By David Sher
When I was a child growing up in Birmingham in the 1950s, there were four things I looked forward to all year: my birthday, Christmas in downtown Birmingham, the Iron Bowl, and the Alabama State Fair.
Fortunately, I still have a birthday.
But the Christmas downtown of my childhood is gone. The Iron Bowl left Birmingham. And the Alabama State Fair I remember is gone too. Continue reading Big Loss for Birmingham: Our Old Alabama State Fair
By David Sher
Editor’s note: Much of this article draws on research by Walker Beauchamp from his time as a student at Samford’s Cumberland School of Law.*
In 1872, iron master Abram Hewitt predicted Alabama would become “the manufacturing center of the habitable globe.”
In 1906, speculator John Gates said Birmingham would become “the largest American city not on navigable waters.”
In 1919, industrialist Henry Clay Frick predicted Birmingham would surpass Pittsburgh by 1940.
None of it happened. Continue reading Birmingham Was Destined for Greatness. It’s Not Too Late
By David Sher
I want to make this perfectly clear: I am not an enemy of Irondale.
I’m impressed by a small municipality that keeps stacking up economic wins while so much of the rest of Jefferson County struggles.
But that’s exactly the problem. Continue reading Irondale Exposes One of Metro Birmingham’s Biggest Flaws
By David Sher
Before people ever set foot in Birmingham, they are making decisions about us.
Should I move my family to Birmingham?
Should I relocate or start a business there?
Should I visit? Continue reading I Got a Job Offer in Birmingham. Should I Take It?
By David Sher
I’m currently watching The Pitt, the hit Max series that follows life and death, hour by hour, in a crazy-busy emergency room in a large fictional Pittsburgh hospital. Continue reading Alabama Sabotaging Birmingham Healthcare
By David Sher
There’s a moment in life when you meet someone and you understand why you get out of bed every morning.
I had one of those moments recently when I ran into a man who told me he’d been reading ComebackTown for years. He was genuinely excited to meet me. But I was more excited to meet him — because he personified everything this column has been about since it was first published in 2012. Continue reading Leaving Birmingham Wasn’t Rejection—It Was Survival
By David Sher
I love Alabama. I’ve spent my life trying to make Birmingham and Alabama better.
But love doesn’t mean blind. And some of what our state does to itself isn’t conservative, isn’t cautious, isn’t Southern tradition. It’s just plain stupid. Continue reading 8 Ways Alabama is Stupid
By David Sher
I wrote about Sam Tenenbaum, aka The Great Kaiser, when he passed away last year.
I wrote about my regret, my guilt, my failure to support him.
But I never expected what would happen next–or the lesson he would teach me, and all of us, from beyond the grave. Continue reading The Lesson My Birmingham Friend Taught Me from Beyond the Grave
By David Sher
One minute we are at the top of the world.
The next, we hit rock bottom.
Where is our confidence?
Where is our self-esteem?
Why do we think it’s okay to be judged by people who don’t know us and don’t care about us? Continue reading Birmingham on a Permanent Emotional Roller Coaster
By David Sher
Birmingham’s future depends on doing something unique—a real competitive advantage.
We have that competitive advantage, but when it’s promoted, it becomes surprisingly polarizing.
Continue reading Birmingham Cringes, Montgomery Counts the Money