Have you heard any issues or rumors you want to have clarified?

When a tax referendum comes up again think about the ENTIRE population in Vestavia. Maybe include a tax break for retirees.

I can't find the proper place to put this regarding the Highway 31 redesign so I'm hoping it gets read and considered through posting it here -

The city needs to consider why the Taco Mama/Standard/Panera/Davenport's area is so popular and attempt to replicate that. That area is filled with families every weekend and most week nights. Why? Why is that such a hit? Why is it that every time my family goes to dinner alone of decides to meet up with another family, we end up at one of those restaurants? It's because we can sit outside and our kids can play in a safe area while we eat, drink, and enjoy each other's company. My family and our friends almost solely base our restaurant choices around what is easy to parent in. Our kids can play, they like the food, and we can catch up with friends. The average age of a Vestavia Hills resident is 40. Given that, you can somewhat assume that the majority of kids in Vestavia are anywhere from 4-15 and many families are doing the same as us. Regardless of age, a couple of restaurants and/or a brewery (the RIGHT restaurants - I don't believe an expensive restaurant would last there) could be enjoyed by everyone.

Obviously, the City Center is working. The 'strip' in Homewood is working. 18th Street in Homewood is working. Villages in Mountain Brook are working. They mainly
have local, 'easy' shops and restaurants. Adding a different element, it would be wonderful to have somewhere with a large screen to watch football games (imagine the revenue on a busy SEC day!) or have a small live music venue on Friday nights while people eat dinner. That's not common (does it exist?) in the surrounding areas.

What type of venue will sustain these resident ages and still be popular in 10 years? Again, low-key but good and fun places to eat and gather. Please no more generic strip malls of stores and restaurants. Vestavia has too many of those. Right across 65 are several in Hoover that have been sitting empty for months. Homewood and Mountain Brook are popular because they have local businesses with a community feel - not chains and one-size-fits all buildings and signs. A cohesive, interesting, green, timeless architecture design could be appreciated by everyone. Be prudent and diligent in finding the right fit for our city. Make Vestavia one of the places that people cross town lines to come visit instead of vice versa.

I understand the city plans on building several new tennis courts and no new pickleball courts when many of the existing tennis courts are not used and the existing pickleball courts have lines to play Can you clarify if any new pickleball courts are being built or if it's only tennis courts

There is a path that 50 or more pedestrians use a day to walk the neighborhood or kids going to school. It is at the north end of Parliament Lane and brings you to Merryvale Road. I wish the city would clear the drainage ditch and install a sidewalk along side of it for easy passage so pedestrians are not walking through the neighbors yard.

What are the plans for the vacant TwistedRoot building on Rocky Ridge Rd?

Why is vhal.org 'Parks and Rec' webpage empty?
Please show at least VH Pool (Wald Park Aquatic Center) information and events PRIOR to the event. This will allow families to have awareness of facility availability to help families plan accordingly.

McCallum Park Concerns:

Hello, my family has been residents of the Rosemary Ln / Jannebo Rd neighborhood well before the city was established and we have accumulated a series of complaints concerns regarding McCallum Park. This is formed from a collection of experiences I have had with this park from an adolescent to an adult with two young children. We have thoroughly enjoyed the park and I believe in its importance, especially to children, but it has increasingly become a hazard to us, our neighbors, and to visitors of the park and neighborhood. The time for experimentation is over and our safety to be taken more seriously. This is the only park of its kind in the city where it is completely surrounded by a residential area. The park is tucked away and cut off from the road leading in, making it an attractive place for crime. The city needs to look into how this park must be treated differently than any other.

Our neighborhood is a destination for people all over Birmingham to come and walk in (which is an amazing asset), but it has become and increasingly dangerous place to be a pedestrian. Kids from all over the city walk in our neighborhood because of the safe atmosphere and road condition. I cannot think of any other neighborhood who gets as much pedestrian traffic as we do on a beautiful spring weekend. With the park opening it created a destination for local teens to come drive recklessly through the neighborhood and park. This place has become such a destination because teens have found it to be a safe haven from authority. But when people (mostly teens) do get caught in the park for trespassing or reckless driving, they get let go with just a warning or ticket nearly every time. I have seen and experienced countless close calls with the dangerous traffic coming up and down Rosemary Lane.

Drug-dealing, robberies, car-jackings, and a suicide has plagued this park and nothing has changed to assure the safety of park goers or residence of the surrounding community. Police presence is characterized by the occasional patrol car driving through without maintaining a substantial presence. Police response time to the area is sluggish at best and I fear that our calls are not taken as serious as they once were.

The park and surrounding neighborhood is prideful in its natural appeal thus I do not wish to see the city invest into costly infrastructural projects like street-side lampposts or a sidewalks through the neighborhood. Instead I wish to see the city take action within the park and only minimally the surrounding streets. To slow incoming and outgoing traffic, we need 2-3 substantial speed bumps on Rosemary lane and a bump put at the entrance of McCallum park itself. The residents of Rosemary Ln and Jannebo Rd will be affected most by these speedbumps, but if it can keep a kid from being struck by a vehicle I'm sure no one would oppose. Wald park is open, close to other public facilities, and is marked by constant police presence (cause of the school, rec center, etc.). Meadowlawn Park in Cahaba Heights is open, close to businesses, is easily and readily patrolled by police because of its visibility from the road. McCallum Park does not have any of these characteristics thus should be designated it own policeman to watch over the area at all times. Frequent patrols do nothing when criminals can see police coming from Rocky Ridge Rd and have time to scatter into the surrounding woods (and sometimes into neighboring private properties). A constant police presence is needed in this park. I believe that lighting inside the parking area would also help deter crime within the park. A camera should be installed at the front entrance of the park to record any sort of crime or suspicious vehicle/person. I believe a cameral would also to serve as a deterrent to any potential criminals to stay away from the area. Please do something to address these concerns because I fear it is only a matter of time until something tragic happens in the park or in the surrounding neighborhood.

My home and the contents sustained considerable flood damage on July 19, 2021. My residence was not considered to be in a flood zone, therefore I have no flood insurance.
Have steps been taken to have Vestavia Hills area declared a Presidential disaster area following the flooding on July 19, 2021 so that Federal financial assistance might be available?
A response would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you!

Vestavia needs to stop annexing, rezoning, and allowing new houses, and townhomes to be built. The city just had to buy 2 schools in order to accommodate the current number of students and yet we continue to add. As large as Liberty Park will be when completed, another high school will have to be built there. Not a good thing for our community in the long run.

This new trash pickup service is horrible. What is the use of saving our recycling for a Sat. pickup if that Sat. pickup never happens and the recycling goes to the landfill on the Wed. truck?