Tuscaloosa's proud resilience has received national attention, as demonstrated by being a finalist in the National Disaster Resilience Competition Award.  Surprisingly, HUD passed on awarding Tuscaloosa.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced today that it awarded almost $1 billion to 13 disaster recovery areas through its National Disaster Resilience Competition.

The City of Tuscaloosa, one of 40 communities to advance to the final phase of the competition,did not receive an award.

Tuscaloosa Mayor Walter Maddox released a statement on the awards and the decision:

There are no words to express how proud I am in the City of Tuscaloosa and the team effort in competing in the National Disaster Resilience Competition.

I’d like to give special thanks to our Office of Resilience and Innovation, U.S. Sens. Richard Shelby and Jeff Sessions and U.S. Reps. Terri Sewell and Robert Aderholt for their efforts in fighting for Tuscaloosa, and I look forward to continuing that fight by their sides, especially considering no communities impacted by tornados were included in the awards.

Together we’ve made great progress since April 27, 2011. From Rosedale to Alberta, we’ve worked as a team to build back better than before. Because of our vision, planning and diligence, we’re accomplishing great feats with little resources.

Hockey Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky famously said, “You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.” We took a shot – a thoughtfully and thoroughly planned, well-executed shot.

We took the shot.

Moving forward, with all the practice we’ve had and plans we’ve made, we’ll continue to take the shots. We have the elements in place for future grant opportunities. We have a plan and direction, but most importantly the drive and passion, to continue to build a more resilient city; a city that’s stronger, safer, smarter.

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