Photo courtesy of Jennifer Andress for Mayor campaign.
Homewood City Council member Jennifer Andress is running for mayor. If elected, she will become the first woman to serve as the city’s mayor.
September is a busy month in Homewood, especially in 2026, our centennial year! Have you taken our tour of 100-year-old homes yet? Check out the map on our website (cityofhomewood.com/centennial) and see just what our beautiful city looked like at the very beginning. Later this month we will host a film festival at Patriot Park, featuring short movies about topics near and dear to Homewood, and look for an announcement soon about a collaborative public art project celebrating our 100 years, brought to us by Homewood resident and renowned muralist Shawn Fitzwater.
In further celebration of our centennial, our District 6 congressman, U.S. Rep. Gary Palmer, will be reading a resolution celebrating Homewood on the floor of the House of Representatives and flying a flag over the U.S. Capitol in our honor. We look forward to welcoming Rep. Palmer back here in Homewood in October for him to present us with this special flag, and we will proudly display it at City Hall.
September is also officially budget season. This year, our city manager and Council have results from our citizen survey, completed earlier this year, to guide us on what our community values and prioritizes. The survey results, together with the Comprehensive Plan that is starting to take shape, provide great guidelines and benchmarks to assist us. Thank you to all who participated in these exercises — your voice matters!
A few transportation updates for September: Work continues on phase 1 of our Hollywood Boulevard bridge improvement project, which is a sidewalk on both sides of the bridge over U.S. 280 and a road expansion on the Homewood side. (Phase 2 includes a new eastbound turn lane, traffic light and protected pedestrian access on the bridge and should go out to bid by the county in early 2028.) ALDOT’s U.S. 31 improvement project is set to get underway this month, to include a crosswalk at Ventura Avenue, traffic signal upgrades and resurfacing from Ventura Avenue to Lakeshore. And our micro-transit on-demand pilot program is well underway. Learn how it works here: cityofhomewood.com/on-demand-rides-homewood and take advantage of the two free rides in Homewood!
I hope to see you at one of our centennial events this month and next. In the meantime, I am always available by email (jennifer.andress@homewoodal.org). Thank you, Homewood, for the honor of serving you!
