Mayor's Office of Public Information
City Hall
710 North 20th Street
Birmingham, Alabama 35203

Media Advisory
Contact:
April Odom

Birmingham Puts Its Money on the Table

At the request of Mayor William Bell, the Birmingham City Council today allocated $250,000 for DNC recruitment and marketing efforts to secure the 2016 DNC convention in Birmingham.
 
The City Council voted unanimously to spend the $250,000 and officially pledged to spend another $5 million if Birmingham is selected. The City's money would fulfill the DNC's requirement that a host committee have $5 million on hand when selected. The $5 million acts as seed money for private and corporate donors that have pledged their full support for the DNC effort.
 
“There are times in the life of a public servant that you truly get to see your city shine. The DNC site visit was an example of that. Our City and region has come together in an unprecedented way to show our passion and love for Birmingham and her people. City employees, churches, corporate citizens, people on the street, the media and neighborhood residents all pulled together to show that Birmingham is THE city for the 2016 DNC convention. I love this City and I was never more proud of her than I was this week. We are Birmingham, a City where just a little over 50 years ago, we were segregated, unable to vote and unequally yoked to a set of laws and ordinances that bound our citizenry. Today, we are a City that has proudly embraced our past to build our future.  What happened in Birmingham during the Civil Rights Movement changed the world. The blood shed here paved the way for this generation and generations to come,” said Mayor William Bell.
 
“We are at a place to master our moment. We can not let this chance pass us by. We have worked hard to get here and stand ready for ‘such a time as this’,” said Council President, Johnathan Austin.
 
“We want to make it clear to the DNC that we are serious, we have the means to make this happen and we are ready to host in 2016,” said Mayor Bell.
 
The city's $5 million would only be available when Birmingham is tapped as the location for the 2016 convention. The DNC is expected to announce its choice by the end of this year or in early 2015.
 
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July 21-22, 2014 - Site Visit by the DNC Technical Advisory Committee


Courtesy: Alicia Brown



Press Release from Alabama Republican Party
July 21, 2014

ALGOP Chairman Welcomes DNC to Birmingham

Alabama Republican Party Chairman Bill Armistead said he welcomes the visit to Birmingham today from members of the Democrat Party’s national convention site selection committee that is considering holding their party’s 2016 national convention in Birmingham. Below is the statement from Armistead:

“It is with great pleasure that we welcome the Democrat Party to Alabama to consider Birmingham as the location of their national convention. I can think of no better way for the citizens of our state to see the vast differences between the parties than to have the Democrats bring their radical leftist show here. It will be interesting to see if they try once again to remove God from their platform, right here in the heart of the Bible Belt.

“It will be good for Alabamians to get a closer look at a Democrat Party which not only staunchly supports homosexual rights and gay marriage, but promotes this lifestyle over that of traditional families. The Democrat Party is also rabidly pro-choice and believes that the life of an unborn child can be terminated at will.

“There would be no better way for us to contrast the differences between the Democrat Party and the Republican Party than for them to come here and confirm everything we know about them. I am sure their conventioneers will want to address Obama’s policies that have opened up our southern border for any and all to come into our country without documentation. The recent massive influx into the U.S. southern border states of thousands of children and youngsters, mostly from Central America, is a direct result of the complete disregard of enforcement of America’s immigration laws by the Obama Administration.

“So, yes, I do hope the Democrats choose Birmingham for their National Convention and explain to Alabamians and Americans why the Democrat Party, under the leadership of Barack Obama, has felt it was necessary to radically transform America rather than restoring it to the greatness we once knew.”

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