Guest blogger, What's great about Birmingham

Was it worth spending $200 million on Birmingham’s airport?

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Al Denson, President and CEO of the Birmingham Airport Authority
Al Denson, President and CEO of the Birmingham Airport Authority

ComebackTown is published by David Sher to begin a discussion on a better Birmingham.

Today’s guest blogger is Al Denson.  If you’d like to be a guest blogger, please click here.

You probably don’t remember how dilapidated our airport was.

The infrastructure was no longer able to accommodate what we needed in order to offer the public and our stakeholders a first class facility.

We desperately needed to beef up security.

And visitors to Birmingham probably thought they were arriving in a third world country.

Continue reading Was it worth spending $200 million on Birmingham’s airport? →

Corporate community, David Sher posts, Government structure, Population

Are Birmingham business leaders loopy?

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Mobile Skyline
Mobile Skyline

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? →

David Sher posts, Government structure

What’s the deal with David Sher and al.com?

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David Sher, Publisher ComebackTown
David Sher, Publisher ComebackTown

Al.com has published my ComebackTown blog every week for more than five years–283 blogs.

These blogs have been read hundreds of thousands of times.

There have been tens of thousands of comments.

  • How did this happen?
  • How much do I get paid?
  • How much control does al.com have over my content?

Continue reading What’s the deal with David Sher and al.com? →

Guest blogger, What's great about Birmingham

Birmingham millennials: I have great news for you!

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Cindy Martin, Founder & President of Bham Now
Cindy Martin, Founder & President of Bham Now

ComebackTown is published by David Sher to begin a discussion on a better Birmingham.

Today’s guest blogger is Cindy Martin.

Editor’s note: WARNING:  This piece is a shameless effort to suck up to Cindy Martin who invited me to speak at her BOLD Speakers’ Series on April 13th.  HINT:  Please click on link for tickets.

There’s a gaping hole in our local media.

Sure, we have the established al.com and The Birmingham News.

Business people depend on the Birmingham Business Journal.

African-Americans lean on The Birmingham Times.

There are weeklies like Weld…and there are suburban newspapers like The Vestavia Voice and The Homewood Star.

But what about millennials? Continue reading Birmingham millennials: I have great news for you! →

David Sher posts, Government structure

The dreaded words Mtn. Brook and Vestavia parents don’t want to hear

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Old Mill in Mountain Brook
Old Mill in Mountain Brook

I walked into the restaurant and ran into an old Mountain Brook friend.

He greeted me with, “There’s David Sher, Mr. Birmingham–who’s always pushing for metropolitan government…

…You know when that will happen–when hell freezes over!”

Continue reading The dreaded words Mtn. Brook and Vestavia parents don’t want to hear →

Guest blogger, What's great about Birmingham

Is it okay for Chattanooga to beat us too?

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Scott Crawford
Scott Crawford

ComebackTown is published by David Sher to begin a discussion on a better Birmingham.

Today’s guest blogger is Scott Crawford .  If you’d like to be a guest blogger, please click here.

Chattanooga used to be a sleepy, smelly, backward southern industrial town.

Not anymore.

Chattanooga has made one shrewd decision after another.

Chattanooga built a great Riverwalk, an amazing Aquarium, and it saved its historic train station.  (Chattanooga Choo Choo) Continue reading Is it okay for Chattanooga to beat us too? →

Guest blogger, UAB, What's great about Birmingham

Birmingham becoming epicenter for technology, startups, and entrepreneurs

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Kathleen Hamrick
Kathleen Hamrick (Photo by Bob Farley)

ComebackTown is published by David Sher to begin a discussion on a better Birmingham.

Today’s guest blogger is Kathleen Hamrick.  If you’d like to be a guest blogger, please click here.

I’m a 29 year old millennial living here in Birmingham with a passion for entrepreneurship, innovation, and technology.

I travel often to the East and West coast and I’ve seen other innovation ecosystems, met investors, and gotten to know successful startup founders from all walks of life, and I can tell you that it’s a real doggone good time to be in Birmingham. Continue reading Birmingham becoming epicenter for technology, startups, and entrepreneurs →

Guest blogger, What's great about Birmingham

Oh! No! They forced me to move downtown!

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Taylor Johnson (City dog)
Taylor Johnson (City dog)

ComebackTown is published by David Sher to begin a discussion on a better Birmingham.

Today’s guest blogger is cute and cuddly Taylor Johnson.  If you’d like to be a guest blogger, please click or place you ‘paw’ here.

I was the new dog on the block when I moved to downtown Birmingham with my humans in the fall of 2010.

I was used to a back yard and had never seen the big city before.  I had no idea how to be a city dog or exactly what there was to do in the city.

I was worried… Continue reading Oh! No! They forced me to move downtown! →

Birmingham School System, Guest blogger, What's great about Birmingham

Am I mad for buying Century Plaza?

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Thomas Beavers, Senior Pastor of the New Rising Star Church
Thomas Beavers, Senior Pastor of the New Rising Star Church

ComebackTown is published by David Sher to begin a discussion on a better Birmingham.

Today’s guest blogger is Pastor Thomas Beavers .  If you’d like to be a guest blogger, please click here.

Am I mad for buying Century Plaza?

Yes, THAT Century Plaza– the abandoned mall in east Birmingham.

And that’s not even the mad part.

We’re buying a rundown behemoth of a property and converting it into a church and a school.

743,000 square feet of retail space; 62 acres; 1,400 parking spaces, and 1.3 miles around. Continue reading Am I mad for buying Century Plaza? →

To begin a conversation about a better Birmingham