How does Atlanta view Birmingham? (Buckhead: sales, hotel, income)

[sleepless in Bham]

Originally Posted by ShipOfFools42

Your snobbish attitude is mind-blowing. Most Southerners I know, and most Texans who don't live in Dallas, for that matter, would hate to see Bham or Atlanta become anything like Dallas. And Washington DC?!?! Have you ever been there? That place is the biggest garbage dump in the country.

I grew up in Birmingham, and EVERYONE I know agrees: we are VERY glad we didn't get that stupid airport. And you know why everyone says that? "Because then we would be what Atlanta is now, and nobody wants that." I like Atlanta for what it is, but you must understand that folks in Birmingham have ZERO interest in becoming a huge, sprawled out mess of a city any more than it already has with Hoover getting so huge. Seriously, driving in Atlanta is enough to give anyone an aneurism. Just understand that I am not bashing your city, merely providing a perspective from the other side. There are great things about Atlanta that make it a nice place to visit, but living there, no way. My older sister lives in downtown Atlanta, right by Centennial Park, and everytime I go to visit her, I enjoy the city but am glad to leave when it's time to go. I lived in Birmingham for 22 years, it's where I was raised, and I wouldn't change it for the world. Still, the whole entire region is just WAY too hot, and I'm outta here! Even here in the Blue Ridge Mountains, it's too damn hot for me. I am moving very far north. I just hope that the snobbery of some of you folks toward Birmingham can stop, because it doesn't look good on you.

You sure about that?.

[Iconographer]

Originally Posted by ShipOfFools42

Your snobbish attitude is mind-blowing. Most Southerners I know, and most Texans who don't live in Dallas, for that matter, would hate to see Bham or Atlanta become anything like Dallas. And Washington DC?!?! Have you ever been there? That place is the biggest garbage dump in the country.

I grew up in Birmingham, and EVERYONE I know agrees: we are VERY glad we didn't get that stupid airport. And you know why everyone says that? "Because then we would be what Atlanta is now, and nobody wants that." I like Atlanta for what it is, but you must understand that folks in Birmingham have ZERO interest in becoming a huge, sprawled out mess of a city any more than it already has with Hoover getting so huge. Seriously, driving in Atlanta is enough to give anyone an aneurism. Just understand that I am not bashing your city, merely providing a perspective from the other side. There are great things about Atlanta that make it a nice place to visit, but living there, no way. My older sister lives in downtown Atlanta, right by Centennial Park, and everytime I go to visit her, I enjoy the city but am glad to leave when it's time to go. I lived in Birmingham for 22 years, it's where I was raised, and I wouldn't change it for the world. Still, the whole entire region is just WAY too hot, and I'm outta here! Even here in the Blue Ridge Mountains, it's too damn hot for me. I am moving very far north. I just hope that the snobbery of some of you folks toward Birmingham can stop, because it doesn't look good on you.

Forthright, and to the point. This is the feeling of many a Birminghamian, and who are we to judge? If they are content with their city, then fugg everyone else.

[Akhenaton06]

Originally Posted by ShipOfFools42

Your snobbish attitude is mind-blowing. Most Southerners I know, and most Texans who don't live in Dallas, for that matter, would hate to see Bham or Atlanta become anything like Dallas. And Washington DC?!?! Have you ever been there? That place is the biggest garbage dump in the country.

I grew up in Birmingham, and EVERYONE I know agrees: we are VERY glad we didn't get that stupid airport. And you know why everyone says that? "Because then we would be what Atlanta is now, and nobody wants that." I like Atlanta for what it is, but you must understand that folks in Birmingham have ZERO interest in becoming a huge, sprawled out mess of a city any more than it already has with Hoover getting so huge. Seriously, driving in Atlanta is enough to give anyone an aneurism. Just understand that I am not bashing your city, merely providing a perspective from the other side. There are great things about Atlanta that make it a nice place to visit, but living there, no way. My older sister lives in downtown Atlanta, right by Centennial Park, and everytime I go to visit her, I enjoy the city but am glad to leave when it's time to go. I lived in Birmingham for 22 years, it's where I was raised, and I wouldn't change it for the world. Still, the whole entire region is just WAY too hot, and I'm outta here! Even here in the Blue Ridge Mountains, it's too damn hot for me. I am moving very far north. I just hope that the snobbery of some of you folks toward Birmingham can stop, because it doesn't look good on you.

Birmingham didn't get the airport because they were too busy worrying about keeping Black people in their place. Let's stop acting like city leaders back then were able to predict the future and said, "Oh no! We don't want all of those freeways and traffic that will come along with being the premier business center of the Southeast! We'll pass!"

[Ray7000]

For anybody to say that everyone would pick Atlanta over Birmingham is simply not being honest.

[Ray7000]

Your GPD data is suspect. One employer here along generates more than Charlotte, NC-SC's Gross Domestic Product. So, you are the ones that are actually no where need Birmingham's GDP.

[Mutiny77]

Originally Posted by Ray7000

Your GPD data is suspect. One employer here along generates more than Charlotte, NC-SC's Gross Domestic Product. So, you are the ones that are actually no where need Birmingham's GDP.

Which one employer in Atlanta generates over 42% of the entire metro's GDP????

[tonygeorgia]

The same way bham views tifton,ga

[ATLTJL]

I don't really understand this thread, I didn't know people thought about Birmingham that much. In my opinion, the answers are this:

How does Atlanta view Birmingham? It doesn't really view it at all. Maybe as a city on the way somewhere? I don't know a lot of people in Atlanta who have ever even been to Birmingham. A lot of people probably couldn't even tell you which interstate goes there. People don't hate it, it's just not even on their radar.

How does Birmingham view Atlanta? You might think with envy, but you'd be wrong. Birmingham is nowhere near the city Atlanta is....but you know what? As far as Birmingham is considered, that's just fine and actually be design. When you go to Birmingham and tell people you are from Atlanta, you might expect that you are impressing them and they are going to be jealous. Wrong again. Most times, they just want to know how you deal with all the traffic and hassles. That's because unlike most Atlantans who have never been to Birmimgham, everybody in Birmingham has been to Atlanta. They actually come for shopping, mostly. This was truer in the 80s, but even today my friend from Birmingham is coming to visit me so she can take her daughter to the American Girl doll store at Northpoint mall. Almost everyone in Birmingham knows a lot more about Atlanta than you think. It's not considered a big deal at all to make the drive here when you live there (unlike Atlanta, where you can't even convince some people to see what it's like outside the perimeter!) The bottom line is, Birminghamians know Atlanta, they like Atlanta, but they have made conscious decisions not to LIVE in Atlanta.

And why would they? Back in the 80s there was a stark difference in the availability of goods and services, but with the internet and e-commerce, there is very little that you can't get in Birmingham anymore. What you do get is a much easier life with easier traffic and a place where every last thing is not a hassle. I think you can even still go to the movies in Birmingham without people talking on their cell phones or talking to the screen the whole time.

Of course, this is not to say Birmingham isn't more backward. You want good Indian food? Tough luck. Korean supermarkets? Unlikely. Want to seek Wicked? It ain't stopping in Birmingham.

So I think that young people tend to gravitate toward Atlanta. A lot of times once you've done all these things and then you just want a decent, safe place to raise kids, Birmingham becomes a valid option. Kind of the same thing that draws people to the suburbs.

Birmingham is a beautiful city. Gorgeous everywhere you look. Just go to the Galleria and look off the parking deck. Every view could be a postcard. People there are exceptionally friendly. There are also a ton of extremely highly educated people there.

The bad thing is, you might never know how smart they are by talking to them. Most people have strong southern accents. Most people are extremely conservative. Forget being black or Hispanic, most people there thought I was Jewish (which was considered not necessarily a bad thing, but an unknown and scary thing) just because my father is Jewish, but I was actually raised as an Episcopalian. Unless you are southern Baptist, people there don't understand. Many didn't even know what an Episcopalian was.

In fact, I remember living in Birmingham when I was a child. I remember moving there. All the school children wanted to know the same 3 things, and always seemingly in this order: What does your daddy do? Where do you go to church? Are you an Alabama or Auburn fan? Well, my daddy had a very god job, so I was off the hook for that one, but I didn't go to church at all and I couldn't care less between Alabama or Auburn. I was a bit of a rebel in Birmingham, but you know what? The people there are deep down pretty good, so I still have really good memories of Birmingham and I am still to this day really good friends with many of the people I knew there. I can't say that about any of the other cities I have lived in. Friendship and family really run deep in Birmingham, and when you make a friend there, you've made a friend for life. Even with all that, I'm not in any kind of hurry to move back there. Visiting is just fine with me, thank you very much, but it's way too conservative for me. Most people I know there understand this and aren't crazy about it either, they just put up with it to have an easier life. Some, though, really dig it and can't figure out what the big deal is with having the Ten Commandments posted in a judge's office or flying the Confederate flag over the state capitol. With those people, I just "agree to disagree" and move on.

And just for full disclosure....when I talk about Birmingham, I am talking about over the mountain (Hoover/Vestavia). Most of the places people here mentioned like Ensley, Bessemer, etc. are complete crap. Everybody who lives in Birmingham knows it and that's why they never go there. Birmingham has done an excellent job with socio-economic segregation, which is probably rooted in actual segregation. But the one neat thing about it is, you don't have to worry about the rough parts of Vestavia or Mountain Brook because they simply do not exist. Birmingham truly does have a right and wrong side of the tracks. It may seem myopic to some, but the good thing is once you are on the right side, you don't have anything to worry about, and you'd have precious little reason to ever venture to the wrong side. There is simply nothing there that doesn't exist on the right side.

[JPD]

I was just in Birmingham a few weeks ago. I was surprised how dead it was. I stayed right in downtown. It was like a ghost town. I walked around for over an hour and I could literally count on one hand the number of other pedestrians I saw.

[JPD]

Originally Posted by roku

Becuase no one but a few yuppies and hipsters and students live there with maybe a urban pioneer or two. It's downtown has great potential but they let it go to waste.

There were plenty of office towers and hotels in the area where I stayed, so it doesn't make sense that there were so few people around.

I agree the area has a lot of potential. Lots of beautiful old buildings and great bridges.