Category Archives: Regional collaboration

Birmingham suburbs, are you nervous yet?

More than 50,000 people attended concert by Garth Brooks on June 4, 2022, at Protective Stadium. (Mary Colurso | mcolurso@AL.com)

By David Sher

I never saw it coming.

According to recently released U.S. Bureau of Census population estimates the City of Birmingham is now the 3rd largest city in Alabama.

Until 2020 Birmingham was the largest city in the state. Continue reading Birmingham suburbs, are you nervous yet?

What if Netlix’s wildly popular ‘Maid’ lived in Birmingham?

Allison L. Dearing
Allison L. Dearing

Today’s guest columnist is Allison Dearing.

If you haven’t watched ‘Maid’ on Netflix, please stop what you are doing and watch it now.

‘Maid’ passed ‘The Queens Gambit’ to be the most watched limited TV series on Netflix. Continue reading What if Netlix’s wildly popular ‘Maid’ lived in Birmingham?

How we’re overcoming distrust that has plagued Birmingham

Jennifer Andress
Jennifer Andress

Today’s guest columnist is Jennifer Andress.

The history of the Birmingham area is a complicated one, to put it mildly.

Regional strife led to thirty-five separate competing municipalities in Jefferson County, each operating for its own benefit. Continue reading How we’re overcoming distrust that has plagued Birmingham

So much distrust and suspicion in Alabama–Are we about to see a new day?

Ryan Hankins

Today’s guest columnist is Ryan Hankins.

I don’t think Paul Ricœur, the French philosopher, ever visited Alabama.

It’s his loss. Had he come to the Yellowhammer State, he could have seen remarkable examples of his most famous philosophical idea– the hermeneutic of suspicion. Or more simply, an approach to life grounded in suspicion, to assume there is always some hidden meaning or ulterior motive at work. Continue reading So much distrust and suspicion in Alabama–Are we about to see a new day?

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

JeffCo city councilors do the unexpected

Jennifer Andress
Jennifer Andress

Today’s guest columnist is Jennifer Andress.

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

I’m writing on behalf of a group of elected officials from disparate Jefferson County cities that are doing what many people might have thought impossible. Continue reading JeffCo city councilors do the unexpected

Author of ‘Why we escaped the Mtn. Brook bubble’ has second thoughts

Maury Shevin
Maury Shevin

Today’s guest blogger is Maury Shevin.

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

I questioned the diversity of our suburbs when I wrote, “Why we escaped the Mountain Brook bubble.”

But, two recent events have given me pause for reflection. Continue reading Author of ‘Why we escaped the Mtn. Brook bubble’ has second thoughts

Hoover leadership showing courage and vision

City of Hoover signI’m not sure I appreciated it at the time, but it was a big deal.

The year was 2010 and the event was the opening of Railroad Park.

You would expect William Bell, the mayor of Birmingham, to be one of the speakers, but next to him was Tony Petelos, the then mayor of Hoover. Mayor Petelos spoke enthusiastically about the new park and the future of our Birmingham-Hoover metropolitan area. Continue reading Hoover leadership showing courage and vision