Jefferson County Commission plans to clean up county, demolish dilapidated houses
The Jefferson County Commission is making plans to clean up the county and demolish dilapidated houses. According to Birmingham Watch, at the commission meeting last Thursday, commissioners moved the matter of demolishing a structure at to the consent agenda. “It’s something we haven’t had in our toolshed, our repertoire to work with,” Commission President Jimmie Stephens said at the meeting. “When we have a dilapidated home that becomes a public nuisance, whether it’s been abandoned by a storm, tornado or whether it’s been abandoned for lack of use, we need to have the tools – and now we do – to go in and demolish that home and clean it up for the neighborhood.” Stephens further explained that he hopes more money is added to the budget to demolish more dilapidated homes next year. “It’s long overdue,” Stephens added. “We want to put funds in the budget next year so we can do that in a meaningful way… If you have 10 (dilapidated) homes in a community that need to be demolished, it won’t do any good to do two of them,” he said. “We need to have a plan in place where we can … work on X community this year and next year work on Y community.”
City of Mobile has new tool to tackle blight thanks to newly signed law
The City of Mobile has a new tool in the fight against blight after a bill sponsored by Mobile-Democrat State Rep. Adline Clarke was signed into law by Governor Kay Ivey. The new law allows Class 2 municipalities — the City of Mobile is the state’s only Class 2 municipality — to address and remove inoperable vehicles as public nuisances that are on private property that contribute to blighted neighborhoods. “I’m proud to have sponsored and fought for this legislation which provides the city an important new tool in our continuing fight against blight,” said Clarke. “Working together, we can keep the progress going.” For purposes of this act, the term “inoperable motor vehicle” refers to any motor vehicle, trailer, or semi-trailer that has remained on private property and in view of the general public for 30 days or any greater period fixed by the municipality and is inoperable in that one or more of its major mechanical components, including, but not limited to, engine, transmission, drive train, or wheels, are missing or are not functional, or the vehicle otherwise constitutes a nuisance. HB127 is the latest of Clarke’s efforts to improve life in Mobile. During last year’s session, she was part of the coalition who successfully fought for restoring the Historic Tax Credit program, which has had a tremendously positive impact for the City on both commercial and residential projects. “I greatly appreciate Rep. Clarke’s leadership on this important legislation which will be of great assistance in our ongoing work to better our neighborhoods,” said Council Vice President Levon Manzie. HB127 was signed into law by Ivey late last week.
