The Next Atlanta (Birmingham, Mobile, Hoover: section 8, apartment, condos)

[bluebeard]

Originally Posted by Newsboy

Further, despite the constant lament about Atlanta's "sprawl" there has been tremendous progress toward making suburbs more dense and livable in recent years.

The thing about this redressing Atlanta's sprawl, is that the consensus was slowly reached after decades of growth being the sole objective. This was the dominant model of not only Atlanta, most most of the US and especially the sunbelt cities during the last half of the previous century. The problem is, people still want to follow and recreate that model elsewhere. I agree that Atlanta and many other cities have started to "get it". But like has been said elsewhere and I must admit, Bham is a bit behind in its thinking and many people want to simply follow the same path, whereas even Atlanta has learned from its own path, to some extent. What I want, is to follow what Atlanta is trying to do NOW, not what it was trying to do decades ago. This way, we can learn from past development, and its sprawl, that yes it has an incredible overabundance of due to its past development model (I'm amazed by Atlantians that deny it, as if I don't have eyes and haven't driven and attempted to get around by foot there myself).

I was also pretty offended by the fact that white was implicitly a positive thing.

One more: I disagree that simply demolishing housing projects are the way to go, unless there is an accompanying project to house the residents in a fair and agreeable manner elsewhere, after extensively including them in the process. After all, they do live there. While there is something to be said for Detroit-style returning emptier parts of the city to parks or nature so that the cost of overall infrastructure is reduced, one should do so by working together with the residents rather than despite them, as if they are roaches to be exterminated.

[bluebeard]

I guess I want to say that I think the only reason for encouraging growth is for the benefit of its residents. If the current residents are bulldozed over, what really is the purpose? Where are they supposed to go? Parts of my family have been "gentrified" over, so while I think gentrification is not always a bad thing, and can be positive, in of itself it is simply a trend. If it is used to stabilize and revitalize neighborhoods, including its current residents, then its a great thing. but if it consists of rich people moving in and doesn't in some way improve the lives of the current underserved, what is the purpose except to improve political careers and fill pockets of those already well off?

[Tourian]

Originally Posted by bluebeard

I was also pretty offended by the fact that white was implicitly a positive thing.

One more: I disagree that simply demolishing housing projects are the way to go, unless there is an accompanying project to house the residents in a fair and agreeable manner elsewhere, after extensively including them in the process. After all, they do live there.

I agree. I am also under the impression that Birmingham did due this (tear down projects) to build the spaghetti junction of 280/31 and 20/59 - (I think) I believe that was what dropped us several thousand residents in the early 80's (or whenever that thing was built) No housing anywhere else was ever put back it in its place for those residents to live to my knowledge.

[bluebeard]

Originally Posted by Tourian

I agree. I am also under the impression that Birmingham did due this (tear down projects) to build the spaghetti junction of 280/31 and 20/59 - (I think) I believe that was what dropped us several thousand residents in the early 80's (or whenever that thing was built) No housing anywhere else was ever put back it in its place for those residents to live to my knowledge.

Yeah, just shoving people under the carpet doesn't really help anyone except the already well-off.
I also didn't actually mean that you have to build another project for another project (darn homonyms). I just meant a fair plan for the residents of the housing project.

[bluebeard]

Furthermore, when looking at Atlanta's residents, I believe it was also more successful in gobbling up surrounding communities. It managed to incorporate some of its equivalents of Homewood and Mountain Brook into its city limits.

[sleepless in Bham]

Originally Posted by PortCity

I`ve been reading about all of this poo nanny about Atlanta which is nice...I just want to be educated on the prosperity of the other Georgian cities !? How fast are they growing ? What are the GDPs of those cities.Do they have decent skylines ? Are they appealing to outsiders ?


I can`t for the love of God think of any city outside of Atlanta than can rival Birmingham if so somebody school me please.


When I was living in Huntsville I use to travel to Nashville often and the two are the same in size to me...

B-ham has issues but the thread should be about ideas for progression not bashing...How the hell could anyone decide the fate of a city and say city A will never be like city B and C ? Anything can happen a city could have been a booming city last decade and by 2020 it could encounter a season of collapse.

There are other cities in Georgia??.

I thought Atlanta is Georgia, Georgia is Atlanta.

[sleepless in Bham]

Originally Posted by bluebeard

Furthermore, when looking at Atlanta's residents, I believe it was also more successful in gobbling up surrounding communities. It managed to incorporate some of its equivalents of Homewood and Mountain Brook into its city limits.

Question: Why are there 31-32 suburbs in the first place?

Which ones are relevant, and which are just standing in the way?

Alot of people here whine and cry about big government in Washington D.C, but we have 32 different mayors, police and fire departments, etc, etc, etc. Should there be a law where area has to meet certain set of criteria before incorporating into a municipality?

[PortCity]

Originally Posted by sleepless in Bham

There are other cities in Georgia??.

I thought Atlanta is Georgia, Georgia is Atlanta.

LOL...I`m not bashing but Atlanta is Georgia and the rest is South Dakota I guess.I`ve heard that Savannah is nice to visit but living their it could be boring.Heck I don`t know.I just know that no other city in Georgia is appealing to me besides Atlanta and I would stay in Fulton County only.

[bluebeard]

Originally Posted by sleepless in Bham

Question: Why are there 31-32 suburbs in the first place?

Because Birmingham hasn't convinced them that there's a reason to become a part of them. We can't force them to incorporate into Birmingham. I suppose they could incorporate into each other, so at least there would be fewer towns to work with each other, but that's not really something I could tell them to do either, and I'm not sure it would actually help anyone anyway.

[brent6969]

Originally Posted by PortCity

LOL...I`m not bashing but Atlanta is Georgia and the rest is South Dakota I guess.I`ve heard that Savannah is nice to visit but living their it could be boring.Heck I don`t know.I just know that no other city in Georgia is appealing to me besides Atlanta and I would stay in Fulton County only.

NO, you don't KNOW. Savannah is far from boring and is on par with Mobile. And GA is far from being South Dakota, does SD has almost 10 million people vs Alabama's 4.8 million??????