripping of the funds for neighborhood associations and non-profits having to vie for their funding from the City.

I would recommend the Mayor and the Legal Department clarify what is the holdup on the distribution of neighborhood requests for the usage of funds. The City might need to look at the best practices of other large cities with similar community development or neighborhood advisory divisions how they distribution of funding for neighborhood-scale projects, events, or initiatives. I am very familiar with how Atlanta does its Neighborhood Planning Unit (NPU) system (which emulated Birmingham's CAC setup down to a tee) has a dedicated staff that is involved in the annual distribution and usage accountability of NPU funding to citywide. The NPU division is apart of the Atlanta Department of City Planning. It might even be best Birmingham reorganize its organization structure to merge the Community Development department with the City's Planning, Engineering, and Permits and have the staff work to streamline the processing of neighborhood funding requests.

[Mississippi Alabama Line]

Originally Posted by jero23

The main concern was the stripping of the funds for neighborhood associations and non-profits having to vie for their funding from the City.

I would recommend the Mayor and the Legal Department clarify what is the holdup on the distribution of neighborhood requests for the usage of funds. The City might need to look at the best practices of other large cities with similar community development or neighborhood advisory divisions how they distribution of funding for neighborhood-scale projects, events, or initiatives. I am very familiar with how Atlanta does its Neighborhood Planning Unit (NPU) system (which emulated Birmingham's CAC setup down to a tee) has a dedicated staff that is involved in the annual distribution and usage accountability of NPU funding to citywide. The NPU division is apart of the Atlanta Department of City Planning. It might even be best Birmingham reorganize its organization structure to merge the Community Development department with the City's Planning, Engineering, and Permits and have the staff work to streamline the processing of neighborhood funding requests.

I don't see why the neighborhood associations have any say whatsoever in the usage of funds. City planners should decide that.

[jero23]

Originally Posted by Mississippi Alabama Line

I don't see why the neighborhood associations have any say whatsoever in the usage of funds. City planners should decide that.

The funds are dispersed to neighborhood associations for community events, equipment and materials for community and neighborhood meetings (food, office supplies, etc.), funding a neighborhood level master planning initiative, and small projects like street lights and/or landscaping. It's similar to what occurs in other cities when they do such. The problems come in when there are so many bureaucratic hurdles and holdups. If the neighborhood association has submitted the proper documentation to be processed as such then the red tape should not impede things for more than a few weeks or a month or two at best. Birmingham does need to clean up its process for distribution of funds to be used towards such initiatives.

[Mississippi Alabama Line]

Originally Posted by jero23

The funds are dispersed to neighborhood associations for community events, equipment and materials for community and neighborhood meetings (food, office supplies, etc.), funding a neighborhood level master planning initiative, and small projects like street lights and/or landscaping. It's similar to what occurs in other cities when they do such. The problems come in when there are so many bureaucratic hurdles and holdups. If the neighborhood association has submitted the proper documentation to be processed as such then the red tape should not impede things for more than a few weeks or a month or two at best. Birmingham does need to clean up its process for distribution of funds to be used towards such initiatives.

Yeah I’m sure it’s commonplace but it just seems weird to me, and I didn’t know that went on when I read that article earlier today. I wish my town gave my neighborhood some money but no dice.

[jero23]

Originally Posted by Mississippi Alabama Line

Yeah I’m sure it’s commonplace but it just seems weird to me, and I didn’t know that went on when I read that article earlier today. I wish my town gave my neighborhood some money but no dice.

Yeah, it's very common for most major US cities to do this practice. I think the problem is that previous administrations have allowed thing just continue as is. As a result, things in Birmingham involving neighborhood level projects would move at a glacial pace when in other cities like Atlanta, Nashville, Charlotte, Jacksonville, etc. have moved a more reasonable speed. Thankfully, Mayor Woodfin gets this and trying improve things with capital projects in a brisk fashion while allowing the neighborhoods to get long overdue projects off implemented.

[jero23]

https://birminghamwatch.org/crazy-17...hood-projects/

During Thursday’s press conference, Woodfin seemed to agree with the aggrieved neighborhoods. “[There] is a 17-step process to get to cutting the check for residents to be able to draw [from] those funds,” he said. “That is crazy. That’s ridiculous and just the opposite of efficient.

“I have told anybody and everybody that touches those [funds], we’re not doing 17 steps,” he continued. “I don’t care what it takes to cut down that type of red tape, that type of crazy bureaucracy to make sure that this process is more efficient… We’re going to do whatever it takes. Before this year is out, we will have come up with a process that works for everybody.”

It looks as if Mayor Woodfin will be working to streamline the process from the 17 steps to something much easier for neighborhood associations will be able to use their funds towards neighborhood projects and initiatives. This would be definitely be a step into the right direction.