I hear it regularly, “The problem with Birmingham is racism.”
One of my first blogs, Let’s move to the suburbs and attack the city, quickly attracted two comments. One was from (I assume) an African American blaming Birmingham’s problems on whites, “The racism is so obvious and so thick you can cut it with a knife.” Continue reading Is racism the problem with Birmingham?
Will your 911 cell phone call save you in an emergency?
Maybe not if you’re calling from within our region.
I have a friend who witnessed a wreck near Blue Lake Road off of Hwy 280. He immediately dialed 911 but ran into a geographic overlap. Continue reading Your local 911 call could kill you
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
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