Today’s guest columnist is Michael D. Waters.
Less than one month after Fob James was first inaugurated Governor of Alabama in January 1979, I answered my home telephone on a Saturday afternoon and a friendly voice on the other side said: “Hello, is this Mike Waters, the governor’s legal adviser?” Continue reading A startling phone call from an Alabama segregationist governor
By David Sher
Some men dream to play golf in the PGA.
Others to climb Mount Everest or travel the world.
For some unexplainable reason, my dream was to be the Chairman of the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce.
Go figure….seems kind of lame, doesn’t it? Continue reading A Birmingham legend touched my life
Today’s guest columnist is Christopher Tyler Burks.
It seems to me that David Sher has done us all a great service by publishing ComebackTown.com.
While there is excellent coverage of regional issues across our media, this site has become the de facto beat reporter for discussions of regional cooperation in Greater Birmingham. Continue reading Is metro Birmingham ready for regional governance?
By David Sher
On November 18, Donald Watkins published a column on his website entitled, “Birmingham is Dying.”
I immediately began getting e-mails from ComebackTown readers looking for my reaction. Continue reading Birmingham is dying—a rebuttal to an editorial attacking black elected officials
Today’s guest columnist is John Whitman.
I’m an entrepreneur and a business academic from the northeast who happily married into Birmingham.
Prior to Birmingham, I spent four years helping to build an entrepreneurial ecosystem in Huntsville to cultivate high-tech, high-growth startups. Continue reading Can Birmingham become an entrepreneurial city?
Today’s guest columnist is Mike Diccicco.
I’m a white guy that grew up in the 60’s in Birmingham. Moved there in 2nd grade, left after graduating high school in 1967.
During that whole time, I had one black friend, a kid named Jackie, same age as me, who lived in an old farmhouse a half-mile through the woods from our modest rancher on Lynn Acres Drive in Roebuck. Continue reading White and black parents talked differently to their children
Today’s guest columnist is Terry Barr.
In my adopted hometown of Greenville, we have two synagogues and one Jewish deli.
I am not a member of either religious house because long ago I distanced myself from organized practice, except of the yoga, or writing, kind. Continue reading Man sheds tears over old Birmingham restaurant
By David Sher
My wife and I just got back from a trip to Atlanta to visit our son and family.
Oh! The traffic.
Just shoot me!
Not even rush hour traffic—this was the weekend. Continue reading Birmingham ready to pounce on Atlanta’s vulnerability
Today’s guest columnist is John Lyda.
I have always wanted to attend a Magic City Classic football game between the Alabama A&M Bulldogs and the Alabama State Hornets, the state of Alabama’s two largest historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs).
Year after year I’d find myself once again allowing the Classic weekend to come and go, telling myself, “I’ll go next year”. Continue reading Are ‘Over-the-Mountain’ Caucasians welcome to Magic City Classic?
By David Sher
I didn’t expect to be writing a column about the new $50 million amphitheater proposed for downtown Birmingham.
I’m not a politician or business person involved in the project and the only information I have is what I’ve read on-line. Continue reading Did Birmingham backstab Pelham?