By David Sher
A good friend sent me a link to a column published by Idolator.com with the headline, “Once powerful cities that now struggle to get by.”
As I scrolled down through the names of cities that always rank poorly like Pittsburgh and St. Louis, I knew Birmingham would be included.
And sure enough, as expected, there was Birmingham
Idolator wrote, “Throughout the United States, there are cases of cities that showed promise as the metropolises of the future. However, for many of these cities, unforeseen circumstances would see their attractive features decline, and their populations shrink.
“Today, some of these U.S. cities are more famous for failing than for their early success. We hope for a brighter future for these American cities.”
Why Birmingham gets clobbered in the rankings
Pittsburgh, located in Allegheny County, is home to 128 separate municipalities.
St. Louis County, which does not even include the City of St. Louis, is divided into 88 municipalities.
And Birmingham, as you likely know, is one of 35 municipalities in Jefferson County.
And therein lies the problem.
Highly segmented Pittsburg, St. Louis, and Birmingham, which are populated largely by their region’s urban core, are ranked against cities with their more affluent suburbs intact.
The City of Birmingham’s numbers do not include suburbs like Mountain Brook, Vestavia Hills, Trussville, or Homewood.
Yet Birmingham is compared with cities like Nashville, Jacksonville, and Louisville whose data include many of their prosperous neighborhoods.
Consequently, segmented cities get clobbered in these ‘apples to oranges’ rankings.
Idolator slams Birmingham
This is what they had to say…
“Birmingham, Alabama, experienced a meteoric rise as one of the nation’s fast-growing cities during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. According to the Federal Reserve Bank Of Atlanta, much of this success was due to the discovery of abundant deposits of iron, coal, and limestone in the surrounding area, which attracted big boosts from the steel and coal industries.
“However, Birmingham began to experience a sharp decline in the mid-20th century due to the loss of industry, increased racial tensions, and population shifts. The steel and coal industries there were historically volatile at the best of times, and the city’s status as an infamous civil rights battleground during the 1960s prevented other industries from taking hold.”
However, the Federal Reserve applauds Birmingham
The Idolator got most of its information about Birmingham from the Federal Reserve article mentioned above.
It’s ironic, even though Birmingham is described as ‘struggling,’ the Federal Reserve praises Birmingham.
“Birmingham today is a different place from the national pariah of the 1960s. Much of the civil rights battleground is a 36-acre national monument established by President Barack Obama in January 2017.
“The Civil Rights Institute, near the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, is among the nation’s foremost attractions devoted to African Americans’ struggle for equality…Birmingham has generated more middle-class and professional employment among African Americans than Charlotte, relative to city size.
“The Birmingham-Hoover metro area’s employment base today boasts a bigger concentration of jobs in financial activities than New York, Charlotte, or Atlanta, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Birmingham’s 43,000 financial jobs pay more than the national average.
“A downtown incubator affiliated with UAB houses 102 startup companies employing nearly 900 people.
“Opened in 2010, the 19-acre Railroad Park…has become a major downtown destination….The 19-acre Railroad Park…has become a major downtown destination.
“UAB and its renowned medical complex, of course, are the economy’s linchpin, employing 23,000 people and attracting the 10th highest research funding among public universities from the National Institutes of Health in 2015. Nearly twice as many jobs are in education and health services as manufacturing.
“In fact, Birmingham’s metro area employment is less concentrated in manufacturing than Alabama’s or the nation’s. Manufacturing is not dead, to be sure. Birmingham sits between automotive assembly plants in Talladega (Honda) and Tuscaloosa (Mercedes) counties…”
Birmingham doesn’t appear to be struggling.
Birmingham appears to be flourishing.
David Sher is the founder and publisher of ComebackTown. He’s past Chairman of the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce (BBA), Operation New Birmingham (REV Birmingham), and the City Action Partnership (CAP).
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Invite David to speak for free to your group about how we can have a more prosperous metro Birmingham. dsher@comebacktown.com.
It is not Birmingham’s fault that the steel industry declined. The metro area has probably done well considering the impact of this hollowing out of steel jobs.
I just read the article in the Idolator which seems to be fact based regarding all the cities profiled using historical facts. Birmingham is NOT the city it was back in the day so let us rejoice in 2024.
We still have poverty and criminal activity in this city and county while focusing on education and economic development is going on as well,
Thanks David for all you continue to do for so many.
Thanks for always hanging in there, David. As I’ve said before, you are RELENTLESSLY optimistic about this area. It is much appreciated!
The cities mentioned by Idolator are are metro governments which have combined as a result of concerned and informed citizens concerned for the successful future of their communities. There are well over 400 such arrangements including counties in rural states. I am a recent transplant to Birmingham from Louisville, not by choice I might add. Here is how I see it. The philosophy of the Birmingham area as well as the state is that of a parochial, small town attitude. It’s the people who consider themselves as the haves living on their side of the tracks and everybody else on the other. Early on, I brought up the subject of metro government and was learned real fast how the hogs eat the cabbage on that subject. I personally do not understand how community interdependence can be ignored but until it is addressed the existing situation will deteriorate.
No matter how you view data, Birmingham has issues that are serious. Crime is a serious issue. Education is a serious issue. Housing is a serious issue. Employment opportunities with a liveable wages is a serious issue. The REAL and SERIOUS issues of Birmingham are being ignored for the sake of…checking my notes…how statistics are calculated?? You have got to be kidding me.
How about spending less time preaching from your OTM hideout and helping Birmingham address these real issues. Imagine how much good you could do by putting your efforts toward shining a light on crime, low wages, education funding, adult literacy programs, drug prevention. This web site could be used for so much good but instead it used to divert attention away from actual problems. Fine! pretend the only problem Birmingham has is how people are counted. The only problem that solves is one that does not matter to people who live in a crime/drug infested area with few opportunities earn a liveable wage.
John, other cities have the same problems, but they include a broader city population which include more prosperous areas. You don’t think Atlanta has crime and poverty? Google ‘homicides in Nashville’ and you will see it has real problems. I didn’t say Birmingham has no issues. It does, but the problems are magnified because the suburbs are not included in the statistics.
Right on John, I have preached this over and over again on this site. Education is number 1 and Birmingham schools do not get it done. My two older grandchildren went to school in Trussville and received a great education. My next two went to Birmingham schools due to being incorporated into Birmingham and their education was terrible due to people not caring whether they received an education or not.. In order to put this in perspective their ages are 32, 29, 23, and 22. This is a great column but all the time is spent on how great Birmingham, not on the real problems.
David, if you don’t mind another comment by your guest columnist in Nashville, I’d like to make a couple of observations about Music City. Apologies for the length. The first has to do with the wealthiest communities here. Within Davidson County the very small but exceedingly wealthy communities of Belle Meade, Forest Hills, and Oak Hill are separate municipalities. I assume they, like Mountain Brook or Vestavia Hills, are excluded when analysts are describing Nashville-Davidson County’s demographic or economic statistics.
My other observation is regarding the lower income parts of Nashville, including predominantly African American North Nashville and ethnically diverse Southeast Nashville. The latter has large Hispanic and Middle Eastern populations. Yes, those areas have seen a troubling spike in homicides this year. Nevertheless, both have seen pretty significant investment in recent years, even substantial new housing construction. Some of our favorite restaurants are in Southeast Nashville—Kurdish/Turkish, Thai, Indian, even Uzbek. Add in the Nashville Zoo, Plaza Mariachi Hispanic mall, relocated Beaman car dealership, and massive commercial investment in Antioch, and you have the ingredients to attract more affluent—and white—residents for dining, entertainment, and even to reside.
Is all this a result of our metro form of government? Probably not much. It’s due more to Nashville’s history and character—especially the city’s experience with desegregation, its attitude toward working class immigrants, and the large creative class here that’s open to experimentation not tradition. Would Birmingham benefit if more businesspeople (not just City government) invested in the eastern, northern and western neighborhoods where it’s desperately needed? Folks who grew up in Homewood or Mountain Brook might not choose to live on 3rd Avenue West or Center Point Parkway, but they might venture there for shopping, dining or entertainment. Thanks for allowing me to chime in.
Thanks for your commitment to Birmingham and the greater area.
When will we see a push for a Greater Birmingham government?
That seems like the only thing that could remove the dark cloud that remains over this area reviving its magic.
Put a full casino where the fairgrounds used to be on the westside. It will help with job school and bring in tourist.
I hate that the old railroad station was knocked down…it gave the city more character and the building could have been used for so much more… plus turned into a bullet train if still around.
Is there a list somewhere that shows major metros and the number of municipalities? I just have a hard time believing that Birmingham’s metro size to municipality ratio is really much different from Atlanta and/or other major successful metros.
When thinking about some of the suburbs of Nashville, Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Austin, etc…. there is a massive difference compared to Homewood, MB, VH, Hoover, etc. They’ve flourished very well and they don’t really care what happens in the downtown hub. They can stand alone and are decent job markets and have good entertainment options.
I think we like to make this municipality excuse because our suburbs are quite bland and haven’t progressed much. Why doesn’t Hoover step up and grab some corporate HQs? Look at how many Fortune 500 companies are in DFW but NOT in Dallas! Same thing for Atlanta and probably Charlotte too if I had to guess.
I honestly think if the OTM were booming we wouldn’t even talk about this.. We’d just let Bham be Bham while we win.