Mayor Woodfin addresses range of topics with BABJ members

If you have a gun but no job, and would rather work than commit a crime, mayor Randall Woodfin has a proposition.

"Give me your gun and I will personally help you get a job," he says.

Woodfin was speaking with members of the Birmingham Association of Black Journalists on Saturday morning in a wide-ranging exchange that lasted more than an hour. Topics included the city's ailing pension fund, gentrification, food deserts, education, the woeful state of public board governance, and the challenges in trying to lure the 2020 Democratic National Convention to Birmingham.

Not surprisingly, the conversation was dominated by crime.

Thus far in 2018, 34 homicides have been committed in Birmingham, 53 countywide.

"We have a full breach of public safety in this community," he said. "If we don't attack crime, nothing else matters."

Woodfin and U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town have been developing a plan to reduce violent crime in the city. Earlier this month, they convened a Public Safety Task Force, comprising 11 state and local law enforcement and public agencies.

The group came under criticism, however, by representatives of the Birmingham Chapter of Black Lives Matter, which, in an article published last week on Medium, said the lack of grassroots activists and organizers on the task force was a "hard pill to swallow."

"Alarmingly," the article continued, "'One of the task force's first orders of business was to develop a short list of serious offenders who have drawn the attention of various task force agencies in the past.' In other words, the task force will likely target former offenders in the off-chance that they will re-offend. Black Lives Matter Birmingham does not agree with this method of engagement."

"They say don't they want 'the man,' white people, terrorizing the neighborhoods," Woodfin said. "Well, there are black people terrorizing our neighborhoods. I don't see anyone jumping up and down about that.

"I support Black Lives Matter," the mayor added. "There was a rumor that the task force was going to arrest innocent people. That's BS. ... We're not going to arrest people for not doing anything. But if you hurt people, you need to be arrested--if you're shooting and killing people, shooting at houses or cars.

"There is an element in our city that doesn't care about other people's lives. If any organization has a better way of stopping them than arresting them, show me. I will sit with them as long as needed."

Woodfin says a Black Lives Matter representative called him last Monday requesting a meeting; he says he agreed to meet. Two days later, the group publicly voiced its criticisms.

Mayor Woodfin addresses range of topics with BABJ members

"I'm willing to talk with any group, but they've got to be on the solutions end," Woodfin said.

In its article, BLM Birmingham stated: "...we find the contention that community members must act as their own policy consultants highly classist and egregious," before asking that the mayor "hire real grassroots consultants."

"If you have a better solution, please implement it and show me the results of whatever plan you run," Woodfin added. "If it works, I will pivot, support it and fund it. Until then, I will fight crime with every resource I have because people are dying."

Woodfin turns 37 in May. He acknowledged a generational disconnect regarding the best approaches to fighting crime.

"When I talk to the mommas and the big mommas in the neighborhoods, they want more police," he said. "People my age and younger say more policing is wrong. As mayor, I'm in the middle."

The administration is in discussions, Woodfin said, to expand the hours of the city's 21 rec centers this summer to make them a "safe space" for youth during some of the most violent times of the day.

"That's not negotiable," he said.

The mayor didn't commit to an all-out gun exchange but reaffirmed his offer in response to the belief by some that poverty is at the root of most crimes.

"Poverty is an issue in the city of Birmingham, and people not having jobs is an issue," he said. "But the notion that people are committing crime because they don't have a job? I won't disagree or agree. Do you want a job if you're out robbing people, shooting and killing people? If you do, cool, come tell me."

Mayor Woodfin addresses range of topics with BABJ members

On other subjects:

One thing he's learned since taking office: "There are people in our community who don't think we can do anything; the last five months I've had to put blinders on."

Biggest surprise: "People requesting tax dollars for a program, idea or something they want the city to fund yet they don't submit a budget. Some may still owe vendors from previous years and they want the city to pay for that, too. I'm like, 'For real?' That's kinda weird to me."

2020 DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION

Is there any reason not to apply the 2020 Democratic national convention? "Not necessarily. I still question if there's wiggle room around the [DNC's] specs."

When asked if the timing of the contruction of the stadium and BJCC renovation might impact the bid, Woodfin said: "Yes, it [stinks] doesn't it?"

PENSION FUND

How serious is the deficit in the city's pension fund? "Serious, sir. We're still assessing, and the results will be something we'll be sharing internally and externally. I have full faith we can have an open, yet transparent dialogue about the budget and pension and come in with one on July 1."

STADIUM/BJCC RENOVATION CRITICS

On notion that there was widespread dissention for the city's $90 million expenditure to build a new open-air stadium and renovate the BJCC, the mayor cited the voting tabulations of the Jefferson County Commission (5-0 in favor), Alabama House of Representative (14-3), Alabama Senate (22-0) and Birmingham City Council (6-3).

"The numbers don't lie," he said. "We saw two or three people making noise. We can't hold progress hostage."

On the doubts by critics of the project's new tax revenue projections: "A third-party entity did the assessment and probability of new tax dollars. Why do I agree with it? The Uptown area alone adds an additional $3.8 million in revenue annually, not including Top Golf. I don't believe their projections are off."

EDUCATION

On his relationship with Birmingham Schools Superintendent Dr. Lisa Herring and the school system: "She has that 'it' factor. She can [effectively engage with] each group of stakeholders. She gets. It. It's her ship.

"But the days of having a transactional relationship [with the school system] are over. It's now, strategically, what can we do to support the system. I'm not talking ceremonially, but a full investment in education. What does the system look like before school, during school, after school, and in the summers? That's how I support Dr. Herring"

Woodfin said he envisions creating early childhood learning centers in various areas in the city. "What does that look like? The resources? We're still working that out."

TRANSIT AND BOARD DRAMA

Woodfin, a former school board member, said he has concerns about the Birmingham Jefferson County Transit Authority in the wake of recent turmoil resulting in the suspension of executive director Barbara Murdoch earlier this month, but wanted to emphasize overall board governance.

"it's not just transit," he said. "It's all of our semi- and quasi-governmental agencies throughout the city. There seems to be a breach of fiduciary duty and a lack of training and full understanding of the role, and really, unfortunately, there seems to be; 'I'm a board member; I don't care what you say.' Which is scary.

"If a lot of these boards continue to stay in the paper, it not only puts on display the inefficiencies of the leadership, it calls into question the purpose of the organization, which is really to improve the quality of life.

"I'm at the point where--and I may get into trouble--what is the conversation in Montgomery, what does legislation look like for board governance for the City of Birmingham and continued education and training? I think it's needed.

"The boards and agencies can't be in the papers every week. It's hurting us.

"Maybe it's not the people on the boards. Maybe it's the people who appoint the people who sit on the boards. We have to question ourselves. What is our role because we appointed these people? Do we understand our appointing power? Are we serious about our appointing power? Have we been abusive in our appointing power? Have we exchanged some kind of political something that has jeopardized the organization? Is it time for us to question ourselves? I believe the answer is yes. That may get me in trouble."

FOOD DESERTS

"It doesn't fall on deaf ears about [the lack of access to] quality food in Birmingham."

Expanding beyond the seem-to-go-nowhere talks about attracting high-quality grocery stories to neighborhoods in dire need of quality food options, Woodfin proposed farmers markets, citing, as an example, the Dekalb (Georgia) Farmers Market and work being doing at the Jones Valley Teaching Farm in Birmingham.

"How can you take that model and, in partnership with [Community Reinvestment Act] dollars, say, 'We want a farmers market'?" he said, adding that it could be co-owned by several entities, including the city. "I have a fundamental belief that healthy food can work in this city."

RACE AND GENTRIFICATION

"I'm always open to having conversations about race in Birmingham," Woodfin said, though he disputed the assertion that the city has experienced widespread gentrification.

"[People look at gentrification as one way: white people moving in. We never question black people moving out. Birmingham city schools lose between eight hundred and a thousand students a year. They're following their parents. We yell: 'The city's turning white!" Black people keep leaving. Is that too honest?"

He cited Atlanta, where the percentage of African-American residents has dropped from, he said, 65% five years ago to 50% black today. "That's real gentrification," Woodfin said. "DC? You can't even call it 'chocolate city' anymore."

As in those cities, African Americans are moving to the suburbs, often in search of better schools.

"Black people keep leaving urban cores; we never talk about it."

In Birmingham, however, Woodfin said racial composition has largely remained unchanged over the last decade, at nearly three-quarters African American.

He said whites are mostly moving into areas downtown "where black people weren't living. They're moving into areas where nobody was living. No one was displaced. No one was priced out.

"Black people are moving out faster than white people are moving in."

Roy S. Johnson's column appears in The Birmingham News, the Huntsville Times, the Mobile Register and AL.com. Hit me up at rjohnson@al.com or/and follow me at twitter.com/roysj.