Tuscaloosa Forward

Full Moon Bar-B-Que to reopen (Tuscaloosa News)

Tuscaloosa Forward — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 14:16:51 +0000

July 30, 2012 – Full Moon Bar-B-Que is reopening to the public on Tuesday, more than a year after it was destroy in the April, 27, 2011 tornado.

The restaurant, near the corner of 15th Street and McFarland Boulevard, will replace the Wood Square shopping center location that was destroyed by the storm.

The new restaurant is in a 5,000-square-foot building, which will be about 1,700 square feet larger than the one formerly in Wood Square.

: The new Full Moon Bar-B-Que restaurant on McFarland Boulevard in Tuscaloosa on Monday. Full Moon held a ribbon cutting on Monday and will open to the public on Tuesday. (Tuscaloosa News)

To read the entire article, click here.

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July 30, 2012 – Full Moon Bar-B-Que is reopening to the public on Tuesday, more than a year after it was destroy in the April, 27, 2011 tornado.
The restaurant, near the corner of 15th Street and McFarland Boulevard, will replace the Wood Square shopping center location that was destroyed by the storm.
The new restaurant is in a 5,000-square-foot building, which will be about 1,700 square feet larger than the one formerly in Wood Square.

The new Full Moon Bar-B-Que restaurant on McFarland Boulevard in Tuscaloosa on Monday. Full Moon held a ribbon cutting on Monday and will open to the public on Tuesday. (Tuscaloosa News)To read the entire article, click here.
To view more photos of Full Moon’s reopening, click here.
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Recycling will highlight new city building (Tuscaloosa News)

Tuscaloosa Forward — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 17:01:59 +0000

July 24, 2012 - With a budget of $7.575 million, the city’s new Environmental Services Department is expected to be a state-of-the-art facility for workers and customers.

Plans for the facility, unveiled last week to the City Council’s Public Projects Committee, incorporate modern garbage processing equipment that the department lacked in its former building, which was destroyed in the April 27, 2011, tornado.

The design also contains elements that can accommodate visitors and customers in ways that the department was unable to do before.

To read the entire Tuscaloosa News article, click here.

City picks development ombudsman (Tuscaloosa News)

Tuscaloosa Forward — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 16:46:18 +0000

July 21, 2012 – Someone from within the ranks of Tuscaloosa City Hall has been chosen from a pool of nearly 100 applicants to serve as the city’s development ombudsman.

Brendan Moore will begin work immediately in the position, which was created as a liaison between tornado-affected businesses and City Hall.

Moore, 30, has been the land use controls manager for the city’s Planning and Development Services department since 2010. He was hired as a planner in the department in 2008.

“I’m really excited about the opportunity. I’m ready to hit the ground and get going to assist the businesses in any way possible,” Moore said. “I have a lot of experience with the development process that will help me work with the business community and really get the rebuilding going in the recovery area by breaking down any potential barriers they might face during the development process.”

To read the entire Tuscaloosa News article, click here.

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July 21, 2012 – Someone from within the ranks of Tuscaloosa City Hall has been chosen from a pool of nearly 100 applicants to serve as the city’s development ombudsman.
Brendan Moore will begin work immediately in the position, which was created as a liaison between tornado-affected businesses and City Hall.
Moore, 30, has been the land use controls manager for the city’s Planning and Development Services department since 2010. He was hired as a planner in the department in 2008.
“I’m really excited about the opportunity. I’m ready to hit the ground and get going to assist the businesses in any way possible,” Moore said. “I have a lot of experience with the development process that will help me work with the business community and really get the rebuilding going in the recovery area by breaking down any potential barriers they might face during the development process.”
To read the entire Tuscaloosa News article, click here.
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Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox gives an update on the city’s recovery – July 13, 2012

Tuscaloosa Forward — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 16:25:57 +0000

Businesses rebuild after tornado (Tuscaloosa News)

Tuscaloosa Forward — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 17:27:41 +0000

July 8, 2012 – “The tornado-devastated landscape along 15th Street and McFarland Boulevard is beginning to rise again. While some businesses destroyed or damaged by the April 27, 2011, tornado already have returned to this commercial corridor — McDonald’s, Hardee’s and Boulevard Salon, among them — more are now taking shape and getting ready to open their doors.”

To read the entire Tuscaloosa News article, click here.

Here is a quick timeline of when some of these businesses plan to reopen:

Open by: July 23
Full Moon BBQ (1434 McFarland Blvd E)

Open by: Mid-August
Hokkaido (607 15th Street E)
Express Oil Change (604 15th Street E)
Krispy Kreme (1400 McFarland Blvd E)

Open by: End of 2012
Hoo’s Q – (101 15th Street E)
CVS (1413 McFarland Blvd E)
Schlotzky’s (405 15th Street E)

Alabama House Members Say Rule Hampers Tornado Recovery

Tuscaloosa Forward — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 00:37:48 +0000

WASHINGTON (June 27) – Congressman Spencer Bachus (AL-6), Congresswoman Terri Sewell (AL-7), and Congressman Robert Aderholt (AL-6) say efforts to rebuild rental housing destroyed by tornadoes in Tuscaloosa and other communities are being held back by a bureaucratic discrepancy

The three Alabama delegation members said a disaster relief formula used by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is having the unintended effect of diverting recovery assistance away from rental housing needs. They urged HUD to revise the program to ensure equitable treatment for rental housing construction

Mayor Walt Maddox has said the problem is acute in Tuscaloosa, which lost hundreds of rental housing units during the tornadoes of April 27, 2011.

According to a study by the Mayor’s office, one census tract in Tuscaloosa suffered damage to 463 housing units, including 440 rental units. The full extent of the devastation to the housing stock, including the many rental units destroyed, has not been reflected in the sampling model that HUD uses to distribute recovery aid. The result in Tuscaloosa has been less available funding to rebuild storm-ravaged neighborhoods.

Congressman Bachus said, “Rental housing provides safe and habitable shelter for citizens in Tuscaloosa and other communities. A key to Tuscaloosa’s continuing economic recovery will be restoring the lost supply of housing. Unfortunately, critical rental housing needs are going unmet because of the way that damage is being calculated and we are working to change that.”

Congresswoman Sewell (AL-7) said, “The devastation and destruction caused by last year’s tornadoes across the state of Alabama is still being felt, particularly in areas that were already economically disadvantaged. We must continue to work with HUD to ensure Tuscaloosa and other affected communities receive adequate funds to help repair and rebuild rental housing units that provide critical shelter for women, children and families. Restoring the city’s housing options is critical to Tuscaloosa’s economic growth and development.”

Congressman Aderholt (AL-4) said, “This flawed policy is ultimately hindering Tuscaloosa’s ongoing recovery efforts. In fact, under HUD’s current disaster relief formula any community with a major college or university that has a high ratio of rental housing will suffer. HUD needs to come up with a real public-private partnership policy which meets the needs of those left homeless by the storms in Tuscaloosa.”

Bachus and Sewell today spoke on the House floor in favor of an amendment to redirect $200 million in the proposed HUD budget to rebuilding rental housing in storm-damaged communities unfairly disadvantaged by the current flawed formula.

While the measure was not added to the bill, the delegation members said they will continue to press for changes to ensure that that rental housing is replaced in Tuscaloosa and other affected communities.

To view excerpt from Congressman Bachus’ floor remarks, click here.

To read the official press release, click here.

Plans to rebuild Alberta Elementary School continue to move forward

Tuscaloosa Forward — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 17:37:36 +0000

June 25, 2012 - City Hall has been ordered to pay the owners of Graceland Apartments in Alberta $536,000 in order to seize the land through its powers of eminent domain. The city also must pay the fees and court costs for the proceedings, bringing the total owed for the rights to the land to $537,850.52.

Robin Edgeworth, co-commander of the city’s Incident Command team, proposed using $200,000 from the Tuscaloosa Storm Recovery Fund, to which some donors had submitted money exclusively to benefit education. Edgeworth’s plan called for the balance of $337,850.52 to come from the city’s General Fund Reserve for Future Improvement.

The City Council agreed and approved both elements of Edgeworth’s funding plan. Efforts to seize Graceland Apartments through eminent domain began in December, when the City Council voted to take the land as part of the new Alberta Elementary School campus. The apartment complex and the adjacent school were destroyed in the tornado that tore through Tuscaloosa on April 27, 2011.

To continue reading the Tuscaloosa News article, click here.

Update from Mayor Walter Maddox on Tuscaloosa’s Recovery – June 21, 2012

Tuscaloosa Forward — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 13:27:46 +0000

Despite repair costs, Yourway Furniture leads way for businesses

Tuscaloosa Forward — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 15:58:05 +0000

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class=”alignright” title=”http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=TL&Date=20120617&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=120619835&Ref=AR&MaxW=728&logo=/images/watermark.gif&logoxpos=0&logoypos=0″ src=”http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=TL&Date=20120617&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=120619835&Ref=AR&MaxW=728&logo=/images/watermark.gif&logoxpos=0&logoypos=0″ alt=”" width=”306″ height=”230″ />June 17, 2012 – Johnny Little considered retiring to his farm in Haleyville after his furniture store in Alberta was struck by last year’s tornado. “We had $1.5 million in damage,” he said of the store, Yourway Furniture. “The roof was off. The whole building was flooded. Inventory was lost or damaged.

“Being here 23 years, I had a lot of mixed emotions. Do I continue? Do I put more money back into the business or do I phase it out?” And then there was the human factor. He had 20 employees, many of whom had been with Yourway for more than 15 years. They were good workers who would do whatever he asked of them, Little said.

“As I looked at the situation, I said ‘What are these people going to do?’ They have been so loyal to me all of these years. Do I just push them into the street and tell them ‘Good luck?’” Little decided to continue the business. He moved his store operations to a warehouse he had on Skyland Boulevard while he repaired his store at 930 26th Ave. E., just off University Boulevard.

To continue reading the Tuscaloosa News article, click here.

Tuscaloosa City Council approves new ombudsman position to help rebuilding businesses (al.com)

Tuscaloosa Forward — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 17:07:10 +0000

June 13, 2012 – The Tuscaloosa City Council unanimously approved job class specifications and amended the city’s code for a new mayor’s office position who will help businesses rebuild in the city’s tornado recovery

zone.

City officials hope to fill the position of economic development ombudsman — who will communicate with and assist business owners working to rebuild through federal, state and local regulations — by the end of July.

Last week, the City Council’s Administration Committee set the salary range for the position. According to the job posting on the city website’s employment page, the salary for the development ombudsman will be between $57,635.94 and $76,480.15. Funding will come from two positions that are currently vacant.

City Hall announced that the council’s Finance Committee approved funding for the position in May. At that time, Mayor Walt Maddox said the city needs a representative to work with businesses, city departments and outside agencies to help with the rebuilding process.

To read the entire al.com article, click here.
To view the job posting, click here.