William J. Carl III, PhD, Senior Pastor of Independent Presbyterian Church in Birmingham
ComebackTown is published by David Sher to begin a discussion on a more prosperous Birmingham.
Today’s guest blogger is Dr. William Carl . If you’d like to be a guest blogger, please click here .
I write this piece, not because I want to, but because I feel compelled to. What I offer here are my personal views as a citizen, not the random thoughts of a religious leader in this community. Continue reading What Birmingham can learn from a former Texan who came from the North →
Birmingham Barons playing baseball at Regions Field
When I was growing up in the ‘50’s Birmingham and Atlanta were about the same size.
Birmingham was actually larger than Nashville, Charlotte, and Austin—but I digress.
My father took me to Rickwood Field to watch the Southern League Birmingham Barons play baseball against the Atlanta Crackers. Continue reading The Birmingham company that ate Atlanta →
A standing room only crowd attended an Irondale public hearing on a proposed 1 percent occupational tax
Some of you are probably going to think I’m going to blame Irondale’s financial challenges on its elected officials.
I am not.
I’m not sure there’s a human being alive who could find a painless way for Irondale or many of our other municipalities to avoid financial challenges. Continue reading Why we should worry about what’s happening in Irondale →
Charlotte Conaway
ComebackTown is published by David Sher to begin a discussion on a better Birmingham.
Today’s guest blogger is Charlotte Conaway. If you’d like to be a guest blogger, please click here .
82% of Birmingham City School children cannot read at grade level. I know this is shocking, but we have found a way to help.
I have mixed emotions about publicizing our efforts.
I’m afraid it might appear I’m writing this article to feel important or to promote my company. Or that I am ‘putting down’ Birmingham City Schools. Continue reading A shocking statistic–and what we’re doing about it →
Kay Ivey, Governor of Alabama
Governor Ivey, you can do better than this.
Ivey, who’s campaigning for a full four year term as governor, addressed the Rotary Club of Birmingham on March 7th .
In her prepared remarks she bragged about $6 billion of new investments in Alabama since April of last year…including the $1.6 billion Huntsville Toyota-Mazda plant. Continue reading Gov. Ivey sticks foot in mouth →
Infinity Property & Casualty Corporation Downtown Birmingham headquarters
If this article doesn’t get your attention about the future of greater Birmingham—nothing will.
We all know how a bathtub works.
Water comes out of a faucet into a tub and as long as the stopper is engaged, the bathtub fills up.
But what happens if there is no stopper? Continue reading Birmingham like a bathtub with no stopper →
Nick Saban, football coach at University of Alabama
Okay…I’ve written about this before.
But it makes us look so DUMB that I’m going to write about it again.
And I’m going to write about it over and over until someone gets disgusted enough to do something about it.
Are we fools?
How can we be such suckers?
Continue reading Nick Saban’s dream is Hoover’s nightmare →
Mobile Skyline
Every seat was full at the Harbert Center last week.
Jeff Immelt, CEO of General Electric, one of the largest companies in the world, addressed a joint luncheon of the Kiwanis and Rotary Clubs of Birmingham.
Rotarians and Kiwanians were thrilled to have the opportunity to see such an influential business executive– and hear him sing the praises of Alabama . Continue reading Are Birmingham business leaders loopy? →
The Rotary Trail–One of the many projects of the Rotary Club of Birmingham
The speaker completed his talk at my Rotary meeting.
When I got up from my table to leave, a young man tapped me on my shoulder.
After introducing himself, he said, “Mr. Sher, I enjoy reading ComebackTown, but I was upset by one of your articles.” Continue reading Does Birmingham have a ‘closed’ culture that shuts out millennials? →
Veterans Memorial in Trussville
Okay, I should have titled this column, “How Trussville, Adamsville, Hueytown, and Pleasant Grove mucked up Birmingham’s future.”
I’m repeatedly surprised by the animosity between our suburbs and the City of Birmingham.
The lack of trust between our City and its suburbs continually plays havoc with our progress. Continue reading How Trussville mucked up Birmingham’s future →
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