VestaviaVoice.com
April 2014
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Volume 1 | Issue 12 | April 2014
An elegant entrance
Renew your tag in town By KATIE TURPEN Bo Seagrist, Vestavia Hills business license and revenue officer, fully understands the experience of renewing a car tag at the Jefferson County Courthouse. “Last year, I actually got up at 4:30 in the morning,” Seagrist said. “I waited in line for about three and a half hours. I understand people’s pain.” The City is hoping to make this process a little smoother. Beginning April 1, Vestavia Hills residents will be able to renew their vehicle tags online or in
The Vestavia Hills Belles will be presented at this month’s Dogwood Festival. Read more in this issue.
Community page 15
Celebrate life *Not an actual vehicle registration. Image by Keith McCoy.
See REGISTRATION | page 25
Reminders fade in Cahaba Heights The VHHS Relay for Life has been named a Top Five Youth Event in the country. Read more about this year’s festivities inside.
Community page 16
Spring Home Guide
Special section page 18
INSIDE City ..................... 5 Business ............ 7 Food .................. 10 Community .......15
School House ...21 Sports ............... 23 Calendar ........... 26
Pre-Sort Standard U.S. Postage PAID Birmingham, AL Permit #656
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Few signs remain of 2011 tornado
By SYDNEY CROMWELL Chris Callies could hear the unmistakable roar of an approaching tornado. Instantly, his emergency response training kicked in, and he hurried his wife and 3-year-old daughter to a safe place. It was the morning of April 27, 2011, and from underneath a pool table, Callies and his family watched an EF-2 tornado slice an eight-mile path of wreckage across Cahaba Heights. “It felt like it was sucking the house off the ground,” Callies said. “I was watching trees fall outside the window from my safe place.” After the tornado passed, Callies found a different world outside his house. Roads were blocked by debris, houses were heavily damaged, trees were splintered or uprooted and a dangerous array of toppled power lines and exposed gas pipes covered the ground. In the six minutes the tornado was on the ground, it had made parts of Cahaba Heights almost unrecognizable. Now that three years have passed, Callies has seen a resurgence of homeowners and local businesses in the area. Through months and years of community effort, the neighborhood has been rebuilt and is thriving again. The aftermath The landscape immediately after the storm passed was bleak. Many houses had been subjected to the destructive power of
See CAHABA HEIGHTS | page 24
2011
2014
(Above) Parts of Heights Village shopping center sustained significant damage during the 2011 tornado. Photo courtesy of Keith Blanton, Vestavia Hills Department of Building Safety. (Left) Today, the Cahaba Heights shopping center is completely rebuilt and has attracted new businesses like the restaurant FoodBar. Photo by Sydney Cromwell.