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After the BJCC renovation though, then yes because you have something decent to lure people/conventions.
This seems to be the best way to go about it and Charlotte is a great example to use. It's not a touristy city by any means but it has built large venues that have allowed it to host large gatherings, which provides a boost to its existing local attractions. That's also what Atlanta has essentially done.
Nice article but the chart on job growth is somewhat misleading. Orlando's job growth has been strong but its tourism type jobs which are not likely as good as Nashville's mix of healthcare, tourism and manufacturing (auto plants). At the same time, Austin's jobs are the cream of the crop, i.e. high end tech jobs from Dell, Apple, Samsung, Indeed.com, VMWare, Wholefoods, Google and Facebook. Also, while Nashville, like Austin, benefits from being a state capital, when it comes to signature Universities, Vanderbilt U is not the University of Texas at Austin. Vanderbilt is a small private school. UT is a major research university with the second biggest endowment in the U.S. I think Nashville also benefits in that its not viewed as an "old south" type of town. That makes outsiders feel more comfortable.
Nice article but the chart on job growth is somewhat misleading. Orlando's job growth has been strong but its tourism type jobs which are not likely as good as Nashville's mix of healthcare, tourism and manufacturing (auto plants). At the same time, Austin's jobs are the cream of the crop, i.e. high end tech jobs from Dell, Apple, Samsung, Indeed.com, VMWare, Wholefoods, Google and Facebook. Also, while Nashville, like Austin, benefits from being a state capital, when it comes to signature Universities, Vanderbilt U is not the University of Texas at Austin. Vanderbilt is a small private school. UT is a major research university with the second biggest endowment in the U.S. I think Nashville also benefits in that its not viewed as an "old south" type of town. That makes outsiders feel more comfortable.
Vanderbilt's endowment is almost $5 billion. That's more than every university in Alabama combined (I think?). Maybe it isn't UT-Austin, but Nashville's university scene is fairly impressive, even beyond Vanderbilt.
Are there going to be people outside the region to know about birmingham nature scene. Probably not. I highly doubt it if the city is running radio and tv ad's about red mountain and ruffner mountain and other amenties in other cities media market. Most tourist spots in this country that people know off hand has been popular for many decades. Is the city using social media and the internet to promote spots around the city, more than likely.
There are websites dedicated to both mountains area, vulcan park sit on top of red mountain. Everyone visits vulcan. Their are many people that comes in town on business or school tours and make their way to different spots in town every year, all year. Just because the majority of us don't see it, don't mean it's not happening.
When people think of alabama, they think of it as portrayed thru television and movies. So of course they are suprised when they make a trip and see tall buildings, paved streets, entertainment options, diversity of people, mountains, etc. because backward, stuck in the past image is what's been market thru the entertainment media companies.
Alabama is a poor state to begin with. So wanting things to be like florida, california, new york, texas, and others are just unrealistic. Birmingham has what it have from local people wanting to make change and invest time and effort into bringing more things to the city. Can it happen at a faster pace. Maybe, perhaps. That would be great. But it is what it. is right now.
I'm think this post gets it right. I do agree with Jero that Birmingham's renaissance and push for change to happen at a faster pace is all local people in the city making it happen with no support from the state level, and that is a big difference for most cities with similar tourism campaigns, even the Alabama Gulf Coast gets a lot of state support as was pointed out as well. I'll give the city a little bit of a break due to that because the lack of state support for the area is a real thing. That being said the area's natural beauty and amenities should be more well known on a regional if not national level and the work to make that happen should continue and at some point step up. I have never seen or heard an ad about Birmingham in other cities and certainly nothing about the city/metro's natural
I'm think this post gets it right. I do agree with Jero that Birmingham's renaissance and push for change to happen at a faster pace is all local people in the city making it happen with no support from the state level, and that is a big difference for most cities with similar tourism campaigns, even the Alabama Gulf Coast gets a lot of state support as was pointed out as well. I'll give the city a little bit of a break due to that because the lack of state support for the area is a real thing. That being said the area's natural beauty and amenities should be more well known on a regional if not national level and the work to make that happen should continue and at some point step up. I have never seen or heard an ad about Birmingham in other cities and certainly nothing about the city/metro's natural
All I'm saying, is that B'ham is getting like 40 million from ALDOT to rebuild its interstates downtown, not to mention the Northern Beltline, which is how many billion again? Just got finished with the I-22 intersection. All of this while Huntsville is essentially left behind, transportation wise. I'd say Birmingham (metro) is getting plenty of state support.
The Birmingham Proper types in this thread love to blame the state government. At some point they might want to look in the mirror.
All I'm saying, is that B'ham is getting like 40 million from ALDOT to rebuild its interstates downtown, not to mention the Northern Beltline, which is how many billion again? Just got finished with the I-22 intersection. All of this while Huntsville is essentially left behind, transportation wise. I'd say Birmingham (metro) is getting plenty of state support.
The Birmingham Proper types in this thread love to blame the state government. At some point they might want to look in the mirror.
Context is everything, lets keep in mind the ALDOT support for the 20/59 teardown and rebuild is not out of the goodness of Montgomery's hearts, it is quite literally a life and death public safety issue that if left untouched even a few more years would potentially create a disaster that would claim lives due to a collapse and still cripple the interstate system, so Alabama had little choice but to act or face increased federal pressure. That is more evidence of Jero's point about the intentional neglect of Birmingham by the state over political reasons. Municipalities don't build or maintain freeways, even if they wanted to they lack the authority to do so and that mantle is with state governments. As such Birmingham's interstates that feature a half done beltline and too little lanes as opposed to other cities with superior interstate networks (Atlanta, Charlotte, etc.) that have completed beltlines speaks to Alabama's failure since interstates are under their authority not Birmingham the municipality. The beltline and all of its billions could and would have been completed by now(for much cheaper in the 80's or 90's) if not for the political sniping and it's why after I-459 was completed there was no movement on finishing Birmingham's perimeter for almost 30 years, meanwhile most if not all major sunbelt cities were completing their beltways/beltlines and reaping the economic and social progress as a result while Birmingham was missing the bus. I-22 is another example. As heavily traveled as the B'ham-Memphis route is there should have been a freeway there by the 90's or early 2000's at the very latest. The impact for Birmingham is like Atlanta and Charlotte having an overland freeway connecting the two and as a matter or political revenge that freeway was thwarted for decades while other southern cities were moving forward and breaking barriers. This was happening at the state level, not in Birmingham city hall. Once again it's important to note Birmingham missing this bus was intentional by Alabama politicians settling scores and absolutely should have been avoided. The state government has been central in Birmingham falling behind Nashville, Charlotte, and certainly Atlanta from the 70's through the 2000's and the interstate system is a great example of that incompetence. The evidence speaks for itself, the state takes major culpability for this failure and slow progress especially when it comes to the interstates, when it becomes BHAMDOT I'll be willing to look at Birmingham as a culprit more seriously LoL.
Context is everything, lets keep in mind the ALDOT support for the 20/59 teardown and rebuild is not out of the goodness of Montgomery's hearts, it is quite literally a life and death public safety issue that if left untouched even a few more years would potentially create a disaster that would claim lives due to a collapse and still cripple the interstate system, so Alabama had little choice but to act or face increased federal pressure. That is more evidence of Jero's point about the intentional neglect of Birmingham by the state over political reasons. Municipalities don't build or maintain freeways, even if they wanted to they lack the authority to do so and that mantle is with state governments. As such Birmingham's interstates that feature a half done beltline and too little lanes as opposed to other cities with superior interstate networks (Atlanta, Charlotte, etc.) that have completed beltlines speaks to Alabama's failure since interstates are under their authority not Birmingham the municipality. The beltline and all of its billions could and would have been completed by now(for much cheaper in the 80's or 90's) if not for the political sniping and it's why after I-459 was completed there was no movement on finishing Birmingham's perimeter for almost 30 years, meanwhile most if not all major sunbelt cities were completing their beltways/beltlines and reaping the economic and social progress as a result while Birmingham was missing the bus. I-22 is another example. As heavily traveled as the B'ham-Memphis route is there should have been a freeway there by the 90's or early 2000's at the very latest. The impact for Birmingham is like Atlanta and Charlotte having an overland freeway connecting the two and as a matter or political revenge that freeway was thwarted for decades while other southern cities were moving forward and breaking barriers. This was happening at the state level, not in Birmingham city hall. Once again it's important to note Birmingham missing this bus was intentional by Alabama politicians settling scores and absolutely should have been avoided. The state government has been central in Birmingham falling behind Nashville, Charlotte, and certainly Atlanta from the 70's through the 2000's and the interstate system is a great example of that incompetence. The evidence speaks for itself, the state takes major culpability for this failure and slow progress especially when it comes to the interstates, when it becomes BHAMDOT I'll be willing to look at Birmingham as a culprit more seriously LoL.
ALDOT was not ignoring I-20/59. That stretch is incredibly busy, which makes any remedy very hard to do. Not to mention they are revamping all those dangerous interchanges. This is black helicopter theory stuff.
The belt-line has been delayed because the terrain is horrific. It's mountainous and very expensive to build. Again, no black helicopters.
Has the defiance attitude of Birmingham helped? Of course not, but if anything has stifled anything, it's the simple disagreement about things (like the vocal group who wanted to stop the reconstruction of the bridges). This is not ALDOT's fault.
However, I will say that ALDOT in general is a very reactive organization rather than proactive. This is seen statewide though, it's not political. The legislature has been known for some pork projects from time to time for sure. But the Birmingham Metro has always gotten its share of the money, to think otherwise is a joke.
ALDOT was not ignoring I-20/59. That stretch is incredibly busy, which makes any remedy very hard to do. Not to mention they are revamping all those dangerous interchanges. This is black helicopter theory stuff.
The belt-line has been delayed because the terrain is horrific. It's mountainous and very expensive to build. Again, no black helicopters.
Has the defiance attitude of Birmingham helped? Of course not, but if anything has stifled anything, it's the simple disagreement about things (like the vocal group who wanted to stop the reconstruction of the bridges). This is not ALDOT's fault.
However, I will say that ALDOT in general is a very reactive organization rather than proactive. This is seen statewide though, it's not political. The legislature has been known for some pork projects from time to time for sure. But the Birmingham Metro has always gotten its share of the money, to think otherwise is a joke.
Yea they were, they ignored I-20/59 so much that it became a public safety hazard and is the primary reason the tear down and rebuild is happening. I-20/59 is incredibly busy and has been carrying much more volume than it was intended to when it was built, that's true and despite that it took this long for it to be brought up to federal interstate safety standards. Other big cities, (some bigger cities) have torn down very busy stretches of interstate over the past several decades as Birmingham looked on which is the point here. San Francisco in the 80's, Boston's infamous "Big Dig" for I-93, Milwaukee's Park East etc are all examples of this remedy being applied despite it being hard to do, that's never been an excuse for neglect.
All of Birmingham's terrain is problematic, it's the Appalachian foothills LOL! and that is not specific to the beltline. Red Mountain Expressway which is underrated as a modern marvel was heralded as a huge success in this area because going through the rough terrain of Red Mountain which had never been done before was such an accomplishment. I-65 through Hoover/Vestavia/Homewood, Parts of I-59 and I-20 in eastern Jefferson County are very mountainous as well. It was expensive and hard then yet it got done. Other cities with similar terrain (Atlanta, Nashville to lesser degrees depending on your opinion) got through the terrain to complete their freeway networks all the same as well. The beltline was not held up because of the terrain being too hard, rather it was the political realities of the day backwards as they were that called for obstruction against Birmingham.
I'm not sure where the city or even the Jefferson County delegation was defiant in attitude against the state, and all the data from the anecdotal and on paper (looking at how the state legislature voted on Birmingham centric issues from the 60's-00's) show an aggression and "attitude" towards Birmingham not the other way around. Again Birmingham as a municipality does not have the authority to stifle anything on a state level. The state constitution was written to give rural areas undue influence over the more populated regions of the state and the data still reflects that reality.
You are right about the pork projects none of which benefited the metro, but Birmingham only recently (since about 2005) began to get it's share of money that it had been missing out on for decades by that time. Fact is these projects which could have continued from the 60's-70's stopped over politics and now the state is playing catch up. The area certainly did not always get it's fair share of money for interstates for decades, that is a joke.
cherokee48, 100% in agreement. Majority of birmingham agrees as well...
I'm sure the city-only probably does agree. The majority of the Birmingham METRO area do not agree.
And therein lies the problem. When you have big groups who have different viewpoints, things stagnate. There is no unity in Birmingham therefore nothing happens. Nothing big anyway.
Birmingham city seems to want to blame others, and instead of figuring out how the metro can work together to make it a better place for everyone.
Last edited by Mississippi Alabama Line; 12-31-2018 at 01:15 PM..
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