What is holding Mobile back? (Daphne, Fairhope: restaurants, shops, airport)

[verve57]

Originally Posted by Mississippi Alabama Line

Yep, same as most any other city in the South.

If someone is moving to Mobile area, they'd be crazy not to look in Baldwin County. It's just so much nicer in every way. It's the best of both worlds. Mobile is referred to as the Detroit of the South for a reason, it's industrial.

Then of course....the hurricanes.

I'll chime in about the "Detroit of the South" remark. Nobody makes that reference. The industrial nature of the city as someone else said is along the waterfront and in areas far north and south of the city. But, those industries help drive the economy for the whole region. Many of those in Baldwin County work at those industries and make the commute daily into Mobile County. Otherwise, there wouldn't be the traffic issues on the Bayway and Causeway.

Yes, there is a need for more things in the city and efforts are underway. It takes everyone in the area working together to make the metro area an even better place to live.

Mobile's historic districts are on par with other cities its size and that is a draw to many people when they move here.

[Southsky]

Originally Posted by Mississippi Alabama Line

Yep, same as most any other city in the South.

If someone is moving to Mobile area, they'd be crazy not to look in Baldwin County. It's just so much nicer in every way. It's the best of both worlds. Mobile is referred to as the Detroit of the South for a reason, it's industrial.

Then of course....the hurricanes.

[Suesbal]

The French settled Mobile before they did New Orleans. But Mobile isn’t on a major river. So it didn’t grow as much as NO.

[Mississippi Alabama Line]

Originally Posted by PortCity

No one has never refered Mobile as the Detroit of the South lol and it's only industrial near the shoreline. Driving around Mobile on a day to day basis you dont see the industrial side tbh.60 or 55% of the city is what I consider "southern urban historic". The remaining areas would be your typical undesirables or typical cookie cutter r suburban. Baldwin is nice but saying it's nicer in every way is subjective. The same neighborhoods in Baldwin exist in Mobile and in actuality Mobile offers more in that department. Living in Mobile can give you the best of both worlds also.

People in Biloxi feel that they have the best of both worlds being between Mobile and Nola and I can see that also.

I think you're fighting a losing battle. Need to embrace Baldwin County as part of the metro, rather than fight against them for population. That's where the growth is. City of Mobile lost 3.1% from 2010 to 2020.

Just a futile effort to try and pit city limits against suburbs. You see it happen in every city in the South. It's counterproductive. Once a city kinda hits its pinnacle per se, you see crime rise, services dwindle, and people move to the burbs. You can certainly do things to revive city/metro cores, and that's being done in Mobile (as it is in Birmingham). But it hasn't curbed the population loss obviously.

To reverse this in any city, you need an incredible boom. The only city that has done it is Atlanta, and they really never stopped growing. Though I did see where New Orleans is growing again.

[Nlambert]

Originally Posted by southernnaturelover

51 homicides so far this year. There's your answer.

And yes, I realize it's not everywhere in the city, but it creates a reputation and makes people not want to live there.

I don't think crime is the issue for Mobile. Birmingham has 119 homicides this year and it's doing better than Mobile. I have often wondered why Mobile seems to quickly be becoming a forgotten city in comparison to Birmingham and Huntsville. I grew up not far from Mobile and love going there to visit.

[BelleFontaineMan]

Originally Posted by Mississippi Alabama Line

I think you're fighting a losing battle. Need to embrace Baldwin County as part of the metro, rather than fight against them for population. That's where the growth is. City of Mobile lost 3.1% from 2010 to 2020.

Just a futile effort to try and pit city limits against suburbs. You see it happen in every city in the South. It's counterproductive. Once a city kinda hits its pinnacle per se, you see crime rise, services dwindle, and people move to the burbs. You can certainly do things to revive city/metro cores, and that's being done in Mobile (as it is in Birmingham). But it hasn't curbed the population loss obviously.

To reverse this in any city, you need an incredible boom. The only city that has done it is Atlanta, and they really never stopped growing. Though I did see where New Orleans is growing again.

I don't think he's saying Baldwin County shouldn't be part of the metro. Fairly certain there's a consensus that Baldwin County is a part of Mobile.

[Mississippi Alabama Line]

Originally Posted by BelleFontaineMan

I don't think he's saying Baldwin County shouldn't be part of the metro. Fairly certain there's a consensus that Baldwin County is a part of Mobile.

The whole thread is about what is holding Mobile back. And the first thing Mobile residents do (especially here) is get defensive, especially about Baldwin County growing and taking residents from Mobile. You can see (and feel) it in the posts in this thread.

Instead of seeing that as a negative, I'm suggesting seeing that as a positive. If the whole area grows, you'll end up attracting some people (and young people) who want to be in a city core.

All that to say - Baldwin isn't the reason for Mobile's decline. The city has to look inward to find that.

[MardiGras251]

I say everyone is avoiding the elephant in the room but the biggest roadblock in mobile is racial micro aggressions. It’s not as bad as the Mississippi gulf coast or the Florida panhandle which I’m super familiar with both. Truth is there are a nice mix of cultures in mobile but there are limited pockets of areas in the city where they co exist I.e west mobile, midtown, cottage hill park area, USA area,hill crest etc… these places are totally thriving and have been thriving. Judging from the past city council meetings it’s almost like a tug of war on if mobile will be a black city or a white city. To me that’s not important. The city leadership in past did make some decisions that we the people that actually live in the area of mobile had to pay for in the long run but I do have faith that we are getting it together now. This generation of kids (younger 20s ) are really color blind for the most part. I see mobile growing toward something like a charlotte nc with a port. Of course they’re years ahead of us but living in charlotte really reminded me a lot of mobile of course there’s the differences but the suburban areas for sure. But yeah everyone knows if you been LIVING here that this city is buzzing and it’s only a matter of time before it really booms

[Southsky]

Originally Posted by Mississippi Alabama Line

The whole thread is about what is holding Mobile back. And the first thing Mobile residents do (especially here) is get defensive, especially about Baldwin County growing and taking residents from Mobile. You can see (and feel) it in the posts in this thread.

Instead of seeing that as a negative, I'm suggesting seeing that as a positive. If the whole area grows, you'll end up attracting some people (and young people) who want to be in a city core.

All that to say - Baldwin isn't the reason for Mobile's decline. The city has to look inward to find that.

I think the totally made up "Detroit of the south" comment is what is bringing about the negativity. It seems to show that you are starting from a place of bias (whether you are or not is another thing).

Regardless, the only issue most in Mobile have with Baldwin county is that their citizenry routinely chastise the Mobile side of the bay with little actual first hand knowledge.

As for what actually is currently "holding" the city back (or slowing its growth), I see it purely as an issue of opportunity...

• Why don't we have more waterfront access in the city? Opportunity. There is currently little to no open land for water access in the city. (Thankfully this is being remedied somewhat with Brookley by the Bay)
• Why isn't downtown all the way back yet? Opportunity. Really the only remaining unused/abandoned space isn't on the market to be developed because their owners are not interested in selling. Everything else is moving quick...
• Why aren't more people moving into the city? Opportunity. The dearth of housing stock is largely due to lack of developable land and/or probate issues. Look in South Oakleigh... probate issues have made clear title a completely unachievable scenario before. Now, developers are starting to spend the dollars to clear probate/gain clear title on previously open land/derelict structures to renovate and put them back on the market. Many previously derelict houses in South Oakleigh/Texas Hill are now renovated and productively lived-in due to these efforts.

Luckily, the tide is turning on these areas and others... Stimpson's administration, whether you like him or not, inspired a bunch of this growth (and what is soon coming will exceed this) largely because the moneyed individuals feel that their investment dollars won't go for naught under his watch.

[PortCity]

Originally Posted by Mississippi Alabama Line

I think you're fighting a losing battle. Need to embrace Baldwin County as part of the metro, rather than fight against them for population. That's where the growth is. City of Mobile lost 3.1% from 2010 to 2020.

Just a futile effort to try and pit city limits against suburbs. You see it happen in every city in the South. It's counterproductive. Once a city kinda hits its pinnacle per se, you see crime rise, services dwindle, and people move to the burbs. You can certainly do things to revive city/metro cores, and that's being done in Mobile (as it is in Birmingham). But it hasn't curbed the population loss obviously.

To reverse this in any city, you need an incredible boom. The only city that has done it is Atlanta, and they really never stopped growing. Though I did see where New Orleans is growing again.

I never said that I didn't embrace them in actuality it feels like you're in Mobile on the Easternshore just as it does in Saraland and Semnmes. The issue is that Baldwin residents fail to see that MOBILE is the asset and Baldwin compliments Mobile.

If you go back and read my comments the blame has been on the city's leadership with the lack of vision is what I said.