Village Living neighborly news & entertainment for Mountain Brook
Volume 5 | Issue 10 | January 2015
A look ahead
Mountain Brook’s Welden, Benck lead World Games bid
Find updates on the Grand Bohemian Hotel and other projects underway for 2015 in our Year in Preview.
Special page A13
National champions
Mountain Brook residents David Benck, far right, and Edgar Welden, second from right, are leaders of a group working to bring the 2021 World Games to Birmingham. Last fall the group took the World Games committee to the Alabama vs. Texas A&M football game in Tuscaloosa, pictured here. Photo by Karim Shamsi-Basha.
By DAVID KNOX
An MBJH student holds a national title in a sport called goalball. Learn more about the game and his team inside this issue.
Features page B1
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N o, it’s not the World C up of soccer. And it’s not the Olympic Games. But the World Games are a big deal. And if Edgar Welden and David Benck are successful in their efforts, the 2021 World Games will be in Birmingham. The two Mountain Brook residents are co-chairmen of the local organizing
committee along with Scott Myers, executive director of the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame. Welden, the chairman of the board of the ASHOF, has long been a champion of sports in the metro area. Benck is vice president and general counsel for Hibbett Sporting Goods and legal counsel to the ASHOF. Birmingham is one of just three cities still under consideration; the other two are L ima,
Peru, and Ufa, Russia. The World Games is a multidisciplinary sporting event consisting of non-Olympic sports. It’s been held every four years since 19 8 1. It includes approximately 3 6 sports with more than 100 countries participating and 4,000 athletes. The event takes place over 11 days.
See WORLD GAMES | page A19
V ine Street Pig plans move forward C onstruction could begin by February By MADOLINE MARKHAM The Pig is coming back. The C ity C ouncil approved rezoning that will allow for a Piggly Wiggly to be built on V ine Street in C restline at a specially called meeting on Dec. 16. The project could start construction as early as February and will take about eight months to complete. During that time, construction fencing will be placed on V ine Street so that no construction workers or vehicles enter through the street. Brasfield orrie is the proposed ontra tor for the Piggl iggl . The store will replace three existing buildings, the Scout
See PIGGLY WIGGLY | page A18
Basim Ajlouny, Andy Virciglio and Naseem Ajlouny are co-owners of the new Piggly Wiggly planned for Vine Street in Crestline Village. The store will be similar to the location at River Run, where this photo was taken. Photo by Karim Shamsi-Basha.
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