Thank You, Barbara

From the President

Neighbors —

The heart of this issue is Barbara White. We spent our July meeting thanking her for fifteen years of service to this association — and wishing her well as she starts her next chapter. It was long overdue, and it deserves the space it gets below.

There's good news in here too: the walking trail is finished in all but ribbon, and it has a proper name now.

And there's a zoning update from our side of the mountain. The short version: the Southern Area rezoning brings no real changes to Crestline, but our neighbors in Highland Park are still working through real issues with theirs, and we stand with them. Details inside.

See you at the park,

Todd Russell, President, Crestline Neighborhood Association

Thank You, Barbara

Our July meeting was given over almost entirely to one thing, and it was the right call: honoring Barbara White for more than fifteen years of service to this association.

Some people join the neighborhood. Barbara White is the neighborhood.

Here is what her service actually looks like. In 2010 — as far back as our records go — Barbara stepped up as Secretary when the seat sat empty and the job needed doing. In 2013 she was elected President, and she led this neighborhood for four years, through 2016. When her time as president was done, she didn't step away. She went right back to Secretary and kept the record of this neighborhood until 2023. From 2010 to 2023, there was hardly a meeting in Crestline that Barbara didn't help run or write down.

In 2024 this association stood up and voted unanimously to thank her for her years of dedication. That same year — no longer even an officer — she stood up and nominated me for Vice President. That's Barbara: fifteen years in, still opening doors for everybody else.

But the titles and the dates miss the point of her. She's the oxygen in Crestline — you don't always notice it, it's just always there, keeping the place alive. She's kind, she's hilarious, she's got a rough side, and we love her all the more for it. A perfect neighbor with a beautiful garden and a home she always kept with pride.

And that's the occasion for all of this: Barbara has sold the house on Mountaindale and moved to The Filmont, an over-55 community out at Liberty Park. She told us the neighbors are friendly, the social calendar is full, and the Publix nearby treats her like royalty — which sounds about right, since that's roughly her standing around here too. We're happy for her and sad for us, in about equal measure.

At the meeting the association presented Barbara with a Proclamation of Gratitude, and there was cake.

So this wasn't goodbye — Barbara's not the type to disappear, and I intend to lean on her wisdom for as long as she'll let me. It was thank you.

I'm usually a man who has words. With Barbara I come up short every time. Maybe that's the highest compliment I can pay her: some people you just can't sum up. You can only be grateful you got to know them.

To Barbara.

The official minutes from every meeting are in the Document Archive.

The Crestline Greenway Is (Almost) Open

The best news from our July meeting: the walking trail has an official name — the Crestline Greenway — and it's finished in all but ribbon. India Bailey from the city reported that the paving is done, the landscaping is in, and neighbors are already out using it. The remaining work should wrap up shortly, and the city plans a ribbon-cutting ceremony once the weather cools off. Councilor Williams' office is excited about it, and they should be.

Know before you go: there are several entrances — at Groover, at the Flora Johnson Trail, on Bush Street, at Idaho, at 4301 Mountaindale, and at the end of Monarch Avenue. There's no lighting, so the trail closes at dark, and there are no parking areas — this one was built for neighborhood feet.

We'll announce the ribbon cutting here and at the monthly meeting the moment there's a date.

Zoning Watch — The Southern Area Map

The city is rewriting the zoning map for the Southern Area — the Red Mountain communities, including Highland Park, Redmont, Forest Park, Crestwood, and the Crestline area — to carry out the Southern Area Framework Plan the city adopted in October 2023.

Here's the plain truth for our neighborhood: Crestline comes through this fine. Our designations change in name only — new labels, same rules for what can be built. No real changes are coming to Crestline under this plan.

Highland Park is a different story. The city's draft map originally proposed rezoning roughly 610 Highland Park properties, and their association has worked through it block by block with city planners — eleven working meetings — getting 588 of those properties revised and the maximum height in the disputed multi-family categories cut from 65 feet to 35. About three dozen properties remain in dispute, where the draft map still allows apartment-scale zoning on lots that hold historic homes. Highland Park's position, adopted by a vote of its residents on June 2, backs its zoning committee's recommendations: cap those properties at four units, and keep any structure that was ever a home zoned residential.

Crestline stands with Highland Park and supports their efforts. They've done real work on a real problem, and they're our neighbors.

Where it stands: the plan was postponed at the City Council's Planning and Zoning Committee on June 9 and hasn't returned, and no date has been set for a full Council vote. We'll share any movement here and at the monthly meeting. Highland Park's rezoning page has the full history and documents.

The Tramont: Approved, 7–2

The City Council approved the Tramont rezoning on August 25 — the long-contested hotel-and-condominium project in neighboring Redmont, 80 hotel rooms and 10–15 condominiums on 22nd Street South, now zoned Qualified Mixed-Use High with conditions capping the building at 115 feet (case ZAC2026-08004). The Southern Area plan calls for a 65-foot limit on that parcel, and an earlier compromise with the neighborhoods — still in force through a zoning-board variance — allows 80.

The approval went against every citizen review in the record. Redmont Park voted 30–0 against. Highland Park voted 29–0 against. The city's Zoning Advisory Committee recommended denial, 3–1. At the hearing, thirteen residents and neighborhood leaders spoke; eleven opposed. The council's own Planning and Zoning Committee had recommended approval 3–1, and the full Council followed it, 7–2. Josh Vasa (District 3, where the property sits) and Crystal Smitherman voted no; District 2's Hunter Williams voted with the majority. Councilor Vasa moved to approve the project at the 80-foot compromise height instead — the motion died without a second. Explaining the majority's decision, Councilor Darrell O'Quinn cited jobs, an amenity "not currently available in the city," and the site's position against the Red Mountain Expressway, saying the dispute came down to "a question of 35 feet." (BirminghamWatch, Aug. 25; full meeting video)

Why it matters on our side of the expressway: two neighborhood associations, unanimous membership votes, the city's advisory committee, and the framework plan the city adopted for this area all pointed one way, and the Council went the other. Neighborhood votes are advisory — a neighborhood's position counts most when the record behind it is built carefully, in public, on paper. That is exactly how Crestline's Zoning and Land Use Committee approaches every application it reviews, and we'll keep at it. And as we said in July: Crestline stands with Highland Park and Redmont — where they land is where we land.

Also in the Southern Area

• Five historic Highland Park buildings — including the 1929 Phares Apartments and 1926 Gordon Court on Highland Avenue — remain the subject of a pending demolition request before the city's Design Review Committee, first heard in December. Highland Park is working to see them preserved or thoughtfully redeveloped. (Details and how to help)

District 2 Report

Crestline Park sits in City Council District 2, represented since 2017 by Councilor Hunter Williams — the councilor who spearheaded the new Crestline Greenway along our stretch of Shades Creek (see above). What he's been part of at City Hall lately:

• Parking tickets. On June 2 the council voted down a proposed $10 increase in parking fines. Williams argued the city should first try collecting the roughly 700,000 unpaid tickets already on the books: "There has been no effort to date to have people pay the citation. None. We don't even mail them a letter. So why would we increase fines without first trying to do that?" A $3 fee now applies to tickets more than 30 days overdue. (BirminghamWatch, June 3)
• Data centers. On June 9, after nearly three hours of public comment, the council adopted new citywide rules for data centers on a 6–3 vote — no on-site power generators, closed-loop cooling, 500-foot setbacks, and noise limits among twenty conditions. Williams supported acting now, warning that delay would let a project already underway proceed with no restrictions at all. (WBRC, June 10)
• Protecting kids. On June 30 the council unanimously joined a one-year child-abuse investigation partnership with nine neighboring cities, the state, and the Clay House Child Advocacy Center. Williams: "With all the municipalities we have in Jefferson County, when we work together, we actually help the residents, not just of Birmingham but as a whole." (BirminghamWatch, June 30)
• Go-karts at Barber. In June the council approved the sale of 25 acres near Barber Motorsports Park for a proposed new go-kart facility — a new attraction on our end of town. (Councilor Williams on Facebook)

Follow Councilor Williams at facebook.com/hunter4bham, or reach his office at hunter.williams@birminghamal.gov.

Local News Roundup

• The neighborhood's event money: passed. The City Council has passed the $3,500 resolution — the item authorizing agreements with the Crestline Park Community Foundation for a fall festival, a music festival, an outdoor movie screening, and the First Responders' Meal — as India Bailey reported at our July 23 meeting. Once the Mayor signs the resolution, the funds will be released to the Foundation. (First reported in BirminghamWatch's Monday Morning Watch, July 13)
• The pet-waste stations are back on track. A status check at the July meeting confirmed that the project sheet for the pet-waste stations and signs the neighborhood voted on has been resubmitted to the city, and the office responsible has confirmed the request is being processed.
• Short-term rentals: an ordinance is coming. The city reports that the Airbnb question is headed to the council's Committee of the Whole, possibly by the end of the summer. The councilors haven't agreed yet on what the ordinance should say — but there's agreement that short-term rentals need regulating. We'll follow it here.
• Foundation update: yoga returns, and the board wants you. In a July update to the neighborhood, the Crestline Park Community Foundation reported another strong turnout for Yoga in the Park on July 11 — a shadier spot this time, and plenty of neighbors staying to visit afterward — and announced the next session: Saturday, August 15 at 9:00 AM in the park. The Foundation is also asking what neighbors would like to see next (events, projects, or service opportunities) and is looking to add several members to its board; the commitment is about an hour a month plus a few small tasks. Reach out to any Foundation board member if you're interested.
• The city's new budget is in — and 30 neighborhoods get repaved. On June 30 the City Council adopted Birmingham's $615 million budget for the year that started July 1. For neighborhoods it carries $19 million: $12 million for street resurfacing (30 of the city's 99 neighborhoods are slated for paving this calendar year), $3 million for weed abatement, $1.53 million for critical home repairs for elderly homeowners, $1.5 million for blight removal, and $500,000 for traffic calming. (City of Birmingham, June 30)
• Neighbors citywide are pushing to restore neighborhood association funding. At the June 3 budget hearing, neighborhood leaders asked the city to bring back the $10,000-a-year allocation each neighborhood association received before it was cut to $2,000 nearly two decades ago. The adopted budget didn't change the number — but the ask is on the record, and Crestline will be watching where it goes. (BirminghamWatch, June 3)
• A Clairmont Avenue rezoning failed — and it's a lesson about showing up. On June 2 the council denied a request to rezone a Forest Park house for an antique shop. The neighborhood association there had voted 14–12 in favor, but councilors heard from enough concerned residents afterward to conclude the narrow vote didn't reflect the neighborhood. Whatever you think of the outcome: your neighborhood association's vote is the neighborhood's official voice, and it's decided by whoever shows up. (BirminghamWatch, June 3)
• Free(ish) tools for neighborhood projects. The council extended the Magic City ToolBank agreement through September 30 — nonprofits, schools, and neighborhood groups can borrow tools and equipment at minimal cost from the warehouse at 222 6th Ave SW. Worth remembering for our next cleanup or park workday. (Birmingham Times, June 8)

Featured Local Business: Slice Pizza & Brew

Pizza night lives right here in the neighborhood. Slice Pizza & Brew — stone-baked specialty pizzas and a deep local beer list — has its Crestline location at 1101 Dunston Avenue, and their motto says the rest: Eat Local, Drink Local, Be Local. A Birmingham original since 2011, they source from area farms and pour from area breweries. Details at slicebirmingham.com, and when you go, tell them their neighbors sent you.

Own or love a local business that should be featured next month? Email todd.russell.2002@gmail.com.

Community Soapbox

This space belongs to you. Each issue, we'll run one short column from a Crestline Park resident — a memory, an opinion, a thank-you, a neighborhood idea. Keep it under 300 words and send it to todd.russell.2002@gmail.com with "Soapbox" in the subject line.

Crestline Photo Contest

This month's theme: End of Summer. The last long evenings, the Hidden Park at dusk, creek critters, back-to-school mornings — show us your best shot. Email your photo (with your name and where it was taken) to todd.russell.2002@gmail.com by August 31. The winner runs full-width in next month's issue and joins the site's photo gallery.

Community Calendar

• Tuesday, August 4 — National Night Out. The annual evening for neighbors and first responders, held nationwide on the first Tuesday in August. Watch Councilor Williams' page for Birmingham locations.
• Saturday, August 15, 9:00 AM — Yoga in the Park. Hosted by the Crestline Park Community Foundation in the Hidden Park. Bring a mat.
• Tuesday, August 25, 9:30 AM — Tramont public hearing. Birmingham City Hall, Council Chambers. See above.
• Thursday, August 27, 6:00 PM — CNA Monthly Meeting. Hope Community Church, 4445 Montevallo Rd. All residents welcome. No membership, no dues, no homework.
• Monday, August 31 — Photo contest deadline.

Fun Around Town

• Big Machine Petting Zoo, August 1 — free hands-on event at the Birmingham Zoo where kids get up close to giant machines. (StyleBlueprint Birmingham)
• PlantFest Expo, August 8–9 — two days of plant vendors, rare tropicals, and pottery at the BJCC.
• Totally Rad Vintage Fest, August 8 — '80s, '90s, and Y2K merchandise, arcade games, and nostalgia at the BJCC.
• Sidewalk Film Festival, August 24–30 — Birmingham's own film festival across multiple venues.
• Smile-A-Mile 5K, August 29 — run, walk, or go virtual to support children with cancer and their families.

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The Crestline Park Newsletter is published by the Crestline Neighborhood Association — Est. 1972, Birmingham, Alabama, District 2. Meetings: 4th Thursday, 6:00 PM, Hope Community Church, 4445 Montevallo Rd. Meeting minutes are in the Document Archive.