New York Times Article comparing Birmingham and Nashville (Hoover, Homewood: new home, unemployment)
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"Nashville and others are thriving thanks to a mix of luck, astute political choices and well-timed investments, while cities like Birmingham, Ala., fall behind."
Agree... But also really like the last line where Mayor Woodfin said “I am 100 percent convinced we do not have to be the next Nashville or the next Austin or the next Charlotte,” he said. “We can be the best Birmingham.”
That's the attitude that needs to be prevalent. Moderator cut: baiting
The article was right when it said that treading water is not enough. It's not enough to keep young college grads in state. They're leaving for the bright lights and higher pay checks. They don't care that cost of living is increasing because, again, higher paychecks. If they desire, they can move out to a more affordable suburb and still enjoy that higher paycheck and career options not found in Birmingham.
Yes that is certainly promoting disparity among classes.. But the truth that you cannot have a vibrant city full of growth AND low costs of living. Some of these political people like the affordable housing person in the article want to stop growth and prosperity at the expense of pushing out residents. I say BS entitlement. Many of those residents can sell their homes for much more than they paid for them and can more easily find better work. It's just life, like it or not.
Last edited by harry chickpea; 01-05-2019 at 01:10 PM..
Zero, and I repeat zero, things will be done about the metro working against itself. It’s sad really. We know the appropriate path to success for the region yet continue to make the same mistakes expecting a different outcome.
Zero, and I repeat zero, things will be done about the metro working against itself. It’s sad really. We know the appropriate path to success for the region yet continue to make the same mistakes expecting a different outcome.
Well Birmingham needs something to offer the other areas first. Right now, they have zero to bring to the table but I'm not sure that's not changing, or trying to be changed.
Also, IF areas within Bham proper thrive, they could become the next Homewood but younger and hipper. Maybe then, when Homewood and MB start seeing people migrate to Highland Park, Avondale, Southside, etc, they'll reconsider.
That's the hope I'm guessing, but my argument is that will take decades that I don't want to sacrifice.
Also, and this is from my ignorance of what this whole merging city/county governments really means, I'm not sure it would help.
I see alot of other metros that are made up of totally different cities/governments yet they thrive. Look at how many municipalities are within or around major metro hubs. They're all competing the same way. I'm no expert on that and i know it's a hot topic so be nice. But it just seems like this is a sham argument.
The next Homewood? Homewood is an ideal community for people who live in places like Forest Park, Crestwood, Avondale, Lakeview, and Southside and who don't want to give up the very short commute to Birmingham, but need a school system that you know... puts out more college graduates by age 23 than high school dropouts.
Until the school system issue is addressed (hint: it won't be adequately addressed in my lifetime), then no Birmingham neighborhood is going to be "the next Homewood".
This was an interesting article, I expected a negative B'ham piece and instead it was a reasoned historical comparison of Birmingham and Nashville. This section from the article stood out to me "Nashville started with advantages. But local leaders also made some smart decisions like merging the city and county government in the 1960s, allowing Nashville and its suburbs to work together rather than at cross-purposes. And in the 1990s, when many downtowns across the county were struggling, the city built a convention center, a hockey arena and a new home for the Country Music Hall of Fame.
By contrast, economic misfortune and poor choices have hobbled Birmingham. Once a center of steel production, the city suffered when that industry declined in the 1980s because of foreign competition and corporate bankruptcies. Local leaders tried to pivot by luring banks and insurers, but that bet soured during the financial crisis, and the city hasn’t recovered the jobs it lost then."
I would have loved to see the author compare the merging of city/county government in the 60's and investing in city infrastructure in Nashville in the 90's with what was happening in Birmingham in the 60's and 90's to provide more perspective to the national audience to tell the most complete story, despite that the message is pretty clear. As the B'ham forum we are all too aware of the city's place as the epicenter of the Civil Rights struggle in America which is in stark contrast to what Nashville city leadership was doing in the 60's. That contrast in leadership from Nashville eschewing violence and bringing municipal government together is the total opposite of Birmingham's KKK and police force making a violent last stand for segregation that hurt the city for decades and slowed down progress perhaps intentionally. By the 90's Nashville's unity from the 60's was paying dividends and the more progressive minded metro was willing to invest in itself, the Birmingham metro still racially fractured and smarting from the battles of the Civil Rights movement and the subsequent changes to the city and metro(forced desegregation, first Black mayor) squandered its chance at investing in itself with MAPS as Oklahoma City and other cities like Nashville did and was thus left behind.
What I liked most is that it dug into what Birmingham is doing now to exorcise those demons from the 60's and catch up to it's peer cities and apparently it getting a lot attention outside of Birmingham which tells me that along with Nashville shining star Birmingham is shining pretty good and on a very consistent basis. Perhaps the World Games or the new stadium or the new mayor or the revitalization is getting people's attention around the country. Mr Comebacktown himself was speaking on regional government and cooperation. Regional government seems to continue to become more of a possibility which is miraculous considering that it was almost a vulgarity to speak about 10 years ago. It was a bit disappointing here that the explosive increase in regional cooperation is yielding dividends for Birmingham and in relatively short order. Regional cooperation is where the most potential is for Birmingham right now and even now with the regional mayor's meetings and the Legacy Arena renovation and the Uptown Stadium coming we are seeing the type of regional cooperation that is needed to be the best Birmingham it can be. I think the city's weak points in traded industries and a more educated workforce will steadily be addressed as the city and metro's resources and quality continue to improve with the current leadership in due time. Much like the 60's and 90's what happens now will dictate what happens in the future, finally we can say it looks bright.
If there was a choice between a good decision and a godawful decision from 1945 to 1979, Birmingham pretty much chose godawful every single time. From the mess that was the Civil Rights Era to the obsequious doing of US Steel's bidding to the scrapping of what was a rather extensive public transit system to the wholesale destruction of downtown commerce due to some bad, bad urban revitalization efforts, it was like the city was run by a bunch of myopic fools. Add to that the failure of civic leaders to annex land and the suburbs' collective failure to understand how they were part of a larger metro area, and the mistakes just kept compounding themselves.
Basically from 1980 to about ten years ago, Birmingham began reversing the slide, chiefly in the reordering of its economy. City leaders really had their hands forced by the shutdown of US Steel. As a result, the city had unemployment neck-and-neck with Flint, Michigan. Finance came along and healthcare began to grow legs and the metro had a huge per capita income growth that pretty much went unabated until the mid-00s. Of course, we had a lot of catching up to do.
But 2008 hit us really badly, chiefly because we were so dependent on banking. We just hadn't fully diversified the economy yet. That being said, I think 2009 signaled the beginning of when the area began getting its collective act together in terms of economic development, developing the central downtown area, adding cultural amenities, and regional cooperation. The last item is beginning to show green shoots here and there. When the mayor of Hoover and the mayor of Birmingham actually share the same stage and begin discussing how we collectively work together, it's promising. I'm not saying we're there yet. As a 56-year-old who has lived here all my life, it qualifies as a quantum leap.
But there's still work left to do. Whenever I hear some ... Moderator cut: Gratuitous attack
Nashville grew because it made smart decisions. Totally give it well-deserved props. But it also did not have the twin albatrosses around its neck of Civil Rights upheaval and an economy based so heavily on manufacturing.
Last edited by harry chickpea; 01-05-2019 at 01:16 PM..
If there was a choice between a good decision and a godawful decision from 1945 to 1979, Birmingham pretty much chose godawful every single time. From the mess that was the Civil Rights Era to the obsequious doing of US Steel's bidding to the scrapping of what was a rather extensive public transit system to the wholesale destruction of downtown commerce due to some bad, bad urban revitalization efforts, it was like the city was run by a bunch of myopic fools. Add to that the failure of civic leaders to annex land and the suburbs' collective failure to understand how they were part of a larger metro area, and the mistakes just kept compounding themselves.
Basically from 1980 to about ten years ago, Birmingham began reversing the slide, chiefly in the reordering of its economy. City leaders really had their hands forced by the shutdown of US Steel. As a result, the city had unemployment neck-and-neck with Flint, Michigan. Finance came along and healthcare began to grow legs and the metro had a huge per capita income growth that pretty much went unabated until the mid-00s. Of course, we had a lot of catching up to do.
But 2008 hit us really badly, chiefly because we were so dependent on banking. We just hadn't fully diversified the economy yet. That being said, I think 2009 signaled the beginning of when the area began getting its collective act together in terms of economic development, developing the central downtown area, adding cultural amenities, and regional cooperation. The last item is beginning to show green shoots here and there. When the mayor of Hoover and the mayor of Birmingham actually share the same stage and begin discussing how we collectively work together, it's promising. I'm not saying we're there yet. As a 56-year-old who has lived here all my life, it qualifies as a quantum leap.
But there's still work left to do. Moderator cut: gratuitous attack
Nashville grew because it made smart decisions. Totally give it well-deserved props. But it also did not have the twin albatrosses around its neck of Civil Rights upheaval and an economy based so heavily on manufacturing.
Totally agree with your assessment... Moderator cut: not needed . I would have liked to see 09 to present covered a bit more. Since then the diversifying economy which was not addressed much and the increasing regional cooperation are among the biggest stories (perhaps going forward will be the biggest stories) of Birmingham's development. That said I did like the article and think that it is signalling nationally the narrative of B'ham is changing Moderator cut: gratuitous attack to that of a progressive Southern city on the move that is starting to cash in on its potential.
Last edited by harry chickpea; 01-05-2019 at 01:20 PM..
Totally agree with your assessment. I would have liked to see 09 to present covered a bit more. Since then the diversifying economy which was not addressed much and the increasing regional cooperation are among the biggest stories (perhaps going forward will be the biggest stories) of Birmingham's development. That said I did like the article and think that it is signalling nationally the narrative of B'ham is changing to that of a progressive Southern city on the move that is starting to cash in on its potential.
And has actually become more socially/politically progressive than Nashville as of recent; despite Birmingham’s history, but that’s just only fuel to the engine.
Last edited by harry chickpea; 01-05-2019 at 01:21 PM..
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