The Homewood Star
TheHomewoodStar.com
November 2012
neighborly news & entertainment for Homewood
Volume 2 | Issue 8 | November 2012
Building positive change in Homewood
Rising in the
rankings
Limbaugh begins term as council president By JEFF THOMPSON As newly elected Homewood City Council president Bruce Limbaugh enters his first term, the importance of communication – with both Council members and residents – will be his guide, he said. “I know the best and quickest way to earn respect is through transparency in communication,” said Limbaugh. “The reality is, we’re not going to provide the answer everyone wants to hear 100 percent of the time, but we are going to provide an answer.” After qualifying to run less than a week before the cutoff, Limbaugh received 57 percent of the vote in the August General Election to defeat his opponent, 12-year council veteran Jackie Langlow. His platform focused on his successes in the public and private sectors as well as strong positions on encouraging and including resident participation in local government. Specifically, Limbaugh said he wants the council to focus on faster responses to resident communication and aggressively New Homewood City Council President Bruce Limbaugh, pictured here with his wife Debbie on election night, begins his term in office this month. Photo by Dan Starnes.
See LIMBAUGH | page 15
Homewood Middle School cross country teams have been placing in meets just as the high school teams have risen during this season thanks to bigger teams and better placement at local invitational meets. In this issue, find out how both teams are attaining success.
Sports page 20
Adoption journeys
Fixing 280 one light at a time By JEFF THOMPSON
Pre-Sort Standard U.S. Postage PAID Birmingham, AL Permit #656
An Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) proposal to begin addressing the abhorrent congestion on Highway 280 is ready for scrutiny. On Monday, Nov. 19, ALDOT is giving the public the opportunity to review and comment on a new multi-million dollar plan to reduce average drive times down Highway 280. The plan focuses on proposed changes to 26 intersections between Hollywood Boulevard, located less than a mile past the Red Mountain Expressway interchange, and Hugh Daniel Drive, one intersection east of State Highway 119. “Our goal is to shorten a driver’s trip by three to five minutes,” ALDOT Director John Cooper said while speaking to the
Mountain Brook Chamber of Commerce last month. “I believe this will cost $12-15 million, and we’ll be able to take it to bid by April and have it done by November 2013.” According to ALDOT Division 3 Engineer Brian Davis, the plan involves a long list of improvements, and the department has a different plan for each intersection. Among other things, the project includes eliminating some access points to the main highway, reconfiguring side streets and widening intersections. Mostly, though, it’s about the lights. Davis explained that the average cycle for a traffic signal on Highway 280 is 170 seconds, and the highway is only allocated an average of 65 seconds per cycle. The proposed plan could raise that to an average
See 280 | page 15 Alabama Department of Transportation Preconstruction Engineer Lance Taylor and Division Engineer Brian Davis review new plans to reduce traffic drive time on Highway 280. Photo by Jeff Thompson.
Jason and Amy Bickell along with big sister Molly brought home Frank, now 14 months, after a two-and-a-half-year domestic adoption process. Learn their story and that of the Waldens and Herrings, two Homewood families who have adopted internationally recently.
Community page 10
INSIDE Sponsors ............... 4 City ......................... 6 Celebrations ......... 8 Community ........... 9 Opinion .................. 19
School House ..... 20 Sports ................... 24 Food ...................... 26 Happenings ......... 28 Calendar ............... 30
facebook.com/thehomewoodstar