LEEDS — (This is a letter to the editor from the mayor responding to a letter published in last week's Leeds News.)
As the mayor, I do not like to write articles that criticize or admonish our citizens, but I am tired of a reoccurring theme that is played out by opponents to this administration who will stop at nothing to see this administration fail in its attempts to fix the problems we have inherited. At a time when the city should be moving forward and capitalizing on the positive things that are taking place in our city, it seems that, for whatever reason, some people want us to fail.
This administration has taken major problem upon major problem and methodically fixed them, one at time. Now, having inherited paving, drainage, and poor parks and recreational facilities, and doing our best to try to fix these problems, this same cloud of adversity is raising its head again.
As you know, we are doing major park renovations and improvements. This is going to happen and will greatly benefit all our citizens and our city as a whole in immeasurable ways. We are also trying to fix paving and drainage issues, all over the city, that have been ignored for years. Since this is a major endeavor, the opponents to improvement are out in force. Rumor says that we are spending all our reserve money or we are spending the money allocated to pay for our schools.
This administration doesn’t overspend, and we know how to balance a budget. No long-term debt money has been touched in any of this; debt reduction money was used to pay our own Water Works Board for loaning us money to pay for a water line to Bass Pro and to pay Moody to get the Grand River deal accomplished. It should be noted that infrastructure costs for Bass Pro and Grand River have been footed by the City of Leeds, but our Water Works Board does make money off this infrastructure when it supplies water. That is why I asked our water board to help us with our park improvements if they could. It is our hope that in the best interest of community spirit, they would want to help us. We have an opportunity and I believe that anyone who understands the importance of this project to our community will help us get it done. The city will make these improvements because we know they are that important. When I talk to other mayors and ask them what is the most important improvement you have made for your community each and every one of them says recreational improvements had the most impact. It should be noted that very few had to pay for their own schools like we did but I think the two improvements go together in importance for a city.
As far as using the money to pay for our schools, I can assure you that nothing is further from the truth. The school bonds have all our occupational tax, and some of our sales tax pledged every year to pay for them. The more business that comes into Leeds, the more it guarantees our ability to pay on those bonds. The fact that we got Grand River should cover any previous shortfalls in making the yearly tax payment. However, shortfalls, if they exist, would be paid by the school board out of educational ad valorem generated by Bass Pro, Grand River, and any new business our city is able to attract. None of these finances could be used by this administration for proposed improvements, so we are not hurting our schools.
My main disappointment with some of our citizens is that the more we try to accomplish the more resistance we get and the more complaints we receive. We all need to put aside the pettiness, politics, and short sightedness that have kept us down as a city for so long. We need to seize the opportunity to make something happen and be all we can be.
Rest assured, we have a way to get the money to pay for the improvements, but, if you can help us make those improvements, it is better because it will probably be our only chance for a long time to get them. The city has set up a fund and I hope our businesses and citizens will step up to help us out. The more we can get, the more we can do and the less the stress well be on our yearly budget because the city, just like all of us, is dealing with the same tough economic times. However, this might be our only chance to make the improvements and take advantage of all the activity taking place in our city such as Grand River and the new schools and it would be a shame to miss our opportunity.
Don’t let roadblocks, rumors, politics, or race baiting prevent us from meeting our goals for our citizens. None of those people building roadblocks has the citizens’ best interest at heart. Many of them do not even live in Leeds and could care less if we live up to our potential. Current roadblocks to our moving forward include people trying to divide this city along racial and economic lines who argue the issue of our new zoning ordinances and Coosa Avenue. These are the same type of tactics that have been used in the past and are part of the reason the city got in the shape it is in. Ask yourselves how a city with so much to offer got in this shape. Just 25 years ago, the city of Leeds was bigger than Trussville and Moody put together. Our in-fighting and politics stayed the same over the years and people benefited but the school system and the city got worse. People moved away, our reputation diminished, and our city stagnated and languished. There was absolutely no excuse for this to happen, but that is what led to blight, crime, poor infrastructure, budget problems, and massive bond debt. This administration is being painted as being against the poor and minorities. I can’t speak for everyone, because I don’t know their hearts, but I know mine. Everything I do is fair and evenly applied for the benefit of all our citizens. That is why it is so disappointing to have the same tactics that our opponents know stir peoples emotions used once again to prevent improvement for us all.
As for zoning and our moving forward with a master plan, this is just more rhetoric to throw up roadblocks. This zoning
process has been going on for three years. No zoning has been changed, only what is allowed in our existing zoning. Housing sizes were changed and setbacks were increased but not to push out poor people. I can assure you that is not true, but rather done to prevent the overcrowding of neighborhoods and the strain on drainage and infrastructure. The costs per square foot for a new small home can be some of the highest. I’m not sure how there is a correlation between small houses and poor people. I can understand inexpensive houses correlating with poor people and the city of Leeds has plenty of affordable housing. The average price of a home in Leeds is a little over $100,000. Leeds has small and affordable housing and nothing I’m accused of doing is going to change that fact. This is not about class warfare, but rather it is about economics and allowing developers to maximize profit. The more houses they can pack on less land then the less cost per house associated with the land. This is why setbacks and lot restrictions are a problem to developers.
People are being told that they can’t build back their house if it burns or is destroyed. The zoning says if a house burns or is torn down it can be built back the same size or larger including setbacks. The problem is that some people don’t want this, nor do they want infill which is allowed instead they want something much more. Take, for instance, the so-called R4 zoning. The demand for this zoning goes back to a time when the city was divided into lots because it was an industrial city. An example would be where my deceased grandmother lived. She had less than one acre and a house, but her property was five lots. Under the R4 zoning that is being demanded, you could build five houses on her property. This is an attempt to take advantage of how Leeds was laid out years ago, but is now impractical. We have seen and know cities with an abundance of homes built like this. In these cities, you have high foreclosures, excess inventory on the ground, profiteers buying up the property for rental, drainage issues, bankrupt developers leaving unfinished infrastructure such as paving, and countless other problems. We are not trying to stop Habitat or CLEAR. There are plenty of places for infill and where small houses are grandfathered in. I can’t believe intelligent community leaders would mislead people into thinking we have some type of agenda against the poor.
Now, rumors are surfacing that we are rezoning people’s property; an inspector can just barge into your house; you have to have an architect sign off on your selling of a home. This is just “smoke and mirrors” at work. No rezoning is taking place. The inspector duties or powers have not changed. You have the right to sell your house just like before. I would hope people are intelligent enough not to believe any of these rumors.
The zoning hopefully will be passed and certain parts will be amended as soon as possible. There are some problems, but to amend it now would result in a substantial publication cost and at least a three month delay on the whole book. As for the “magical” master plan we hear so much about all the time, I look forward to its release. It does not tell you how our city should be zoned. It tells you the future vision and projected growth and makes suggestions as to how you should proceed and what to avoid. I already know the master plan will warn against an unhealthy percentage of rental property and suggests that we raise our percentage of family owned homes to support our community and businesses.
I have seen preliminary reports and demographics from Regional Planning as well as having dialogue with businesses. Some people demand restaurants and another grocery store but don’t want us to do what is necessary to get those things here.
Last, I want to talk about the Coosa Avenue issue. We have a road with a single church on it – a road nobody currently lives on. One end of the road was blocked when the high school was constructed. Due to safety issues, with the school that end of the road remains blocked. Coosa is now a road with one entrance with a red light. The end that was blocked opened to Highway 78 into 50-mile per-hour traffic and had no red light. Apparently, prior government officials are being accused of saying that the end of the road wouldn’t remain blocked, but the school was built over part of the road which makes it impossible to open it as it previously was built. Now, we are being asked to spend what will amount to over $400,000 to acquire land and build a new road to the left of the old one in order to open that end of the road back up. I can say the city is not prepared to build a half million dollar entry road so a single historic building can have two driveways to it. This Coosa issue is a matter of practicality and economics and has nothing to do with race. I have yet to understand how closing that road constitutes some sort of racially biased agenda. I can assure you, due to the circumstances, that it would be closed no matter what color the members are. The safety of children is far more important than a politically charged road being used to divide our city at a time when it is in all of our best interest to move forward.
I hope that everyone realizes what an opportunity we have and will support our efforts to make this the great city I know it can be. I also hope people question some of the actions of those trying to impede our progress. This administration will make needed improvements while balancing the budget and keeping up city services despite politics, hidden agendas, race baiting, and inherited bond debt. I want to say no matter what roadblocks and negativity we encounter this administration will continue to move forward and fix the problems of our past.
