Photo by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.
A car parked on Linden Avenue, south of Reese Street. Photo by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.
On Monday night, councilmembers heard a first reading of an ordinance to prohibit parking on the east side of Linden Avenue from Reese Street to Oxmoor Road. The council opted to carry the matter over until its first meeting of 2026.
Mayor Jennifer Andress said the city “made it through the Christmas season [without the ordinance]. I think we’ll be fine until Jan. 12.”
City Engineer Amy Zari told The Homewood Star that vehicles parking on the east side of Linden were affecting business owners and people traveling to the businesses on Linden.
“The cars that were parking right by that stop sign — a few feet back from it — were blocking cars from either entering onto Linden and going north on Linden,” Zari said. “There wasn't enough space for both cars to get by. Cars would have to yield, and things kind of become clustered. [We’re doing this] mainly for safety reasons, and allowing the traffic to flow.”
Rico Huynh is the owner of Soho Nails & Salon. He knows of the snarls parking on that street can create.
“Sometimes it'll be like an 18-wheeler parking here and they'll block my customers and all that,” he said. “Some customers get frustrated. Whenever people park on this side or that side, it's hard for cars to go back and forth.”
Zari said the proposed ordinance won't affect any of the off-street parking.
“There's a lot of off-street parking on that roadway that's off of the right of way,” the city engineer said. “You can pull in and go up next to the business. That won't affect any of that. It'll just be those couple parking spaces right by that stop sign [near Reese Street].”
The parking discussion expanded to Chris Lane’s observations regarding delivery trucks on 18th Street.
“I’m talking about whether it’s Amazon or whoever it is, parking right there in the middle, not even in the lane, in front of Soca [Clothing] and these places,” Lane said. “They should go around. Why don’t they use the alley like everybody else? Why are deliveries in the middle of 18th Street? There shouldn’t be a truck stopping in the middle of 18th Street, especially at this time of the year. I don’t know what the answer is but they should be doing it.”
Andress suggested that law enforcement be summoned for when merchants and customers are inconvenienced.
“I would tell them to call HPD [Homewood Police Department] every time,” the mayor said. “We’re going to have a substation here. We’ll have officers here at City Hall.”
Three public hearings were postponed until the Jan. 26 council meeting. Those hearings are to consider:
- Condemnation of 1625 26th Avenue South.
- Approval of an amended development plan for the proposed Homewood Community Church’s permit to construct a new, two-story building comprising 30,797 square feet, as well as associated parking, landscaping and other site improvements.
- Approval of an amended development plan for Brookdale University Park to permit the proposed construction of a pickleball court on the south [rear] side of Brookdale Senior Living Facility. The site is currently a parking area.
Andress announced the following council board liaisons:
- Paul S. Simmons II, Samford University and Library Board.
- Nick Sims, Planning Commission.
- Chris Lane, Chamber of Commerce.
- Winslow Armstead, Board of Education and Park and Recreation.
