Economic Opportunities, Youth Violence Take Center Stage at District 9 Forum

The amaranthine stage curtain loomed large in the dimly lit auditorium at P.D. Jackson-Olin High School. The room was alive — all eyes were fixed on Councilor John Hilliard as he stood in front of the stage with a microphone waiting for the right moment to share something important, something he believed every resident within earshot needed to know.
“Did you know District 9 has a port that leads to the ocean?” Hilliard said excitedly, as a few curious murmurs lingered the room. “Not a lot of people know that. Right now Mobile has a very progressive port where products are shipped from all over the world. Birmingport connects to that. We want to develop that port, dredge it.”
As Hilliard explained to the several hundred people gathered for the District 9 Community Forum, Mobile’s port is currently overcrowded, priming Birmingport to be an alternative distribution hub nestled on the Black Warrior River. While the waters are connected to the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway, the port still needs to be developed to accommodate larger cargo ships. With an already well-established rail line, Birmingham — and District 9 in particular — could posture itself as a major shipping artery that flows directly to the Gulf of Mexico.
“When these ships are able to come directly into the port, there are railroad tracks straight through downtown Ensley to the port. These products can come straight into Ensley and then be shipped all over the world. That’s called economic development. That could create, over the future, thousands of jobs.”

As Mayor Randall Woodfin delivered his remarks, he touched on the ways in which the April 27, 2011 tornado, which left a carpet of destruction in its wake through much of District 9, is still impacting the area.
“This storm destroyed many homes in the Pratt City area,” Woodfin said. “One of those homes was my dad and my stepmother’s home. I’m aware of the challenges, but also I’ve been encouraged by the growth we’ve seen in the last seven years.” One such project could represent a rebirth for an area hit the hardest.
“When One Pratt Park is completed it will be the city’s 117th park. The difference between this park and the other 116 is that 100 percent of the money related to building the park is federally funded,” Woodfin explained. The 8-acre park will have an amphitheater, walking paths and a grove of birch trees.
Here is a conceptual rendering of One Pratt Park:

Following the deadly storm, Birmingham received federal recovery funds, some of which was allocated to the construction of the new greenspace. Woodfin addressed concerns about why “the dirt hasn’t moved yet.” Over the last several years, roughly a million of those federal dollars were used on consulting fees for the purpose of planning and conceptual development, a price point that Woodfin and others seemingly bemoaned.
“With people saying they wanted this and that in the park, the money kept being chipped away. With the remaining money, we’ve started this project back up, because none of you all care about the past, you just want the park up. We plan to go before the Budget and Finance Committee on Monday, September 10. We plan to put this park on the City Council agenda on Tuesday, September 18 and the projected started date, shovels in the ground, is December 2018.”

Another issue that hung heavy in the room was youth violence in Birmingham, most recently the death of William Edwards, a 16-year-old Woodlawn Football player who was killed when shots were fired into his bedroom.
“The purpose of me bringing groups like Brother Let’s Talk and Joseph House here is because we need help,” Hilliard said. “They put on programs that teach young men how to be…We need the faith community to come together as well. As city leaders we recognize we need more police on the street. But we need funds to be able to do that. We must sit down and figure this out because we don’t have all the answers. Sometimes I can’t sleep thinking about this. But together District 9, I know we can solve these problems.”
Not content to focus only on the negative problems faced by the community, Hilliard touted some job opportunities coming to Ensley and elsewhere in Birmingham. “Shipt is bringing 881 new jobs starting at $49,000. Right here in Ensley we have a national trucking company that is going to be hiring 300 people starting at $55,000 and up. Economic development is coming and you’re going to be a part of it and your children are going to be a part of it. That’s the story we need to start telling.”
