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Whoever on the Birmingham Business Alliance or at UAB who got in Woodfin's ear and got him on board when he clearly was either not in favor or at minimum not enthusiastic about this needs to be on top of this. Someone had a come to Jesus meeting with Woodfin, and now they need to have it with this guy

(03-26-2018 12:42 PM)mixduptransistor Wrote:  Whoever on the Birmingham Business Alliance or at UAB who got in Woodfin's ear and got him on board when he clearly was either not in favor or at minimum not enthusiastic about this needs to be on top of this. Someone had a come to Jesus meeting with Woodfin, and now they need to have it with this guy

Woodfin gets it though. Not sure what is wrong with this O'QUinn guy.....even Jonathan Austin was a huge proponent of the stadium.

(03-26-2018 12:46 PM)Bham Blazer Wrote:  

(03-26-2018 12:42 PM)mixduptransistor Wrote:  Whoever on the Birmingham Business Alliance or at UAB who got in Woodfin's ear and got him on board when he clearly was either not in favor or at minimum not enthusiastic about this needs to be on top of this. Someone had a come to Jesus meeting with Woodfin, and now they need to have it with this guy

Woodfin gets it though. Not sure what is wrong with this O'QUinn guy.....even Jonathan Austin was a huge proponent of the stadium.

Again, from what I know personally about Darrell, none of this sounds correct. He's not a rash individual and this sounds like rash actions, very uncharacteristic. I've talked with him before and I know he's not against a stadium for the city.

I'm doing some digging at the moment on this and will update with my confirmed information this evening.

Said what you are referring to was a text message that was sent out by Kamau Afrika. He even included his name as attribution. Said he was one of the recipients.
O'Quinn denies supporting the dome.

Says his sole concern is assuring that the citizens of the City of Birmingham realize a significant benefit from this project. said he is working to make sure that assurance is included in the language of the agreement, rather than just speculated on and promised verbally said he had a productive meeting with the Mayor and is supposed to send an updated version of the agreement shortly. He thinks they are making progress.

From a friend.

How many times has this town bit off its nose to spite its own face?

Smdh. Between the dumb ***** on the BOT and the dumb ***** that live in the city it's located, it is truly a miracle that UAB isn't a community college.

Being stuck in the past is something they both have in common. Fighting the future, kicking and screaming.

Keep pressure on them tweet, call email etc.

I get the "I want to make sure my constituents benefit" but there's not a whole lot of bond underwriters and structural engineering firms in Norwood. Taking extreme local and minority involvement to an extreme usually just results in corruption and graft. I completely agree with and understand what DBE requirements were meant to accomplish but there is a limit to how explicit and how far that stuff should be pushed. I mean Whatshername Moore last week at State House literally just flat out said that not enough black people work at the BJCC. I get that O'Quinn isn't in *that* camp, but what exactly is he trying to extract here?

(03-26-2018 01:57 PM)mixduptransistor Wrote:  I get the "I want to make sure my constituents benefit" but there's not a whole lot of bond underwriters and structural engineering firms in Norwood. Taking extreme local and minority involvement to an extreme usually just results in corruption and graft. I completely agree with and understand what DBE requirements were meant to accomplish but there is a limit to how explicit and how far that stuff should be pushed. I mean Whatshername Moore last week at State House literally just flat out said that not enough black people work at the BJCC. I get that O'Quinn isn't in *that* camp, but what exactly is he trying to extract here?

Not to mention the BJCC and stadium site is in his district. Can't have your district benefit much more than that!

(03-26-2018 02:13 PM)hooverblazer Wrote:  Not to mention the BJCC and stadium site is in his district. Can't have your district benefit much more than that!

That single fact makes his opposition even more incomprehensible

Do we think there is actual opposition or is it just to create a little discussion/conflict in order to give the appearance there is thoughtful, careful consideration of the proposal so there is not a perception of simply "going with the flow?"

I have spoken directly with Darrell today. Here is what he had to say to me.

Quote:"This morning he [referring to me] sent out a text to other council members asking for a one month delay and asking for the project to be changed to a dome." This is a false statement. Kamua Afrika sent out that text message. I was one of the recipients.

Here’s the text of that message from Kamau.

Quote:Good morning im texting u this morning to urge u to delay the vote by 1 month on the $99 million Stadiun until the Mayor Woodfin, Corporate Bham, UAB, Stadium builders & the State of Alabama has given each Council member a detailed written agreement as to what will be done simultaneously in construction/development of each of the 99 Neighborhoods or 9 Districts. Also have Stadium Contractors show Diversity Compliance in all bids and insist on a "Dome" so that we can compete with other cities. No Dome makes no sense nor cents ! UAB has the largest "Endowment Fund" of all our State schools, yet they want Corporate Welfare. The State of Al created a special fund for Gulf Shores Development. Young Bham residents have an unemployment rate of over 52% unlike the overall State rate of 4%. Crime will not decrease if segregation continues with our tax dollars and development. This is MAPS all over again ! Thank u for looking out for Your/ Our Communities !?
Sincerely, Kamau Afrika; one of the least of these.
Thank u for ur Service not self service !

Note that it is also signed by Kamau.

This is my response to an email just now: "I am actively engaged in productive conversation with the Mayor's Office regarding this matter. We are making progress towards getting language addressing several concerns included in the agreement."

For those wondering who Kamau Afrika is: http://www.bhamwiki.com/wiki/index.php?t...mau_Afrika

(03-26-2018 01:57 PM)mixduptransistor Wrote:  I get the "I want to make sure my constituents benefit" but there's not a whole lot of bond underwriters and structural engineering firms in Norwood. Taking extreme local and minority involvement to an extreme usually just results in corruption and graft. I completely agree with and understand what DBE requirements were meant to accomplish but there is a limit to how explicit and how far that stuff should be pushed. I mean Whatshername Moore last week at State House literally just flat out said that not enough black people work at the BJCC. I get that O'Quinn isn't in *that* camp, but what exactly is he trying to extract here?

IMHO, he is doing what he can to protect his constituents. To shoehorn the stadium into nothing but underwriters and structural engineering firms is selling it short. There's a huge economic impact (as well ALL KNOW) and Darrell appears to be trying to set his constituents up for success. How he chooses to do that is up to him.

(03-26-2018 02:24 PM)mixduptransistor Wrote:  

(03-26-2018 02:13 PM)hooverblazer Wrote:  Not to mention the BJCC and stadium site is in his district. Can't have your district benefit much more than that!

That single fact makes his opposition even more incomprehensible

You're making the assumption that he's opposed. You are wrong, Hoover. Having talked with Darrell today, he is not.

He is just making sure that his constituents have guarantees in place.

(03-26-2018 02:26 PM)Blazer85 Wrote:  Do we think there is actual opposition or is it just to create a little discussion/conflict in order to give the appearance there is thoughtful, careful consideration of the proposal so there is not a perception of simply "going with the flow?"

Again, having worked with Darrell on his campaign, I can tell you that he doesn't just go through the motions. He IS having a thoughtful, careful consideration of the proposal and (in his words) is "actively engaged in productive conversation with the Mayor's Office regarding this matter."

--------

I feel like a lot of people (including those who may be reading this thread) have framed their opinion of Darrell as being the "bad guy against the stadium". I promise you, he is not that. Darrell is a very thoughtful and deliberate PERSON who just happens to be on the council. Having seen him go door-2-door canvassing and talking with people throughout D5, I assure you he cares deeply what happens to all of his constituents in all parts of his district.

I have no problem with anyone and everyone showing him their support for the stadium (I know I have!). However, he is not an enemy. I can assure you that. Please don't paint him as one.

(03-26-2018 03:31 PM)Blzer4Life Wrote:  I have no problem with anyone and everyone showing him their support for the stadium (I know I have!). However, he is not an enemy. I can assure you that. Please don't paint him as one.

If he votes against this stadium, he will be the only one painting him as an enemy.

(03-26-2018 04:17 PM)imjustafatkid Wrote:  

(03-26-2018 03:31 PM)Blzer4Life Wrote:  I have no problem with anyone and everyone showing him their support for the stadium (I know I have!). However, he is not an enemy. I can assure you that. Please don't paint him as one.

If he votes against this stadium, he will be the only one painting him as an enemy.

Which has NOT happened.

Erin Edgemon of al.com is live tweeting it. Only things of much consequence so far from here are:

"Woodfin said there are some changes being made to funding agreement and/or project agreement with BJCC. They have skipped that item at the moment."

and

"Woodfin has offered up a resolution that states the direct and indirect revenues from the BJCC expansion will go into a neighborhood revitalization fund. It's unclear though if they know exactly what land area from which those revenues will come from."

That sounds like he's trying to find a mechanism to formally dedicate stadium related income to neighborhood revitalization instead of the city general fund. That should help to reassure some of the people griping about the money. Some.

For what it's worth, guys, Darrell was at Iron City watching the Bahamas Bowl. He sat five feet from me, and at that time he said that in general he supported the stadium, but that he had a lot of people in his district that he had to satisfy. Looks like he is trying to do just that.

Don't crank up the lynch mob until after the vote tomorrow. Plenty of time to break out the torches and pitchforks after something actually happens. It's all talk so far.

From what I watched. Scales embarrassed whoever put the documents together today. Mayor couldn’t give answer, and was a bit clueless. After his rebuttable of just pointing to the documents I tuned out. Her point of it looking like it was just some stuff thrown together and we’re going off of faith looked pretty good.

(03-26-2018 04:56 PM)BlazinBham Wrote:  From what I watched. Scales embarrassed whoever put the documents together today. Mayor couldn’t give answer, and was a bit clueless. After his rebuttable of just pointing to the documents I tuned out. Her point of it looking like it was just some stuff thrown together and we’re going off of faith looked pretty good.

They're voting on whether or not to provide $3M a year toward the stadium. How perfect does the document need to be when everyone in the state knows that's what they're doing? As long as nothing extra is on it, then what was she expecting to see?

It’s a poop show.