Sheffield: A Fix to its Problems

First of all, I want to say that I believe Sheffield can be fixed. The City can make a comeback where people want to visit as well as spend their money there. Sheffield is full of History as well as Heritage. It can become the center of the Shoals Area that it was before.


Sheffield Shelly made some comments about the School System of Sheffield. While I am not familiar with that aspect, I will defer to her to make a suggestion on how to fix that problem. We listed 10 problem areas that we saw from the outside looking in. This article addresses these areas with a possible fix.


Furthermore, all of the problems listed can be found in the Times Daily newspaper or on Facebook. Nothing stated about the problems is not public knowledge. As stated above, I am outside the box looking in. I do not live in Sheffield, nor have I ever. I am a citizen of Colbert County but do travel (for the moment) to Sheffield for a doctor visit.


...and here we go…


The Problems & Fixes:


Inspiration Landing. I believe Inspiration Landing could save Sheffield. However, with the stated dates of ground breaking coming and going, people are starting to lose interest. I also believe that the City of Sheffield should stop putting money into this project until John Elkington starts showing results and/or putting his own money into the project. If this venture does come to pass, it will help the City of Sheffield. Just don’t put the cart before the horses.


The Police Chief Situation. As stated in the original article, I do not know Chief Terry. However, he was the pick of the Council. Here is an idea. Why don’t you let him do his job? From reading in the Times Daily, he has done more good for the Police Department than the previous Chief. Give him a year to show you what he can do. If after that you are not happy, take applications for a Police Chief. However, the solution is to hire a police Chief who doesn’t know anything about Sheffield or is not from this area. That way that person can lead by their way and rules, not just being a “yes” person. It doesn’t matter if that person is White, Black, Male or Female as long they have the credentials for the job. However, you should give Chief Terry a chance first. You might be surprised and happy with his leadership skills.


The Police Department. The above solution goes along with this problem. You have to have stable leadership to run a Department. That doesn’t take rocket science to figure out. The pay should upped to a standard of other Departments in this area. Promotion should be on skills not by seniority. 


The Fire Department. See the above quote. It is time for a new leadership as well as get the pay up to the same as other Departments.


The Smoking Ban. This is going to come back and bite the Council. The people should have decided this by a vote. Repeal the Ordinance and let there be a public vote. That way, the citizens have spoken.


The City Council. They need to listen to the Citizens whom they represent as well as take into consideration what is best for the City. Using the Smoking Ban as an example, Florence, Muscle Shoals and Tuscumbia have refused to vote on it. That should tell you something. This is probably going to rub someone the wrong way. I believe there should be Term Limits for the Council. If it is good enough for the President of the United States, it is good enough for Sheffield, AL.


Businesses leaving. If you have businesses leaving, your tax income goes down. No business, no tax money. The business owners such as the owners of Cajuns, Casa, Fiesta and Mrs. Logan have told you that their businesses have suffered since the Smoking Ban was passed. What would you do if Mrs. Logan pulls all her money and businesses out of Sheffield and takes them to Tuscumbia? I will bet you that Tuscumbia would welcome her with open arms and Sheffield would lose a major part of its income.


Reduced Tax Income for the City. This is a no brainer. No tax income, no money to pay for stuff. Duh.


Useless spending of money. Times are tough. Money is stretched. Think about what you are going to spend money on. The more money that you can put in good projects that help the City, the better.


Trains. Everyone is saying build an overpass. This IS NOT the answer. If you built an overpass on Montgomery Ave, the on and off ramp would take traffic away from the businesses located there. The ramp to the overpass (going north) would probably reach past 3 blocks which knocks businesses such as Sonny’s Pawn Shop, 2nd & 13 Sports Bar, etc, out of people traveling in front of their businesses. The answer is for the railroad to reroute the tracks around Sheffield.


So there you have it, my ideas for helping the City of Sheffield. The only other thing I can see is to unincorporate the City. Let the County take it over. Furthermore, Tuscumbia and Muscle Shoals could take it over. I would guarantee that both cities would love to have the businesses as well as the taxes they produce for their city.


That’s it for now. But remember that the Midnight Rider will always be around to voice his/her/their (?) opinion.

I am and always will be...

The Midnight Rider