By james art 
The Birmingham City Council on Tuesday approved a $4.5 million agreement with Northside Redevelopment to build city-owned sidewalk and road infrastructure on a new 9,380-seat amphitheater and surrounding redevelopment.
According to city staff, that was part of the original agreement between the city, the BJCC, Live Nation and other parties, in addition to funding that was pre-approved by the city.
“It’s really about improving this whole corridor in north Birmingham,” said Councilman Hunter Williams, who chairs the economic development and tourism committee.
“This really complements our efforts to increase street lighting and repaving in the area,” he continued. “We are at a pivotal moment. For one thing, the council doesn’t think we’re spending enough money on our city infrastructure. We know the public wants to see more of this. And secondly, next year we will have a brand new world-class amphitheater and we want Birmingham to be a destination for people to come and visit. Most importantly, we want them to be safe and investing in new infrastructure is a key part of that.”
Construction on the new amphitheater has already begun and is expected to be completed by the summer of 2025, according to city officials.
Councilwoman Valeria Abbott emphasized that the city pays for improvements to public areas, not privately owned properties.
“We don’t support anyone’s project; we’re doing things that probably should have been done a long time ago,” she said.
The measure passed with Councilor Carol Clark abstaining and all other members voting in favor.
Council President Darrell O’Quinn said the work is in addition to the $10 million in street paving the city pays annually.
The Council renews the transit agreement with an increase
The council also on Tuesday unanimously approved an agreement to fund the Birmingham-Jefferson County Transit Authority with a 27 percent increase over the previous year.
The agreement will provide $14 million to the authority, which includes fixed-route and paratransit services, as well as bus rapid transit services.
The city invested about $11 million in the services last year.
Charlotte Shaw, the authority’s director, told the council that since the BRT’s launch in 2022, the service has seen a 207% increase in ridership. According to Shaw, the average monthly ridership is now more than 20,000 residents. She added that officials hope to keep the services free for the foreseeable future.
Birmingham BRT lines run from Woodlawn to Five Points West, with 32 stops along the route that connect to other fixed routes and microtransit hubs.
Shaw said the authority hopes to expand BRT’s footprint in the coming years, as well as launch an app next year that will consolidate payments and routes for the various public transit services.