Birmingham View News Portal

With a pair of scissors, Tamanuel Eaton cut the red-ribbon tied across the front of her new bungalow in Fountain Heights, officially marking a new era of revitalization in the once-neglected neighborhood.

The act ushered in a long-awaited, dream-come-true for residents who labored tirelessly, badgering elected officials for more than a decade, to bring some of the Downtown redevelopment northward into their community.

“While others heard complaints, some elected officials heard a voice in the wilderness of people who wanted better than they had,” City Councilman William Bell, who as a councilman and interim mayor of Birmingham, bore the brunt of Fountain Heights residents' relentless, sometimes raucous, campaign for their neighborhood. “They were tired of the overgrown lots, the burned out homes, the low water pressure, and the poor streets.”

City Councilor William Bell speaks at the ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrating new houses in Fountain Heights.

He spoke during a ceremony Wednesday along with other elected and housing officials, including dignitaries from the Birmingham Housing Authority. It is completing 25 new homes in Fountain Heights as part of its Hope VI program.

That program, funded by tens of millions of dollars in federal grants, has lead to the demolition of two public housing communities. Hope VI's aim is to eliminate pockets of blighted poverty and create communities where families of mixed incomes can live together. Metropolitan Gardens in Downtown was razed and has been replaced with Park Place in Downtown. Tuxedo Court in Ensley is no more, and it too will be replaced with a new community under the Housing Authority's direction.