Keith O. Williams said he’s tired of things hitting a crisis point before they get the city’s full attention.

Take public safety. Williams, who is running to represent District 6 on the Birmingham City Council, said there have been plans on the books since 2017 that are similar to the public safety initiatives announced recently by the city.

“Why did we wait more than seven years?” Williams, a freelance web designer and community activist, asked this weekend before announcing his run for office.

“This should have been addressed a long time ago.”

Hiring more officers is not enough to reduce violence in the city, Williams said, the city needs to target the root causes of crime.

Much of that comes down to improving the city’s less-affluent neighborhoods by bringing in businesses that offer jobs to area residents and housing people can afford, along with helping to furnish necessities such as a grocery store where people can buy fresh produce.

Standing in Titusville, he said that people and groups already are working in the communities, but they need city backing.

Williams, 50, is one of those people. He has been a community activist for years. He’s former vice president of the North Titusville Neighborhood Association and in 2003 founded Great I Am Ministries Outreach International, a faith-based nonprofit. He’s an associate minister at St Mark Missionary Baptist Church and previously a pastoral care counselor for Church of the Highlands.

Williams attended Parker High School and earned a degree in finance at Alabama State University. He helped found Voters Legal Justice Watch Group and is a member of Faith in Action Alabama, Our Revolution Birmingham, the Poor People’s Campaign, Alabama Arise, Neighborhood Advocates for Justice, and Birmingham United Neighborhoods.

He is not a newcomer to the political scene. He ran for the District 6 seat on the council twice before, in 2017 and 2020.

Williams said he decided to run for the council because he has a vision of Birmingham as a great city.

Williams said that if he is elected, his focus would be on the communities.

Standing in Memorial Park on Saturday, Williams pointed to a lamp that was tilted over from the base and swaying in the strong breeze. The city is slow to respond to little things like that that make a big difference in neighborhoods, he said.

If he were on the council, he said, he would be in the communities and accountable to the people.

“It’s not really about what I want; it’s about you want,” he said.

The election is Aug. 26.