Birmingham to get a Dome?

[Historic Bessemer]

Originally Posted by Rudbeckia

I think it's for real this time. They have already given the Architecture Firm (non local btw) money , I have a friend who works for a firm here being interviewed to do some work on it

but maybe they will pay hundreds of thousands to get it designed and then not be able to come up with the money to build it

or his buddy owns the architecture firm(non local btw) and is giving him half or a % to cover his legal expenses..............?

[bluebeard]

Originally Posted by harry chickpea

"If it were up to you guys, Birmingham would still be the home of rusted out steel mills, 17% unemployment, and zero economic growth."

Tell me again how it managed to do that WITHOUT a domed stadium and an aquarium?

If the project was a state-of-the-art mega-hospital that would promote one of Birmingham's biggest strong points, then I might be more ammenable to the use of public funds. Stadiums bring in rowdy slam-bam-thankee-ma'am crowds. In contrast, a hospital that led the country in heart research would bring in the BIG bucks and create a need for upscale housing and apartments near the hospital for outpatients and those who want to live near such a facility. There are a lot of aging baby-boomers with money. A well run and financed hospital would serve them and at the same time serve the community.

I don't denigrate Brookwood or St Vincents or the other hospitals, just note that "new and improved" can be an attractant. I walked through one hospital on the west coast of Florida that looked more like an upscale hotel than a hospital, and it was filled.

Nobody is suggesting that smart promotion can't help the city, and improvements in infrastructure aren't needed, but pushing the debt and liabilities of a stadium when the streets are falling apart is foolishness.

This is an old thread.
Anyway, I agree with this statement. For larger-scale business-oriented investments, use Alabama's strengths: promote medical, med tech, bio tech, and such. We have a skilled population in this respect, and pumping out more every year. A dome doesn't really build on any particular strength that I see, except that conventions, games and such may choose to come here simply because it might be cheaper than some of the already established convention-oriented or larger cities.

[bluebeard]

Originally Posted by Historic Bessemer

Yes, we have boycotted Birmingham Business also!

Cities Chase Ghost Conventioneers in Space Race: Chart of Day - Bloomberg.com

This shows what I'm afraid of... the risk of the dome may not be worth the potential benefits:

The CHART OF THE DAY shows that spending in the meetings business has increased by 14 percent over the last 18 years, to $102.9 billion in 2007 from $90.2 billion in 1989.
The amount of exhibit hall space available for such shows grew by 83.8 percent during the same period, to 66.9 million square feet in 2007 from 36.4 million square feet. Space rose to 68.4 million in 2008.
The data on spending are from “Overview of the United States Meetings Market” in the feasibility study for the Omni Convention Center Hotel in Dallas, Texas. The city sold $506.3 million in revenue bonds this week to build a 1,016-room hotel adjoining its convention center.
“Although demand has experienced a correction in 2008 and 2009, the industry is expected to recover over the longer term, underscoring the importance of large convention centers and, more recently, headquarters hotels,” said the feasibility study, prepared by HVS Consulting and Valuation Services of Flower Mound, Texas. HVS did not specify what the amount of the correction in 2008 and 2009 has been, and didn’t respond to e- mail requests for elaboration.
Attendance at Tradeshow Week’s top 200 shows was 4.56 million in 2008, the same as in 1998, said Michael Hughes, vice president of research and consulting.
“State and local governments have overbuilt convention center space, even as demand remains at or below the levels of the late 1990s,” said Heywood Sanders, professor of public administration at the University of Texas at San Antonio and a longtime skeptic of convention centers as municipal economic engines. “The result is a buyer’s market, with cities from Cincinnati to San Diego and Washington, D.C., desperately giving away space in trying to attract new business.”

[Neverbetter]

Man, you take this really seriously, thanks nicely. Up until 1 1/2 years ago, I lived right around the corner from 'THE MILL', on 20th street. It was also just across the street from the"BILLIARDS BAR and GRILL". The police came on a nightly basis, fights every weekend and partying in the street with, quite often, drunks harassing people in cars. I parked my car in the parking deck on the corner of 20th St. and Magnolia and homeless people slept in the hallways and left garbage and feces. Now, I know that is 5 Points and not right downtown and it was also almost 2 years ago. I certainly will give you the fact that things have probably improved and I have not driven downtown since we managed to get moved out. I have been to many diferent kinds of 'games' in the Civic Center and I DO KNOW that Pro Teams did not have enough attendance to warrant assigned seats and the teams left as quickly as they came. I also would feel so much better with another mayor handling the money and dealing with the assignment of contractors. I hope to see Langford in jail any day now and I read in the paper today that Bettye Fine Collins and group, after throwing money out the window for expensive consultations, have decided they might file Bankruptcy.... I, personally remember the nadir of Birmingham being the 80's and 90's. I guessI might feel better when President Obama's 'streets of gold' comes to Birmingham. So sorry to Harsh Your Mellow : )

I tried to add your quote to my post, but it's not working, so this is for cpg35223 (re: the Post about 'the baseless, knee-jerk junk I was spouting)