Shunnarah aims to replace Smith for Hoover City Council Place 2

Dina Shunnarah has lived in Hoover for about 26 years of her life and said she has had a great experience in both the city and with the school system.

Now, she wants to play a bigger role in city government and is running for Hoover City Council Place 2.

Council President Gene Smith currently holds that seat but is giving it up to run for mayor. Shunnarah has four opponents in the race: Ron Brown, Mitzi Eaker, Robin Schultz and Sam Swiney.

Shunnarah, who originally is from San Francisco, said Hoover has gotten a bad image lately, but she wants people to know it’s a great place to live and wants to see it to continue to grow.

For the past two years, she has owned and operated the Rock ‘n Roll Sushi restaurant at The Shops of the Colonnade in Birmingham. As a small business owner, she is not anti-business, but she is concerned about the addition of so many new shopping centers while some existing ones have so many vacant spaces.

She likes all the new places on Alabama 150, but she’s concerned about vacancies at the Riverchase Galleria and especially the Patton Creek shopping center, which she said has become an eyesore.

Shunnarah said some of these shopping areas need to be redeveloped, perhaps with a mix of residential offerings, such as condominiums, townhomes or other small single-family homes.

Hoover could really use some lower-priced housing so young people can afford to stay in the city once they graduate college or get a job, she said. There aren’t enough affordable places for people like her three daughters to live, she said.

She and her family members have shopped at the Galleria for decades and always loved shopping there around Thanksgiving until Thanksgiving Day 2018, when shots were fired inside the mall and police responded and seconds later shot and killed a 21-year-old Hueytown man who had a gun in his hand and was running toward unarmed people.

She and her daughters were at the mall at the time and were separated. “That was probably the scariest moment of my life,” she said.

FUNDING, TAXES

She would love to see the Galleria converted into an open-air mall or a “true city downtown” with a new city hall, police headquarters and maybe an entertainment center, she said.

She said supports the Hoover Police Department “110%” and doesn’t agree with the idea of reallocating money from police to fund other things.

“I just feel like the police are so important,” she said. “I just don’t see how a city is going to function when you’re taking money away from the Police Department.”

Shunnarah, whose parents were Lebanese, said she is all for diversity and would to see the city continue efforts to increase diversity in city government.

Shunnarah said other goals as a councilwoman would be to continue strong financial support of the Hoover school system and improving areas of town that have become eyesores due to store vacancies.

Recruiting businesses to fill some of the vacant spaces might require offering more tax incentives, Shunnarah said.

She knows the retail industry is struggling, but “I’m all about brick and mortar still,” she said. “I’m one who likes to shop and touch. … I think a lot of people do.”

Regarding taxes, Shunnarah said she doesn’t see a need to raise taxes and would not be against reversing some of the tax increases passed by the Hoover City Council in 2018. However, she would want to study the impact of such a decision more before taking a vote, she said.

BACKGROUND

Shunnarah, 53, first moved to Hoover from San Francisco when she was 22. She came to live with her mother, met her future husband, Freddy, soon after getting here, and they now have been married 28 years and live in the Pinewood community off Atkins-Trimm Boulevard.

She worked for AmSouth Bank about four years, then got married and became a stay-at-home mom for a while, then worked 18 years as medical transcriptionist for Children’s Hospital from home.

Her husband owns convenience stores and rental properties, and they also were co-owners and operators of the Ranch House Family Restaurant in Vestavia Hills for about three years before selling their ownership share and opening Rock ‘n Roll Sushi at the Colonnade.

Shunnarah previously served on the board of directors for the Regency Towers condominiums in Panama City Beach and soon will be on it again, she said. She also served on the board for the Birchtree Swim & Racquet Club about 10 years ago and is still a member there.

She served as a room mom and volunteer at Gwin Elementary and Simmons Middle schools when her children were there, and she attends Prince of Peace Catholic Church. Her daughters are now 27, 24 and 18. The youngest just graduated from Hoover High School and is headed to the University of Montevallo, where her other two daughters went.

For more information about Shunnarah, go to shunnarahforhoover.com or visit Dina Shunnarah for Hoover City Council on Facebook.

Hoover’s city election is Aug. 25.

See the complete list of candidates for Hoover mayor and Hoover City Council.