Photo courtesy of Liz Lane
Liz Lane is running for Hoover City Council Place 3.
Liz Lane is a woman who is passionate about the environment and the arts, and those passions are what fed her desire to run for the Hoover City Council this year, she said.
Lane, 36, is one of three candidates seeking to replace John Lyda in City Council Place 3. Lyda chose not to run for re-election this year after 13 years on the council. The other candidates are Ashley Lovell and Robert Williams.
Lane said she has long been concerned about the environment on a global level, but “all politics is local, so I thought the best place to start was to learn how to advocate for the environment here at home and figure out what we in the city of Hoover can do in our own city.”There is actually a lot that can be done in Hoover, she said. Some of the basic infrastructure needs to be updated in some areas, which can be expensive, she said. The city has done a lot of litigating to not do everything it’s supposed to do, she said.
Hoover also could invest in “green infrastructure” and “green spaces” with water-absorbing native plants and do better at making sure developers install and maintain retention and detention ponds, she said.
The city also needs a more updated and transparent plan regarding stormwater controls and inspections for new development, she said. Also, flood plains are changing, so the city probably should update the stormwater management criteria that need to be met when it comes to future development to reflect the changing environment and protect the community, she said.
Regarding the arts, Lane has been in the arts industry for 15 years. She opened an art gallery in Homewood about nine years ago and moved it to Bluff Park Village in Hoover about three years ago and now operates it more as a studio than a gallery, she said.
“Hoover does a fantastic job with investment in sports, and I know that if we just applied that same logic and we invested more in the arts, we could really become a model city in many ways,” Lane said.
While Hoover has allocated $17 million out of a 2023 warrant issue for an arts center, there’s no real plan or identified location to build one yet, Lane said. There also has been a lot of emphasis on the performing arts but an arts center in a city the size of Hoover really should include all types of arts, she said.
There needs to be more collaboration with the community about what is needed in an arts center and then a location should be identified, she said.
A lot of people are pointing to the Patton Creek shopping center as an ideal location, but she questions how viable that location would be. There are a lot of existing structures in Hoover, such as empty office buildings, that could be modified to serve as an arts center, she said.
“I don’t think we are going to ever fill all those back up,” she said. “I don’t think everyone is going to be going back to the office in the same capacity that we were before.”
The Riverchase Galleria also has some potential for redevelopment that includes an arts center as long as it doesn’t hurt the retail that’s still there, Lane said.
Investment in the arts can really strengthens communities socially and economically, she said.
“It’s time Hoover invests in its cultural diversity and creative talent. Arts education improves empathy and academic success, reducing discipline issues by 20.7% and boosting writing scores by 13%,” she said. “Community arts centers also raise property values and lower crime, enhancing quality of life for all.”
Lane said being an artist also gives her some unique skills that could benefit the City Council right now.
“I think a lot of the problems Hoover is facing are going to require creative problem solving and active listening, which is something that, working in the arts, I’ve had to do a lot of.”
She also thinks it’s important for there to be more female representation on the City Council. No women were elected in the 2020 election, but Khristi Driver was appointed to fill Mike Shaw’s seat when Shaw was elected to serve in the state Legislature.
“Khristi has done a great job, but we need more women voices,” Lane said. “We need people who have been primary caregivers in their households to represent us as we are a population largely made up of families.”
Read more about Liz Lane here or visit lizlane4hcc.com or Liz Lane for Hoover City Council on Instagram and Facebook.
Find out more about the other candidates for Council Place 3 — Lovell and Williams.
