Mayor’s Minute By Ashley Curry - September 2021

While you might not look forward to the end of summer, with its vacation beach trips, family outings and busy summer activities for the kids, the first day of fall will be here before we know it. Autumn officially begins on Sept. 22 and we can look forward to days with lower temperatures and lower humidity.  I am sure that we have some football fans that will be excited about the football season that gets well underway during September.

Our city has accomplished much during the summer. In our Community Spaces Plan, you have seen the completion of the swimming pool, the baseball fields and the Miracle League field at Wald Park. The swimming pool has been an overwhelming success.  Membership in the pool is double the amount for the old facility and our attendance for the “I Love America” event was counted at more than 4,000 attendees.

You are seeing the completion of the infrastructure component of the Community Spaces Plan that involves the road improvements on Crosshaven Drive. Working with Jefferson County and other utility companies, we expect to complete this project by the end of the year.

The renovation at Cahaba Heights is complete.  What used to be just “ball fields” behind the elementary school, is now the “Cahaba Heights Park” with green spaces, picnic areas, new ball fields and the newly constructed “New Merkel” house.

We face some uncertain times with the COVID-19 and now the Delta variant.  There is still more to learn about this variant, and we will follow the State of Alabama Department of Health guidelines in setting city policies for our buildings, parks and other facilities.  If a mask mandate is reissued, we will comply as directed. Otherwise, we encourage personal responsibility and choice. 

We must persevere to overcome this uncertainty.  I am reminded of the expression “keep on keeping on.” I first heard this expression from Dr. Kurt Niemann, a renowned orthopedic surgeon at UAB.  Dr. Niemann’s career spanned forty years and he educated orthopedic residents from 1969 until his death in 2005. My daughter was one of his patients and benefited from his expertise with Osteogenesis Imperfecta, also known as brittle bone disease.  As we would visit his clinics after surgeries or broken bones, he would encourage my daughter to “keep on keeping on.” We have never forgotten those simple words of encouragement that helped us persevere through much adversity.

Our city has persevered despite considerable hardship to our small businesses. We are rebounding in spite of now relaxed COVID-19 restrictions and the newly-created labor shortages.  Please remember our local businesses as you shop for school supplies and other items.

Together, we can “keep on keeping on.”

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