Huntsville's next big thing? (Birmingham, Montgomery: crime, how much, live)

[TimCity2000]

Originally Posted by Big Grumpy

See attached article.
https://www.al.com/news/huntsville/2...o_3rd-lar.html

I'm aware of the reference.

City and "area" are two completely different things. And yes, the wording matters.

The Huntsville "area" is nowhere near being the largest in the state. As for the city... even that isn't a given 10 years from now.

[mcalumni01]

Originally Posted by TimCity2000

I'm aware of the reference.

City and "area" are two completely different things. And yes, the wording matters.

The Huntsville "area" is nowhere near being the largest in the state. As for the city... even that isn't a given 10 years from now.

Area = CSA, for reference

One is 1.365M......One is 775K

[RocketDawg]

Originally Posted by PortCity

Lol.. that's a very very very interesting yet extremely diluted perspective.But anyways I think Huntsville's next big thing should be a cluster of 300 + foot towers downtown or near downtown.

Port, I actually think it's a pretty true statement -- we're not far ahead of Mississippi as it is, overall, and I think would be behind if not for the growth of the Huntsville area over the years. But I doubt 300 foot towers will be built here anytime soon, especially downtown, since the "central business district" really isn't -- it's Redstone Arsenal and Research Park. The state, and particularly ALDOT, seem to be doing their best to stymie growth here by ignoring transportation needs.

[RocketDawg]

Originally Posted by TimCity2000

Well that's just not true...

Correct as far as the metro and CSAs are concerned. But Huntsville is well on its way to being the largest city in the state, possibly even as soon as the next census. And contrary to what seems to be popular opinion, it's not due to expansion of the city limits (at least according to published articles).

[mcalumni01]

Originally Posted by RocketDawg

Correct as far as the metro and CSAs are concerned. But Huntsville is well on its way to being the largest city in the state, possibly even as soon as the next census. And contrary to what seems to be popular opinion, it's not due to expansion of the city limits (at least according to published articles).

Between today and next march when the federal census starts the actual count, let's just say 7 months window, huntsville will add 13,000 people in that time frame?

[RocketDawg]

Originally Posted by mcalumni01

Between today and next march when the federal census starts the actual count, let's just say 7 months window, huntsville will add 13,000 people in that time frame?

Highly unlikely, but it's possible. Birmingham seems to be losing population steadily, or at least remaining stagnant, and Huntsville is gaining steadily. But the current numbers are only estimates and estimates have been historically wrong, both too high and too low. For all we know there's a lot more disparity than 13,000 folks than the latest available estimates show. The "current" estimate is July 2018, which is already over a year old, and will be almost 2 years old by the time the census is taken, and the disparity could go in either direction. There's already another estimate that's been made that won't be released until next spring (providing they do an estimate at all so close to the actual count).

Huntsville is growing pretty fast for Alabama, but nowhere near such places as Austin, Dallas, and Nashville. On a national basis, the growth here isn't much better than average (but it certainly LOOKS like it's growing rapidly).

[Chris_NorthHSV]

Huntsville has picked up the pace in growth recently. (The last few years) I wouldn't be surprised to see it's city estimates right there with the city of Birmingham when the Census numbers hit. The two areas are different, and really shouldn't be competing anyway since they're both part of the same state. You don't have to think too hard about it. Toyota and it's suppliers, the FBI, and various other technology companies adding locations in the area. This is the fastest growth period for Huntsville in it's history for the time being.

[PortCity]

Originally Posted by RocketDawg

Port, I actually think it's a pretty true statement -- we're not far ahead of Mississippi as it is, overall, and I think would be behind if not for the growth of the Huntsville area over the years. But I doubt 300 foot towers will be built here anytime soon, especially downtown, since the "central business district" really isn't -- it's Redstone Arsenal and Research Park. The state, and particularly ALDOT, seem to be doing their best to stymie growth here by ignoring transportation needs.

Economically if we we're to remove the Huntsville MSA ,Alabama would still be far ahead of Mississippi. We would loose the the acolade of having a city with the most PhDs per capita though.

[AU HSV]

Here is one next Big thing
https://www.al.com/news/2019/08/nasa...n-mission.html

[RocketDawg]

Originally Posted by TimCity2000

I'm aware of the reference.

City and "area" are two completely different things. And yes, the wording matters.

The Huntsville "area" is nowhere near being the largest in the state. As for the city... even that isn't a given 10 years from now.

True. The Huntsville/Decatur metros (not the CSA) together (which they should be) are something over 600,000 in 2500 square miles.

The Birmingham Metro is 1.1M in 5500 square miles. So it's roughly twice as large in something over twice the area.

One differnce is that Birmingham gets much more pass-thru traffic than do Huntsville/Decatur because of the prolifieration of Interstate highways all meeting in Birmingham. Were they laid out again now instead of 1950, the routes would likely be different.

The city of Huntsville will be larger than the city of Birmingham in the not too distant future, but that in itself doesn't mean a lot. It'll just be an isolated fairly large city. I suppose there will be some bragging rights but nothing too important.

It's possible that Huntsville could increase more rapidly than anticipated. Look what B'ham did between the few years between its founding and the year 1900. Huntsville could also drop depending on what the next president does. One thing's for sure though ... it won't grow to its potential if ALDOT doesn't recognize the needs of the north part of the state.