Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Uncle Henry Show weekday afternoons from five till seven.
Stanney Simpson, Oh should I say maya Stanney.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Simpson message deleted.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
This is the Uncle Henry Show here on news radio
seventy ten WNTM, and I thank you very much for
listening to the unkleanver Shaw.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
I appreciate that very much.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Once again, here we are together, me and you trying
to figure out what.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Is going on, what is going on in the world
around us.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Now today on the Uncleander Show, I'll give you some
coverage of today's Mobile City Council meeting. Now, if you've
heard me talk about before I get to that, happy
birthday to Virginia McNeil O'Brien, a prominent mobile businesswoman. Virginia
McNeil O'Brien, Happy birthday to you. Now back to the show.
(01:58):
The city council meeting was today. And if you've ever
heard me talk about Mobile City Council meeting, maybe you've
heard me talk about how as I've watched these meetings
through the years, it has become more and more like
a punishment unto me that I feel punished, but just
just having to endure the politicians listening to them as
they talk about wasting the tax dollar, and listening to
(02:19):
them patting each other on the back and pontificat and
thinking that what they say is important. It can be
very tedious, very just awful to watch a lot of
these meetings. Today's meeting, though, Mobile City Council meeting today
was not like that in most now there were some
there was some hot air there, I'll have to say,
(02:42):
but mostly not like that today. I really if you're
a student of Mobile history, if you're interested in the
history of the city of Mobile, if you've been paying
close attention for a number of years or decades, I
would advise you to go watch the meeting. I can't
share all of it with you here on the radio
due to lack of time and also lack of your interest.
(03:04):
But if you're interested, go watch it on YouTube. It's
about a ninety minute meeting, and there's so much in
today's meeting that will be of interest to you, I think,
especially if you've been paying close attention through these stemps
in years. In a little bit before, because today was
the last Mobile City Council meeting for Mayor Standy Simpson
(03:26):
as the mayor, and so because it was his last
meeting as mayor. He had prepared remarks and he gave
a speech about a nine minute speech. I think you'd
be interested to hear what he had to say. And
also people were paying tribute to him. Mobile City Council
members all of them had they well, they didn't have to,
(03:46):
maybe they felt like they had to.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
They all did.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
They all had warm words for the mayor as he
was making his exit. And also there were some special
guests that came to the meeting, and it seemed to
be a surprise to the mayor. He introduced former Congressman
Bradley Burn and also former Congressman Joe Bonner saying that
(04:11):
they were going to make an economic development or a
workforce development announcement, some announcement about workforce development, and it
turns out they were there just to talk about Mayor Stimpson.
So now, again time restraints, I can't play you all
of their remarks. So if you're interested, if you have
(04:32):
an interest in this, you can watch it on YouTube.
Thought you might want to hear a little bit of
what they had to say, just to get a flavor
for all of it.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
So here is just a little bit.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Less than two minutes of former Congressman Bradley Burn. He
now is the guy running the Mobile Chamber of Commerce.
Here is some of what Bradley Burn had to say
to Mayor Sandy Stimpson on the mayor's final Mobile City
Council meaning as mayor, that was the council.
Speaker 4 (05:03):
Mayor, We're not here to talk about workforce development. We're
here to talk about you.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Oh, surprise, surprise, you're the topic.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
Surprise.
Speaker 4 (05:16):
When you came to me in twenty twelve and said
you wanted to run for mayor, I thought you were crazy,
but it was good crazy, and it's been very good
for this community that you were crazy enough to do it.
You got the city's finances in order, you rebuilt the
fire department and the police department. You reached out there
(05:38):
and started thinking about things would make the quality of
life in this city better. We built the capital infrastructure
with the help of the council. And in order to
do all that, you had to bring all of this
together in one mobile, and one mobile is going to
be your legacy for decades and decades to come. We
(05:59):
of the Chamber are charged.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
Well about that.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Just interrupting there. I don't know if you remember, but
when when Mayor Stimpson came forward with the one mobile concept.
I can remember him being mocked. Some people didn't like
it for whatever reason, and I don't know why, because
I'm not a mind reader. I've not yet developed the
(06:21):
ability to read another person's mind. But I do remember
people getting Some people seemed mad that he even suggested
that there could be such a thing as one mobile.
The fact that he stuck with it for all those
terms despite people there were there were always some people
in the community that were upset about it.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Just the phrase.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
I used to wonder myself, why does that phrase upset
people so much? Kept on and had some success with it.
Speaker 4 (06:52):
Back to Bradley Burn doing the economic development for the
city and for the county. But we don't get to
do that if we don't do the block and tackling.
And you do the blocking and tackling, y'all do the
block and the tackling. Without it, we don't make those changes.
Mobile is in its golden age, and we're in that
golden age because of your leadership, and the people in
(07:14):
this community are deeply grateful to you and your family
for all that you've done to put us where we
are today. And the best compliment we can pay to
you is to make sure that after you leave Monday,
we're going to keep it going. Thank you for all
you've done for this community, and God bless you and
your family.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
So so Mobile is in its golden age now, maybe
we're maybe we just started, and maybe not all of
us feel the goldenness of it yet. Now I will,
I will admit I will feel like Mobile is in
its golden age if the Fantasy Bridge ever becomes reality. Now,
I'll tell you a couple of things. I feel like
(08:00):
Mobile will be in it's golden age when I'm retired
and the Fantasy Bridge is in its entirety built. But yeah,
a lot more going on now in Mobile versus back
when Mayor Stempson first took office, So a lot more
to go into. Getting ready to go into a break
(08:21):
here on the Uncle Henvers Show. But to have more
from the Mobile City Council meeting, I want to share
a couple of more remarks that were made about the Mayor.
I want you to hear a little bit of what
he said as he was making his final speech there,
and also some of the actual business of today's consule meeting,
(08:43):
which I found quite intriguing, So all of that to
come as the Uncle Henry Show proceeds forward here on
news Radio seven to ten WNTM. Uncle Henry Show, NewsRadio
(09:08):
seven to ten WNTM. It is five twenty news headlines
coming up in ten minutes today Mobile City Council meeting,
and it was Mayor Sandy Stimpson's last meeting as mayor,
and so lots of tributes to him and a speech
from him already played for you. A brief bit of
(09:28):
Bradley Burn praising the accomplishments of the Stimpson administration. Here
is some of former Congressman Joe Bonner, who currently runs
the University of South Alabama. Here is Joe Bonner checking
off a list of what he says are the accomplishments
(09:49):
of Sandy Stimpson's administration during his time his office in office.
So let's listen as he checks all these things off
of a list of accomplishments.
Speaker 5 (10:00):
Beginning with the original vision for one mobile as outlined
in his first campaign. Mayor Simpson and are other leaders,
those who are here today and those who've come before,
set out to do big things that others had only
dreamed of doing, goals such as moving the airport from
West Mobile down to brookly Field. Check building a brand
(10:25):
new three hundred million dollar civic center. Check, transforming the
port of Mobile into one of the fastest growing ports
in America. Fleet with the deepest shipping channel in the
entire golf.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Check, and he's checking things off a list I kept
listening for potholes being filled on the list didn't get mentioned.
Speaker 5 (10:52):
Helping to secure additional investments for both air Bus and Austel,
along with literally dozens of other companies, to create thousands
of new jobs in the pipeline, and in the instance
of Airbus, helping Mobile become the fourth largest commercial airport
aircraft manufacturing hub in the world. Check securing more than
(11:17):
two dozen pay races for city workers, and leading the
initiative for a successful vote by the citizens of Westmobile
to come be a part of the city, Helping for
the first time in years restore Mobile's position is Alabama's
second largest city in the state. Once again, Check, and
(11:40):
while many people don't fully realize all that you've done,
working behind the scenes, you have led the effort to
build consensus so that one day soon, hopefully, we will
have a brand new bridge crossing over Mobile River. A
mobile bay, and that is a big check in many ways,
(12:00):
if it ever, if we ever get the bridge without embellishing.
There are so many other important accomplishments that have been
recorded during your twelve years. Lower crime rates, the successful
implementation of the Capital Improvement Fund, reducing bond and debtedness
and policing, multiple credit rating increases from both Moody's and
(12:22):
S and P. The list truly seems endless.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
But as we.
Speaker 5 (12:27):
All celebrate what you have meant to us, I'm confident,
knowing you as long as I have, that you would
much prefer, rather than praise you, that we would simply
thank the Good Lord above for the many blessings that
he has bestowed upon us during this time in office.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
All Right, Joe Bonner, former congressman, currently running University of
South Alabama, listing, checking off the list of all the accomplishments. Now,
I'm going to share with you just a little bit.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Of the mayor.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
He spoke at length, thanked a lot of people. If
you're interested, If you're wondering, is he going to thank me?
Is he going to thank me? You can watch the
YouTube video of the council beating see if you thank
you I thought you would want to hear this part
of his speech though, because I haven't heard him talk
about his faith as much as he talked about his
faith in this speech. So here is the mayor. He
(13:28):
talks about what the secret sauce of Mobile is.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
I also tell people that what is the secret sauce
of Mobile? What's the rest of people? What we've been
able to do over the last several years.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Now, please don't guess what the secret sauce is because
your guests might just may not be good. And I'm
uncomfortable with people in Mobile thinking about sauces that are secret.
But let's listen to what the mayor says the secret
sauce is.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
And I'd say it's a combination of three things. First,
a vision was cast to unite this city become a safer,
more business and family friendly city one mobile, and now
we steadfastly pursued that fulfillment. Scripture tells us that where
brothers live in harmony, God commands a blessing. It also
tells us that God hears and answers our prayers, and
(14:19):
all the answers sometimes fall short of what we hope,
but they also may exceed our expectations. So secondly, fervently
and ongoing prayer by countless people that brought God's favor
upon us and open doors of opportunity.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
And third, now.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
He said the first thing in the Secret Sauce was
having a vision, having a plan. The second thing was people,
so many people praying. I like this kind of talk.
How has he done more of this?
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Our willingness to publicly glorify God for our successes completes
the recipe for our success Except having written that, I
had an afterthought.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
I heard the third thing was glorifying God in public.
I like the fact that recently we're hearing more public
figures talk about their faith. Now, I don't want to
necessarily live in a theocracy, but I sure do like
hearing people admit honestly their faith in God publicly, even
elected officials.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
Which I also wrote down. And this is coming to
the end. When things are going good, when you got
money in the bank, when people are patting you on
the bank and telling you how good you are, it's
time to be careful because that can lead to complacency,
(15:47):
can lead to sloppiness.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
Be very careful.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
Not to exceed the capacity to execute in an outstanding way.
There's only so much can do well, and there's everybody
wants you to do more, but you've got to be
measured as you go forward. Right now, Mobile has momentium,
So don't sit on your laws, don't let up. Challenge
(16:13):
yourself to be better, do better, work smarter, cooperate more,
be a better teammate. And when I break up a
staff meeting, and I'm not breaking this meeting up because
this is CJ's I always say, let's go get them
boys and girls.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
So big appreciation there for Mayor Stimpson in his final
meeting as mayor. Now a lot of people also paid
tribute to the mayor's wife, Jean. He thanked her for
being a part of his administration, you know, being a
part of the family and helping him execute his duties.
Let's listen, here is a Mobile City Care Council president, CJ. Small,
(17:02):
talking about how great the mayor's wife has been.
Speaker 6 (17:07):
Virginie has been a preparable first lady of the City
of Mobile, very respectful, always smiling, and stayed in her place.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
She stayed in her place, and that's very.
Speaker 6 (17:18):
Important because many times that you have wives interfere with
their husband's business. Well, I can honestly say that she
has just represented the city of Mobile very well.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
All right, so CJ Small thanking the mayor's wife for
staying in her place.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
I have more.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
There was actually business at the meeting that I found intriguing.
We'll get to all of that as the Uncle Henry
Show continues after the news breaking. It says, the Uncle
(18:07):
Henry Show on news Radio seven to ten WNTM. You
can also hear me on FM radio. I'm on ninety
five KSJ playing country music, Today's Hottest Country Monday through Friday.
Between ten and two tomorrow, I'll be giving away a
family four pack of passes to Tropic Falls at Owa.
(18:30):
That's the big indoor water park, Tropic Falls at Oa.
Your chance to win with me on ninety five KSJ
tomorrow afternoon, right after one o'clock. It'll be about one
to fifteen in the afternoon that I'll be giving away
those passes if you are interested in trying to win them.
Tickets Now, if you just joined the show due to
(18:51):
your lack of interest or lack of initiative, I've been
covering today's Mobile City Council meeting really for a change,
quite an interesting meeting because it was the final meeting
for Mayor Stimpson as the mayor, because next week it'll
be Mayor Spiro. So lots of tributes to Mayor Stimpson
(19:14):
I just shared now all the city Council members felt
like they had to give some type of going away tribute.
I won't play those for you because most of that
was hot air. I did share with you right before
we went into the break that CJ. Small praised the mayor,
and he also praised the mayor's wife, CJ. Small, Council President,
saying that the mayor's wife knew to stay in her place.
Speaker 3 (19:37):
According to him.
Speaker 6 (19:39):
As Genie has been a preparable first lady of the
City of Mobile, very respectful, always smiling, and stayed in
her place. And that's very important because many times that
you have wise interfere with their husband business. But I
can honestly say that she has just represented the City
of Mobile very well.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
So congratulations on everyone involved there and everybody's staying. See this,
I'm not even comfortable repeating what he said. I'm nervous
trying to repeat it. Anyway, watch the meeting and you'll
get full context on those remarks. Now, there was business
at the Mobile City Council meeting today. Some of this
was something that's been held over for a couple of weeks, whether.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
Or not to.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
Stop the business license for a nightclub called the Fat
Tuesday's Nightclub and sports Bar spelled phat because that's better
for whatever reason than Fat Fat Tuesday's Sports Bar. This
is located on Saint Stephen's Road. The place was overrun
(20:53):
with people at all hours midnight, one am, two am,
three am. Even for a there would be countless cars
cars parking up in the neighborhood behind the nightclub, making
the lives of the people that live near this nightclub
just a terrible nightmare. Lots and lots of police resources
(21:17):
having to go to the club over and over and
over again for all of the people that were out
there and the people getting in trouble out in the
neighborhood around the place. It was on the agenda on
yes or no to shut down the nightclub. The owner
of the nightclub showed up and spoke. The owner, Rick Johnson.
(21:38):
Here's a little bit of him talking at the meeting today.
Speaker 7 (21:43):
I was privileged, I am privileged to be a successful
business owner for fifteen years. At my tours park. It
says within the last three months whatever, I became a
(22:05):
nuisance for some reason.
Speaker 4 (22:06):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
Well I think you do. I know I called the.
Speaker 7 (22:13):
Police to prevent things from happening.
Speaker 3 (22:20):
I tried not to let it happen and call the police.
Young lady behind me.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
There's a citizen there that is I'm going to share
with you what she had to say as well. But
she had called the police because of all the disturbances
around her house.
Speaker 7 (22:37):
Says she called the police every Friday to sayurday night.
If she did that, she done made one hundred and
four calls in a year herself.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
So phone calls shouldn't matter. Once your phone calls to
the police shouldn't matter.
Speaker 7 (22:53):
Paying taxes, this is something that you pay taxes fault.
If in fact the police for VOT problems, it would
be problems.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
All right.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
So it's the police is it's the police's fault, of course.
Now the owner talked more. You can watch his fall
comments on the City Council's YouTube video YouTube video. I
thought you might want to hear this lady talks about
what it was like to live behind fat tuesdays.
Speaker 8 (23:26):
I never knew Rick, I never knew.
Speaker 3 (23:28):
Who's talking about Rick, the owner owned.
Speaker 4 (23:31):
At the club.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
I did.
Speaker 8 (23:35):
I used to speak with Mss Keisha, and she said
that she would take care of the noise, the the traffic,
the people getting out, the cars, partying on the street, shooting.
(23:57):
I have three daughters that live out of Mobile year
and the only time that they can come is on weekends.
The last time one of my daughters came, somebody got killed,
like about fifty feet from my house. I have anything
(24:20):
against the club, it's just the disturbance. And I have
to be to work early in the mornings, and I
keep coming down over and over. I used to didn't
come down, but it got to be that one of
(24:41):
the council members went and told Rick that I came
to the city council meeting to talk about him getting closed.
I never said I wanted him closed. I just want
the disturbance to stop, Okay. When one of the council
(25:02):
meeting when it told him, then he came to my
house and my husband answered the dough We didn't open
the door because we didn't know what was going on.
So I think that was inappropriate.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
So anyway, there's more from her. But you heard her
say that when she came and complained about the Ninth
Club to the city. One of the council members went
to the owner and told the owner who who came
and complained about him. So the owner went to the
house of the lady. Anyway, let's see Beuford, longtime caller.
Beuford made a prediction about this Anna.
Speaker 6 (25:36):
This here.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
Handa out there fact. There's these bar, Henry.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
They will never close that bar down.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
This is why.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
First off, now he said they, Buford, you said they
would never close the bar down. And you also said
in your comments that he he's got he's got money
and donates to politicians.
Speaker 5 (25:56):
They stopped selling, so they stopped buying Chicken Wave.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Thanks. That's just pure genius.
Speaker 3 (26:02):
But Henry, he's off so like.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
Genius in another way.
Speaker 6 (26:06):
As soon as he got money up, Henry, he started
buying every local politician he could.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
All right, So here's what happened, Buford. The council voted
five five council members, the majority voted to close it down.
So Fat Tuesdays is closed down. So this is a wonderful,
wonderful result for that neighborhood. These people are gonna get there,
They're going to be able to go outside of their
house without worrying, is somebody gonna get shot fifty feet
(26:35):
from the house, or we're gonna hear all this loud
stuff going on until three and four in the morning.
They did shut it down, but Beaufford said that he
started buying every local politician. Now it was five votes
to shut it down.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
CJ.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
Small abstained because he said he needed more information or
wanted more information, and Corey Penn abstained as he said
he needed more information on this. So I did go
and look it up the Alabama Secretary of State's website.
Fat Tuesday's Nightclub did give a thousand dollars to the
(27:15):
campaign of c J. Small, and Fat Tuesdays did give
one thousand dollars to the campaign of Corey Penn. They
both abstained on the closet down vote. Now Fat Tuesdays
also gave a thousand dollars to the campaign of William Carroll.
(27:36):
But William Carroll voted to close it down, so I
guess he didn't buy everybody. Uncle Henry's show, It is
(28:04):
five twenty or five point fifty news headlines coming up
in ten minutes here on the unk Landry Show and yes,
I've got a little bit more to tell you about
from today's Mobile City Council meeting. Now, when Mayor Sandy
(28:30):
Stempson became Mayor of Mobile, the first few years, the
relationship between the mayor and the council had some had
some conflict, some bumps in the road. There were some
members of the council that didn't feel like the mayor
was showing them the well.
Speaker 3 (28:46):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
Again, I'm not a mind reader. I've not yet developed
the ability to read minds, but I do remember some arguments,
some conflict between some members of the council and the mayor. Now,
one of those conflicts was a logo for the city.
(29:09):
The mayor went out and got Stacey Wellborn, who's been
on this show numerous times, along with their husband, Johnny
Gwnn of Deep Pride Studios dot com. Stacey Warborne designed
this m logo that you will see on many of
the garbage cans and many other city trucks and things
(29:30):
like that. They call it now the Iconic M logo.
And initially that irritated some members of the Mobile City
Council because they had their own idea for a logo.
They wanted to say that Mobile was Mobiles should be
the slogan for the city should be Born to celebrate.
(29:52):
And they had their own little logo that was like confetti,
and they were mad that he had this other logo
and he put it on all this stuff. And this
was a conflict that I don't know was ever really resolved.
The administration had their own logo and the city council
had their own logo that had confetti on it. Well,
(30:15):
after all of the tributes to.
Speaker 3 (30:17):
The mayor.
Speaker 1 (30:19):
Were issued and the mayor made his big speech, the
council immediately moved some resolutions to the top of the list,
and they immediately they solved this conflict. Years this has
been years ago. They solved the conflict. Today the Mobile
City Council passed a resolution that made the official motto
(30:43):
or the official slogan of the City of Mobile born
to Celebrate. Is that is our official slogan or motto
or what I don't I don't remember which one it is,
but it's now official Born to Celebrate. But then they
in the very next moment, they voted passing a resolution
(31:05):
to make that iconic m the official logo of the
City of Mobile. And they did that as a tribute
to the mayor. So it was after watching that conflict
years ago to see it get wrapped up the way
(31:29):
that it was today, it was very satisfy. It was
strangely satisfying to see that wrapped up the way that
it was done at today's Mobile City Council meeting. So
both of the parties involved reached a compromise there at
the mayor's last official meeting with the slogan or motto
(31:54):
born to celebrate, but the logo staying that m So
congressulations to everybody involved, and congratulations out to Stacy Welborn
for having that logo last beyond the Stemson administration.
Speaker 3 (32:12):
And it's also I guess it'll save.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
Money because there it's already on so many things with
the City of Mobile now they don't have to remove
it and replace it with something else. So that there
with the Mobile City Council meeting. So again, as I
mentioned at the beginning of the hour, if you're a
student of Mobile history, there was a lot of it
at today's meeting. Meeting lasted about ninety minutes, and you
(32:36):
and I couldn't put all of it on the radio show.
So if you're interested, if you love Mobile and you're
interested in that kind of stuff, go watch the meeting
on the council's YouTube channel and you'll see all that stuff.
Now coming up, there is more show to come after
the news break. I'm going to have one of my
coworkers come in and talk about an event. I'm going
(32:58):
to an event this Saturday in Downtown Mobile. There is
a fundraiser for Lifeline counseling Services, which is needed now
more than ever, and they're raising money with the brunch Fest.
It is an excuse to go into Downtown Mobile and
(33:20):
eat brunch food from I think about fifteen restaurants and
they are competing trying to create delicious brunch food. So
if that sounds like your cup of tea, keep on listening.
We're going to talk about that and I have a
few other news items I want to get to as
well as The unk Leandary Show continues after the news
(33:43):
break here on News Radio seven to ten WNTM. A reminder,
you could listen back to previous episodes of this show
by listening to them as a podcast. Go on the
iHeartRadio app and look up Uncle Henry's Show. You'll find
all these previous episodes or just go to our website,
(34:04):
NewsRadio sevent ten dot com. You can find the Uncle
Invers Show podcast there
The Uncle Henry Show weekday afternoons from five till seven.
Stanney Simpson, Oh should I say maya Stanney.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Simpson message deleted.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
This is the Uncle Henry Show here on news radio
seventy ten WNTM, and I thank you very much for
listening to the unkleanver Shaw.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
I appreciate that very much.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Once again, here we are together, me and you trying
to figure out what.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Is going on, what is going on in the world
around us.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Now today on the Uncleander Show, I'll give you some
coverage of today's Mobile City Council meeting. Now, if you've
heard me talk about before I get to that, happy
birthday to Virginia McNeil O'Brien, a prominent mobile businesswoman. Virginia
McNeil O'Brien, Happy birthday to you. Now back to the show.
(01:58):
The city council meeting was today. And if you've ever
heard me talk about Mobile City Council meeting, maybe you've
heard me talk about how as I've watched these meetings
through the years, it has become more and more like
a punishment unto me that I feel punished, but just
just having to endure the politicians listening to them as
they talk about wasting the tax dollar, and listening to
(02:19):
them patting each other on the back and pontificat and
thinking that what they say is important. It can be
very tedious, very just awful to watch a lot of
these meetings. Today's meeting, though, Mobile City Council meeting today
was not like that in most now there were some
there was some hot air there, I'll have to say,
(02:42):
but mostly not like that today. I really if you're
a student of Mobile history, if you're interested in the
history of the city of Mobile, if you've been paying
close attention for a number of years or decades, I
would advise you to go watch the meeting. I can't
share all of it with you here on the radio
due to lack of time and also lack of your interest.
(03:04):
But if you're interested, go watch it on YouTube. It's
about a ninety minute meeting, and there's so much in
today's meeting that will be of interest to you, I think,
especially if you've been paying close attention through these stemps
in years. In a little bit before, because today was
the last Mobile City Council meeting for Mayor Standy Simpson
(03:26):
as the mayor, and so because it was his last
meeting as mayor. He had prepared remarks and he gave
a speech about a nine minute speech. I think you'd
be interested to hear what he had to say. And
also people were paying tribute to him. Mobile City Council
members all of them had they well, they didn't have to,
(03:46):
maybe they felt like they had to.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
They all did.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
They all had warm words for the mayor as he
was making his exit. And also there were some special
guests that came to the meeting, and it seemed to
be a surprise to the mayor. He introduced former Congressman
Bradley Burn and also former Congressman Joe Bonner saying that
(04:11):
they were going to make an economic development or a
workforce development announcement, some announcement about workforce development, and it
turns out they were there just to talk about Mayor Stimpson.
So now, again time restraints, I can't play you all
of their remarks. So if you're interested, if you have
(04:32):
an interest in this, you can watch it on YouTube.
Thought you might want to hear a little bit of
what they had to say, just to get a flavor
for all of it.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
So here is just a little bit.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Less than two minutes of former Congressman Bradley Burn. He
now is the guy running the Mobile Chamber of Commerce.
Here is some of what Bradley Burn had to say
to Mayor Sandy Stimpson on the mayor's final Mobile City
Council meaning as mayor, that was the council.
Speaker 4 (05:03):
Mayor, We're not here to talk about workforce development. We're
here to talk about you.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Oh, surprise, surprise, you're the topic.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
Surprise.
Speaker 4 (05:16):
When you came to me in twenty twelve and said
you wanted to run for mayor, I thought you were crazy,
but it was good crazy, and it's been very good
for this community that you were crazy enough to do it.
You got the city's finances in order, you rebuilt the
fire department and the police department. You reached out there
(05:38):
and started thinking about things would make the quality of
life in this city better. We built the capital infrastructure
with the help of the council. And in order to
do all that, you had to bring all of this
together in one mobile, and one mobile is going to
be your legacy for decades and decades to come. We
(05:59):
of the Chamber are charged.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
Well about that.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Just interrupting there. I don't know if you remember, but
when when Mayor Stimpson came forward with the one mobile concept.
I can remember him being mocked. Some people didn't like
it for whatever reason, and I don't know why, because
I'm not a mind reader. I've not yet developed the
(06:21):
ability to read another person's mind. But I do remember
people getting Some people seemed mad that he even suggested
that there could be such a thing as one mobile.
The fact that he stuck with it for all those
terms despite people there were there were always some people
in the community that were upset about it.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Just the phrase.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
I used to wonder myself, why does that phrase upset
people so much? Kept on and had some success with it.
Speaker 4 (06:52):
Back to Bradley Burn doing the economic development for the
city and for the county. But we don't get to
do that if we don't do the block and tackling.
And you do the blocking and tackling, y'all do the
block and the tackling. Without it, we don't make those changes.
Mobile is in its golden age, and we're in that
golden age because of your leadership, and the people in
(07:14):
this community are deeply grateful to you and your family
for all that you've done to put us where we
are today. And the best compliment we can pay to
you is to make sure that after you leave Monday,
we're going to keep it going. Thank you for all
you've done for this community, and God bless you and
your family.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
So so Mobile is in its golden age now, maybe
we're maybe we just started, and maybe not all of
us feel the goldenness of it yet. Now I will,
I will admit I will feel like Mobile is in
its golden age if the Fantasy Bridge ever becomes reality. Now,
I'll tell you a couple of things. I feel like
(08:00):
Mobile will be in it's golden age when I'm retired
and the Fantasy Bridge is in its entirety built. But yeah,
a lot more going on now in Mobile versus back
when Mayor Stempson first took office, So a lot more
to go into. Getting ready to go into a break
(08:21):
here on the Uncle Henvers Show. But to have more
from the Mobile City Council meeting, I want to share
a couple of more remarks that were made about the Mayor.
I want you to hear a little bit of what
he said as he was making his final speech there,
and also some of the actual business of today's consule meeting,
(08:43):
which I found quite intriguing, So all of that to
come as the Uncle Henry Show proceeds forward here on
news Radio seven to ten WNTM. Uncle Henry Show, NewsRadio
(09:08):
seven to ten WNTM. It is five twenty news headlines
coming up in ten minutes today Mobile City Council meeting,
and it was Mayor Sandy Stimpson's last meeting as mayor,
and so lots of tributes to him and a speech
from him already played for you. A brief bit of
(09:28):
Bradley Burn praising the accomplishments of the Stimpson administration. Here
is some of former Congressman Joe Bonner, who currently runs
the University of South Alabama. Here is Joe Bonner checking
off a list of what he says are the accomplishments
(09:49):
of Sandy Stimpson's administration during his time his office in office.
So let's listen as he checks all these things off
of a list of accomplishments.
Speaker 5 (10:00):
Beginning with the original vision for one mobile as outlined
in his first campaign. Mayor Simpson and are other leaders,
those who are here today and those who've come before,
set out to do big things that others had only
dreamed of doing, goals such as moving the airport from
West Mobile down to brookly Field. Check building a brand
(10:25):
new three hundred million dollar civic center. Check, transforming the
port of Mobile into one of the fastest growing ports
in America. Fleet with the deepest shipping channel in the
entire golf.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Check, and he's checking things off a list I kept
listening for potholes being filled on the list didn't get mentioned.
Speaker 5 (10:52):
Helping to secure additional investments for both air Bus and Austel,
along with literally dozens of other companies, to create thousands
of new jobs in the pipeline, and in the instance
of Airbus, helping Mobile become the fourth largest commercial airport
aircraft manufacturing hub in the world. Check securing more than
(11:17):
two dozen pay races for city workers, and leading the
initiative for a successful vote by the citizens of Westmobile
to come be a part of the city, Helping for
the first time in years restore Mobile's position is Alabama's
second largest city in the state. Once again, Check, and
(11:40):
while many people don't fully realize all that you've done,
working behind the scenes, you have led the effort to
build consensus so that one day soon, hopefully, we will
have a brand new bridge crossing over Mobile River. A
mobile bay, and that is a big check in many ways,
(12:00):
if it ever, if we ever get the bridge without embellishing.
There are so many other important accomplishments that have been
recorded during your twelve years. Lower crime rates, the successful
implementation of the Capital Improvement Fund, reducing bond and debtedness
and policing, multiple credit rating increases from both Moody's and
(12:22):
S and P. The list truly seems endless.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
But as we.
Speaker 5 (12:27):
All celebrate what you have meant to us, I'm confident,
knowing you as long as I have, that you would
much prefer, rather than praise you, that we would simply
thank the Good Lord above for the many blessings that
he has bestowed upon us during this time in office.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
All Right, Joe Bonner, former congressman, currently running University of
South Alabama, listing, checking off the list of all the accomplishments. Now,
I'm going to share with you just a little bit.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Of the mayor.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
He spoke at length, thanked a lot of people. If
you're interested, If you're wondering, is he going to thank me?
Is he going to thank me? You can watch the
YouTube video of the council beating see if you thank
you I thought you would want to hear this part
of his speech though, because I haven't heard him talk
about his faith as much as he talked about his
faith in this speech. So here is the mayor. He
(13:28):
talks about what the secret sauce of Mobile is.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
I also tell people that what is the secret sauce
of Mobile? What's the rest of people? What we've been
able to do over the last several years.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Now, please don't guess what the secret sauce is because
your guests might just may not be good. And I'm
uncomfortable with people in Mobile thinking about sauces that are secret.
But let's listen to what the mayor says the secret
sauce is.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
And I'd say it's a combination of three things. First,
a vision was cast to unite this city become a safer,
more business and family friendly city one mobile, and now
we steadfastly pursued that fulfillment. Scripture tells us that where
brothers live in harmony, God commands a blessing. It also
tells us that God hears and answers our prayers, and
(14:19):
all the answers sometimes fall short of what we hope,
but they also may exceed our expectations. So secondly, fervently
and ongoing prayer by countless people that brought God's favor
upon us and open doors of opportunity.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
And third, now.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
He said the first thing in the Secret Sauce was
having a vision, having a plan. The second thing was people,
so many people praying. I like this kind of talk.
How has he done more of this?
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Our willingness to publicly glorify God for our successes completes
the recipe for our success Except having written that, I
had an afterthought.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
I heard the third thing was glorifying God in public.
I like the fact that recently we're hearing more public
figures talk about their faith. Now, I don't want to
necessarily live in a theocracy, but I sure do like
hearing people admit honestly their faith in God publicly, even
elected officials.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
Which I also wrote down. And this is coming to
the end. When things are going good, when you got
money in the bank, when people are patting you on
the bank and telling you how good you are, it's
time to be careful because that can lead to complacency,
(15:47):
can lead to sloppiness.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
Be very careful.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
Not to exceed the capacity to execute in an outstanding way.
There's only so much can do well, and there's everybody
wants you to do more, but you've got to be
measured as you go forward. Right now, Mobile has momentium,
So don't sit on your laws, don't let up. Challenge
(16:13):
yourself to be better, do better, work smarter, cooperate more,
be a better teammate. And when I break up a
staff meeting, and I'm not breaking this meeting up because
this is CJ's I always say, let's go get them
boys and girls.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
So big appreciation there for Mayor Stimpson in his final
meeting as mayor. Now a lot of people also paid
tribute to the mayor's wife, Jean. He thanked her for
being a part of his administration, you know, being a
part of the family and helping him execute his duties.
Let's listen, here is a Mobile City Care Council president, CJ. Small,
(17:02):
talking about how great the mayor's wife has been.
Speaker 6 (17:07):
Virginie has been a preparable first lady of the City
of Mobile, very respectful, always smiling, and stayed in her place.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
She stayed in her place, and that's very.
Speaker 6 (17:18):
Important because many times that you have wives interfere with
their husband's business. Well, I can honestly say that she
has just represented the city of Mobile very well.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
All right, so CJ Small thanking the mayor's wife for
staying in her place.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
I have more.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
There was actually business at the meeting that I found intriguing.
We'll get to all of that as the Uncle Henry
Show continues after the news breaking. It says, the Uncle
(18:07):
Henry Show on news Radio seven to ten WNTM. You
can also hear me on FM radio. I'm on ninety
five KSJ playing country music, Today's Hottest Country Monday through Friday.
Between ten and two tomorrow, I'll be giving away a
family four pack of passes to Tropic Falls at Owa.
(18:30):
That's the big indoor water park, Tropic Falls at Oa.
Your chance to win with me on ninety five KSJ
tomorrow afternoon, right after one o'clock. It'll be about one
to fifteen in the afternoon that I'll be giving away
those passes if you are interested in trying to win them.
Tickets Now, if you just joined the show due to
(18:51):
your lack of interest or lack of initiative, I've been
covering today's Mobile City Council meeting really for a change,
quite an interesting meeting because it was the final meeting
for Mayor Stimpson as the mayor, because next week it'll
be Mayor Spiro. So lots of tributes to Mayor Stimpson
(19:14):
I just shared now all the city Council members felt
like they had to give some type of going away tribute.
I won't play those for you because most of that
was hot air. I did share with you right before
we went into the break that CJ. Small praised the mayor,
and he also praised the mayor's wife, CJ. Small, Council President,
saying that the mayor's wife knew to stay in her place.
Speaker 3 (19:37):
According to him.
Speaker 6 (19:39):
As Genie has been a preparable first lady of the
City of Mobile, very respectful, always smiling, and stayed in
her place. And that's very important because many times that
you have wise interfere with their husband business. But I
can honestly say that she has just represented the City
of Mobile very well.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
So congratulations on everyone involved there and everybody's staying. See this,
I'm not even comfortable repeating what he said. I'm nervous
trying to repeat it. Anyway, watch the meeting and you'll
get full context on those remarks. Now, there was business
at the Mobile City Council meeting today. Some of this
was something that's been held over for a couple of weeks, whether.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
Or not to.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
Stop the business license for a nightclub called the Fat
Tuesday's Nightclub and sports Bar spelled phat because that's better
for whatever reason than Fat Fat Tuesday's Sports Bar. This
is located on Saint Stephen's Road. The place was overrun
(20:53):
with people at all hours midnight, one am, two am,
three am. Even for a there would be countless cars
cars parking up in the neighborhood behind the nightclub, making
the lives of the people that live near this nightclub
just a terrible nightmare. Lots and lots of police resources
(21:17):
having to go to the club over and over and
over again for all of the people that were out
there and the people getting in trouble out in the
neighborhood around the place. It was on the agenda on
yes or no to shut down the nightclub. The owner
of the nightclub showed up and spoke. The owner, Rick Johnson.
(21:38):
Here's a little bit of him talking at the meeting today.
Speaker 7 (21:43):
I was privileged, I am privileged to be a successful
business owner for fifteen years. At my tours park. It
says within the last three months whatever, I became a
(22:05):
nuisance for some reason.
Speaker 4 (22:06):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
Well I think you do. I know I called the.
Speaker 7 (22:13):
Police to prevent things from happening.
Speaker 3 (22:20):
I tried not to let it happen and call the police.
Young lady behind me.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
There's a citizen there that is I'm going to share
with you what she had to say as well. But
she had called the police because of all the disturbances
around her house.
Speaker 7 (22:37):
Says she called the police every Friday to sayurday night.
If she did that, she done made one hundred and
four calls in a year herself.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
So phone calls shouldn't matter. Once your phone calls to
the police shouldn't matter.
Speaker 7 (22:53):
Paying taxes, this is something that you pay taxes fault.
If in fact the police for VOT problems, it would
be problems.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
All right.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
So it's the police is it's the police's fault, of course.
Now the owner talked more. You can watch his fall
comments on the City Council's YouTube video YouTube video. I
thought you might want to hear this lady talks about
what it was like to live behind fat tuesdays.
Speaker 8 (23:26):
I never knew Rick, I never knew.
Speaker 3 (23:28):
Who's talking about Rick, the owner owned.
Speaker 4 (23:31):
At the club.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
I did.
Speaker 8 (23:35):
I used to speak with Mss Keisha, and she said
that she would take care of the noise, the the traffic,
the people getting out, the cars, partying on the street, shooting.
(23:57):
I have three daughters that live out of Mobile year
and the only time that they can come is on weekends.
The last time one of my daughters came, somebody got killed,
like about fifty feet from my house. I have anything
(24:20):
against the club, it's just the disturbance. And I have
to be to work early in the mornings, and I
keep coming down over and over. I used to didn't
come down, but it got to be that one of
(24:41):
the council members went and told Rick that I came
to the city council meeting to talk about him getting closed.
I never said I wanted him closed. I just want
the disturbance to stop, Okay. When one of the council
(25:02):
meeting when it told him, then he came to my
house and my husband answered the dough We didn't open
the door because we didn't know what was going on.
So I think that was inappropriate.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
So anyway, there's more from her. But you heard her
say that when she came and complained about the Ninth
Club to the city. One of the council members went
to the owner and told the owner who who came
and complained about him. So the owner went to the
house of the lady. Anyway, let's see Beuford, longtime caller.
Beuford made a prediction about this Anna.
Speaker 6 (25:36):
This here.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
Handa out there fact. There's these bar, Henry.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
They will never close that bar down.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
This is why.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
First off, now he said they, Buford, you said they
would never close the bar down. And you also said
in your comments that he he's got he's got money
and donates to politicians.
Speaker 5 (25:56):
They stopped selling, so they stopped buying Chicken Wave.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Thanks. That's just pure genius.
Speaker 3 (26:02):
But Henry, he's off so like.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
Genius in another way.
Speaker 6 (26:06):
As soon as he got money up, Henry, he started
buying every local politician he could.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
All right, So here's what happened, Buford. The council voted
five five council members, the majority voted to close it down.
So Fat Tuesdays is closed down. So this is a wonderful,
wonderful result for that neighborhood. These people are gonna get there,
They're going to be able to go outside of their
house without worrying, is somebody gonna get shot fifty feet
(26:35):
from the house, or we're gonna hear all this loud
stuff going on until three and four in the morning.
They did shut it down, but Beaufford said that he
started buying every local politician. Now it was five votes
to shut it down.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
CJ.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
Small abstained because he said he needed more information or
wanted more information, and Corey Penn abstained as he said
he needed more information on this. So I did go
and look it up the Alabama Secretary of State's website.
Fat Tuesday's Nightclub did give a thousand dollars to the
(27:15):
campaign of c J. Small, and Fat Tuesdays did give
one thousand dollars to the campaign of Corey Penn. They
both abstained on the closet down vote. Now Fat Tuesdays
also gave a thousand dollars to the campaign of William Carroll.
(27:36):
But William Carroll voted to close it down, so I
guess he didn't buy everybody. Uncle Henry's show, It is
(28:04):
five twenty or five point fifty news headlines coming up
in ten minutes here on the unk Landry Show and yes,
I've got a little bit more to tell you about
from today's Mobile City Council meeting. Now, when Mayor Sandy
(28:30):
Stempson became Mayor of Mobile, the first few years, the
relationship between the mayor and the council had some had
some conflict, some bumps in the road. There were some
members of the council that didn't feel like the mayor
was showing them the well.
Speaker 3 (28:46):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
Again, I'm not a mind reader. I've not yet developed
the ability to read minds, but I do remember some arguments,
some conflict between some members of the council and the mayor. Now,
one of those conflicts was a logo for the city.
(29:09):
The mayor went out and got Stacey Wellborn, who's been
on this show numerous times, along with their husband, Johnny
Gwnn of Deep Pride Studios dot com. Stacey Warborne designed
this m logo that you will see on many of
the garbage cans and many other city trucks and things
(29:30):
like that. They call it now the Iconic M logo.
And initially that irritated some members of the Mobile City
Council because they had their own idea for a logo.
They wanted to say that Mobile was Mobiles should be
the slogan for the city should be Born to celebrate.
(29:52):
And they had their own little logo that was like confetti,
and they were mad that he had this other logo
and he put it on all this stuff. And this
was a conflict that I don't know was ever really resolved.
The administration had their own logo and the city council
had their own logo that had confetti on it. Well,
(30:15):
after all of the tributes to.
Speaker 3 (30:17):
The mayor.
Speaker 1 (30:19):
Were issued and the mayor made his big speech, the
council immediately moved some resolutions to the top of the list,
and they immediately they solved this conflict. Years this has
been years ago. They solved the conflict. Today the Mobile
City Council passed a resolution that made the official motto
(30:43):
or the official slogan of the City of Mobile born
to Celebrate. Is that is our official slogan or motto
or what I don't I don't remember which one it is,
but it's now official Born to Celebrate. But then they
in the very next moment, they voted passing a resolution
(31:05):
to make that iconic m the official logo of the
City of Mobile. And they did that as a tribute
to the mayor. So it was after watching that conflict
years ago to see it get wrapped up the way
(31:29):
that it was today, it was very satisfy. It was
strangely satisfying to see that wrapped up the way that
it was done at today's Mobile City Council meeting. So
both of the parties involved reached a compromise there at
the mayor's last official meeting with the slogan or motto
(31:54):
born to celebrate, but the logo staying that m So
congressulations to everybody involved, and congratulations out to Stacy Welborn
for having that logo last beyond the Stemson administration.
Speaker 3 (32:12):
And it's also I guess it'll save.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
Money because there it's already on so many things with
the City of Mobile now they don't have to remove
it and replace it with something else. So that there
with the Mobile City Council meeting. So again, as I
mentioned at the beginning of the hour, if you're a
student of Mobile history, there was a lot of it
at today's meeting. Meeting lasted about ninety minutes, and you
(32:36):
and I couldn't put all of it on the radio show.
So if you're interested, if you love Mobile and you're
interested in that kind of stuff, go watch the meeting
on the council's YouTube channel and you'll see all that stuff.
Now coming up, there is more show to come after
the news break. I'm going to have one of my
coworkers come in and talk about an event. I'm going
(32:58):
to an event this Saturday in Downtown Mobile. There is
a fundraiser for Lifeline counseling Services, which is needed now
more than ever, and they're raising money with the brunch Fest.
It is an excuse to go into Downtown Mobile and
(33:20):
eat brunch food from I think about fifteen restaurants and
they are competing trying to create delicious brunch food. So
if that sounds like your cup of tea, keep on listening.
We're going to talk about that and I have a
few other news items I want to get to as
well as The unk Leandary Show continues after the news
(33:43):
break here on News Radio seven to ten WNTM. A reminder,
you could listen back to previous episodes of this show
by listening to them as a podcast. Go on the
iHeartRadio app and look up Uncle Henry's Show. You'll find
all these previous episodes or just go to our website,
(34:04):
NewsRadio sevent ten dot com. You can find the Uncle
Invers Show podcast there
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