Last week Mayor Larry Langford said he was upset because the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce had added “regional” to its name. As I wrote in this column, Langford was not being entirely forthcoming about why he’d soured on the chamber, which had previously supported his revitalization ordinance (or “tax hike,” as most businesses have known it).
One thing that I forgot to address was how Birmingham chamber nomenclature compares to other chambers of commerce. For instance here in Alabama we have the Mobile AREA Chamber of Commerce, and the Montgomery AREA Chamber of Commerce. And that place we envy so much across the state line, Atlanta? There they have the METRO Atlanta Chamber of Commerce.
I know what you might be thinking. None of those are regional, right? More than a few chambers around the country have added “regional” to their names, including the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, the St. Louis Regional Chamber and Growth Association and the Orlando Regional Chamber of Commerce, among many others.Even some of those smaller cities we’re learning to envy have regional chambers, places such as Jacksonville, Fla., Charlottesville, Va., and Memphis, Tenn.
But let’s assume Langford is right. If the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce isn’t going to represent Birmingham, maybe Birmingham should find someone who would. The Hoover AREA Chamber of Commerce, perhaps?
Popularity: 49% [?]
March 19th, 2008 at 7:10 pm
Fairfield Area Chamber of Commerce?
March 20th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
I think Kyle is being too accurate in his reporting on the mayor of Birmingham (who lives in Fairfield). The perfect name for the organization should be Larry Langford’s Chamber of Horrors.
March 20th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
kyle, its been your time to tell lies on the mayor of birmingham,it will be my time to tell the truth on the hate monters at the birminghamShitly, starting on WATV 900 AM MON- FRI 6:00 TO 7:3 PM
GET READY FOR MY FEEDBACK 3-31-08
FRANK JAMES MATTHEWS III
March 20th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
Stay classy, Frank. I’m sure Kyle is quaking in his boots.
March 20th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
And Kathy at blue ,house wife with nothing to do ,you will once again have someone on the airwaves that will stand up for the truth, and Mayor Larry Pual Langford
Frank Matthews
March 20th, 2008 at 5:28 pm
Mr. Matthews,
For the $26,580 the Mayor paid you, surely you can come up with better insults than these.
March 20th, 2008 at 7:33 pm
can a “man of god” say words like “shit”?
March 20th, 2008 at 11:29 pm
Kyle is RIGHT ON as always.
My hope is that Larry, Felon Frank & The SMOOT will each spend a long time in federal prison where they belong.
The fact that Larry hired Frank shows he has no class whatsoever. Totally racist.
March 21st, 2008 at 7:28 am
Come on Kyle ,and your friends, repond with some hard hitting truth, poor zac and kathy still eating the birminghamSHITLY, hey guys, shelia, larry and frank are not the only people in the world, kyle and his cohorts live off the blood of frank, shelia and larry. the few bloggers that post here are not even creditable enough, for me to even repond to ,happy trails you little birminghamShitly butts.
March 24th, 2008 at 11:25 am
Fynster, Frank Matthews is a paid shill for Larry Langford. Are you on the payroll too? You don’t offer any facts to back up your criticisms; you just try, without success, to impugn Kyle’s credibility. It’s a bit sad, really.
March 24th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
Mr. Matthews (if indeed that is your REAL name), you and Larry Langford and Shelia Smoot are part of the problem in Birmingham. Race is an important issue to you only insofar as it helps to line your pockets. The three of you hold no interest in Birmingham’s future, only with promoting your own self-interest. I’ve lived in and near other large cities — Boston, St. Louis, Los Angeles — and the things I have seen in the leadership here over the past several years are truly appalling by comparison. I have never seen so much incompetence, greed, and sheer stupidity before.
Regional cooperation is necessary to keep Birmingham from literally dying. YOU are an obstruction to it, and the benefits it can bring to this city and its inhabitants, along with Langford. The young professionals in this city — black and white — see through you, Langford, and Smoot, and your collective time in the sun is soon to be over. This younger generation is not interested in the race-baiting business as usual — they want to see their city thrive. And it will, once you and your ilk are pushed aside.
March 27th, 2008 at 9:47 am
Fynster, please point out specifically what Kyle or anyone else commenting here has made up “out of the clear blue sky”. So far, all you’ve done is use sexist stereotypes and uninformed assumptions to try to denigrate other commenters.
Larry Langford did hire Frank Matthews to work for the city. You don’t have to take my word for that; look it up on the city’s website. He was paying Frank and other media people during his campaign — all of that is detailed on his campaign finance reports. I’ve seen Frank in action myself, screaming the n-word in the lobby of a Montgomery hotel because he didn’t get his way. His language here is vulgar, and his intent appears to be promoting his new radio show, not refuting anything Kyle and the Birmingham Weekly have reported.
It’s convenient to write off any criticism of Langford, Matthews, and Shelia Smoot as racist, but doing that doesn’t solve the city’s and county’s problems.
March 27th, 2008 at 7:57 pm
$17 million? Really?
“When Langford first proposed a hike in the business license fee, he told the city council that the increase would raise $36 million in new money. Of that, $19 million per year would pay for a domed stadium and $17 million would fund overdue improvements in mass transit. The councilors were all but elated.
But something was wrong in the numbers. The administration hadn’t accounted for a state statute that prevented them from hiking the license fees of insurance companies. As a result, there was only $26 million in new money. Quietly and almost beyond the council’s notice, the administration adjusted the numbers in the ordinance. The domed stadium would still get $19 million, but transit was reduced to $9 million per year in new money.
Only Councilor Valerie Abbott seemed to notice or care. As Langford ramrodded the ordinance through the council, Abbott asked the mayor about the differing numbers. Langford said that the $9 million number was a mistake and he asked the city clerk to write the $17 million figure back into the ordinance.
A few weeks later, the administration submitted several amendments to the Economic and Community Revitalization Ordinance. One of those amendments changed the new transit funding from $17 million back to $9 million. This time, no one on the council made a sound.
After one council meeting, I asked Langford about the changing numbers. He talked a lot, but he couldn’t give a straight answer. According to Langford, the tax increase would provide $9 million, because the insurance companies pay only $8 million a year, which could not be doubled. So the city, he said, would take that $8 million from the insurance companies, add it to the $9 million from the license fee increase, and voila — $17 million a year in new money.
Only, $8 million of it isn’t new. It’s the same old revenue that’s being spent on something else, right? But once print media began asking questions, Langford quickly escaped to his office.”
Kyle has reported Larry Langford’s ongoing and well-documented inability to manage money properly and also his propensity to continue rewarding people who participate in the mismanagement — Steve Sayler and John Katapodis, to name a couple. Sorry if you don’t like it, but he’s a public official, and the public has a right to know.
March 28th, 2008 at 8:12 pm
You haven’t ruined my day, and you certainly haven’t destroyed me or Kyle. But thanks for playing.
March 29th, 2008 at 9:20 am
And it looks like I was a bit too subtle for you, so let me be more clear. When Larry gave a deposition to the SEC last summer, he claimed ignorance of financial matters and blamed JeffCo’s interest rate swap problems on then-county finance director Steve Sayler, whom he then turned right around and hired to be the city’s finance director. I guess playing dumb is one way to absolve oneself of the portion of the blame he deserves for nearly bankrupting Jefferson County. I do agree that there is plenty of blame to go around and it doesn’t all fall on Larry, but I reiterate that he has a demonstrated problem managing money, whether it is the public’s or his own. You do remember that he ran up thousands of dollars of personal debt buying clothes while chastising parents for paying $100+ for their children’s tennis shoes?
He continues to do business with people that he should know aren’t to be trusted with other people’s money either (Sayler and Katapodis, until Katapodis’s financial problems came to the attention of the general public). So when he announces that his amazing new tax and fee hike will provide $17 million for transit and then has to quietly change that number to $9 million, it’s clear to anyone who is paying attention and not trying to change the subject that he meant to imply $17 million in new transit money. That’s certainly one way the deal was sold to the public.
You and I can argue back and forth forever, but we won’t change Larry’s history. You can keep trying to discredit Kyle by calling him “blogger Kyle”, but you can’t take away his credentials and experience as a journalist. And you can keep using terms like “destroy” when referring to other commenters, which only betrays your own agenda.