Change Requires a 90 Degree Turn

As I have evaluated our 3 candidates for mayor, it seems that we really only have 2 choices: Should we stay the path where our politicians and city attorney make our decisions, or should we attempt a culture shift towards transparent communications, information flow and mutual respect between government and citizens/stakeholders? 

To me, two of the candidates represent a single, and well worn path. Scott McBrayer  is a veteran politician, having served two terms as a city councilman (8 years) and 3 terms as Mayor for a total of 20 years. During that time, McBrayer was at the helm through a building boom that included a new Soccer Park, Rec Center, and pulling a $110 million loan to relocate a police headquarters, build more athletic fields and $55 million to expand 5 city school buildings. Each of these had their own problematic paths to approval. Most of the public is ignorant of those weeds and is otherwise happy to have the results, but ask yourself why is every major project fraught with major and minor issues--take Downtown Rezoning as the latest example of failed project management.  Meanwhile in the private marketplace, Homewood as a whole, through its very existence adjacent to Birmingham’s large urban center whose own revitalization has rippling effects, has given merchants a ready-made location to succeed.  

Our other mayoral candidate, Patrick McClusky, has followed McBrayer down that same path. After his appointment to the council by the first McBrayer administration, he has served unopposed through two council terms as the low-key park and rec liaison and chair of the Public Safety Committee.  Likeable, service-oriented and native to the city, Patrick has carried out his duties quietly but without taking the lead on any issue. He and Barry Smith were the two incumbents excluded from the council’s $110 million bond issue deliberations, a decision McClusky accepted, and defended. As public safety committee chair, he has been asked for more frequent crime reporting, but we are still waiting.  

The second, uncharted path, will be with Chris Lane. Like so many people serving in politics and on public boards, Lane paid little attention to city government until a neighborhood project got his attention. That project, the Mayfair sidewalk plan, revealed an overworked city staff working without a plan or process -- or even engineering drawings -- to pave the city with much needed sidewalks. Since 2017, Lane has attended more meetings than either of the other candidates to learn how the city functions, his platform emphasizing more transparency, citizen input and the need for a professional city manager. Lane has pledged to lead this transition, which, if successful, would reduce the part-time mayor’s administrative burdens and allow more time to govern and set policy. 

Transitioning to professional management will make Homewood a modern city. A part-time mayor and council will no longer be pulling all the strings to run a  $62,000,000 municipal corporation. On Tuesday, we have the choice:  Elect either Scott McBrayer or his protege Patrick McClusky, both reflecting a culture at city hall where politicians pay lip service to the role of public participation and will conduct the city’s business without full-time management of city departments and budgets-distributing power to city councillors that has caused confusion, lack of communication, and in the case of downtown rezoning, a high level of chaos and distrust from stakeholders on exactly whose best interest is the city serving. 

On Tuesday, August 25th, I will be choosing Chris Lane, who, like most of the new council candidates, will be working to change strategies in Homewood.  Having watched our city government pretty closely for the past 4 years, I know that #changeishard and I know we need leadership. It is time for a 90 degree turn off of this beaten path.

-Lindsey C