Photos by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.
A truck makes its way along Round Forest Drive in Mountain Brook.
Residents of Round Forest Drive have asked the Mountain Brook City Council to consider closing their street where it runs into neighboring Irondale and installing a cul-de-sac.
They said being on the edge of the city makes them feel forgotten and vulnerable.
“We feel very isolated back there in a bad way,” Rachel Morrison said. “We just feel …”
Her neighbor, David Dutton, completed her thought. “We feel forgotten,” he said. “I kind of feel like we’re forgotten.”
Several residents in the area spoke to the council in late July, expressing concerns about activity on their street that has bled over from Irondale. Katie Terry said she and her neighbors are exhausted from the criminal activity and the safety concerns that continue to occur just down the street from their homes.
“For the past two years, our neighborhood has endured repeated trespassing, drug-related arrests and activity, thefts and other criminal behavior,” she said. “Most recently, the illegal activity culminated in a tragic double homicide. That event pushed many of us to our limit. We cannot continue to accept the level of risk that families here have been expected to live with.
“There are roughly 70 children who call these streets home,” Terry continued. “They want to ride their bikes, walk to and from Cherokee Bend [Elementary] and enjoy the same freedoms that children in neighborhoods should have. They should be able to do those things safely. Instead, the roads connecting our neighborhood to Irondale have become a busy cut-through route for commuters, work crews and other non-residents. Vehicles frequently speed around a blind curve, barreling down a blind hill, creating dangerous conditions for children, pedestrians, cyclists and families that are trying to enjoy the place we call home.”
David Dutton speaks to the Mountain Brook City Council during a July council meeting.
Dutton cited other challenges, including prostitution and motorcycle gangs.
“My daughters have watched people getting taken down by the police, SWAT,” he said, noting that their street has become a means of escape for perpetrators. “You’ve got a way in which people could flee. This is a labyrinth of streets that you can easily hide. I’ve got helicopters coming over my house. It’s just not acceptable.”
Council President Billy Pritchard told the Round Forest Drive residents that they are not forgotten.
“The situation is we can only deal with what we can deal with and try to find a solution that’s best, that works, that we can do,” he said. “We’ve got to look at that.”
Council members said closing a street is not a simple task.
“That’s a very tough thing to do,” Pritchard said. “To close the road and then [install a] cul-de-sac would have to be part one and two. They’d be complementary of each other.”
Councilman Gerald Garner said closing the road is not going to prevent the crime behind them.
Terry said the road ended with a cul-de-sac decades ago.
“Reinstating the cul-de-sac would dramatically reduce the unnecessary cut-through traffic, discourage non-local traffic from using our neighborhood as a shortcut and help restore the sense of security that families in our communities deserve,” she said. “We are not asking for a special favor. We are asking you to put the safety of our residents first. The families who live here should not have to sacrifice their peace of mind.”
The council agreed to continue talks about the residents’ request, adding that City Manager Steve Boone can provide them with updates.
