Birmingham Comprehensive Planning Meeting

November 21, 2011 Posted by MelanieM in Be Involved, Community, Features

Birmingham Comprehensive Planning Meeting

Please feel free to click on each individual picture to enlarge it.

Two hundred plus citizens of Birmingham, Alabama gathered at the Birmingham Metro Crossplex for the Birmingham Comprehensive City Planning meeting. Everyone from elementary school aged children to established residents/business owners all came together to focus on one common goal; How to Improve the City of Birmingham.

The members of the meeting were randomly assigned to groups of nine and seated at a table that was equipped with pens, markers, worksheets and a huge map of the city. The groups were directed through a series of exercises. The first exercise was to write everything you liked about the city of Birmingham, and of course the dislikes while marking on the map in blue our favorite areas of the city and red the areas that needed some work.

The remainder of the exercises included taking the dislikes and putting them on a sheet and each group narrowed down what they thought was the top 5 problems the city of Birmingham faced. It was interesting to see that each table had come up with very similar ideas: Education, Transportation, Safety, and Housing. However, what takes the cake were the children, as they explained what they wanted. The children asked for more pools, arcades, parks, science centers and healthy grocery stores. This lets us know that the children not only want to have more fun, but eat right, exercise, and learn.

Although Mayor William Bell did not attend the meeting due to prior engagements the meeting was proven to be productive and well organized. Also, after the meeting was finished all worksheets including a brief survey were collected and I am sure the papers will make it to the appropriate desk.

Special thanks to Enclave for helping to organize and promote such a spectacular event. We are excited to attend the smaller group Birmingham Comprehensive Planning Meetings, and we hope to see you guys there. Comment Below and tell us what you would like to see for the city of Birmingham!