Montgomery Mayor Looks Ahead Towards 2015
[gtxvideo vid=”4RtSb0uL” playlist=”” pid=”XiOflQdH” thumb=”http://player.gtxcel.com/thumbs/4RtSb0uL.jpg” vtitle=”Bus Routes”]
The new year is just getting started — and for Alabama’s Capital City, that means getting ready for one of Montgomery’s biggest events, a new police chief along with more officers and some re-development — at least that’s what mayor Todd Strange predicts for 2015. I sat down with Mayor Todd Strange to look ahead in the new year to see which of those will be the biggest challenge. Meanwhile, he has his biggest decision to make that could affect what happens in 2015: whether to run for mayor again. A new year means a lot ahead for the city of Montgomery. Mayor Todd Strange says first comes the city’s new police chief, Earnest Finley, who starts later this month. Strange says he believes Finley’s ideas could change safety in Montgomery. “I think he will be a huge community advocate and he will emphasize our neighborhoods and that will then lead us into looking into our neighborhoods and how we can do things perhaps differently and even better,” Said Strange. Strange says 2015 could see an extra 80 police officers at the South Central precinct. “Putting detectives and some other services, magistrate services out there to really have a fully functioning police precinct,” Said Strange. But he says his biggest challenge is happening now: getting ready for the 50th anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery March. With less than 90 days left until the commemoration, he says they’re expecting 30,000 to 40,000 visitors in the city that week. “That is going to be a huge public safety challenge to be able to do that and we already for the last 3 or 4 months have reached out to all law enforcement — federal, state, local, sheriffs — to be able to augment our 520 person police department,” Said Strange. So what happens once the event is over? Strange says he hopes to re-focus re-development from the civil rights march to West Fairview Avenue, Cloverdale, and the Patterson field baseball stadium. But there’s one decision that could define what happens to all other decisions… Will Strange run for Mayor again? “The decision I’ve made is I’m going to make the decision in January so there are some conversations going on right now, getting medical reports, getting everything where I need to be to make that decision and I have committed to my family and myself and to one or two more people that by the end of this month, we’ll make that decision and announce that decision.” Strange will have to stay in office until about September or October if he is not re-elected or decides not to run.
