My daughter, Melanie, and I finished lunch at Niki’s West and drove onto I-65 from Finley Avenue towards downtown.
Suddenly the car ahead started swerving side to side. Then it veered to the left, hit the concrete barricade, and reversed direction hitting us head on. By the time we made impact both cars were moving slowly and fortunately no one was hurt.
But what happened next was truly remarkable. Continue reading 4 Reasons Birmingham may be the Garden of Eden
In September of 2002 Dave Adkisson, the then President of our Birmingham Area Chamber of Commerce (now BBA), and I got up for an early morning jog. We were two of approximately one hundred Birmingham political and community leaders who had traveled to St. Louis to learn about the city and the Edward Jones Dome—home of the St. Louis Rams.
It was really dark and foggy that morning and we got lost. When we asked some local joggers for directions, they were curious as to why we were in St. Louis.
When we told them we came to learn about their city, they responded with an incredulous, “You want to learn about St. Louis?” Continue reading What Birmingham can learn from Ferguson Missouri
I’ve never seen anything like this Uber thing.
People regularly challenge me to write about specific topics relating to Birmingham, but the interest in Uber is beyond insane.
I’ve been bombarded by e-mails from folks supporting Uber and describing Birmingham City Councilor Kim Rafferty as the Evil Witch of the West.
I believe many folks have determined the Uber decision will define the future of Birmingham.
Under great pressure, I write about Uber knowing that many of you may be unhappy with my perspective.
I never could have predicted this would happen.
When we started talking about a better metropolitan Birmingham with an emphasis on government structure, no one took us seriously.
Now in a short 30 months, dialogue about government structure and particularly government consolidation has moved to the top of the list.
The Birmingham Business Journal (BBJ) recently unveiled its list of Birmingham’s most influential executives and ran the following poll, “Which issue should Birmingham’s Most Influential Executives address? Continue reading WOW! The response took my breath away
I attended Gary Palmer’s victory celebration at the Birmingham Marriott and I was blinded by the “white.” There may have been an African-American there, but I didn’t see one. This should not be a surprise since Alabama’s 6th Congressional District is 88.8% white and 7.7% African-American. Continue reading The worst thing to happen to America and Birmingham
Have you ever heard someone say, “Birmingham’s limited because we don’t have the wealth of other cities?”
That’s just not true.
Many of us think of Birmingham as this impoverished town with low wages and a poor standard of living. But the facts and actions of our citizens tell another story.
I first got a hint of Birmingham’s wealth when the Birmingham Business Alliance (BBA) hired Market Street Services to prepare its strategic plan. One of the statistics presented was income per capita—a number I expected to be low–but I was wrong. Continue reading Birmingham: much richer than you think
I don’t know if I was prepared for what was in store for me when I began publishing ComebackTown 2 1/2 years ago. I had a simple goal to provide a forum to begin a conversation about a better Birmingham.
Who could possibly be against a better Birmingham?
And why would strangers personally attack me and my guest bloggers for trying to make things better? It’s perfectly fine to disagree–but why the personal attacks?
I’ve had more than one guest blogger beg me to remove their blog because they were embarrassed by the comments posted on al.com. As I told them, you could find a cure for cancer and some folks on al.com would still call you the devil.
I was talking with a good friend before the 6th Congressional Runoff Debate at Regions Field between Paul DeMarco and Gary Palmer.
I told him Cliff Sims, the publisher of Yellowhammer and one of the panelists, had solicited questions for the debate on the Internet.
I suggested Cliff ask about the lack of economic development and job growth in metropolitan Birmingham.
My friend told me my question wasn’t appropriate since local job growth is not the concern of a Congressman.
I obviously disagreed and was pleased to get a quick response from Sims saying he would add my question to his list. Continue reading Gary Palmer has a novel idea
Do you have bejeebies?
If you do, your bejeebies will be obliterated when you see the one depressing statistic that best describes the economic health of metropolitan Birmingham.
Please note we’re not talking about just the City of Birmingham or Jefferson County. We’re talking about the Birmingham Hoover Metropolitan area—defined by our seven counties: Bibb, Blount, Chilton, Jefferson, St. Clair, Shelby, and Walker.
So the folks in our suburbs are impacted by this number just as much as our local residents.
What is that statistic?
Continue reading This number will scare the bejeebies out of you
When you read some of the remarks by (I assume) white commenters on al.com, you almost have to come to the conclusion that Steven Hoyt is the devil—some kind of black racist. Councilor Hoyt is the City Council representative from Birmingham’s District 8.
Councilor Hoyt regularly seems to be in the headlines standing up for African-American inclusion when there are economic opportunities for individuals or businesses created by the City of Birmingham.
Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Continue reading Is Steven Hoyt evil?