-- A New Plan for Mobile's Future Starts: Your Voice is Needed
-- Tell Us Your Story About Mobile
-- Airport Annexation Tax Rates Take Effect March 1
-- City Employees Start Carpool Program
-- Copeland-Cox Named America's Best Tennis Center
-- Mobile Welcomes Polish Sister City Delegation
-- Sign Up for Alerts From Mobile Connect-CTY
Happy Leap Day!
As of this morning, we're still awaiting word on the
winner of the Air Force refueling tanker contract.
Mobile stands to reap the benefits of thousands of
jobs if our Northrop-Grumman team wins. We are
optimistic about our chances, and are very confident in
our aircraft. While we would be disappointed if we do
not win, we will not be discouraged. Either way, this
announcement marks the starting line for Mobile, not
the finishing line.
In the meantime, we are
making great strides in our New Plan for Mobile. I
hope you read on for more information about that and
other topics.
Sincerely,
Samuel L. Jones Mayor
A New Plan for Mobile's Future Starts: Your Voice is Needed
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The City of Mobile wants your voice to be included in
the upcoming planning process for a new plan to chart
our future.
Your chance to participate in the new Master Plan for
Mobile is coming up with Community Meetings being
held in each planning zone. Mayor Jones kicked off
the process with a series of "Conversations with the
Mayor," bringing together stakeholders in each zone to
let them know about upcoming events that will affect
their constituents.
Here is the schedule for the upcoming
meetings:
Zone One (Downtown and Midtown Loop)
Monday, March 10
6:30 - 8:30 p.m.
Alabama School of Math & Science (1255 Dauphin
Street)
Zone Two (MLK and surrounding neighborhoods)
Tuesday, March 11
6:30 - 8:30 p.m.
Florence Howard Elementary School (957 Dr. Martin
Luther King Junior Ave.)
Zone Three (Oakdale and surrounding
neighborhoods)
But the community meetings are not the only way we
want to hear your voice. We want you to "Tell Us Your
Story About Mobile" and growing up in the
master plan areas. We want to hear
your unique experiences about living in these historic
and beautiful neighborhoods. As we grow, we want to
keep the roots that have held our communities
together strong.
We've set up a page on the New Plan for Mobile
website to give you an opportunity to tell that story.
Click the link below and you'll be able to tell your
history to the entire city. We've planned several ways
to recognize those with the most unique and
compelling stories. A panel is being assembled by
the Mobile Historic Development Commission
(MHDC) to determine the winners.
"This is a tremendously dynamic and exciting part of
our master plan," says Mayor Jones. "I encourage
everyone who has a story about living in Mobile,
whether you still live in the area or have moved away,
to share their story with us."
Once a month,
the selected writers will be allowed to read their
stories at a City Council Meeting, which is broadcast
on Comcast Cable. They will also be recognized in
the MHDC newsletter and other ways throughout the
city.
The city limits have expanded to include the airport
property area described by the map below. Effective
March 1, 2008 city sales and use tax must be collected
on sales that close in the newly annexed area. These
include sales at businesses located in the annexed
area and goods that are delivered into the annexed
area. The City Sales & Use Tax rate is 4%. The City
tax rate on meals, foodstuffs consumed on the
premises, beer, liquor, wine and alcoholic beverages
is 5%. The City Motor Vehicle Rental Tax rate is 5.5%.
The City of Mobile police jurisdiction has also
expanded. Effective March 1, 2008, police jurisdiction
sales and use tax, which is 2% of gross receipts,
must be collected on sales that close in the new
police jurisdiction. These include sales at
businesses located in the new police jurisdiction and
goods that are delivered into the new police
jurisdiction. Food and beverages are taxed at the 2%
rate in the police jurisdiction.
If you have any questions please contact the City of
Mobile Revenue Department at (251) 208-7462 or
email revenue.batch@cityofmobile.org.
City Employees Start Carpool Program
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The South Alabama Regional Planning
Commission (SARPC) announced the launch of the
CommuteSmart Mobile program. CommuteSmart is a
ride matching initiative modeled after similar
programs in major cities throughout the nation, and it
will offer area residents a better way to get to and from
work. To help jumpstart this new program, the City of
Mobile is offering an incentive to employees
participating in the program.
CommuteSmart is a web-based ride matching
program which collects information from participants
and in turn sets up carpooling networks of commuters
from the same areas. Another great feature of this ride
matching program is the offer of an emergency ride
home to participants. In the event that carpoolers
should need an unscheduled ride home due to an
emergency or illness, CommuteSmart will provide
carpoolers with free transportation home.
Best of all, the program is completely free and signing
up is simple. To sign up, log on to the CommuteSmart
Mobile homepage at: www.co
mmutesmart.org/mobile and register for the ride
matching program. After filling out a brief form
detailing your commute, you are automatically
matched with a carpooling network. Interested
participants are encouraged to sign up through the
website, but may also sign up by phone by calling 251-
706-1CAR (224).
Copeland-Cox Named America's Best Tennis Center
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Professional Tennis Registry (PTR) presented its
annual awards during the 2008 PTR International
Tennis Symposium, and named the Copeland-Cox
Mobile Tennis Center as the nation's best.
With 60 courts, the Mobile Tennis Center is the world's
largest municipal tennis facility. In the summer of
2007, a $2 million renovation was completed with 10
new courts and shade shelters, resurfacing and new
lighting. It boasts four QuickStart Tennis Courts which
are formatted and utilized for 60 foot and 36 foot
courts. The economic impact of the 2007 tournaments
was more than $28 million into the city of Mobile.
PTR is the largest global organization of tennis
teaching professionals with 13,000 members in 126
countries. It has the greatest percentage of
multicultural and women members of any such
organization.
Mobile Welcomes Polish Sister City Delegation
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The City of Mobile welcomed a delegation from our
sister-city of Katowice, Poland. Attending the City
Council meeting were:
Mr. Piotr Uszok - the Mayor of Katowice
Mr. Jerzy Forajter - the Chairman of the City
Council
Mr. Mateusz Skowronski - the proxy of the Mayor of The
City of Katowice for strategic investors
Mr. Adam Leski - Head of the Foreign Cooperation
Unit.
They were greeted by Chief of Staff Al Stokes,
Councilman Fred Richardson and Councilwoman
Connie Hudson. Councilmembers Richardson and
Hudson made a trip to Katowice in 2005.
In the event of an emergency, the City of Mobile wants
you to be as prepared and informed as possible. We
have a great new tool to help you do that. You can
sign up to get alerts from the City of Mobile's Alert
Notification System called Connect- CTY. Here's how it
works, when something happens, such as a
hurricane warning, gas leak, road closure, or garbage
pick-up delay, the City sends out messages alerting
you to the situation.
All public phone numbers in Mobile County have been
added, but that's only part of what the system can do.
You can add cell numbers and email addresses to
receive these messages even when you are not at
home.
