Dear Birmingham Residents: 

 Happy New Year! With our first 2026 City Commission meeting behind us, I want to review the progress we’ve made on several issues and look ahead to the opportunities and challenges Birmingham residents have told me are their highest priorities.   

PARKING: The Advisory Parking Committee, with a fund balance of $43 million, is delivering on a five-year $17-million plan to upgrade our city’s five parking structures. In the 2025-2026 fiscal year we’ve spent more than $7 million to improve and beautify the Chester Street garage. It’s great that we’re finally paying attention to the required maintenance of these income-producing but aging  city assets (all are over 50 years old). 

As everyone knows, our inventory of parking spaces downtown has not come close to keeping up with the requirements of continued growth. I plan to keep this issue, a source of frustration for our residents and visitors, in front of the Commission. And I was pleased to learn that this is a point of emphasis for the Planning Board, which now begins its analysis of all proposed developments with an assessment of parking needs. 

PUBLIC SAFETY: In this fiscal year our terrific police force added one officer and is  requesting another be added next year. It’s been estimated our city’s regionally attractive downtown annually attracts 250,000 visitors to shop in our stores, interact with our businesses, eat in our restaurants and attend our public events. Public safety is priority-one, and we need more resources to provide adequate enforcement throughout the city, not just downtown. 

I’m also pleased to report that we’re budgeting to make long-overdue improvements, mostly having to do with security, to our Police Station in City Hall.  

And last month, Matt Bartalino was made our Fire Chief. He's been stellar for over 20 years with the city, and his appointment helps assure the continuation of our outstanding fire and emergency services.

We can all be proud both our Fire and Police Departments are considered the BEST statewide!!!

PUBLIC SPACE: Thanks to funds from the Parks and Recreation Bond passed in 2020, improvements have been made at our Ice Arena, golf courses, West Lincoln Well Park  and Pumphouse Park. We also created Adams Park and improvements are in the works at Poppleton Park, the Rouge trail, Booth Park, and Pembroke Park. These expenditures are helping to keep our city beautiful. 

TREES: Our Department of Public Services now has four certified arborists on staff. With more than 25,000 trees to care for, we need the extra help. Last year we were reminded that Mother Nature keeps things interesting:   

In the 1970s we planted thousands of silver maple trees. We found out later they have only 60-70-year lifespans. Oops.  

This fall, DPS extended leaves pickup an extra week (into the first week of December) due to lovely weather that kept leaves on trees longer. Then we got hit with a severe winter storm the first week in December that further delayed leaf pickup. Sorry about that!

Birmingham’s tree canopies contribute so much to our environment, the character of our neighborhoods and the value of our homes. Recognizing the importance of these assets to our quality of life, many residents have expressed an interest in establishing an Advisory Forestry Board. Improving communication between homeowners and our Forestry Department is a good idea, and I’ll make sure this stays on the Commission’s agenda for consideration. 

SPENDING: In August, voting 5-2, the Commission finally put to bed the proposed bond proposal to spend tens of millions of dollars for the demolition and “Taj Mahal” rebuild of the YMCA building. Over the very expensive two-year review of this project, residents made it clear they have other priorities and don’t want to pay more taxes for something so ill-conceived and frivolous.

Unfortunately, meaningful public Commission deliberation on the YMCA’s future in Birmingham and related options for the facility needs of Next senior services evaporated after bonding plans were dropped. As things stand now, the YMCA will be gone as soon as the end of April after serving our community for the last half century at 400 East Lincoln. Presumably, Next will move into the building, which during the rebuild assessment was found to be poorly suited and way too expensive for Next’s needs and capacity. 

Taxpayers deserve to get full value for the investment we made in 2023 when we purchased the facility from the YMCA. I’ve heard the anger in the voices of residents who desperately want to save the Y and don’t want to subsidize Next to this degree (fewer than 40% of Next’s clients live in Birmingham). As landlord of the vacated facility, the city will be stuck with the operational costs and maintenance that have been the 100% responsibility of the YMCA. Residents are asking me, “Brad, how could the city allow this to happen?”

The clock is ticking. If you’re concerned about this outcome, you must make you voice heard now. Our next Commission meeting is on Monday, January 26. But don’t wait to attend. Send your thoughts to me and my fellow commissioners at city-commission@bhamgov.org.        

INFRASTRUCTURE AND ROADS: Residents have made it clear that the necessary replacement of Birmingham’s aging water and sewer infrastructure is priority ONE. A close second is the resurfacing of roads impacted by the needed sewer and water construction. 

It’s hard to find anyone who is satisfied with the pace, cost or public process by which this essential work is being planned and executed. By far the most contentious Commission meetings over the last few years have dealt with infrastructure and road improvements. Regrettably, residents participating in these emotional sessions have told me the experience eroded their trust and confidence in city management and the Commission. 

A new framework is desperately needed to communicate effectively with residents, accelerate the program, better estimate and control costs, complete the construction in a timely manner, and align homeowners and the City. With the current approach, we’re escalating neighborhood tensions and it’s costing us more to do less.

One of the many ideas that have been proposed to me by residents is to include incentives in the construction contracts the city awards for early completion and penalties for missing deadlines. Last year people living in the Birmingham Farms neighborhood had to wait more than two months for new gravel on their streets to be sealed. And a homeowner living on the west section of Wimbleton that has been an active construction site since the week after Labor Day (more than four months) recently summed up his experience: “Brad, it’s a disaster!” 

THE IMPORTANCE OF CITIZEN PARTICIPATION: Apart from our street-by-street battles over road improvements, the Commission has paid almost no attention to addressing this situation. A workshop promised for months to explore new approaches and identify solutions never happened. It’s still not on our schedule. 

Hard to believe. But one thing I’ve learned during my six years on the Commission is that smart change does not happen without robust resident participation and pressure. I hear your voices and bring your ideas to our meetings. But unless residents have reached out to others on the Commission, I’m voted down almost every time I try to focus on your priorities. 

We got some good things done in 2025. But the smartest decisions on sensitive issues are not going to be made by the Commission without your participation. Rest assured, I’m never going to stop representing you and bringing your ideas forward. You can always reach me at bhost@bhamgov.org or by phone at (248) 219-2249. And here’s that email address again to reach my fellow commissioners: city-commission@bhamgov.org.        

Birmingham City Commissioner Brad Host Announces Reelection Bid

-July 7, 2023 –

Brad Host has filed his petition to run for a second term on the Birmingham City Commission. Birmingham residents will be voting on November 7 to fill four of the seven City Commission seats.

“It’s an honor to represent the people of Birmingham,” said Host. “Making sure their voices are heard and priorities are understood by city government is a responsibility I take very seriously.” In 2019, Host received the highest vote total of the candidates on the ballot. Commissioners are elected at large for four-year terms. Non-partisan elections are held in November of each odd-numbered year.

“We’ve made progress in a number of areas, but there’s a lot of work to be done,” said Host. “The unacceptable noise-levels on Woodward, the threat to our neighborhoods of short-term rentals, attempts to commercialize our parks, the deficit of daytime parking in our ever-growing downtown, and desperately needed budget for unimproved roads and aging infrastructure are among the issues the Commission must address with a greater sense of urgency.