In his State of the City address Tuesday, Birmingham Mayor William Bell said he’s optimistic President Obama will declare the Birmingham Civil Rights District a national monument. Bell and other city leaders have been pushing for Obama to make the designation through an executive order before the president leaves office next week. Bell told members of the Kiwanis Club all that’s left to do now is wait.
“It ain’t done until it’s done,” Bell said. “But we’ve done all we can do to put it before the president and hopefully that will take place and transpire within the next few days.”
Bell said there will also be announcements soon about new development around the Crossplex on Birmingham’s west side, and a new project bringing hundreds of jobs to the area around Kamtek – an auto parts supplier off of Pinson Valley Parkway.