Young family looking at a potential move to Birmingham. Looking for input... (Madison: condos, violent crime)

[MinivanDriver]

Originally Posted by TimCity2000

not to mention this gem... you certainly aren't portraying huntsville in the best light by opening your mouth in this thread.

Man, I totally missed that. It's kind of, well, wow.

[columbusboy8]

You should also consider Columbus, GA which is about 35 miles east of Auburn, AL. Columbus is the global headquarters of Aflac, Total System Services, Synovus Bank, Charbroil, WC Bradley, and several other smaller companies. I'm not sure about the home schooling. Columbus High consistently ranks in the Top 5 high schools in Georgia. The city is growing, albeit not as fast as Birmingham/Huntsville. A much needed $63 million dollar VA hospital has been announced for Columbus, GA. Also a Mercer University Med School in downtown Columbus!

There are several Columbus YouTube videos you might want to check out also.

www.visitcolumbusga.com

36 Hours: Columbus, Ga. – Find your tourist interests in Columbus, Ga.

www.nationalinfantrymuseum.org

Real estate is cheap, as is the cost of living.

Good luck with your search!

[BamaDave]

Originally Posted by MinivanDriver

But even that is a snapshot of forty years ago. The Birmingham metro recorded one of the highest rates of HHI growth in the nation during that period. Why? Because in 1979, with the shutting down of USS, the city was forced to diversify its economy. Before covid-19, the city's unemployment rate was 0.1% higher than Huntsville's and among the country's lowest.

But the city itself is dominated by poor to lower end middle class neighborhoods at best. I think it's unfair to say that the city's problems are due to being "turned over to the Blacks," when deliberate White flight created many of these issues. It's not a problem unique to Birmingham by any stretch of the imagination, although I think it's worse here than in many cities because the city is so boxed in by suburbs.

[mcalumni01]

Originally Posted by BamaDave

But the city itself is dominated by poor to lower end middle class neighborhoods at best. I think it's unfair to say that the city's problems are due to being "turned over to the Blacks," when deliberate White flight created many of these issues. It's not a problem unique to Birmingham by any stretch of the imagination, although I think it's worse here than in many cities because the city is so boxed in by suburbs.

You do know, or maybe not, there are 99 neighborhoods that comprise the city limits of Birmingham. The majority of those neighborhoods are not dominated by poor lower class citizens. I can tell from posters who have never lived or spent considerable amount of time WITHIN the city limits and are just driving through and makes a judgement based off that from the misinformation they say. Yeah there is huge amount of poverty in the city, like any city, but saying the majority of the city is poor and lower class is 100% unaccurate. Numbers can say one thing, but not living there and seeing it for yourself everyday, is total different. Those area you think is poor are hard working middle class citizens. Just because those neighborhoods don't look like Mountain Brook don't mean they are poor. Birmingham as a whole isn't the "project". Out of the 99 neighborhoods, maybe 20-25 would be considered poor, lower class neighborhoods. So of course when you have those type of communities that suffer, it will make any city liveabliity numbers look high.

[BamaDave]

Here is a map from City Data showing median income across the city of Birmingham (2017 data). Almost the entire city is colored with a light shade, indicating lower incomes. The median household income in Birmingham is well below the state median. 80% of the students in the city schools qualify for free or reduced lunch.

I love Birmingham, HAVE lived and worked in the city, would gladly live in the city again, and don't think the residents aren't hard working. It is what it is.

[mcalumni01]

Okay, guy. Have at it. I'm done.

[Peter1948]

Originally Posted by BamaDave

Here is a map from City Data showing median income across the city of Birmingham (2017 data). Almost the entire city is colored with a light shade, indicating lower incomes. The median household income in Birmingham is well below the state median. 80% of the students in the city schools qualify for free or reduced lunch.

I love Birmingham, HAVE lived and worked in the city, would gladly live in the city again, and don't think the residents aren't hard working. It is what it is.

Birmingham posters...I have long been considering the Ham as the next up and comer. I even thought of moving there. But the more I look into it, I think this city will always fall short. This map is a good reason why. There is a huge disconnect between city and county and a recent visit this weekend showed why.

Birmingham has not been in rougher shape in decades due to all this racial tension. The low education, poverty, and everything combined is taking ahold of Magic City. It simply doesn't have a prosperous feel like even some smaller cities.

[mcalumni01]

Originally Posted by Peter1948

Birmingham posters...I have long been considering the Ham as the next up and comer. I even thought of moving there. But the more I look into it, I think this city will always fall short. This map is a good reason why. There is a huge disconnect between city and county and a recent visit this weekend showed why.

Birmingham has not been in rougher shape in decades due to all this racial tension. The low education, poverty, and everything combined is taking ahold of Magic City. It simply doesn't have a prosperous feel like even some smaller cities.

Well, keep it moving there, Peter. I won't elaborate on the nonsense you just wrote. So I'm leave it at that.

[bfmx1]

What he said isn't racist in the traditional sense and it would probably behoove us to not toss around the term for every single comment made regarding a race or culture. That's no where near what true racism is or looked like a while back.

What he is is pretty accurate though, the city is predominantly black and if he's not comfortable living that close to the black culture, that's his prerogative and it's perfectly fine and consistent with most non-black folks. You'll find the the people who want away from that culture the most are probably Asians and Indians anyway. It's not like whites exactly feel welcomed in black neighborhoods. I see no reason to be biggotted against him. He simply said a fact.

The list of things we're banned from saying is getting long and exhausting.

Anywayyyyy, I think the OP is viewing Birmingham comparatively which is something almost no one does on this forum. Yes it falls quite short in most of categories. It certainly FEELS like it's doing much better and has a great energy in the past 5 years especially. It has reasons to be excited but no it doesn't do well when comparing it.

Most people looking for work and a great city to live in are comparing Bham to some other pretty good metros that do have more going for them.

[TimCity2000]

Originally Posted by bfmx1

What he said isn't racist in the traditional sense and it would probably behoove us to not toss around the term for every single comment made regarding a race or culture. That's no where near what true racism is or looked like a while back.

What he is is pretty accurate though, the city is predominantly black and if he's not comfortable living that close to the black culture, that's his prerogative and it's perfectly fine and consistent with most non-black folks. You'll find the the people who want away from that culture the most are probably Asians and Indians anyway. It's not like whites exactly feel welcomed in black neighborhoods. I see no reason to be biggotted against him. He simply said a fact.

The list of things we're banned from saying is getting long and exhausting.

Anywayyyyy, I think the OP is viewing Birmingham comparatively which is something almost no one does on this forum. Yes it falls quite short in most of categories. It certainly FEELS like it's doing much better and has a great energy in the past 5 years especially. It has reasons to be excited but no it doesn't do well when comparing it.

Most people looking for work and a great city to live in are comparing Bham to some other pretty good metros that do have more going for them.

stating a fact would have been: "birmingham is 75% black"

stating a racist comment is: "birmingham was turned over to THE blacks". do you not see the difference? does that seriously not sound derogatory to you? at best, it implies that he sees black people as one singular entity and puts all the responsibility of birmingham on that segment of the population. at worst, well... it basically says that black people are lesser than other races and that they can't govern or even exist without their white saviors.

the very fact that he followed it with "i hate to say it" means he obviously knew something was wrong with that statement. so he should take ownership of it. what is it about a city that was "turned over to the blacks" that makes it less desirable on the surface of another city that is, say, 75% white? he obviously wasn't trying to spin that as a positive.