Amazon Headquarters (Birmingham, Montgomery, Hoover: suburbs, transit, park)

[TimCity2000]

I think we're agreeing with most of what you're saying. It's just that the Amazon HQ is hardly the project to measure our success by. Detroit, Phoenix, Portland, etc... none of them made the cut either. Does that mean they are failures too?

[sleepless in Bham]

Originally Posted by TimCity2000

I think we're agreeing with most of what you're saying. It's just that the Amazon HQ is hardly the project to measure our success by. Detroit, Phoenix, Portland, etc... none of them made the cut either. Does that mean they are failures too?

I guess so. But those three cities also have other things going for them and all are on a level Birmingham is trying to get to. At least I hope.

All I'm saying is that Birmingham should stop playing nice and get beyond aggressive when it comes to bidding for these major companies. This area is getting its ass handed to us economically by other cities in the SE. How long do we look up to these places instead of climbing our way up to their level?

[Justin Scott]

Perhaps this is a sign that Birmingham should take more note of Nashville and Raleigh than Atlanta. Atlanta made a move over 50 years ago that cemented its future. Obviously, Raleigh and Nashville are comparable cities and for some reason or another have the eyes of a highly innovative company focused on them. STOP COMPARING BIRMINGHAM TO ATLANTA! It's time to move on. Meanwhile, Birmingham and Huntsville both, should offer the entire house for the future Apple HQ2.

[Weichert]

Originally Posted by Justin Scott

Perhaps this is a sign that Birmingham should take more note of Nashville and Raleigh than Atlanta. Atlanta made a move over 50 years ago that cemented its future. Obviously, Raleigh and Nashville are comparable cities and for some reason or another have the eyes of a highly innovative company focused on them. STOP COMPARING BIRMINGHAM TO ATLANTA! It's time to move on. Meanwhile, Birmingham and Huntsville both, should offer the entire house for the future Apple HQ2.

I don't think that Birmingham would make the cut with Apple. Not even close.

Huntsville might very well be quite competitive though. They do have the technological base that Apple would like. They are a much more likely candidate than Birmingham.

[sleepless in Bham]

Originally Posted by Justin Scott

Perhaps this is a sign that Birmingham should take more note of Nashville and Raleigh than Atlanta. Atlanta made a move over 50 years ago that cemented its future. Obviously, Raleigh and Nashville are comparable cities and for some reason or another have the eyes of a highly innovative company focused on them. STOP COMPARING BIRMINGHAM TO ATLANTA! It's time to move on. Meanwhile, Birmingham and Huntsville both, should offer the entire house for the future Apple HQ2.

Ignoring Atlanta as if isn't there won't all of a sudden make things better for Birmingham economically. The cities are 150 miles apart so there will always be comparisons made no matter what. The question should be what does this area need to do to make its competitive with Nashville or even yes Atlanta?

Birmingham needs to make major moves unless we want to become a very large Jackson MS. Getting rid of deadweight in local govts, and getting rid of the useless BBA and airport authority would be a good start. Neither organization has done squat to improve this area what so ever. Tell the state to go **** itself and start doing our own recruiting for major businesses. Becoming known for more than just civil rights and a good food scene would be a good move as well.

This is 2018, Birmingham isn't a history museum, real people live here and they can't make a living off what has happened over 50 years ago. No other city has done more to hold on to its past than Birmingham and it's not a good thing.

[Justin Scott]

Birmingham should push to have a Hyperloop for transit. It would work wonders for 280 and 65. Birmingham must think 15-30 years forward in order to become competitive amongst other cities.

BRT (entire county), LRT (5 miles in all directions), and a Hyperloop or two (280 and 65) would be great for the city.

[BamaDave]

Looking at the list, all of those cities have metropolitan areas substantially larger than Birmingham. Amazon must not have been interested in metros of our size. Offhand, I think Nashville has the lowest population on the list (if you consider Raleigh as part of the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill CSA... which should be the case) at 1.8 million. We have 1.1 million. Nashville also has a hot reputation with young people, a very trendy place to live.

To me, Birmingham seems to be an oddball in the Southeast based on its size. The real peer is probably Memphis and possibly New Orleans, although New Orleans just has a bigger "feel." Jacksonville is also somewhat similar in size, but it now has 1.6 million.

Whatever the case, I think Birmingham is making some great improvements, is getting "noticed" and commended more and more, and is a beautiful place to live (if you can afford not to live in the dilapidated sections). Being in Alabama is no doubt a stumbling block to some degree, since the state rides the bottom of almost every quality of life indicator. Until those things improve, it may be hard for the city to completely break away and attract businesses like Amazon.

The DC area must be excited to have THREE locations on the Amazon Top 20. Makes me wonder whether that's the chosen region, although both New York and Newark are on there too.

[sleepless in Bham]

Originally Posted by Justin Scott

Birmingham should push to have a Hyperloop for transit. It would work wonders for 280 and 65. Birmingham must think 15-30 years forward in order to become competitive amongst other cities.

BRT (entire county), LRT (5 miles in all directions), and a Hyperloop or two (280 and 65) would be great for the city.

Getting a hyperloop is a bit far fetched, but I'm with you on this area needing to look towards the future when it comes to mass transit. But mass transit is still a dirty word here and asking to pay more in taxes for something that would be needed is a big no no for most.

[-parallon-]

Originally Posted by sleepless in Bham

I guess so. But those three cities also have other things going for them and all are on a level Birmingham is trying to get to. At least I hope.

All I'm saying is that Birmingham should stop playing nice and get beyond aggressive when it comes to bidding for these major companies. This area is getting its ass handed to us economically by other cities in the SE. How long do we look up to these places instead of climbing our way up to their level?

Birmingham is not a failure and neither are the other cities that didn't make the cut. All were just out-classed by the finalists. And I agree with you based on the facts, the area is getting its azz to them using a variety of metrics. Sad.

[bhamguy]

Let’s hope that with recent collaborations, that we can start to see progress made. I am anxious to see how Bham, Jeffco, and Leeds pull off the high tech industrial park in the east. I am also hoping for a unified decision on something as simple as the Lakeshore extension to I-459. I believe that Hoover, Bessemer, Helena, and Jeffco is apart of this.