This is kind of huge.

[pjg66]

Relevant to the topic of this thread (regional cooperation and its significance in regional economic growth), I call your attention to the Milken Institute's Best Performing Cities Report for 2018:

http://www.best-cities.org/2018/best...eport-2018.pdf

(FYI the Milken Institute is a respected economic think tank based in California).

In this report, 200 U.S. metro areas are ranked according to such criteria as job creation, wage gains, technological development, etc. to evaluate changes from 2017 to 2018. Rankings are assigned to individual factors, and an overall ranking is assigned to each metro area. For those of you who are keen on seeing how Birmingham compares with other metros, it is well worth reading (though it contains tons of data and tables and takes some effort to wade through).

Anyway, in overall ranking the 7 county Birmingham metro area comes in at 165th. Not surprising that our region places so low in the list considering that Birmingham has been slow to get going in economic recovery and growth. What is discouraging is that between 2017 and 2018 Birmingham metro slipped 6 places - from 159th in 2017 to 165th in 2018. By contrast, Huntsville gained 27 places, from 86th in 2017 to 59th in 2018.

Of course this is just a one year comparison which may not be indicative of future trends. There is solid evidence that Birmingham is doing much better than it has in the past (e.g. the recent report that metro Birmingham had a record number of new job announcements and economic investment in 2018).

There is some discussion in this thread about what really is a chicken and egg situation. Do explicitly formulated regional cooperation policies bring about economic growth or does economic growth bring about explicit regional cooperation policies? Of course it's both. They feed on each other. One would hope that with its recent modest economic successes the metro area might be ready for and receptive to this announcement from the Jefferson County mayors and this development is looked at as a hopeful sign for the future.

The Executive Summary of the Milken Report contains this quote: "The top-performing metros have cohesive strategies that allow them to leverage their assets more effectively." Anything that promotes such cohesion in our region should be welcomed.

[mcalumni01]

To underdstand birmingham, you first need to know. Coming into this decade, the city was close to the bottom. With the 2008 recession and the great flight of citizens exiting the limits, left birmingham in a tough situation.

This decade of developments, investments, pride, etc. couldn't come at a better time. 2020 and beyond will 100% reap the benefits of what this current decades of dollars has did. Me, personally, i'm not putting to much stock into all these numbers and rankings, because birmingham isn't complete with the final product yet.

Understand also, not just birmingham, but jefferson county was at the bottom also just a few years ago. Now that they appear to have their "feet" back underneath them, that will help birmingham out tremendously as well. No one wanted to do business here because they just figure since birmingham is located in jefferson county, they were bankrupted as well and not in a good position.

I think the surrounding muncipalities were in a wait and see mode about birmingham. It took up until a few years ago (when serious talk to all work together started) to finally see that the city of birmingham has came from where it was and is constantly improving every year. If I had to guess, i would say that the jefferson county commission was the brainchild behind getting these mayors to do that. It could have been done behind close doors, but then people would have felt betrayed about not knowing that it was an agreement in place amongst all the cities in the county to not go after each other.

Lastly, once the city starts getting that 9M+/per year revenue from the stadium to put into all the neighborhoods will be HUGE

[MinivanDriver]

Originally Posted by steveklein

When those incentives are actually put in place and available, that could be a step in the right direction. Talking about it during a photo op is nice and all but not actually that meaningful. Yet.

If you can't see how umpteen local municipalities getting together and coming to a basic agreement like this is momentous, then I really don't know what to tell you. Particularly given how, historically, every one of these guys were at each others' throats. It's more than an agreement in principle. It's a working relationship, one that would have been impossible ten years ago.



Now that the old mossbacks, white and black, that held this town back are dying off, the new generations are putting aside those rivalries and realizing that competing against one another is destructive.

[Saskia Calico]

In all the time I lived there Irondale showed no signs of wanting to attract anything at all -- businesses, residents, anything. The one shopping center it had when I lived there lost stores instead of acquiring them.

Leeds?

Same. When I first knew it 40-odd years ago, it had some kind of independent grocery, I think. Since then -- nothing. You had to drive into Irondale, and then Irondale lost the one it had.

I don't see how Gardendale and other cities north of B'ham could compete with North Shelby for anything except factory-type businesses, and Mountain Brook doesn't want any, so ....

It's so much easier to move a couple of hours down the road to Atlanta, which never stops building.

[Saskia Calico]

Originally Posted by MinivanDriver

If you can't see how umpteen local municipalities getting together and coming to a basic agreement like this is momentous, then I really don't know what to tell you. Particularly given how, historically, every one of these guys were at each others' throats. It's more than an agreement in principle. It's a working relationship, one that would have been impossible ten years ago.



Now that the old mossbacks, white and black, that held this town back are dying off, the new generations are putting aside those rivalries and realizing that competing against one another is destructive.

That's good news. And hopefully the new generations did not all grow up in the Birmingham Bubble.