Discussion Thread (Birmingham, Montgomery, Mobile: chapel, how much, neighborhoods)

[MinivanDriver]

Originally Posted by Nemean

Random Business guy giving feedback after visiting.

He generally talks about how Bham should've made a more festive area around the arena during March Madness. That said, he still gave the area a B-. Accessibility was straightforward, the people were friendly, and his family found plenty to do.

The big general takeaway I would have would be that Birmingham should really get better at advertising what's here. I guess the guest was pretty lucky he picked well from the things mentioned on the handout his hotel gave him.

Shoehorning a bit here, but this is part of why I'd like a stronger public transit system (even if were a single line between the airport to the train station, it'd be enough). Then there'd be a natural physical spot to put info for visitors to go to. Even in the age of the internet, this is still useful. Birmingham's got a lot of fun stuff to do, but you pretty have to know where you want to go beforehand. Even for locals, it can be a bit hard to know what's going on.

When we went to the event, we remarked on how there was next to nothing going on outside. I mean, we have this amazing space under the interstate tailor made for that kind of event support and there was next to nothing.

[bhamblazer]

The BBA just named Steve Ammons, from the Jefferson County Commission, its new president. Ammons is resigning his commission seat to take the job. It seems like he's done a decent job leading economic development & regional cooperation efforts for the county plus has relationships with business leaders. Hopefully he does a great job.

[TimCity2000]

definitely seems like valid criticism. while the world games had its share of problems, i did like that the area around the BJCC / Stadium / CityWalk felt pretty activated most of the time. it gives people a reason to stick around as well.

[MinivanDriver]

Originally Posted by TimCity2000

definitely seems like valid criticism. while the world games had its share of problems, i did like that the area around the BJCC / Stadium / CityWalk felt pretty activated most of the time. it gives people a reason to stick around as well.

Well, I think we'll learn from that.

[mcalumni01]

2050 Birmingham Regional Transportation Plan

https://www.dropbox.com/s/coadsa5nge...30414.pdf?dl=0

Didn't know this before browsing this document information, but plans (nothing is concrete) is to add auxilary lanes to I-65 between Oxmoor and Greensprings and replace the Valley Ave bridge that cross 65.

[InlandWave]

Just a little BTW, was doing some quick math and found out the Bureau of Labor Statistics still uses Walker County as part of the Birmingham Metropolitan area labor statistics

[MinivanDriver]

Originally Posted by InlandWave

Just a little BTW, was doing some quick math and found out the Bureau of Labor Statistics still uses Walker County as part of the Birmingham Metropolitan area labor statistics

Probably because of how many commute into the city now on I-22. You can literally reach downtown Birmingham from Jasper faster than you can from Alabaster with lower odds of heavy traffic. In fact, I would lay even odds that Walker gets sucked back into the Birmingham metro area after the 2030 census.

[TimCity2000]

it is odd that walker county (especially with its access to Smith Lake and now I-22) hasn't attracted the type of suburban population that shelby and st clair counties have

[MinivanDriver]

Originally Posted by TimCity2000

it is odd that walker county (especially with its access to Smith Lake and now I-22) hasn't attracted the type of suburban population that shelby and st clair counties have

Until you get to Jasper, the terrain kind of sucks for subdivisions.

[Nemean]

Originally Posted by MinivanDriver

Until you get to Jasper, the terrain kind of sucks for subdivisions.

On top of that, Birmingham proper owns a good chunk of empty land in that direction. Northern Smithfield Estates and Hooper City are practically wilderness, and not in the it's-bend-abandoned sort of way, but rather the there-was-never-development-there-in-the-first-place sort. St. Clair & Shelby are way closer to development than Walker is. Even then, St. Clair's is pretty miniscule and really only rather recently joined in.