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 Jennifer L. Greer.
Editor’s note: Last year ComebackTown published a column titled Birmingham bullet train to Atlanta. It was the most read piece in our history. I asked Jennifer Greer, a profession journalist, to determine its likelihood.
On a recent flight from North Dakota, Jane and Charles Falany, of Vestavia Hills, AL, thought they were almost home when their plane touched down in Atlanta, GA, around 4 p.m. Continue reading High speed rail Birmingham to Atlanta
Birmingham and Atlanta were about the same size in 1950.
Atlanta’s population is now five times greater than Birmingham’s.
What happened? Continue reading Oops! Atlanta may be following lead of Homewood and Mountain Brook
When I was growing up in the ‘50’s Birmingham and Atlanta were about the same size.
Birmingham was actually larger than Nashville, Charlotte, and Austin—but I digress.
My father took me to Rickwood Field to watch the Southern League Birmingham Barons play baseball against the Atlanta Crackers. Continue reading The Birmingham company that ate Atlanta
It was painful!
I was driving to Atlanta to visit my family during afternoon rush hour traffic.
It took almost an hour to exit from I-285 to Georgia 400 in Atlanta–almost as much time as it took to drive from Birmingham to Anniston.
I kept asking myself —how can people live like this? Continue reading Do we want to be another Atlanta? (vote)
Birmingham and Atlanta were about the same size in 1950.
Have you ever wondered why Atlanta grew and Birmingham stagnated?
In 1959, the Mayor of Atlanta sent us a letter spelling out how Birmingham could be a great city.
We paid no attention.
Continue reading The letter everyone in Homewood & Mountain Brook should read
The Atlanta Falcons suffered an agonizing defeat to the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl.
It was a stinging loss that Atlanta fans will remember for years to come.
But as a city, Atlanta should be proud. Not only did Atlanta have an opportunity to compete in one of the biggest sporting events in the world, but it hosted the Super Bowl in 2000 and will again in 2019. Continue reading Atlanta loses Super Bowl–Birmingham biggest loser
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
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?
In September of 2002 Dave Adkisson, the then President of our Birmingham Area Chamber of Commerce (now BBA), and I got up for an early morning jog. We were two of approximately one hundred Birmingham political and community leaders who had traveled to St. Louis to learn about the city and the Edward Jones Dome—home of the St. Louis Rams.
It was really dark and foggy that morning and we got lost. When we asked some local joggers for directions, they were curious as to why we were in St. Louis.
When we told them we came to learn about their city, they responded with an incredulous, “You want to learn about St. Louis?” Continue reading What Birmingham can learn from Ferguson Missouri