By David Sher
Editor’s note: PIease read entire column before jumping to conclusions–the proposed change may not be what you expect.
I was asked by al.com to write about the best thing that happened to Birmingham in 2025.
I’m still thinking.
Meanwhile, huge economic development announcements keep rolling in from across the South. Many come from Huntsville. If you’re tired of reading about their wins in ComebackTown, I understand. But I’m writing about them because Birmingham isn’t making these headlines–not because I’m jealous of Huntsville.
Huntsville’s successes are great for our state and prove what’s possible.
Huntsville announced in recent weeks:
- A $6 billion Eli Lilly plant—the largest economic development project in Alabama history.
- An $82 million, 200,000-square-foot research, development, and manufacturing facility.
- The FBI relocating 4,000 jobs to the area.
- The unveiling of the Space Command logo.
We All Know Birmingham’s Problem
Jefferson County has 35 separate municipalities—each with its own mayor, its own government.
Each municipality is looking out for itself–not for our region.
- 35 fire departments.
- 27 police departments.
- 14 separate call centers.
- 20 separate jails.
Look at the populations of each of these Jefferson County Cities. This will make your head spin:
| City | Population (2020) |
|---|---|
| Birmingham | 200,733 |
| Hoover | 92,606 |
| Vestavia Hills | 39,102 |
| Trussville | 26,613 |
| Homewood | 26,414 |
| Bessemer | 26,019 |
| Mountain Brook | 20,413 |
| Hueytown | 16,776 |
| Center Point | 16,406 |
| Gardendale | 16,044 |
| Irondale | 13,497 |
| Leeds | 12,573 |
| Clay | 10,291 |
| Pleasant Grove | 9,544 |
| Fairfield | 9,524 |
| Fultondale | 8,380 |
| Pinson | 7,163 |
| Tarrant | 5,806 |
| Midfield | 5,365 |
| Adamsville | 4,366 |
| Kimberly | 3,841 |
| Warrior | 3,245 |
| Morris | 2,277 |
| Brighton | 2,245 |
| Lipscomb | 2,086 |
| Graysville | 1,950 |
| Sylvan Springs | 1,653 |
| Brookside | 1,253 |
| Mulga | 768 |
| Edgewater | 746 |
| Trafford | 599 |
| West Jefferson | 477 |
| Maytown | 316 |
| North Johns | 125 |
| Cardiff | 55 |
Cardiff has 55 people. North Johns has 125. Maytown has 316. Seven cities with fewer than 1,000 residents. Six more with fewer than 3,000.
You may have read about Lipscomb where a judge recently removed most of the city council, leaving the town without a functioning government. This is what happens when communities too small to sustain proper governance try to operate as independent cities.
This isn’t just inefficient. It’s killing our ability to compete for transformative economic development.
Full Consolidation Won’t Work Here
You may assume I’m thinking: “Just consolidate everything like Nashville, Louisville, Jacksonville, or Indianapolis did.” But that train has left the station in Jefferson County. The political will for full city-county merger simply doesn’t exist here, and we need to deal with that reality.
But here’s the good news: there’s another way.
Pittsburgh Figured It Out
Pittsburgh faced the exact same problem—only worse. Allegheny County has 130 municipalities, four times more than Jefferson County. Like us, they had fragmented government and no county-wide elected executive.
So what did Pittsburgh do? They didn’t merge cities. On January 1, 2000, Allegheny County adopted a Home Rule Charter creating one strong county government.
They replaced three commissioners with an elected County Executive accountable to all 1.2 million residents, established a 15-member county council, and appointed a professional county manager. Most importantly, they created a true executive branch with real power to coordinate economic development across the entire region.
The Results Speak for Themselves
The transformation was immediate. For the first time, Pittsburgh had unified leadership that could speak with one voice. The County Executive could sit at the table with governors, corporate CEOs, and federal officials representing the entire metro area.
Today, the three most important political voices in Pennsylvania are the Governor, the Mayor of Philadelphia, and the Mayor of Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh earned that seat at the table by fixing their governmental structure.
That’s the political clout and economic coordination we need.
A truly Independent Executive for Jefferson County
The solution is staring us in the face: create a truly independent executive branch for Jefferson County with a county-wide elected executive accountable to all 660,000 residents.
This isn’t about taking power away from Birmingham or Hoover or Mountain Brook. It’s about adding the regional leadership layer that’s missing—the voice that can coordinate economic development, speak for the metro area, and compete with Huntsville, Nashville, Atlanta, and Charlotte for the projects that create jobs.
Until we fix this fundamental structural flaw, we’ll keep losing ground. We’ll keep watching other cities announce the billion-dollar projects. And worst of all, we’ll keep watching our most precious export—our talented young people—move to cities that figured out long ago that fragmented governance kills economic prosperity.
The Choice is Ours
I want next year’s column to be about Birmingham’s biggest win of 2026. About a transformative project that brings thousands of jobs. About young people coming back home because opportunities exist here.
But that only happens if we act.
Keep limping along with 35 governments and no unified voice, or follow Pittsburgh’s proven model and build the leadership structure that makes Birmingham competitive again.
Our competitors aren’t waiting. Neither should we.
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
As someone on the outside looking in, but also someone that once lived in Homewood, Center Point and Grayson Valley, I applaud the idea of a regional executive, but I believe there are not enough people in the greater Birmingham area in support of this idea. As to why there is this lack of support is due to many reasons. Fear of giving too much power to a single individual, although it has worked elsewhere. Lack of awareness of the concept itself. And while there are other reasons, perhaps the biggest is APATHY.
Hopefully that apathy can be overcome, but until it is, Good Luck.
This is simply a ‘must do.’ It will take quite a lot of informing the public, education and campaigning. That process should be organized ASAP and delivered through all media to the general public focusing on how the advantages outweigh apathy.
Another problem is the many school systems in Jefferson County. The Alabama State Legislature needs to ban the creation of any new school systems to prevent the problem from getting any worse.
Great idea, Pat. Except we tried it the other way and our children were be processed with standards set very low, so other school systems were formed to educate our children to be sucessful in life. I speak from experience from having 2 children educated outside of Birmingham and Jefferson County schools and 2 that were educated in the county school system. I can assure you the difference is overwhelming.
You are absolutely right, David. Please continue to beat the drum on this issue. It’s vital.
Hi David, this proposal sounds great! I agree that the metro area’s fragmentation is a problem. However, from some online research (I am not an expert by any means), it seems to me that the Alabama constitution would block this sort of activity. The 1973 Constitutional Commission proposed home rule reforms that would have given counties a general grant of authority, but these reforms were never adopted. So wouldn’t implementing this sort of idea require a constitutional amendment to allow for home rule or to restructure Jefferson County’s governance specifically? I’m curious how you see navigating that legal landscape.
Jake, it’s my understading that the legislature could make this happen, but partisan politics would make this difficult for the time being.
This seems like a great idea. The next question is how to make our leaders listen.
I will be contrarian and say that Birmingham’s problem is NOT the 35 separate municipalities within Jeffco. Thay is only a result of the problem.
Ask yourself “WHY?”
Why does Jeffco have 35 separate muncipalities? Mainly White Flight and suburban sprawl. Sure there are a few historically older cities like Bessemer that were already established.
Why did White Flight happen? White flight happened post the Civil Rights movement in the 60’s fueled primarily by school desegreation. The governor took a literal stand in the school house door to show his displeasure with forced integration. Many white people followed suit and left integrated areas (White Flight) and began forming city school systems which were able to draw dristric lines in racially advantageous ways.
Why did/does suburban sprawl happen? Most families have multiple automobiles and as such transportation is not an issue. With good school systems and neighbors that are racially and culturally similar, suburbs are attractive to those that do not wish to reside in an urban setting with higher crime rates and poverty.
So that leaves us with the question of Why do people prefer to reside with neighbors that are racially and culturally similar to them? Ask yourself why every prison is the USA is extremely racially segregated?
My point isn’t that a limited combined regional government can not work….it can. But don’t delude yourself to think the problems of this region is because of separate municipalities. The separate municipalities are a result of racial division. Racial division isn’t anything new. During the “Magic” period of Birmingham becoming the Magic City, there were fairly strict neighborhoods for Italians, Greeks, blacks, whites, and Jewish residents.
Good luck. Might I suggest a trial run by trying to get a single service combined. We have seen the disaster that is the Water Works, not that. Rather maybe try to negotiate one contract for waste management for all the municipalities that use third party services. I would think one big contract would be economically advantageous (lower rates). If that works then I think the idea of a combined regional government could gain some political traction. Show the results in dolloars and cents, because we know people love for their government(s) to spend their tax dollars wisely.
SMH…why is this still an issue here? Any municipality with less than 12k residents should not be recognized as a city! Only in Alabama is this kinda ish possible. First thing first tho…the city and the county must develop a bettr working together relationship for the betterment of the area. There’s no good reason the county can’t support City Walk and things of this nature that makes the city more viable. It’s way past time that we think inclusiveness and abolish the old separatist mindset. A better metro vision only benefits everyone…
A 21st century Pittsburgh of the South? Yes!
Every column is the same thing..Huntsville’s Successes, Bham’s Failures, and Consolidation is the Answer. Those 3. ALL the time. It’s quite boring and uninteresting at this point. Is this all that Birmingham’s Comeback revolves around? Really stale at this point.
Furthermore, this column seems to be fixated on Consolidation being some panacea. United efforts and resources would surely be a benefit but panacea it is not. The most obvious example is Atlanta. It is a relatively small city at the center of a massive metro…only 10% of the metro population. There are Dozens and Dozens of separate cities in Fulton Co. and the surrounding counties. They are just as territorial and fragmented as Jefferson County! And yet, it has grown into a national economic powerhouse and example of prosperity. Ditto for Dallas Texas….even worse than Atlanta in terms of fragmentation and yet even Bigger and More Prosperous! Ditto Houston. I could go on.
Can you expand the narrative beyond Consolidation, and throw in Huntsville and how lacking Bham is while at it. I think we got the point. What other strategies do people have in their bags for this town’s Comeback??
JR, please consider reading this column again. There is nothing about consolidation. In fact, it specifically says that consolidation is not on the table. It’s about having a stronger Jefferson County.
Yes. The article says “regional leadership”…”one county wide elected executive.” That’s what I read. Call it what you want…integration, modified consolidation…it’s some sort of umbrella government structure. Great! I’m saying that, looking at the examples of Atlanta and Dallas, etc, extremely prosperous cities with no regional government structure, this is Obviously not the magic bullet it is promoted as here. We have the Charlottes and Nashvilles, and the Atlantas and Dallases. Can we expand the conversation beyond this instead of repeating the Same old remedy? Can we talk about something other than how Amazing Huntsville is, because I fail to see how that aids B’ham’s “comeback” considering the vastly different histories and circumstances of these two cities. Bham needs to focus on how to be the Best Version of ITSELF instead of constantly trying to be or disparaging itself in comparison to Atlanta and Nashville and Huntsville or whatever else. This just puts this city’s negative self image and opinion on display over and over. How can one stage a “Comeback” from this position. We are well aware of our failures at this point. We are 60+ years on that journey. It is old at this point. I really thought I would be getting something different from this forum.
JR, I hate that you think I’m against Birmingham. I’m just trying to help facilitate a conversation on how Birmingham can do better. The Community Foundation did an expensive and extensive study in 2017 as to what is holding our Birmingham region back. The clear conclusion was our lack of regional collaboration was the problem. I hope you’ll consider reading it. Here’s a link to that study: https://www.cfbham.org/assets/2019/07/Together-We-Can…Charting-a-Course-to-Regional-Cooperation-in-Birmingham.pdf. If lack of collaboration is holding Birmingham back, then that is what we should try to fix. My opinion on how this could be done has changed drastically over the last 14 years. I orginally thought consolidation of our county and city would be best. But it’s clear that isn’t going to happe n any time soon. This column proposes a strong county, but no cities would be consolidated and the County would have no control over the cities. When you read the report you can see how this has worked out for Pittsburh and Allegheny County. I like to compare Birmingham and Huntsville because many people blame the lack of Birmingham’s progress on our state legislature. That doesn’t seem to be holding Huntsville back. Please note that the number of jobs in metro Birmingham is less than it was pre-pandemic. This is not acceptable. Please continue to comment. I very much appreciate your passion for Birmingham.
Bravo David. Please keep bringing bold ideas to the fore. Could the Birmingham Business Alliance become an ally for this idea?
This is indeed a bold and potentially transformative idea for Jefferson County. In the absence of strong home rule in Alabama, wouldn’t this new authority require legislation? If so, it would need the active support of the Governor. Between the two leading candidates, Tommy Tuberville and Doug Jones, which is more likely to have metro Birmingham’s interests at heart? I think all the Comeback Town readers know the answer.