Every seat was full at the Harbert Center last week.
Jeff Immelt, CEO of General Electric, one of the largest companies in the world, addressed a joint luncheon of the Kiwanis and Rotary Clubs of Birmingham.
Rotarians and Kiwanians were thrilled to have the opportunity to see such an influential business executive– and hear him sing the praises of Alabama. Continue reading Are Birmingham business leaders loopy?
Today’s guest blog was written by Jeffrey Bayer.
If you’d like to be a guest blogger, please click here.
When we proposed the Summit Shopping Center, folks told us we were insane and the City of Birmingham was accused of being irresponsible for advancing us $5 million.
We paid back that loan within two years and currently the Summit pays the City of Birmingham over $15 million a year in taxes. Continue reading Jeffrey Bayer announces another preposterous project
Here are those ‘hellish’ numbers: 37, 53, and 24.
But you will have to see the list at the end of this piece to understand the magnitude of the problem.
Let’s start with a question: Would you know where to drive if I invited you to lunch in North Johns?
How about Maytown?
Or Sylvan Springs?
Don’t know where these cities are located?
Well you should. Continue reading 3 hellish numbers wrecking Birmingham
Surprisingly Awesome is my favorite podcast. Each episode explores topics that would put most people to sleep, but the show makes boring topics interesting and fun.
Subjects like pigeons, mold, or concrete become fascinating.
Birmingham, Alabama would be the perfect topic for the show.
Birmingham may sound boring—but Birmingham is Surprisingly Awesome. Continue reading Birmingham is surprisingly awesome
I got into a heated conversation with a good friend.
She told me she read that Huntsville may soon pass Birmingham as the largest city in Alabama–and was sure Birmingham would soon be relegated to second place.
This made no sense to me.
Who really cares if the City of Huntsville is bigger than the City of Birmingham because Metropolitan Birmingham is nearly three times as large as Metropolitan Huntsville.
Huntsville’s not even in the same league as Birmingham. Continue reading Did Birmingham blow its one big chance?
I have mixed emotions about Atlanta.
There’s no doubt I feel a certain amount of envy —probably because I grew up in the ‘50’s when Birmingham and Atlanta were about the same size. I have fond memories of my dad taking me to Rickwood Field to root for the Birmingham Barons when we played the evil Atlanta Crackers in Southern League baseball. Continue reading Atlanta more screwed up than Birmingham
I recently wrote a piece, “Birmingham punished for being in Alabama,” where I pointed out that job growth in Birmingham and around the state has been relatively flat while other cities in the South are flourishing.
Our Birmingham-Hoover seven county metropolitan area has fewer people working now than we did at the beginning of the recession.
I regularly blame Birmingham’s lack of job growth on too many competing governments, but being located in Alabama is not a positive. Continue reading Alabama: A great State unless you are black, gay, or Hispanic
I’m jealous.
I recently read a piece in the Nashville Business Journal that made me ill.
The nausea was amplified by the memories of a humiliating Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce (BBA) trip I took with about one hundred corporate, community, and political leaders to Nashville ten years ago.
None of us were prepared for the way we were mistreated. One Nashville speaker called us racists; another attacked our healthcare industry; and third referred to Birmingham as ‘Bombingham.’ (Nashville spits on Birmingham)
Where are they?
At first I thought they had moved to surrounding counties—and some did, but that’s not the hole story.
It’s common knowledge that Jefferson County’s population is stagnant—but I got curious about the details.
According to the 2010 Census, Jefferson County lost .5% of its population from 2000-2010– 662,047 to 658,466.
Not a big deal –we only lost 3,581 people.
But then I found the hole. Continue reading The hole in Jefferson County no one seems to know about
Folks in Birmingham squabble a lot, but there’s one thing we agree on —none of us want Birmingham to become another Atlanta.
Because the growth of metropolitan Birmingham has been so slow, I haven’t spent much time worrying about Birmingham getting too big. In fact, I’ve been much more concerned about Birmingham staying the size of Birmingham.
Then I read that researchers from North Carolina State project that the South’s explosive growth rate for the past 60 years will continue and metropolitan Birmingham could be part of an “urban megalopolis” by 2060. Continue reading Is Birmingham destined to become a suburb of Atlanta?