Mobile struggle: How to honor Levon Manzie one year after former council president’s death

Former Mobile City Council President Levon Manzie died about one year ago, but the fight for memorializing his legacy in Mobile lives on as his family and the city’s elected leaders struggle to find a permanent solution.

The year-long issue will boil down to what Manzie’s family and Mobile city leaders can agree upon: Name a park? A building? A new memorial of some kind? A street?

Manzie, a fourth-generation minister, died on September 19, 2021, at age 38, following a lifelong struggle with a kidney disease.

Keta Manzie, 41, who was the late councilman’s sister, said Tuesday that her family wants to see something more “significant” named after her brother than a pocket park, which was pitched to the family as a possibility last year.

She said the family declined naming a nondescript pocket park in the Lafayette Heights Historic District after Levon Manzie.

“We appreciate Levon on what he did for the city as a whole,” said Keta Manzie. “In my personal opinion, I want to see something bigger than Layfette Heights. That’s what I’m crossing my fingers for. I want him to be recognized in the way he lived, and he served Mobile every day and night.”

The struggle on renaming something in Mobile after Manzie comes at the one-year anniversary of the councilman’s death. It also comes less than one year after an unusual and controversial campaign in which his likeness was utilized as campaign fodder for a special interest group during a special election for his city council seat.

Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson, in a statement Tuesday, said the city continues “working with the Manzie family on the best way to memorialize Levon’s contributions to the community permanently.”

“Though he was taken from us early, Levon accomplished more than many will accomplish in a longer lifetime,” Stimpson said. “We have not forgotten him. We won’t forget him.”

Mobile City Councilman C.J. Small, who became council president after Manzie’s death, said there were talks among the City Council members last year to “recognize and do something for Levon” and that renaming the park in Layfette Heights was one of the solutions.

“One thing we could have done quickly last year was to name Layfette Heights Park after Levon, but I know some of the family has issues (with renaming the park),” said Small. “I speak on behalf of my office, but I would not mind doing something to recognize Levon and keep (his memory) alive.”

Small defended the Layfette Heights park proposal by saying it was “one of Levon’s parks.” Its image also served as the background for Manzie during Zoom calls held during the COVID-19 pandemic, Small said.

“I know he worked hard to turn that into a neighborhood park and included a clock (in it),” he said.

Keta Manzie said the family is not necessarily supportive of renaming a park after her brother. She said that Levon Manzie played a significant role in shaping city policy during his lifetime, including his support for the ongoing reconstruction of Broad Street. Stimpson credited Manzie for his work on helping kickstart the revitalization of St. Louis Street, among other things.

“Two days before he passed away, he was talking to the mayor,” said Keta Manzie. “I’ve seen him devote so much of his life into the city.”

Levon Manzie was the youngest Mobile resident to ever serve on the Mobile City Council when he was elected in 2013. He was-elected without competition four years later.

He was seeking a third term to the council at the time of his death. Manzie finished with 48% of the vote in a six-person race for the District 2 council seat on August 24, 2021. To avoid a runoff, he needed 50% of the overall vote. William Carroll, the former councilman before Manzie, finished with 23%.

After his death, Manzie’s name remained on the October 5 runoff ballot alongside Carroll, and controversy ensued.

Carroll won the runoff election amid concerns about “outsider” interference during the lead-up to the runoff. Campaign material featuring Manzie’s likeness on them was paid for by a political action committee with ties to a Republican Party operative.

While municipal races are non-partisan, Manzie was a supporter of Democratic politicians during his lifetime.

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Manzie’s family was also not involved in the campaign after his death. But the family, led by his mother Jeanette Manzie, urged people to vote for her son during the runoff as a way to pay tribute to him.

Said Keta Manzie, “My mom made it perfectly clear after the election was over that no matter what the outcome would be, it would not bring Levon back. We just wanted to finish the race for Levon. That’s all it was about.”

Carroll won with 57% of the vote or 1,465 to Manzie’s 1,100 votes.

Keta Manzie added, “As far as the results are concerned, Levon lost by a small margin and that says a whole lot for a person who is not here.”

The push to memorialize Levon Manzie also comes about one year after the Mobile City Council voted to memorialize two of its longest serving members at two large city parks. An entrance into Medal of Honor Park in west Mobile was named after longtime former Councilwoman Bess Rich. Tricentennial Park was renamed after Councilman Fred Richardson.

Richardson said the reason for renaming a park after him was because “it was my vision to create a park” where a housing development once stood more than 20 years ago.

Richardson said his name is yet to be attached to any signage at the park.

Memorializing Mobile politicians has sometimes been difficult.

Former Mobile Mayor Sam Jones, who was the city’s first and only Black mayor, said there have been “a lot of Black elected officials who have not had anything significant named for them” within the city.

Jones was set to have Government Plaza renamed after him in 2013, after the council voted unanimously to do so. But the three-member Mobile County Commission, which owns and administers the building, never took a vote on it.

Jones, who is now a member of the Alabama House, said he’s the only former mayor who served in the city who “doesn’t have anything named after him.” Jones, who served on the Mobile County Commission for 18 years before his time as mayor, said there is a road in Mt. Vernon named after him.

He said he believes it’s appropriate for the city to do something more significant to honor Manzie who was only the second Black person to serve as the council president.

“He served well and he was the president of the city council,” Jones said. “The pocket park was his doing, but the only problem is no one uses it. A nice idea, but there is nowhere to park.”