Mayor Woodfin Engages Rotarians in Wide-Ranging Town Hall Discussion

President Chuck Redden and Rotarian Ed Fields with Mayor Woodfin

This week the Rotary Club of Birmingham welcomed The Honorable Randall L. Woodfin, Mayor of the City of Birmingham. Mayor Woodfin led a lively and wide-ranging town hall-style discussion, encouraging Rotarians to ask whatever questions they had on their minds.

The mayor discussed the strong partnership between his office and the Birmingham City Council. He said the relationship will continue working well if voters focus on electing individuals who are committed to working to make Birmingham the best it can be. He highlighted efforts to achieve regional cooperation through collaboration with the Jefferson County Commission and mayors representing other municipalities in the county.

Mayor Woodfin emphasized the need to focus on job growth and economic development to ensure a strong community where generations will continue to invest and build their lives.

“Their children, grandchildren come back home. Move here because of economic opportunity here. When we do that, everything else will fall into place.”

The mayor also discussed his 2019 declaration of gun violence as a public health crisis in Birmingham and the challenge to resolve the problem given the ease of access to weapons. He championed the efforts of a partnership with the Jefferson County Department of Health and University of Alabama at Birmingham to provide support to victims of gun violence to prevent retaliation and further harm.

About Mayor Woodfin
Mayor Randall L. Woodfin’s philosophy of “putting people first” has guided his leadership. Revitalization of the city’s 99 neighborhoods is his top priority. He is focused on enhancing education for young people, fostering a climate of economic opportunity for all residents and leveraging public-private partnerships to make the city the best version of Birmingham it can be.

His vision to create new education and career opportunities for students led to the Birmingham Promise, a public-private partnership that provides apprenticeships and tuition assistance to cover college costs for Birmingham high school graduates. Mayor Woodfin led a regional effort to invest in the renovation and expansion of the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex making the city an emerging destination for sports and entertainment. Through Pardons for Progress, he removed a barrier from employment opportunities and offered a second chance with the mayoral pardon of 15,000 misdemeanor marijuana possession charges dating back to 1990.

He entered his second term as Birmingham’s 30th mayor on November 23, 2021. A graduate of Morehouse College and Samford University’s Cumberland School of Law, he previously served as president of the Birmingham Board of Education.