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Birmingham Alabama. Once heralded worldwide as the "Pittsburgh of the South" due to the huge number of steel mills etc. It used to have a average income twice that of any other southern city. All the mills shut down in the late 70's and now its one giant ghetto that has the fourth highest murder rate in the country and only has a population of around 250,000. Everyone within a hundred miles used to go there to shop etc. Now we all avoid it as much as possible. Now it is more compared as "the Detroit of the South"
Birmingham Alabama. Once heralded worldwide as the "Pittsburgh of the South" due to the huge number of steel mills etc. It used to have a average income twice that of any other southern city. All the mills shut down in the late 70's and now its one giant ghetto that has the fourth highest murder rate in the country and only has a population of around 250,000. Everyone within a hundred miles used to go there to shop etc. Now we all avoid it as much as possible. Now it is more compared as "the Detroit of the South"
Up until the 1960's, Birmingham and Atlanta were fierce rivals.
I'll have to defend Birmingham, though. It has been making a comeback in the last couple of decades, and has some great neighborhoods on the south side ie Mountain Brook and Homewood.
The metro of B'ham is a little over 1.1 million, BTW.
Birmingham Alabama. Once heralded worldwide as the "Pittsburgh of the South" due to the huge number of steel mills etc. It used to have a average income twice that of any other southern city. All the mills shut down in the late 70's and now its one giant ghetto that has the fourth highest murder rate in the country and only has a population of around 250,000. Everyone within a hundred miles used to go there to shop etc. Now we all avoid it as much as possible. Now it is more compared as "the Detroit of the South"
I think B'ham's downfall was during the Civil Rights movement. Same thing with Detroit. Alot of cities in the USA had riots (even places like San Francisco and Portland), but nothing like Detroit and Birmingham. Detroit had one of the most violent and deadly insurrections in 1967. Birmingham had the bombing of a church, the fire hoses and German shepherd fights combined with fight-happy police. Brimingham also had riots. Atlanta, even with the 1966 riot(not 1906 but 1966), Atlanta was relatively calm and had relatively progressive mayors who made an effort to work with people. Birmingham had a bad combination of regressive, Dixiecrat politics combined with being built on one industry. Look what happened. Atlanta has the busiest international airport in the world, it held the 1996 Summer Olympics, while B'ham nearly went broke and languished.
Galveston,Tx - Once considered the "New York of the South" before it was hit the hurricane.
Waco,Tx - Was considered the twin city of Dallas. The city was also known nationwide as top producer of cotton. The Cotton Palace attracted over 8 million people in 23 years. It was just starting to boom when it was hit by the tenth deadliest tornado in US history in the early 50's.
Well there are some ghost towns that technically would qualify.
It seems quite a few posters use this thread to complain about cities they don't personally like.
I don't care for Houston but its thriving. It gained quite a few people from Katrina, and its population is expanding- one can't tell Houston from its suburbs.
Waco and Galveston have had tragedies but will continue to grow. Jukes you haven't been to Detroit.
Detroit is the clear winner here although Buffalo, Youngstown Ohio and Cleveland are up there.
Detroit and Buffalo lead in abandoned houses. Both have high crime, foolishly high real estate taxes and having talked to both tax assessment departments - its an odd coincidence that they both have an attitude -negative to people. Detroit can't be accessed by email and after waiting 22 min on hold i gave up. This doesn't mean I don't like those places - old buildings are great and its nice to observe what the US looked like years ago.
Objectively however if we are talking about the 20th century to now Detroit and Buffalo WIN or umm lose.
I love these threads because you learn so many little facts that are so interesting!
Quote:
Originally Posted by KerrTown
When and how did the capital of Pennsylvania move from Philadelphia to Harrisburg? I would say that L'Enfant's city plan is an elaboration of Center City. There are similarities to both cities: Benjamin Franklin Parkway looks like the diagonal avenues that connect to traffic circles in Washington, the Schuylkill Expressway is like the George Washington Pkwy and Kelly Drive is like the Clara Barton Parkway.
FYI, the Capital moved in 1812. I don't know the reasons, but I imagine logistics were part of it, as the state's population began to move west.
The L'Enfant plan only extended as far as Florida Avenue, and included none of the expressways. The Ben Franklin Parkway was built in the early twentieth century as an imitation of the Champs-Elysees.
Certainly the Parkway and to a lesser extent DC's state-named avenues are anathema to walkers, in my opinion. They waste real estate, break up the grid, and generally stink. They create nice views, and if you're in a car and know the city they can speed your trip up, but I'd gladly throw them all out.
check out the urban developments there is a lot a good stuff coming. i was just there this summer and realized that i had underestimated it for a long time. it was fun and it didnt look as bad as i thought (give or take some abandoned buildings which will be worked on) plus its in a great location to be successful.
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