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An effort sponsored by the City of Selma called Selma Now provided citizens in the community with engagement sessions throughout the month of April to express their concerns about the city now and its future moving forward.

On Tuesday, there was a public town hall meeting at the Selma Performing Arts Center providing the breakdown of Selma Now, its purpose and process to develop a strategic action plan to address the impacts of the January 2023 tornado. Including setting up a foundational direction for land use, economic development, housing and infrastructure, according to the Selma Now website. 

“We got started with this last year,” said Brandon Bias, Community and Regional Planner of Goodwyn Mills Cawood (GMC).  “Early 2024, we were hired by the city through the Alabama-Tombigbee Regional Council to help carry out this effort. We are at a point now with this process where we have kind of a strategy put together and we just wanted to get some feedback from the citizens here to make sure it’s going in the right direction and let people know the draft plan for Selma is available online.”

Bias said the strategies for the drafted plan start with creating a more vibrant downtown and a riverfront area for Selma. Next, it discusses the revitalization of existing neighborhoods and the enhancement of major corridors and gateways in the city.  Lastly, it supports employment centers, encouraging growth in areas of non-retail employment including institutional and industrial centers.

Later that evening, Bias, among many others who attended the public town hall meeting, went to city hall for the effort’s focus group session that included a synopsis discussion of the drafted plan for Selma with the Selma City Council.

“The training session was just that, some training,” said Warren Billy Young, Selma City Council President. “Also, this session served as a reminder of the responsibilities and duties of not just elected officials but of all the citizens of Selma. I really appreciate the fact that we had individuals go out and look at all of the different plans that we have had during the various years and come up with something that fits the present age. I believe that the discussions here tonight, the overview of the plan and helping us to understand where we are going, was excellent.”

Young said he has already bought into the plan and feels that it is his duty and responsibility to go out, be an advocate for the people of Selma, so they can not only understand the plan but get behind the plan.

“A plan is only as good as the individual’s belief in it, and so I believe we have some strong information, some strong indicators to help build Selma’s future and make it better than it’s ever been.”

Young said he wants Bias and those who created the plan to know and understand that they are just not words, a city budget, but they are people who love Selma and believe in Selma.

“We are here because we believe Selma’s best days are yet to come,” Young said.

Young told Selma Times-Journal that this is their first time hearing the whole comprehensive view of the plan, hence only hearing bits and pieces before. 

“This is not our first meeting with the presenters and authors of this plan,” Young said. “We had a different set of people that we spoke to last time, but this was an opportunity for us to hear about the next steps, hear where the public is, because we can’t make this decision alone. This is not like a one shot, one deal opportunity. What we will vote on, this will be here for generations. So, we need citizens to be involved.” 

Citizens who would like to get involved in the city’s future improvements, can visit jotform.com/cityofselma/selmanow.