“Birmingham City Schools will have a hard time remaining accredited if board members don’t…start thinking of the system as a whole, said the president of the accrediting agency that recently announced it was placing the district on probation…
… A review team from AdvancEd who was in Birmingham for several days in May found
…that individual board members were not looking out for the best interests of the system as a whole…
“We forget about these surrounding pristine municipalities, and focus on an initial step to bring together the City of Birmingham and Jefferson County. They are the two largest governments, have the most in common, could generate the most in operational economic savings, and could probably eliminate the need for occupational taxes due to operational efficiencies–thereby ridding an economic model that impedes the very growth they both covet… Continue reading Unexpected response: Combine Jefferson County with City of Birmingham→
The objective of ComebackTown is to create a conversation on a “better Birmingham.” We focus on what’s great about our region, but it’s important to identify our shortcomings.
Many are quick to blame our politicians or corporate leadership, but the root cause of our frailties is poor government structure.
(Editors note: This article is not about Mt. Brook–it’s much broader than that. It’s also not about the City of Birmingham–it’s about our metro. Today we examine the topic no one wants to discuss.)
A young, well-respected business man approached me after a civic club meeting. He wanted to talk about our region’s lack of progress.
Soon the conversation turned to our 37 municipalities in Jefferson County.
He said he understood how competing cities hurt our region, but as a Mt. Brook resident he was not about ready to sacrifice his children’s education for better government. Continue reading Did Mt. Brook blow up Birmingham?→
Birmingham’s usually the last to do just about everything. So if you want to see what’s about to happen, all you have to do is look elsewhere.
When I was Chairman of Operation New Birmingham (ONB) in 1995, CBS42 was desperately trying to build viewership for their newscast. They were practicing “guerilla journalism” to try to shock and surprise people to build audience.
