Dear Citizens of District 2,

Since entering office, I have worked tirelessly in support of our district and our city. I take this responsibility very seriously and have always done my best to weigh the pros and cons of the important decisions that come before our council.

Two weeks ago, I could have taken the easy way out and moved forward with the vote on the annexation proposal. I did not. We did not. Instead, I've spent the last two weeks in meeting after meeting, from dawn to dusk, listening to our city's business leaders, citizen groups, religious leaders and constituents from across the city and county. After all of that, and after reviewing the materials presented to us by these various groups, and spending time thinking and praying, I came to a decision. I knew my decision would disappoint some and hearten some, but, it is the decision I feel is right for our district and, as a result, our city.

For years we have been focused on our downtown. We knew that reviving this area was key to turning around the whole city and ensuring a bright future. After several years, a lot of infrastructure work, public/private partnerships, forward thinking, investment and encouraging our local residents and entrepreneurs, we are on the CUSP of a true renaissance. We have new restaurants and stores opening nearly every week and hundreds of new residential units becoming available. I am deeply concerned that rather than seeing this progress through, this annexation puts us on the hook for new costs and responsibilities and, worse, sends the message that we were not sincere in our commitment to building up what we already have and investing in our current residents and entrepreneurs.

We also need to keep our focus on all the unfinished work in our District. Our communities are among the OLDEST in the city. While it's wonderful to have historic neighborhoods, it is an everyday struggle to have historic infrastructure from our roads to sidewalks and drainage. On top of having some of the oldest infrastructure, the problems it has presented have gone unaddressed for too many years. This has left an enormous back log of work and communities that feel abandoned. Every day I hear from residents who desperately need us to make good on our current responsibilities. Whether it's parents in Africatown frustrated because they have waited long enough for an updated playground and ball fields at Kidd Park or a wheelchair bound resident in Midtown tired of navigating torn up sidewalks, we STILL have a lot of work to do currently in our city.

In addition, there was not enough information made available to address the long-term impact of bringing in these new neighborhoods. This is also why the misinformation campaign that pushed false facts and figures out into my District and others exacerbated the situation. These discussions and decisions are too important to make without a full picture of the impact to be driven by false information and innuendo and to be rushed.

It is for these reasons that I voted in opposition to the annexation proposal.

With all that said, in the past 24 hours I have been incredibly disheartened by the tone of some of the commentary. Neither the discussion of, nor the decision on this proposal was based on race. I had both white and black citizens, business leaders, elected officials and religious leaders among those who urged me to vote in opposition. Trying to inject race into this vote, not only does a disservice to me but, more importantly does a disservice to our city. Mobile deserves better.

As the Mayor said yesterday following the vote, "I'm as optimistic as ever about the future of our city." I look forward to continuing to work with him and the administration to grow our city and ensure that bright future.

If you have any additional questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me at 208-7441 (Council office), by e-mail at lmanzie@cityofmobile.org or at 509-4239 (cell phone).

Thank You,

Levon C. Manzie, Council President

District 2