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1. Clean
Air & Water
o Educate every student in every grade on the importance
of clean water and air.
o Implement (RFG) Reformulated gasoline and "enhanced inspection and
maintenance"; periodically evaluate industrial sources of pollution
and their responsibility.
o Enforce all state and federal regulations for clean air and water,
including region-wide air quality, motor vehicle inspection and maintenance
programs on automobiles, truck and buses.
o Control storm-water run-off and reduce discharge of pollutants;
improve sanitary sewer systems.
o Develop educational programs (with massive TV/radio/newspaper exposure)
to educate the public; explain issues; encourage involvement in and
support of laws for a cleaner environment.
o Increase awareness in the community on how individual actions and
activities such as transportation, sewer disposal, and industry affect
the environment.
o Encourage compact development and reduce suburban sprawl.
o Require strong regulatory compliance for industry.
2. Greenbelts, Parks and Trails
o Plan and implement a comprehensive network of bicycle and pedestrian
ways - routed through parks, future river/green areas and developed
open space - that links neighborhoods with public destinations. Use
Birmingham Area Bike and Pedestrian Greenway Plan as guide, if possible.
Form an entity to oversee planning and maintenance of our goals.
o Change tax laws to encourage banking of agricultural and timberlands
in a 5 to 10 mile wide greenbelt around Birmingham in a 20-30 mile
circumference from center.
o Require sidewalks and bike facilities on all new roadways and in
all new development; retrofit areas without those features. Demand zoning
laws to prevent development right up to asphalt. Introduce a resolution
for city council to dedicate parks for specific purpose.
o Develop coalition of state, county, city governments, volunteers
and non-profit agencies to oversee funding, implementation and maintaining
programs for each strategy.
o Ensure that park facilities are funded and planned by each individual
community.
o Establish 10,000 acres or larger park in northern Jefferson, southern
Walker, or Blount counties before strip-mined land becomes more expensive.
o Purchase land or acquire easements for green linkages and ridges,
waterways, flood plains and rail corridors.
o Establish incentives for communities to set aside green space to
connect their area with contiguous ones via trails. Use existing parks
as hub for developing a web of connected paths that provide a natural
environment for outdoor fun.
o Find new uses for abandoned railroads, utility corridors, waterway
corridors; support rails to trails conversion (For example Cheney
Trail).
o Combine private and public support, tax credits, and volunteer
physical labor to develop a regional trail system.
3. Preservation of Natural Resources
o Identify special natural areas and protect them with greenways
(e.g. Cahaba River/Ruffner/Locust Fork/Tannehill).
o Develop, enforce and fund consolidated local and statewide regulations,
specifying environmentally friendly guidelines on all development.
o Enact and enforce regional zoning laws to improve downtown and
to limit urban sprawl through growth boundaries and/or coordinated planning
and zoning.
o Develop and deliver effective awareness and education programs
on the environment, on natural resources, and on the profitability of
a healthy and attractive environment.
o Develop a natural resources regional master plan, secure local
funding, and set aside land to be protected.
o Enforce current land use tax with back out penalty.
o Develop a clean-up campaign to build awareness and pride throughout
all counties.
o Create a regional environmental commission.
4. Culture & The Arts
o Adopt a coordinated curriculum, teacher training process, and allocation
of funds in support of arts and humanities education in K-12 to be
used by the region's school systems.
o Choose a region-wide annual arts focus for schools with visits
to arts facilities and with preparation and follow-up to share the experience
across diverse groups.
o Create a layman citizens committee for cultural involvement that
builds awareness, creates opportunities and brings diversity to the
arts and humanities.
o Survey all existing arts facilities and assess capabilities, limitations
and needs.
o Further the creation of a dynamic, diverse cultural and entertainment
district downtown.
o Establish a regional arts council of strong advocates from arts
organizations, educators and government officials with authority; provide
funding for professional staff and feasibility studies.
o Conduct a referendum to allocate hotel/lodging taxes to support
the arts.
o Develop reliable funding sources (such as an endowment supported
by taxes and foundation) for arts and humanities activities and the
facilities they require.
o Research, support and promote Birmingham's unique cultural and
artistic resources and contributions, such as the Sloss Metal Works,
Jazz Hall of Fame, Tuxedo Junction and Civic Rights Museum.
o Coordinate the Region 2020 goals and strategies for culture and
the arts with all other public funding initiatives in the region and
coordinate the activities of entities interested in the arts and culture
to promote each other.
5. Recreation
o Identify funding sources to accomplish our goal.
o Create a region-wide recreation authority or commission comprised
of private and public sector members to assess and document conditions,
and to set policies.
o Divide the goals into specific implementation areas such as parks,
tourism, and kids sports programs) and develop a structure to realize
them.
o Implement a building program (with further community input) to
achieve our goal for recreation, and to benefit the entire region.
6. Events & Programs
o Develop 200 gardens in the Shades Valley area to develop it for
public use.
o Rally support for the creation of a cultural, sports and entertainment
district in the region that expands our current cultural and entertainment
infrastructure.
o Plan, organize, fund and promote neighborhood festivals that emphasize
the history and diversity of the area. Promote them with other regional
events.
o Promote and market existing cultural and sporting events through
local Chambers of Commerce and Tourism Bureaus.
o Implement a transportation infrastructure that serves cultural
and sporting events.
7. Waste Management
o Appoint or elect an environmental Judge for region.
o Lobby for state legislation that mandates solid waste disposal
and collection; make sure that legislation defines responsibilities
on generator to eliminate and/or control pollution through use of fees
or taxes.
o Create a regional solid and hazardous waste management authority.
o Establish a mandatory trash collection program that provides easy
ways to recycle and dispose, (e.g. curb side recycling, drop-sites and
landfills) with stiffer penalties for violations, and that includes
educational activities, litter clean up and fines to help fund it.
8. Education
o Adapt the best-recognized educational system in the U.S. to Alabama's
needs.
o Devise an equitable strategy to provide sufficient public fund
from local and state governments to attract and hold excellent teachers
and administrators; build fine school buildings and other facilities,
and acquire up-to-date equipment.
o Recognize the value of educators by increasing their pay and the
number of professional development days.
o Screen and hire the best teachers available. Create competency
skills tests for new and tenured teachers.
o Develop pilot education improvement models in math, reading, and
science.
o Raise Ad Valorem taxes in the region for the sole benefit of students
in schools. Increase and equalize property taxes statewide, to adequately
fund schools.
o Devise and develop a collaborative plan, to be implemented throughout
the region, with attainable goals; utilize the themes emerged from
the Region 2020 process to realize this plan.
o Develop an oversight organization that the community trusts to
promote, monitor and implement our educational goal.
o Form partnerships between local corporations/organizations and
schools to provide manpower, including professional services and funding
to improve schools.
o Secure more positive parental involvement. Inform parents when
a student gets a grade "C" or less. Involve parents or appoint
someone to monitor completion of the child's homework. Have a parent/teacher/student
conference at beginning of the school year to emphasize student responsibility.
o Establish one-on-one tutoring to bring all second grade students
to at least that grade reading proficiency level.
o Introduce high level technology in the schools.
o Remove teachers' tenure.
o Establish one school system per county.
o Create magnet schools, such as EPIC School/Alabama School of Fine
Arts/Jefferson County International Baccalaureate, so that every child
in region who has the academic qualifications can attend; provide teachers
in non-magnet schools with special support in form of extra pay, counseling,
and aides.
o Create semi-autonomous schools of choice, composed of teams of
teachers (not more than 10 teachers per school team) who are committed
to a long-term academic and vocational success of students.
9. Education Facilities
o Involve parents and community residents in defining or re-defining
education for various learning levels with emphasis on excellence
and with financial support from state and local governments and the
private sector.
o Develop a task force composed of all ages to reach our goal of
building new, well-equipped schools and facilities for learning and
working.
o Create a regional research committee to explore cutting edge technology
nation-wide and, share results with all school systems in region.
o Achieve home rule through an act of state legislature.
o Implement a strategy for maintenance funding, planning, implementation.
10. Education Curriculum
o Provide a level of funding that at least meets the national average;
implement tax reform to fund education.
o Implement a program similar to "Head Start" so that young
children arrive at school ready to learn; provide homebound services
and opportunities for needy families to enhance pre-school education.
o Establish high standards for academic courses of study, measure
student achievement accurately and hold educators accountable for consistent
improvement.
o Increase parental participation in the entire education process.
o Adopt a regional education plan to improve curriculum, schools
and equipment.
11. Health and Wellness
o Develop a health plan that addresses all major health issues identified
in the region; creates a healthier community; taps into financial
resources already appropriated for community health; and allocates new
resources for health care education, promotion and the reinforcement
of a healthier life style.
o Create a community based healthcare delivery system that provides
private confidential and quality care for all (e.g. indigent care, mental
health, etc.).
o Use mobile health units to bring affordable care to the places
where people live and work (schools, child-care centers, housing project,
rural areas).
o Support the efforts of a coordinated health care council.
o Set up a medical task force to advocate for clean air and water.
o Improve the public transportation system to make health care accessible
for all at no (or low) cost to the citizens.
o Develop an health education curriculum, grades K-12, that teaches
exercise, nutrition, personal responsibility, etc.
o Organize a community education program outlining available health
care resources.
12. Transportation Systems
o Replace MAX with BARTA to ensure an efficient core transit system
that will serve as a framework and a catalyst for light rail.
o Complete Corridor X and Northern Beltline as the core of an efficient
regional highway system.
o Encourage state transportation department to return a fair share
of gas taxes to our region in the form of greater allocation for roadways.
o Reward the use of alternative modes of transportation and energy
sources (electric vehicles and rapid transit) and give incentives to
multi-passenger auto travel.
o Develop regional cooperation between all governments and petition
for change to State constitution to amend transportation funding laws.
13. Transportation Infrastructures and Facilities
o Utilize long range planning to improve existing infrastructure
towards developing efficient and environmentally friendly mass transit
system.
o Coordinate state, county, and other government land use and transportation
planning.
o Dedicate state, local, and federal funds for development of alternative
modes of transportation.
o Implement a regional transportation plan.
o Require regional annual emissions certification for Jefferson and
Shelby County.
14. Mass Transit
o Support BARTA and extend to other counties.
o Identify communities and unincorporated areas most in need of improved
mass transit services.
o Develop a sustainable regional approach to the funding of a mass
transit system that is not regressive in nature and that does not place
primary burden upon users of the system.
o Educate the public about the real need for mass transit.
o Develop a region-wide body, including people of all ages, races
and incomes levels, to implement and govern a transit system.
15. Historic Preservation
o Develop a regional council to promote, support and monitor the
progress of our goal and strategies.
o Promote and sustain a program of public education to enhance awareness
of preservation and its importance to the community.
o Identify and prioritize available resources.
o Develop a plan for preserving, promoting, protecting and enhancing
the resources.
o Recommend the adoption of statewide planning and historic preservation
enabling legislation.
16. Downtowns
o Develop a public transportation and parking plan that fosters downtown
activities, accessibility and safety, and provides free, convenient
bus service from Five Points to civic center, from early morning to
midnight.
o Develop regional education and financial incentive package that
draws families and businesses back into city center of Birmingham. Package
should address quality education, property values and business opportunities.
o Develop regional funding sources to finance restoration of old
buildings.
o Alter appropriate city ordinances to provide reasonable economic
incentives, tax incentives, remodeling codes, and antiquated parking
ordinances; and re-direct city departments so as to encourage private
redevelopment of older properties.
o Strive to reduce crime to zero as an incentive for business to
relocate or expand in the city center and as a way to make downtown
a center of cultural and recreational activities.
o Identify potential properties and entertainment activities, to
add to attractions such as the McWane Center.
o Create a metropolitan government as an efficient vehicle for positive
change and to attain our downtown goal.
o Make downtown more attractive with development of parks, green
spaces, renovation of existing historic structures, and building of
hidden parking areas to eliminate unsightly lots.
o Develop and fund a comprehensive cultural resource plan that physically
and conceptually links city centers (institutions such as McWane
Center/Civil Rights Institute/Jazz Hall of Fame); and that promotes
the unique cultural identity of Birmingham.
17. Beautification
o Create, through legislative action, a regional beautification authority
armed with the power to mandate and enforce laws that preserve, enhance
and protect the environment.
o Preserve natural areas.
o Develop model land use and zoning ordinances broad enough to be
used region-wide and flexible enough to be adapted to each local government.
o Preserve and plant trees, shrubbery, flowers, etc., particularly
native species.
o Use sensible development techniques in built-up areas that will
protect the natural beauty of those areas.
18. Neighborhoods & Communities
o Draw up a physical master plan which identifies the local neighborhoods
and create a framework to develop and/or revitalize these neighborhoods
based on their own unique characters.
o Develop neighborhood visioning to produce guidelines that identify
unique assets, challenges and opportunities.
o Revise the local zoning laws to allow more mixed use development.
o Require that municipal governments meet periodically to develop
plans for sharing services (i.e. street cleaning, garbage pickup, fire
and police services) in order to save money.
o Organize regular neighborhood and community meetings where residents
get to know each other and share their concerns, goals and priorities.
19. Planning & Zoning
o Establish regional planning commission which monitors, develops
and standardizes the process for managing growth.
o Develop a comprehensive model of regional zoning and lobby for
its adoption by all governments.
o Plan and control the development of strip malls and require land
reclamation when mall is no longer usable.
o Develop growth boundaries around the urbanized core.
o Encourage high density, mixed use development that balances pedestrian,
automobile and transit modes.
o Limit overdevelopment of property by controlling the percent of
impervious surface allowable, controlling storm water run-off and requiring
that streams and natural drainage areas be bordered by natural areas.
o Change the Alabama constitution to achieve home rule.
o Develop a public information campaign to describe options for growth
and the means to manage it.
o Enforce laws that protect our region's natural resources with severe
penalties for violations.
20. Economic Development
o Create a more competitive economy in the region by developing adequate
infrastructure and land; offering a proper mix of buildings and sites;
improving communications with a marketing plan that promotes our
image nationally and internationally; developing incentives (i.e.,
lower taxes) that would encourage businesses to locate in the region;
and targeting sustainable jobs.
o Encourage businesses to move into and grow in our region by improving
education and skills of current and future workforce by creating
a community with good schools, safety and environmental quality.
o Pass the MAPS tax proposal.
o Revitalize and redevelop downtown Birmingham.
o Support the efforts of the city, county and regional economic development
team.
o Support programs which nurture small and existing businesses.
o Improve race relations in the region.
o Create a uniform regional licensing process.
o Support federal empowerment zone and other grants to assist business.
21. Jobs
o Provide financing, through taxation and various funding, for business
and job recruiting, with the support of an open-minded public and
private leadership.
o Create Regional Workfare Program that combines meaningful paying
work and relevant training, in order to provide opportunities for all
eligible unemployed persons.
o Establish Enterprise Zones that consist of light manufacturing
and assembly plants; improve teaching facilities and school equipment
to make education more relevant to future jobs and regional industry.
o Encourage strong citizen participation to provide the means for
communication and participation among business, churches, schools, etc.
o Create quality workers through quality education mentoring; provide
financial/ environmental incentives to business; develop tourist
attractions.
22. Mentoring & Training
o Identify gaps and weaknesses in existing training programs and
coordinate inter-agency efforts to enhance, develop and fund programs
for those areas; provide low/no cost assistance to students and workers
(including career direction, skills training and motivation) through
in-school and at-work counselors, workshops and seminars.
o Identify existing jobs for which employers need trained employees
and develop custom training programs.
o Add and emphasize mentoring and job skills training components
to existing Adopt-a-School programs and include more schools and businesses.
o Encourage more mentoring and internship programs, through schools
at all levels, for specific aptitudes and career goals (i.e. artistic
talent and careers in the arts).
o Enhance individuals' self worth, self sufficiency, personal potential
by establishing a well rounded basic education program that includes
all the arts and sciences.
23. Law Enforcement, Crime & Safety
o Train, retain and equip more police to combat crime in high crime
ridden areas of the region.
o Establish community oriented policing.
o Identify, apprehend and remove habitual offenders with swift, certain,
and reasonable punishment.
o Reduce crime through police empowerment through more personnel,
better training; better crime fighting technology in the field of forensic
science; better pay, training and resources; and better community relations.
o Form a partnership of all stakeholders involved (police department.,
community and criminal justice system) to fight crime and to develop
a more vigorous and continuous citizens involvement program in all the
region's jurisdictions.
o Train youth for jobs with a decent hiring wage and increase quality
of such jobs.
o Develop faith crime prevention programs.
24. Structure of Government
o Employ an organization experienced in molding public opinion to
accept and approve this goal; enlist support from entities such as the
news media and Chamber of Commerce, etc.; develop a $10 million advertising
campaign over 3 years, funded by citizens, corporations, and foundations.
o Establish a grass roots effort encouraging the State Legislature
to realize that Home Rule is in the best interest of the region and
its citizens and to pass such legislation.
o Establish service districts so that desired services can be provided
more equitably and efficiently over a larger area.
o Create a regional taxing authority.
o Address the issue of mass transportation; persuade local authorities
to develop strategies that achieve this goal.
25. Services
o Create a regional body to establish guidelines to accomplish our
goal and to address infrastructure and service provisions issues that
achieves efficiency through economics of scale.
o Upgrade and network the technology equipment necessary for the
region's delivery of police, fire and emergency management.
o Examine existing services in all jurisdictions to identify areas
where cooperation and communication may be established and duplication
eliminated over the entire region.
o Create a regional governmental body.
o Create a state of the art regional communications center similar
to those implemented in progressive regions, i.e., Phoenix.
26. Leadership
o Provide more non-partisan public forums for political debate and
discussion on local government issues; develop an advertising budget
and plan a campaign to attract citizens to these forums.
o Seek, cultivate, encourage, elect and support leaders whose agenda
reflects community goals; demand that they lead us towards our goals;
hold elected officials accountable.
o Create educational programs that challenge high school and college
students to identify problems and find solutions.
o Develop better, more inclusive mechanisms for strengthening existing
leadership and cultivating the leaders of tomorrow.
o Strengthen and encourage neighborhood participation in civic meetings.
27. Citizen Involvement
o Create an organization of ethnically and racially diverse Birmingham
people who meet regularly to share ideas about what they want to
see in the city.
o Emphasize education on tolerance and conflict resolution in all
schools.
o Take advantage of the school system to encourage informed voting,
celebrate diversity and discourage drug use and unwanted pregnancy.
o Extend the voting period.
o Encourage employers to provide flexible schedules that make it
easier for employees to vote.
28. Drugs
o Direct tax dollars toward funding treatment (currently minimal
state dollars are allocated). Affordable drug treatment should be available
to anyone who needs it.
o Develop more "bridging" (supportive services post-treatment)
programs to provide jobs and housing.
o Sentence drug users to treatment rather than prisons.
o Enhance community-based drug abuse prevention programs (i.e. in
churches and neighborhood centers).
o Develop more safe shelters for people on waiting lists for drug
treatment.
29. Human and Race Relations
o Create and fund a regional human relations commission.
o Encourage all citizens to adopt and live by the principles of the "Birmingham
Pledge".
o Develop a secondary school curriculum in Birmingham region where
students participate together across district boundaries.
o Develop diversity workshops and programs within our education system
(K-12.)
o Offer inclusive curriculum, in every educational system, that reflects
the correct, positive culture of all Alabama citizens.
30. Social Services
o Coordinate activities of existing agencies and churches to address
unmet needs.
o Engage the community in realizing the extreme importance of the
first three years of a child's life, with the support of agencies and
organizations that provide services to young people.
o Establish a fully funded mass transportation system that meets
the goals of the 21st Century.
o Develop a partnership of schools and businesses to train today's
youth for tomorrow's jobs and increase the number of jobs that provide
a living wage.
o Develop a database so that all agencies in the area can share information
on ministries and services that congregational entities and municipal
agencies provide.
31. Family & Parenting
o Establish government and corporate partnership to fund universally-available
child-care services that recognize the special difficulties of modern
living (i.e. irregular work hours, both parents working, etc.).
o Improve parenting skills by offering family-focused educational
programs and parenting education in K-12 curriculum.
o Select and established and efficient funding agency that is innovative
and knowledgeable of the region's family and parenting goals and
strategies.
o Involve community residents in building a strategy to accomplish
community-specific goals.
o Provide incentives for family participation in education, and promoted
places and activities that involve parents and children.
32. Housing
o Sell small public housing units to residents who have indicated
desire and ability to be homeowners.
o Recognize that public housing complexes are an integral part of
our region's landscape and develop attractive, well-kept facilities.
o Allow people time to establish good credit and to obtain loans
to purchase housing, with the support of the public and private sectors
working together to make available low interest loans to qualified individuals.
o Develop a regional center for affordable housing to act as catalyst
with resources to increase availability of affordable housing and
to sustain viable, self-directed communities.
o Support and expand the current system that helps homeless people
maximize their potential and obtain permanent housing.
o Educate potential homeowners by equipping them with preventative
and maintenance skills as well as income management and organization.
o Create partnerships of local government, financial institutions,
charitable organizations and developers to revitalize existing housing
and develop affordable housing on existing vacant lots.
o Build and rehabilitate safe, decent, attractive affordable housing.
o Encourage communities to work together regardless of income levels
or safety in their neighborhood.
33. Seniors
o Develop a coordinated, well financed consortium to address each
facet of the seniors' goals.
o Create a seniors network, similar to the neighborhood associations,
throughout the region provide training and information updates on
senior issues. Ask local churches to create ongoing programs for seniors.
o Sponsor entertainment at civic center to generate funding for senior
programs.
o Create a seniors corps (like Americorps) to monitor seniors who
live at home.
o Provide funding through a bond issue to implement this goal.
34. Youth
o Involve community leaders, parents, schools, civic groups and churches
in developing youth programs.
o Reclaim parks and create multi-purpose, social and cultural youth-oriented
activities within the community.
o Encourage young people to take a major role in the implementation
of these strategies.
o Start a fund, financed by private businesses and corporations,
that would pay college students to help implement the programs within
the community; use the communities' schools and recreation centers for
such programs.
o Design and implement a program for boys and girls, addressing the
rebuilding of safe communities and neighborhoods; program would focus
on youth leadership development and on building up young people's involvement
with families, schools, churches, businesses and local government.
