Rob Burton IV
- This article is about the Neighborhood Officer and former Birmingham Land Bank Authority officer. For others with similar names, see Rob Burton (disambiguation)
James Robert Burton IV (born March 30, 1989 in New York City) is the executive director of SWEET Alabama and previously served on the Board of Directors of the Birmingham Land Bank Authority
Burton is the son of investment banker J. Robert Burton III (deceased) of Auburn, Lee County, and realtor Barbara Burton, formerly Barbara Blount Lovelace, of Brewton, Escambia County. In 2012 he became a charter member of the Birmingham Young Professional Kiwanis Club. He served as executive director of the Magic City Agriculture Project from 2013 to 2017. He has served on the executive committee of the Alabama Sierra Club and co-chairs their "Beyond Coal" committee.
In 2017 Burton co-founded SWEET Alabama and Friends of Dynamite Hill. He served on incoming Mayor Randall Woodfin's Social Justice Transition Team in 2018 and was subsequently appointed to the Board of Directors of the Birmingham Land Bank Authority in the same year by the Birmingham City Council. He was appointed to the Birmingham Land Bank Authority in 2018, and served as board secretary of the Birmingham Land Bank Authority from 2018-2021 and as Chair of the Law and Legislation Committee and Chair of the Special Projects Committee from 2019-2022. He was not re-appointed the the Birmingham Land Bank Authority due to concerns about his "radical activism" around his support of Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice's campaign to prevent Birmingham from cooperating with I.C.E.
Burton was elected secretary of the Glen Iris Neighborhood Association in 2018, a role he currently holds, and also serves as the Vice President for the Southside Community Advisory Committee.
In 2020 Burton was named co-chair of Our Revolution - Birmingham and co-founded People's Budget Birmingham.
References
- West, Ty (August 23, 2018) "Two appointed to Birmingham Land Bank Authority"" Birmingham Business Journal
- Prickett, Sam (October 2, 2018) "Birmingham Council Appoints 2 to Land Bank Authority Board, Pushes It to Become Self-Sustaining" Birmingham Watch
- "Acquiring Land via Birmingham Land Bank with J. Robert Burton" (February 25, 2020) Communal Expression