Birmingham News (AL){PUBLICATION2}
MAYOR'S RACE PICKS UP STEAM  
 
January 21, 2004  
Section: Neighborhoods  
Page: 1-H  
   TROY GOODMAN News staff writer  
The Hoover 2004 mayor's race picked up steam this month as contenders for the city's top job made public appearances and reached out to residents as a way to solidify their platforms or garner media attention for their campaigns.  
 
 
 
Incumbent Mayor Barbara McCollum spoke to the Friends of Hoover monthly breakfast last week, shaking hands afterward and listening to residents' concerns. She gave the group highlights from her annual "state of the city" speech, which, since the latest version was penned in late 2003, has served as a kind of preamble to her re-election bid, observers said.
 
 
Candidate Bob Lochamy, a former sports day, he said a meeting with homeowners in Greystone, a Hoover neighborhood off U.S. 280, should happen in the coming days to discuss ways to improve that community's City Council representation.
 
 
A third candidate, Tony Petelos, stepped up Friday with a press conference in front of the planned Hoover Public Safety Center to bash McCollum's administration for launching a multimillion-dollar renovation of the building. Construction managers at the Safety Center, a former BellSouth warehouse on Valleydale Road near U.S. 31, gathered on the edge of the dusty, unfinished parking lot to watch as Petelos campaigned before a cluster of television cameras and reporters.
 
 
"From here on out it's campaign time," Petelos said after Friday's media event. Hoover voters will cast their ballots in August for mayor and five city council seats.
 
 
Two other notable political figures in the city, Council President Bob Austin and City Councilman Jack Wright, have declined to say whether they might run for mayor.
 
 
Lochamy, owner of Hooverbased Lochamy & Associates, was the first candidate to announce in 2003. He said Thursday his meeting calendar was filling up and that he has tweaked his work schedule to accommodate more time in campaign efforts. The media consultant vowed to "be out there almost daily getting the pulse of the community" in the mayor's race.
 
 
Lochamy and Petelos have been regulars at the twicemonthly Hoover City Council meetings since November. The candidates may get a chance, during public hearings scheduled in the next few weeks, to talk about issues they have deemed campaign worthy.
 
 
Austin, too, has seemed willing to invite Lochamy and Petelos to address the five-member council at the end of some sessions.
 
 
Petelos, a former state lawmaker and Department of Human Resources commissioner, now a self-employed builder, said he is scrambling to mix private business with public campaigning. Friday's gathering at the Public Safety Center site was the second time in recent weeks Petelos has faxed out statements and held briefings to attack McCollum's administration for what he called "reckless and irresponsible" financial decisions.
 
 
"This mayor has mortgaged the future of the City of Hoover and saddled its residents and children with debt," said one Petelos statement issued last week.
 
 
McCollum said Thursday she would not campaign during working hours - serving as mayor and campaigning for the 2004 election "are separate activities," she said. The part-time mayor said meetings would be held in the coming weeks, probably during evening hours, to organize her own campaign activities.
 
 
George Mullins, a founding member of the activist group Concerned Citizens for the Fu ture of Hoover, said these wellthought out campaign plans, in many ways, stand in sharp contrast to what he considers an uncoordinated growth and development plan for the city. He said the Concerned Citizens haven't chosen a candidate to support, but should make that decision in the coming weeks or months after hearing more about the various platforms.
 
 
"I want someone who can give us planned growth because I'm still not seeing that," Mullins said of the 2004 election.
 
 
"We are a sought-after community in the state of Alabama and we need to have strategic, world-class government to administer it," he said.  

Yes, BUT........the Council in 2004 was in a state of chaos.  Constant bickering (I didn't post all of that).  The President of the Council filed a lawsuit against the Mayor or some such nonsense.  Lots of folks were trying to get land annexed into Hoover.
 
Chaos created a perceived weakness that allowed many to step up.
 
ALSO......the Council went from a 5- to a 7-member City Council.  There was talk of Districting.  I believe that many were afraid they would not have representation, and that's why they stepped up and ran for Council.
 
I'd like to resurrect the discussion of Districting.  I mean, look at the Council.  7 white folks.  Upper middle class.  Hoover is much more diverse than our Council shows.  We had one African-American person and one Hispanic person run for Council last time.  I certainly hope that we can attract a more diverse candidate pool.
 
This Council has done an outstanding job of keeping chaos to a minimum.  At least since they had Dr. Williams fired.  This Superintendent and Central Office is well aware of the power that this Council wields and you will not see them speak out against the Council's actions ever again because of it.  What's that saying about Absolute Power?

Quote from synergis1 on 05/04/08 at 9:34pm:

 
Sorry, couldn't resist...