A proposal from Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford would put a domed stadium on hold at least until 2010 and shift funding for the dome to a massive revitalization project at Fair Park in west Birmingham. The city would also use school bond money for the project according to a memo shared with the city council Friday morning.

Langford presented his Fair Park plan to the city council in a breakfast meeting at the Summit Club. The mayor proposed building an “Olympic village” style complex including track and field, a competition swimming pool and equestrian facilities. Langford claimed that several retailers have shown interest in the Five PointsWest area because of the proposal.
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Finance chief steered JeffCo disaster

WAR ON DUMB by Kyle Whitmire

Two weeks ago, Banks, Finley, White & Co. delivered the fiscal 2007 audit to the City of Birmingham. The city received a clean bill of health.

“We did enough tests and procedures that we feel that if fraud had occurred, we would have caught it,” Jeff White told the Administration Budget and Finance Committee.

Realize, though, that this audit was for the fiscal year ending June 31, 2007, the last full fiscal year of the Bernard Kincaid administration. Short of inspiring confidence, it is a good indicator of what Birmingham has yet to loose - its good name on the market and credit with the banks.
Next, you have to look to one hiring change made by the new mayor, Larry Langford.

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For your reading displeasure

It is common knowledge in Birmingham that the Securities and Exchange Commission has been investigating a series of conspicuous bond deals that took place during Langford’s tenure as president of the Jefferson County Commission.

Also, it has been widely reported that, in his second interview with the SEC, Langford refused to answer investigators’ questions, citing an ambiguous Constitutional right.

What has not been reported is what Langford said to those same investigators in his first SEC interview on June 21, 2007.

Birmingham Weekly has obtained a copy of a transcript from that interview. What it reveals about the mayor is disconcerting: personal financial habits that are reflective of — and perhaps connected to — his management of public funds, and an attitude towards debt that makes the federal government seem frugal.

You can download it here.

And read our Cover Story about it here.

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