Before you folks who favor raising the Birmingham minimum wage start beating me up…please listen to what I have to say.
This piece is not about whether raising the minimum wage is a good idea or not. I’ve read arguments for and against and I’m not taking sides.
This is about raising the minimum wage specifically for the City of Birmingham. Continue reading Why raising the minimum wage won’t work for Birmingham
Last week Blake Scott Ball, a doctoral student in history at UA, wrote a scathing piece attacking Mountain Brook for al.com titled A brief history of Mountain Brook picking on Birmingham.
He talked about Mountain Brook’s history of ‘establishing segregation laws‘ and ‘moving children out of Birmingham school systems.’
Then there was the national news story in November when Mercutio Southall Jr. was attacked at the Donald Trump rally at the BJCC and complained,“Birmingham is 75 percent black, so why did he (Trump) choose to come here? He could have gone to Mountain Brook…”
Why is Mountain Brook such a lightning rod?
Continue reading Why is Mountain Brook so polarizing?
I got into a heated conversation with a good friend.
She told me she read that Huntsville may soon pass Birmingham as the largest city in Alabama–and was sure Birmingham would soon be relegated to second place.
This made no sense to me.
Who really cares if the City of Huntsville is bigger than the City of Birmingham because Metropolitan Birmingham is nearly three times as large as Metropolitan Huntsville.
Huntsville’s not even in the same league as Birmingham. Continue reading Did Birmingham blow its one big chance?
I must be nuts.
I’m actually writing an article that might be perceived as negative about the most popular and respected man in Alabama—maybe in Alabama history.
This story broke January 9th; about the same time Nick Saban and the UA football team won the National Championship—but wanting to show sensitivity to Saban worshipers (which include me), I waited until this week to publish. Continue reading Nick Saban proves we in Birmingham are a bunch of suckers
Don’t you love stories with happy endings?
Once upon a time in the sleepy village of Birmingham, Alabama, an evil UAB President Ray Watts (or his Trustee Roundtable) made the decision to terminate UAB football.
The UAB students took up arms, the faculty revolted, and the townspeople arose.
Chicken Little ran through the streets yelling, “The sky is falling—the sky is falling.” Continue reading The fairy tale story of Ray Watts and UAB football
I’ve agonized whether to publish this piece about our region’s propensity for humiliation.
One of my best friends warned me, “Why bring it up?…move on and forget it.”
I think we can be fairly certain, however, we are just around the corner from another embarrassment, and another, and another.
You probably think I’m going to write about fights at City Hall, pricey cell phone bills, or unexpected City Council pay increases, but Birmingham politics is only the tip of the iceberg. Continue reading No need for Birmingham to be a media laughingstock
Sometimes I feel invisible.
No one seems to hear me when I insist that Birmingham is NOT one of the most dangerous cities in America.
We hear that Birmingham has historically been a rough and tumble town. Our media bombards us with one homicide story after another.
Every year respected publications like Forbes include Birmingham in its list of one of the 10 most dangerous cities in America.
Our propensity to crime is just accepted as part of our DNA.
Continue reading Birmingham NOT one of the most dangerous cities in America
I love to write about Mountain Brook.
People are interested in Mountain Brook and I know a lot about the subject matter–since I’ve lived much of my life and raised my children there. (I now live in Vestavia Hills)
When I write about Mountain Brook— I’m mostly talking about the three dozen municipalities that surround Birmingham—so you folks in Mountain Brook—please don’t take this personally.
I was recently talking with a good friend (which I will call ‘Bob’) from Mountain Brook. Continue reading Mountain Brook points fingers at Birmingham
My wife and I and two other couples were going out to eat one evening.
I suggested one of my favorite restaurants–Surin West in 5 Points South.
One of the women said, “I don’t feel safe around some of the people who hang out at 5 Points.” The other woman quickly agreed.
So we chose another restaurant in a different neighborhood. Continue reading 5 Points South landlords are dumb
It never would have crossed my mind.
But when a friend suggested that UAB change its name, my first reaction was ‘what a great idea, why didn’t I think of that?”
I’ve thought about it ever since. The more I think about it the more I like it. Continue reading Is it time for UAB to change its name?