By Emily Wykle
For a long time, ambitious entrepreneurs in Alabama learned the same lesson early: if you wanted to build something big, you would probably have to leave. That belief shaped more than their careers.
It shaped where companies were headquartered, where jobs landed and where economic opportunity bloomed. Continue reading The Myth That’s Been Holding Birmingham and Alabama Back — Why It’s Finally Dying
By Scott Gelber
For nearly 50 years, New York wasn’t just where I lived. It shaped how I saw the world.
I spent 25 of those years working in Manhattan. If you’ve ever worked there, you know the rhythm.
Everything moves fast. Continue reading A New Yorker and The Birmingham he Never Saw Coming
By Robert Watkins
News Flash! If you are a dog or cat and can choose your birth state, you might want to avoid Alabama — no matter how cutely you wag your tail, shake hands with your paw, or roll over on command.
Alabama has a problem that most people don’t know about. Continue reading Alabama Quietly Killing Thousands of Dogs and Cats. Here’s What We’re Doing in Birmingham to Save Them
Editor’s note: I don’t do this often. But when we lost J. Mason Davis on April 24, I knew I had to bring back one of the most remarkable pieces ever published on ComebackTown — because it deserves to be read again, and because the man who wrote it deserves to be remembered.
Read it as a tribute to a man who wasn’t afraid to tell the truth — and as a reminder that honest voices, once gone, leave a silence that’s hard to fill. Continue reading Alabama Tried to get Rid of this Birmingham Man, It Didn’t Work
By Steve Ammons
Economic competition today doesn’t happen city by city.
It happens region against region.
Companies evaluating where to invest aren’t comparing one municipality to another.
They’re comparing metropolitan areas, looking at workforce size, infrastructure, talent pipelines, quality of life, and economic momentum. In other words, they’re evaluating regions. Continue reading Why Birmingham’s Economic Future Depends on Regional Alignment
By Steve Alexander.
If you haven’t visited Five Points South lately, you’ll be amazed with what you see.
Gone is the graffiti.
Clean and Safe ambassadors patrol the district.
There are no encampments in the park.
The unhoused are being proactively connected to the
services they need.
Five Points South is re-emerging right before my eyes.
Continue reading A New Five Points South Is Emerging Right Before My Eyes
By Tony Tamburello
Birmingham has changed dramatically in my lifetime.
Downtown revitalization, mixed-use development, and reinvestment have turned stagnant areas into hubs of activity. Much of this progress comes not from flashy reinvention but from undoing past mistakes that pushed people away. Continue reading Your Parents Abandoned Birmingham. Will You?
By Jacob Gordon
I’m so proud of Birmingham. And you should be too.
We often take our most positive attributes for granted. Year after year, Birmingham is recognized as one of the most generous cities in the U.S. Continue reading How Does Birmingham Do It? One of the Most Generous Cities in America
By Chip Reed
Bet you never expected to see a new 30,000-square-foot building rising downtown!
If you’ve driven west on 6th Ave North lately, you may have noticed a construction project at 6th and 22nd Street. Continue reading The new downtown building that will change how our kids think about Birmingham
By Austin Senseman
AI is going to be disruptive.
Be prepared for the disorder and churn.
No one really knows what’s going to happen.
But out of chaos comes opportunity.
That’s why this is such an important moment for Birmingham. Continue reading Birmingham, the disruption is coming whether we’re ready or not