Sydney Cromwell
Human Trafficking Awareness Month
Mayor Ashley Curry presents a resolution to Julia Meyers, of the Rescue Innocence Project, declaring January as Human Trafficking Awareness Month in Vestavia Hills.
Four properties will become part of the city of Vestavia Hills at the end of a 90-day annexation process that was started at Monday's city council meeting.
On Jan. 8, the city council approved annexation of the following properties, though residents have 90 days to share comments or concerns with the city that could prevent the annexation.
- 2672 Dolly Ridge Road, a home valued at $429,000 that was recently purchased by 15-year Vestavia residents Niraj and Binita Parekh. They have one child who will enter the Vestavia Hills school system.
- 1722 Vestaview Lane, a home owned by Shades Mountain Baptist Church that is used by the church as a temporary home for visiting missionary families.
- 3640 Altadena Drive, which is part of Altadena Acres. The owners of the home have children enrolled at Briarwood Christian School, so they will not impact the school system.
- 2300 St. Joseph Road, which is part of St. Joseph Retreat. The home is valued at $794,000.
Councilwoman Kimberly Cook told the council that the annexation committee considers home value as one of the guidelines for approving or denying annexation requests. Though the committee had previously used $249,000 as the benchmark for median home value, Cook said the more accurate current value is around $392,000.
Cook said it is a guideline, not a requirement, for homes to meet or exceed that home value to be annexed. However, she said it would be useful if the city ever annexes large amounts of property, such as a subdivision, into the city to determine whether they would contribute enough in property tax to offset the addition of children to the school system and city services to the properties.
The council also rezoned 812 Chestnut Street from residential to business district, as property owners Sloss HTP want to turn the property into a 69-space parking lot. Part of the alley next to the property was also vacated to become a utilities easement, for which the city will pay the owner $6,500 for right-of-way.
Mayor Ashley Curry also presented a resolution at the meeting declaring January as Human Trafficking Awareness month. Curry noted that human trafficking is a problem nationwide, but Vestavia Hills' trafficking task force has arrested six people so far, two of which have been sentenced to more than 20 years of prison.
“I’d like our city to know that Vestavia Hills Police Department actively participates in a task force with some of my old colleagues from my FBI days in addressing this issue,” Curry said. “We’re doing what we can and just ask that everybody look out for certain signs … if you see something that you don’t think is right, give us a call.”
Curry presented the resolution to Julia Meyers, who was representing the Rescue Innocence Project. The organization is hosting a gala on Feb. 22 at 6 p.m. at The Club in Birmingham, 1 Robert S. Smith Drive, with proceeds benefiting a future home for children rescued from sexual exploitation.
Ed Smart, the father of abduction victim and anti-exploitation advocate Elizabeth Smart, will be the keynote speaker at the event. Learn more at rescueinnocenceproject.com.
