Evans, Davis discuss Selma's future

By Katie Nichols (Contact) | Selma Times-Journal

Published Wednesday, September 3, 2008

By Katie Nichols

The Selma Times-Journal

Two of Selma’s most notable representatives sat down Wednesday afternoon to talk about the city’s future.

Congressman Artur Davis and Mayor-elect George Evans discussed future plans for the region after a fundraiser for Davis.

Both felt the meeting went well and provided a time to discuss upcoming plans.

“I came here for several reasons,” Davis said. “One was to meet with George Evans, the mayor-elect of this city, wish him well and tell him that I want be supportive and be helpful.”

Evans, who supported Davis since his first campaign, said they discussed basic questions involving business in Selma.

Evans said his plans until November are to work on transition from the current administration to the upcoming one.

“The first thing I am going to do is to sit down with department heads,” he said. “I want to talk about reorganization. Then, work with the council in terms of the strategy and procedural items they need to do.”

Evans’ time as the city council president lends experience to dealings with the council, he said.

“Having been on the council and coming in as a first-time mayor, I don’t have as much to learn,” he said. “I still have a lot to learn because the role of council president and mayor are completely different.”

Before Davis met with Evans, the congressman spoke to the group at the fundraiser about building a better community.

“We can build a new future in the region and, indeed, the state,” he said. “That is if we focus on our strengths and the things we have in common.”

Davis then demonstrated how arguing can hurt the area by explaining why Interstate 85 does not continue to Selma.

“I made the point that the initial game plan in the 1950s was to extend the interstate to Meridian,” he said. “The problem was when the people who draw up highways came to Alabama, we were too busy squabbling.”

Davis supports a version of extending the interstate that would mean the road would come through Selma.

Reauthorizing the renewal community is another step Davis wants to take for the Black Belt region.

The Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs defines the renewal community as “a program, created by Congress in 2000, that provides federal income tax incentives to businesses that are located or will locate in designated areas.”

The program helps reward businesses operating in a designated renewal community through tax breaks.

Both men looked forward to working together to help make the community better.

“I want to be supportive for Mayor-elect Evans and work together to make the area the community I know it can be,” Davis said.