Our Alabama legislature screams bloody murder when the federal government passes legislation that overrides Alabama’s wishes.
Our legislators proclaim liberty and states’ rights—yet they rule our cities with an iron hand that deny them the ability to govern.
Gov. Kay Ivey just signed a bill requiring cities to get legislative approval for new occupational taxes, blocking a 1% tax passed by the Montgomery City Council last month. Continue reading How Birmingham can avoid a brawl
It was an inconvenient and unnecessary experience—and proof that at least one Alabama government agency doesn’t care about its citizens.
I called and immediately got a busy signal. Continue reading Held hostage and powerless in Shelby County
I-59/20 through downtown Birmingham closed on January 21, 2019.
One year later, the bridges are open to traffic.
Hallelujah!
Everyone’s high fiving and we’re back to normal. Continue reading Living with a bad decision for the next 100 years
Editor’s note: ComebackTown’s celebrating its 8th anniversary. I thought it might be insightful to republish the very first piece (Jan. 3, 2012). Since publication, the City of Birmingham’s population has stabilized…and our region’s making great progress–all good news! Continue reading Can our suburbs survive if B’ham’s a donut hole?
I’m not sure I appreciated it at the time, but it was a big deal.
The year was 2010 and the event was the opening of Railroad Park.
You would expect William Bell, the mayor of Birmingham, to be one of the speakers, but next to him was Tony Petelos, the then mayor of Hoover. Mayor Petelos spoke enthusiastically about the new park and the future of our Birmingham-Hoover metropolitan area. Continue reading Hoover leadership showing courage and vision
You know about the Birmingham haters if you read the comments on al.com, ComebackTown, or any other Birmingham media.
Who are these people?
Why are they so antagonistic towards Birmingham?
And why are they against their own city, county, or region? Continue reading It must suck to be a Birmingham hater
I’ve published more than 400 pieces about our Birmingham region in the past seven years.
But I was completely blindsided by comments on the I believe in Birmingham Facebook page for the article, Five Points South landlords are self-destructive.
Continue reading Five Points South: Don’t let the ‘naysayers’ win
Our Birmingham region is the epicenter of duplication and waste.
We have dozens of government departments and agencies doing the same thing.
ComebackTown has written about this before, but missed a major duplication.
Continue reading A jail for every Jefferson County politician
It’s truly remarkable what’s going on downtown!
Construction everywhere!
On weekend nights—it’s often difficult to find a parking space. Continue reading How Birmingham could be more like Hollywood
On my way to lunch to Surin at Five Points South I had to walk around an unconscious man sleeping across the sidewalk in front of Jim ‘N Nicks.
I looked up at the building across the street and saw a huge piece of graffiti scrawled near the top. (See photo) Continue reading Five Points South landlords are self-destructive