It’s a beautiful sunny day.
You work downtown and make plans to meet a friend at the Summit for lunch.
You drive onto the 3rd Avenue North entrance ramp of the Red Mountain Expressway. Continue reading 13 Jeffco cities wasting your money–risking your life
ComebackTown is published by David Sher to begin a discussion on a more prosperous Birmingham.
Today’s guest blogger is Jim Dixon. If you’d like to be a guest blogger, please click here.
What makes a city great?
My team should know—we evaluate cities every day.
Our work as real estate developers requires us to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of cities and towns before we ever search for and underwrite development or investment opportunities. Continue reading The rocket fuel that could launch Birmingham!
I recently published a piece titled “Mountain Brook stealing from Vestavia Hills.”
It tells about my clever Mountain Brook friend who smuggles his garbage into the trashcans of a nearby Vestavia Hills’ neighbor because Vestavia picks up garbage more often than Mountain Brook. Continue reading Confusion in Mtn. Brook, Vestavia, Homewood, & Birmingham
I apologize for using the word ‘screw’ in the title, but I can’t find a more appropriate term.
Why is there so little job growth in Birmingham? Well, look no further than what appears to be happening in Hoover.
How do you feel about tax increases?
How about tax increases to stab your neighbors in the back? Continue reading We increase our taxes to screw each other
Some of you are probably going to think I’m going to blame Irondale’s financial challenges on its elected officials.
I am not.
I’m not sure there’s a human being alive who could find a painless way for Irondale or many of our other municipalities to avoid financial challenges. Continue reading Why we should worry about what’s happening in Irondale
It was the dark of night.
My Mountain Brook friend slipped down the stairs to his basement, opened his garage door, and quietly pushed his trash container to the street. Continue reading Mountain Brook stealing from Vestavia Hills
“There’s the guy who wants to get rid of Mountain Brook.”
It’s a bit unsettling, but that’s what a prominent Mountain Brook man says to me every time he sees me.
If you follow his logic, then you would assume I also would be the guy who would like to get rid of Vestavia Hills, Homewood, Trussville, and every other Jefferson County municipality. Continue reading There’s the guy who wants to get rid of Mountain Brook
There’s an old joke about the highly addicted smoker who complains, “I’ve read so much about the dangers of smoking that I’ve decided to quit reading.
That is how I feel about Nashville.
I read story after story about Nashville’s continued economic successes—recruiting companies—large and small to their city. Continue reading Nashville’s goof may be Birmingham’s big break
You’ve probably had the misfortune of noticing a few ants crawling around in your kitchen cabinet.
This is almost always a tell-tale sign that there are a lot more ants nearby.
That’s what we’re beginning to see with Hoover.
Continue reading Why we should worry about what’s happening to Hoover
I’m impressed with Birmingham’s new Mayor–Randall Woodfin.
His first few months in office have been a whirlwind of positive energy.
He’s surrounded himself with good people, sought feedback from anyone who will talk to him, and slowly and methodically identified and prioritized Birmingham’s problems and opportunities. Continue reading Is Birmingham mayor crazy?