Category Archives: Government structure

The next logical step for our Birmingham region

Birmingham Regions Field Sign
Regions Field Sign (Mark Almond al.com)

By David Sher

According to Birmingham Lede “Jefferson County lost nearly 4,600 people between 2021-2022.

Even the Birmingham Hoover Metropolitan area lost population.

How’s it possible to be located in the center of the Sunbelt, the fastest growing region in the U.S. and be shrinking? Continue reading The next logical step for our Birmingham region

Is metro Birmingham ready for regional governance?

Christopher Tyler Burks
Christopher Tyler Burks

Today’s guest columnist is Christopher Tyler Burks.

It seems to me that David Sher has done us all a great service by publishing ComebackTown.com.

While there is excellent coverage of regional issues across our media, this site has become the de facto beat reporter for discussions of regional cooperation in Greater Birmingham. Continue reading Is metro Birmingham ready for regional governance?

Birmingham is dying—a rebuttal to an editorial attacking black elected officials

PHOTO BY CHRISTINE PRICHARD--Donald Watkins, a lawyer for Richard Scrushy, in this file photo talks on his cell phone as he approaches the Hugo Black Federal Courthouse.
PHOTO BY CHRISTINE PRICHARD–Donald Watkins, a lawyer for Richard Scrushy, in this file photo talks on his cell phone as he approaches the Hugo Black Federal Courthouse.

By David Sher

On November 18, Donald Watkins published a column on his website entitled, “Birmingham is Dying.”

I immediately began getting e-mails from ComebackTown readers looking for my reaction. Continue reading Birmingham is dying—a rebuttal to an editorial attacking black elected officials

Can Birmingham put Humpty Dumpty back together again?

Brenda Starnes
Brenda Starnes

Brenda Starnes is guest columnist today.

I have the unique experience of having lived and worked in Nashville, Charlotte, and Birmingham.

I love Birmingham—that’s why I moved back—but Nashville and Charlotte have one big advantage over Birmingham. Continue reading Can Birmingham put Humpty Dumpty back together again?

How to turn around a shrinking Jefferson County

Jefferson County

A graph of Jefferson County’s population over the past 50 years looks eerily like the EKG of a dead man.

It’s a straight line that goes neither up nor down. It lays dormant like a dead body.

Unfortunately that flat line now appears to represent the good ‘ole’ days. Continue reading How to turn around a shrinking Jefferson County

Jeffrey Bayer—Time to rethink Birmingham

Jeffrey Bayer
Jeffrey Bayer

Today’s guest columnist is Jeffrey Bayer.

If you’d like to be a guest columnist, please click here.

Our new COVID-19 world!

What do we worry about first?

…our personal health?

…our financial survival?

…the huge deficits being created by our federal government?

But there’s one additional worry specific to our Birmingham region. Continue reading Jeffrey Bayer—Time to rethink Birmingham