Taste of Bessemer provides ideal opportunity to reach out and connect with residents.
More than 60 businesses and hundreds of attendees converged at the 8th Annual Taste of Bessemer, Job Fair & Business Expo on Thursday, April 11, 2024. Held at the Bessemer Civic Center, the event was presented by the Bessemer Area Chamber of Commerce.
It was the perfect time and place for networking and the Bessemer Gameplan team developing the city's new Comprehensive Plan took full advantage of the opportunity to engage the crowd and promote the project's key meetings coming up later this month.
Everything went well according to Chamber President, LaTasha Williams. “It was a huge success. Our goal at the Chamber is to create connections and this is the type of event that allows individuals to create connections to accomplish their goals.”
Downtown Renaissance Tops the List
The day's conversations revealed the rich variety of people's ideas about progress in their city. “I would love new development and enhancements to downtown” said LaTasha Williams who also wants stronger citizen advocacy. “I would like to see the people who were reared in the City of Bessemer speak very highly about this community, the great Marvel City.”
“I want to see Bessemer with more restaurants and clubs,” said 27-year-old Geortez Jackson who wants to spend his money at local establishments. “So, we won’t have to give our tax dollars to other cities.”
Bessemer resident, Kindra Mitchell wants “an IHOP and a Krispy Kreme.”
Ron Cook, owner of the Back Porch restaurant, reminisced about his childhood saying he cherishes memories of downtown Bessemer and wishes the city could revive that energy, “just to bring it back to what it used to be with all the stores open and different opportunities for entrepreneurs to operate downtown and help Bessemer grow.” Also, Cook wants the city to be innovative about police work and integrate more video cameras, emergency call stations and state-of-the-art law enforcement technology.
Concerns and Recommendations
People shared a broad range of perspectives on how to improve Bessemer, including better roads, more activities for senior citizens, youth recreation programs and facilities, more low-income housing, wellness programs, community involvement and more emphasis on STEM classes in the school system. The idea that was repeated most often involved restaurants and clubs with one person proposing a dedicated area for food and alcohol similar to the Uptown Entertainment District in Birmingham.
Appealing to Everyone to Show Up and Speak Out
Though the conversations were casual, the message was nothing but serious: Bessemer residents have an ideal opportunity to influence the future of their community by attending our Bessemer Gameplan launch meeting, Monday, April 22, 2024, from 6-7pm at the Bessemer Recreation Center.
Everyone we engaged was excited about this upcoming meeting. “I think that’s wonderful, said LaTasha Williams, adding, “It’s always good when you can have the community to engage because I feel like here in Bessemer, we all want the same thing; we want Bessemer to be a great place to live, work, conduct business and play. And so, with your team doing this, the citizens and the community will be right there on site to give their input.”
Another Way Your Voice can be Heard
The initial information informing the project team has come from our digital survey. Take it here or choose “Participate” in the navigation menu above for all input opportunities.
Stay In Touch
Got questions or comments? Submit them here. Or, reach out directly to Bessemer Community Engagement Liaison, Karin Hopkins, at 205.837.2519 or by email at karin@placemakers.com.
You can also join the email list at the bottom of this page to receive updates.
Finally, get a taste for the event with these photos below.
We asked the question and people eagerly talked about ideas for shaping the future of Bessemer.
The event attracted a large crowd.
Devante Richardson represented Brown Beauty Barber School at the event.
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