Latest news with #DavidLittle
Yahoo
4 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Huntsville City Council holds work session to discuss unkept properties
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) — The Huntsville City Council hears from concerned community members about unkept properties all the time. A work session was held Friday morning to address these concerns. The number of these rose to a point where District 2 Councilman David Little asked for a work session to discuss what the council can do to address these issues. Madison County School employees receive $1,000 salary raises During the work session, Huntsville Community Development Manager Scott Erwin gave a presentation to the council on what his department does to enforce the upkeep of properties. Erwin said the department issued about 8,300 notices in 2024. A majority of which were due to the condition of people's yards and houses. Around 5,600 people voluntarily complied and fixed the issue, while 2,600 didn't in the time allowed. Therefore, the City had to step in. 'One of our priorities is educating our community and increasing our voluntary compliance rates for grass, weeds, junk, house structures,' Erwin said. 'We find that we have a very high success rate when we educate and inform our community when there is an issue they might be in violation of.' City leaders hear the frustrations of those living near the nuisance properties, but said they have to give everyone due process to fix the issues. Decatur Morgan Hospital achieves CLABSI infection rate of zero 'If we are not following due process, then all of a sudden it is a federal issue,' Little said. 'It could be something as small as a weed issue could become a Supreme Court issue.' Due to the number of people who voluntarily complied after receiving a citation, District 3 Councilwoman Jennie Robinson said during the meeting that if the Community Development Department issued more citations, it could help properties get cleaned up faster. Erwin said the department has seven inspectors, which can make it hard to get out to every area of the City in a timely fashion, which led to the council being introduced to a new technology that could help. Huntsville's Chief Innovation Officer, Larry Lowe, presented an option that the council could consider, which would add cameras to garbage trucks. These cameras would scan people's properties when picking up trash. 'Essentially, what would happen is the garbage truck would drive every single road, they would take an image, and they would process the data,' Lowe said. This would alert the department to potential violations but wouldn't automatically result in a citation. 'It simply gives us where a potential violation may be,' Erwin said. 'We will lay eyes on it, again, we are not going through neighbors looking, it actually tells us where they may be a condition that exists.' Little said he's all on board with this and wants the council to act quickly on it. He also said that he knows enforcing the care of these properties can be a double-edged sword. 'Somebody's having a hardship, you know well, let's give them another 10 days,' Little said. 'There's other times when people are gaming the system, or hard to track down, and now the neighbors are dealing with this blighted property, so what can we do to protect them too.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Cove area community group demands infrastructure improvements
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) — The Cove Area Citizens Community Action Group held a meeting Tuesday with Huntsville city leaders to address the area's need for infrastructure to match the growing population. Community members say the infrastructure quality is lacking in response to the area's influx of people, both living in it and traveling through it. Mother and son with special needs lose everything to a fire Many issues were brought to the city leaders' attention. Several in attendance at Tuesday's meeting voiced concerns about road conditions, school capacities, too high speed limits on local roads and developments planned for the area. District 2 Huntsville City Councilman David Little brought city and county planners and developers with him to better address community members' concerns and questions. He said he is aware and recognizes the issues raised, emphasizing the dire need for road improvements and expansion, especially for streets like Old Big Cove Road. 'A lot of our roads, like Old Big Cove Road, are still two-lane country roads that have subdivisions along them,' Little said. 'And they need to be widened…When that road was built, there were maybe 5 or 6 farmers driving down it. Now there's, you know, 5,000 people in this area every day and a lot of grooves. It's a popular place to be and we want to make sure we're keeping up.' Bill Binkley, a member of the Cove Area Citizens Community Action Group, said he felt like a lot of questions were answered by leaders. He explained that residents of this area want to ensure their tax dollars are going towards improving this area. '…Laid out what they spent money on so far, and doing a little foresight and getting ready for the growth,' Binkley said. 'So there's goodness in it. We just want to make sure our tax dollars are being spent adequately to reflect, you know, what we pay.' City leaders attributed much of the changes to the capital plan. Funds allocated for that plan during 2025 can be found here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Yahoo
82-year-old man killed in Chilton County crash
CHILTON COUNTY, Ala. (WIAT) — An 82-year-old man was pronounced dead after a two-vehicle crash in Chilton County on April 11. David Little, of Verbena, was injured when the Honda CR-V he was driving was struck by a Mack Truck around 11:35 a.m. Little was transported to Baptist Medical Center South in Montgomery for treatment. On April 14, Little died from his injuries at the hospital. US citizen held by ICE despite judge seeing birth certificate The crash occurred at the intersection of Chilton County 97 and U.S. 31. Alabama Law Enforcement Agency will continue to investigate Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
