Mayor’s Minute By Ashley Curry - February 2023
I hope that all of you had a great holiday season and that the New Year is going well for you. Hopefully, your New Year’s resolutions are still intact.
I remember mentioning in my newsletter from a year ago that our city had several New Year’s resolutions for 2022. In no particular order we wanted to finish the renovations to the New Merkel House and the Cahaba Heights Park, the renovations at Wald Park, the infrastructure project (streets and sidewalks) in Cahaba Heights and the completion of the new Civic Center. I am thrilled that those resolutions have come to fruition with just a few items remaining to be done.
In determining future priorities for our city, we rely on the results of our citizen survey. We just received the results of the most recent survey conducted by ETC Institute, a national marketing research and statistical applications firm. I am proud to say that Vestavia Hills was one of the “Leading the Way” winners for 2022. ETC established this award to recognize local governments for outstanding achievement in the delivery of services to residents. Recipients of this award rank in the top 10% of all governments in the United States with regard to their composite performance in three core areas that are assessed by the survey:
► Satisfaction with the quality of services
► Satisfaction with customer service provided by employees
► Satisfaction with the value residents think they receive for local taxes and fees.
The citizen responses to the survey will be used in our strategic planning sessions which be held in mid-February.
One of our initiatives for this year include the completion of the “passive park” at Altadena Valley Park. These park improvements include connecting walking trails, building a parking area, pavilion and other amenities such as a canoe launch for the Cahaba River, playgrounds and a disc golf course.
Another initiative for this year is the revitalization of all arts activities in the city. With the formation of an Arts Council, we will draw on the traditional arts events in our city such as the Dogwood Festival, art shows and concert series at Wald Park. Our Arts Council will explore other ways to promote and encourage the arts and humanities in the city. We want to promote cultural events to include the visual arts, the performing arts, the education community and other organizations that promote arts events. You will be hearing more about this in the near future.
We also have planned to house the Vestavia Hills Sports Hall of Fame in our new Civic Center. It was established in 2010 to preserve the city’s sports history for future generations by honoring Vestavia sports heroes that created exposure, awareness and pride for Vestavia Hills on a statewide, regional or national basis. There will be future updates as this project gets underway.
This past month we experienced wide swings in temperature. We had record low temperatures with wind chill temperatures near zero degrees. A week later we had sunny days with a temperature in the 70s. It reminded me of the old adage that if you didn’t like the weather in Alabama, stick around a day or two and it will change.
Well, we will have to see what happens on “Groundhog Day” which is Feb. 2. Maybe “Punxsutawney Phil” will give us some indication of what to expect. We will wait to see if he sees his shadow.
Regardless of the weather, it is nice to know that Valentine’s Day is Feb. 14. While it’s certainly one holiday that’s sure to warm hearts, take time to show some love to others in addition to your “significant other.”