Larry Langford
Larry Paul Langford (born March 17, 1948 in Birmingham) is currently the Mayor of the City of Birmingham.
Langford had previously gained notice as a Birmingham City Councilor (1977 - 1979) and as a three-term mayor of Fairfield (1988 to 2000). From 2002 until 2007, he served on the Jefferson County Commission. Until 2006, he was the Commission President and served as Commissioner of Finance and General Services. From 2006 until he became mayor, he was the Commission's Commisioner of Health and Human Services.
Langford grew up in the Loveman Village housing project in Titusville. He graduated from Parker High School and then received his bachelor of arts degree in social and behavioral sciences from UAB in 1972. After that he served in the U. S. Air Force five years. After returning to Birmingham, he joined WBRC 6 as one of the region's first black television reporters in the 1970s and won several awards for his investigative reports. He was elected to the Birmingham City Council in 1977 and challenged incumbent David Vann and fellow councilman Richard Arrington, Jr for the mayor's office two years later. After losing the race to Arrington, Langford moved to Fairfield and was hired as public relations director for Birmingham Budwesier in 1982.
Langford and his wife, the former Melva Ferguson, have one son and two grandsons.
Fairfield mayor
In 1988 Langford was elected Mayor of Fairfield and began an aggressive campaign to revitalize the city. He took charge personally of the details of city operations, firing employees who failed drug tests and using a bail-out of Fairfield City Schools to exercise influence over the independent board. He created a Mayor's Commission on Literacy to improve student performance at Fairfield Preparatory High School through after-school tutoring and parent education. He is best known, however, for initiating cooperation between 11 Jefferson County municipalities to finance construction of the $90 million Visionland amusement park, which was built in Bessemer in 1998. The park struggled after a promising opening and declared Chapter 9 bankruptcy with $100 illion in depts in 2002. The park was later sold to a private operator for $5.25 million and has recently improved its standing.
Fairfield's investments in the park, in school construction and programs, and in the Fairfield Civic Center, along with drops in sales tax revenues from stores relocating outside the city, brought the city close to bankruptcy after Langford left office. The city escaped by selling the high school back to the school board (using capital funds made available through Jefferson County's 1-cent sales tax, which was proposed by Langford after he joined the Commission).
Jefferson County Commission
Langford was elected to the Jefferson County Commission by defeating incumbent Jeff Germany in 2002. He was elected President of the Commission by its members shortly thereafter. He proposed his 1-cent sales tax for school construction plan in 2005, relying on consensus he had built with fellow commissioner Mary Buckelew.
As Commissioner of Finance, Langford led the Commission through a series of complex bond swaps aimed at reducing the County's debt service through lower interest rates. Critics have noted that the advisors hired to execute the swaps have been paid as much or more in fees as they proposed to save the county in payments.
Following the 2006 general election the Republican majority in the Commission installed Bettye Fine Collins as Commission President, leaving Langford and fellow Democrat Shelia Smoot as a voting minority.
After Langford was sworn in as the Mayor of Birmingham, the Commission set a special election for February 2008 to fill his unexpired term. On November 21, 2007 Governor Bob Riley appointed George F. Bowman to the seat. A legal dispute regarding the method of choosing a replacement is expected. A similar challenge in Mobile County has been scheduled for review by the Supreme Court of the United States.
2007 Birmingham mayoral campaign
In June 2007 he announced that he would run for Mayor of Birmingham in the October election with the slogan "Let's Do Something." In order to qualify for the election, he rented a loft apartment in the Blach's building on 20th Street North. During the campaign Langford touted his long record of initiatives and promised action to move the city forward.
Also during the campaign, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) subpoenaed some of Langford's financial records as part of an investigation into the legality of the bond deals he initiated as County Commission president. He has also come under scrutiny for his role in the non-profit organization Computer Help for Kids, which has received large contributions from Fairfield and Jefferson County. Langford dismisses the investigations as political ploys.
Results from the October 9 election gave Langford 26,230 of 52,120 votes cast, 171 more than he needed to avoid a run-off with challenger Patrick Cooper. After the election was certified, Cooper filed suit claiming that Langford failed to establish residency in Birmingham as required by state law. Judge Allwin Horn dismissed the suit on November 26. Cooper dropped his appeal and conceded the election on December 17.
Meanwhile, Langford tapped former Alabama Supreme Court justice Ralph Cook, Jr and Alabama Power CEO Charles McCrary to lead his transition team and hired Deborah Vance to serve as his chief of staff. He began meeting immediately with various regional leaders and with Governor Bob Riley, specifically to outline his plans for mass transit and a domed stadium in Birmingham. He also announced a plan to provide 15,000 laptop computers to 1st through 8th graders at Birmingham City Schools with help from John Katopodis and the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) foundation.
Mayor of Birmingham
Langford was sworn in as mayor by Judge U. W. Clemon in an afternoon ceremony at Boutwell Auditorium on Tuesday November 13, 2007. He made several changes to his staff on the same day. In addition to new Birmingham Chief of Police A. C. Roper, Langford dismissed Fire Chief Carl Harper, city attorney Tamara Harris Johnson, spokesman Ed Davis, city auditor Etta Dunning, public works director Stephen Fancher, and Birmingham Board of Education liaison Gwen Welch. Newly-appointed administrators include Ivor Brooks as fire chief, and Rickey Kennedy as director of public works.
Prior to his first City Council meeting, Langford distributed sealed copies to the council members of a proposed Birmingham Economic and Community Revitalization Ordinance to raise sales taxes and business license fees in order to finance a $500 bond issue. The borrowed money would pay for public transit, a domed stadium, laptops for school children, and $1 million in discretionary funds for each council district. The copies were marked "confidential", with Langford asking the councilors to return their comments privately before the plan was made public. A copy of the 1-page summary was provided to the News after legal advisor J. Richmond Pearson responded that the document was a public record.
| Preceded by: Bernard Kincaid |
Mayor of Birmingham 2007 - |
Succeeded by: current |
See also
References
- Wright, Barnett (June 3, 2007) "Langford launches run for mayor." Birmingham News.
- Wright, Barnett. (April 23, 2006) "Langford's full of ideas, both big and small." Birmingham News.
- Westlake-Kenny, Barbara. (Fall 1997) "Alumni Spotlight: Larry P. Langford, B.A." UAB Magazine Vol. 17, No. 4
- "Larry Langford." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 27 Mar 2006, 19:19 UTC. 28 Mar 2006, 20:47 [1]
- Bryant, Joseph D. (September 2, 2007) "Hopefuls have just weeks to win votes." Birmingham News.
- Bryant, Joseph D. (September 21, 2007) "Idea man Langford a champion for change." Birmingham News.
- Whitmire, Kyle (October 4, 2007) "Larry Langford's Greatest Hits." Birmingham Weekly.
- DeButts, Jimmy (October 15) "Chamber's Vance tapped as Langford's chief of staff." Birmingham Business Journal.
- Bryant, Joseph D. (November 15, 2007) "Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford assembles team, keeps many Kincaid staffers." Birmingham News.
- Bryant, Joseph D. (November 19, 2007) "Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford retains more department heads from Bernard Kincaid's administration." Birmingham News.
External links
- Langford for Mayor website
- Langford's responses to a Birmingham News questionnaire for the 2007 mayoral election]]