When our Chamber of Commerce (BBA) visited Charlotte in 2004, we were greeted by the President of the University of North Carolina Charlotte.
Charlotte’s a city on fire, but the first words out the President’s mouth were, “We don’t have anything like UAB.”
Can you believe a great city like Charlotte is jealous of us? Continue reading How can we have UAB and suck?
I was dumbfounded when I saw the results.
The Birmingham Business Journal ran a poll the week of February 29, 2012.
Readers were asked, “Would you be in favor of a unified metro area government for Birmingham?”
The response was more than two to one in favor. Continue reading BBJ Readers support unified metro government–two to one
We know it’s not the mayor of Birmingham.
The City of Birmingham represents only 19% of the population of the metro area.
And Mayor Bell, who I strongly believe understands the importance of regionalism, has said on numerous occasions, “I was not elected mayor of the region.”
The Birmingham News convened a panel of community leaders in April of 2011 to discuss the future of Birmingham. Included were corporate CEO’s, non-profit professionals, and top political leaders.
Each panelist made his/her remarks and then questions or comments were solicited from the audience. Continue reading Four unsettling comments
It seems like a distant memory, but in the 70’s and 80’s, Birmingham leaders were plotting to recruit an NFL football franchise to Birmingham. I don’t know how close we came, but we obviously felt there was a possibility.
Of course, we weren’t successful while other Southern Cities like Jacksonville, New Orleans, Atlanta, Charlotte, and Nashville recruited teams. Continue reading Birmingham rated one of the poorest sports cities in U.S.
February 19, 2012
Everyone from Birmingham should read this this piece from the New York Times: “In Alabama, a County that fell off the Financial Cliff.”
As the article states, government structure, as usual, created this mess. Continue reading In Alabama, a county that fell off the financial cliff
Up until a few years ago, our Chamber of Commerce (currently BBA), organized a trip of community leaders and politicians to visit other cities. They were called the “BIG Trips,” and the purpose was to learn what works in other communities.
The Chamber over a seven year period visited St. Louis (2002), Baltimore (2003), Charlotte (2004), Nashville (2005), Pittsburgh (2006), Denver (2007, and Austin (2008).
We found these trips to be fascinating. We heard about successes and we heard about failures, but it opened our eyes to the possibilities. Continue reading Nashville spits on Birmingham
Do you listen to talk radio or read comments on al.com?
It‘s a steady stream of condemnation of the City of Birmingham by the folks who live in the suburbs.
Think about it…
A large number of our most educated and financially able citizens abandon Birmingham and then blame our City for being stupid and broke. Continue reading Let’s move to the suburbs and attack the City of Birmingham
My good friend, Michael Calvert, likes to remind me the Alabama Constitution is the only one in the world that contains the words “pick up truck.”
And it has a lot more words—340,136 to be exact—12 times longer than the average state constitution, 40 times longer than the U.S. Constitution.
About 90 percent of the document’s length, as of 2011, comes from its 854 amendments. About 70 percent of the amendments cover only a single county or city, and some deal with salaries of specific officials.* Continue reading How can one document create so much havoc?
After World War II, Birmingham and New Orleans were the top two leading cities in the South. Now they’re at the bottom. New Orleans had Katrina. What’s Birmingham’s excuse?
Birmingham’s centrally located in the South, is absolutely gorgeous, and has very smart, likeable people–as do other Southern cities. Why have we performed so poorly? Is there something in the water? Continue reading Government structure is killing us