Mobile in a tizzy?
The city and county of Mobile are going through contortional flocculations in the form of apocalyptic battles of annexation, resignation of a major politician and a drive to bring Prohibition back to the Port City. Meanwhile the county did give three million to an ad firm to talk us up, to advertise the town that has grabbed the attention of the nation if not indeed the world as the next great little mid-sized city. Nestled between New Orleans and Atlanta, Mobile sits pretty and patiently waits her turn in the spotlight. The juxtaposition today is not the spotlight per se but rather upon which the glaring light shines, and it shines not so quaint and coquettish , but rather boisterous if not monstrous at a time when so many plan carefully for the possible eventual tanker contract, larger cruise ships and a newly designed downtown that will rival some of the best. This is what causes consternation and dizzyment. Just when it seems no wrinkles should appear in the antebellum dress, when gentlemen’s pant creases should be perfectly in the right place, squawking suddenly flies out of the belfry and Mobile County has a multitude of disarray in her pretty hair. Petty attacks such as throwing a beer fest on Dauphin Street but telling people they can’t walk from bar A to bar B with a plastic mug of beer. Or, a major crackdown not on drunk drivers themselves or the courts who slap their hands but rather little old convenience stores who with a few minor infractions suddenly must appear before the city council and beg for their lives. I witnessed such at one meeting and it reminded me of the snake slithering past a giant frog on it’s way to snag a little ant. Priorities, folks - things in the order of real importance, not your personal feelings on the subject at the expense of city and county taxpayers - thank you! I’ve writ a piece about the annexation issue, which has since transformed into something more ugly going uglier. Cookie cutter politics, snatch and grab amendments and resolutions and of course all seven of city council are behind this good-hearted campaign to help the poor souls who beg to become part of the city. Some of them aren’t really sure why they want to but in a group mentality their little individual opinion adds up to zero. It’s all the stuff of which good novels are made, and hopefully those outside our periphery expect these shenanigans .
Tags: annexation, beerfest, citycouncil, countycommission, dauphinstreet, ludgood, merceria, prohibition, samjones, tanker
August 29th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
Thank you for your column. Tillman’s Corner hasn’t been this pissed off since the Lagniappe rebel flag piece.
Hope you city folks buy yourselves something nice with our sales tax money. Just try not to forget about the hinterland creatures living just beyond our commercial blocks. After all, we’re the ones who will be paying the vast majority of that sales tax. Too bad we have no voice in the government that is trying to claim the business district that we have built. Representatives asked the city council for more time to negotiate, and to educate the community about the benefits of annexation. Maybe then the city could have annexed the entire community as a whole- or not at all.
Instead, now we have division and resentment in what has always been a tight community. The city council has allowed the separation and exclusion of the primary people who have supported and nurtured the impressive progress in the Tillman’s Corner area. We are the ones who have returned to the area to start businesses or buy homes, and we are the ones who are spending the majority of the money in those tax-generating businesses.
Those of us who live here and love our community have watched it blossom and thrive, and many of us have hoped for the day that the (entire) area could join the city that most of us have always loved and supported. Now, it seems like Mobile is happy to scoop off our cream and leave the rest of us behind. Gee thanks.
If annexation is so good for our community, then put in a half-ass effort to show us why. Romance us a little, and then take us all. Don’t slice and dice us, for god’s sake, and destroy the tight community that we have put in so much effort to build. It seems like such a greedy and premature move, and we’re feeling awfully used out here.
Just months ago, when asked about plans to annex the area, Sam Jones denied that there were definite plans in the works. Now, it’s already completely out of the voting hands of those of us who make up the heart and soul of the area. It’s hard for most of us living in Tillman’s Corner not to feel betrayed by the city of Mobile- particularly those of us who have always expressed interest in the annexation of the entire area.
The bastardly map cuts right around my neighborhood, and then scoops back in to grab the gas station on the other side of the neighborhood. I could probably throw a baseball from my yard into the new “big city”- and I have a really crappy arm. The fancy city benefits slide right around my property and include the businesses that I have supported my entire life. So close…yet so far away.
Maybe I’m close enough to where if I practice my throwing a bit, I can start tossing my trash bags on the other side of the line for city pickup.
September 1st, 2008 at 12:07 pm
Sorry for my rant, nice city people. That episode was starting to bring out the redneck in me.
In fairness, I should add that there are an awful lot of people in TC, Theodore, and Semmes who disagree with me entirely regarding annexation. That could be an understatement. In fact, the majority opinion here seems to fall somewhere in between “Piss off, city folks” and “We deal with bullies behind the shed around these parts.”
Mobile’s leaders are only limiting the city’s ultimate growth by repeatedly pissing off county people. Many of the surrounding communities have generations of distrust in city government. This sort of expansion really doesn’t do anything useful for redneck relations.
The city isn’t paying nearly enough attention to the avenues of progress that can’t be measured in dollar signs, but have a huge effect on a city’s overall image and appeal. Some of Tillman’s Corner and Theodore’s (slow but sure) non-monetary progress was undermined with even the suggestion of this proposal. All it took was a mere mention of “taxes” and “no vote” to knock years of grassroots pro-city efforts right in the gut (and bring untold frustration to certain city-friendly country girls).
It doesn’t even matter whether the thing passes the vote. They lost us at hello. The damage has been done as far as the way people in the surrounding county see city government. I might never get my neighbors to consider trusting the city again. It’s tragic, really. More importantly, disgruntled rednecks are just damn unpleasant to live amongst. Mobile (maybe) gains an inch, but loses a mile. And lots of good friends.
This thing should have gone much differently with a larger and friendlier annexation, and a special committee created for redneck relations. I can’t guarantee that shirts and shoes would have always been worn during negotiations, but it would have been well worth the city’s time. Perhaps we county folks could have eventually agreed to accept a few pesky regulations, cut down on rebel flags, and (gulp) pay a bit more in taxes. Maybe even (very begrudgingly) cut down on non-holiday-related fireworks and homemade explosives. Mobile could have given a little bit too, I’m sure. It could have been a very beautiful thing.
I leave Mobile with this: Tillman’s Corner, Theodore, and Semmes brothers are huge assets. They will beat up your enemies, fix your cars, and take care of any militia-related unpleasantries should times ever get really tough. Mobile should come crawling back. In lieu of flowers and chocolate, we accept camouflage and John Deere merchandise enthusiastically.
September 1st, 2008 at 2:15 pm
My sources tell me all four annexation attempts are doomed
for failure, leaving happy and sad people on both sides, and a Mayor
who will have to rethink his next annexation campaign.
This one just came out of left field and hit too many people like a hard
curve ball. Now, having relieved you of that worry can I say again
as I did in my County View column, what about the County offering
garabge, trash, street lights, more protection and paying for it
with a two cent sales tax like the city was going to charge you?
You can even ask County Commissioner Juan Chastang if he will
donate half of his 16 months backback toward the cause.
This way you get your cake and eat it: city-like amenities
without the zoning restrictions . . .also incorporation of west mobile
at some point will have to be realized to fend off future annex
campaigns . .
By the way, are you the gal in the orange hunting vest and Army cap
who hangs out in front of John Deere on Moffett Road holding a sign
reading “Wilmer Ain’t No Speedtrap”?
September 1st, 2008 at 5:05 pm
Absolutely not. I look terrible in orange and green. We are probably related, but I’m sure it’s distant. I think she’s married to my brother’s baby’s mother’s step-third-cousin. In other words, if I were a guy, our marriage would be considered socially acceptable in either the city or county.
According to my sources, there is no way in hell that these will pass. My real bitchfest is more towards the useless stirring of equally useless ill-will. Nevertheless, it seems that curve balls are legal- and part of the game. Clearly, Mobile plays hard ball. Maybe we were out of our league.
I saw Tillman’s Corner going in a very different direction, and I’m not the only one. We were just waiting on the old people to die off (just kidding). Of course, it is useless to ignore the needs of people who want to live in the county for various reasons. And yes, there has to be a place for trailers. Hell, our childhood fort would never have passed city codes.
What you suggest is very interesting and maybe for the best. But still not the same. I suppose it really is more about baseball than politics. Every little border town secretly wants to grow up, practice really hard, and pitch for their favorite team. Or at the very least play left field. Now we’re benched for life. Maybe I just need to toss my glove and then schlump around dejectedly for a while.
Of course we’ll move on. Maybe we’ll keep the game in the back yard. Maybe we’ll join the minors. Maybe, just maybe, this last game will be considered a rain-out and Mobile and county folks can play again at a later date.
Wait, what am I even talking about? Everybody knows there’s no politics in baseball.
September 4th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
All I know is that if they annex Semmes, then we’re either moving into Midtown (when the housing shit gets straight) or further out into Dawes and beyond. There’s even been talk around the Centanni household about moving to Perdido (the backwoods town in Northern Baldwin County not the beach), but I don’t think that will remain in the cards.
September 5th, 2008 at 4:36 am
To Stephen: Perdido is out of the question, illogical
and intrusive upon your duties as a reporter in Mobile.
Midtown - and I could take a hit with this observation -
if for the in-betweeners, the undecideds or nice but puzzled
who could not choose between country boy and city girl.
What’s going on with that drive to incorporate
Semmes? There’s a certain woman driving the campaign
but I haven’t heard much on the subject lately.
September 7th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
I don’t know. I’ve been meaning to look into the Semmes incorporation committee, but you have to understand that I don’t fall into to either the:
A. Rural chic
B. Law Enforcement (Sheriffs and City Cops)
or
C. Pentacostal crowd
found living in Semmes. So, I’m kinda apprehensive to attend any of the meetings. We like Semmes, but that doesn’t mean that Semmes likes us. We’ve grown accustomed to the strange looks and anti-social mentality that we and our visitors experience in our neighborhood, but when we think about it, we rather have our neighbors act like that as opposed to being all up in our biz-nass. Granted, I could be getting in on the ground level with the good ol’ boy illuminati (found in cities like Saraland and Satsuma) that will form soon after the possible incorporation, but I could be a target for it as well. What’s a boy to do?
September 7th, 2008 at 5:43 pm
The aluminati in Semmes are thriving. An AP reporter I know doing
a story on Semmes tells me that she has found over 75 people there
who are in some way related to George W. Bush, Barack
Obama or David Spade. What are you to do? Circulate. Connect. Find
out who the 33rd’s are and start kissing butt. By this time
next year you could be running the place.
September 13th, 2008 at 8:37 pm
Oh, I don’t need to run the place. I’m a simple man who requires nothing less than to have the causeway named after me.