Beautiful Birmingham (Lexington, Avon: real estate, condos, buying)

[JesseRohr]

Originally Posted by bfmx1

Pretty sure New York, New Orleans, and Chicago are losing people. Or their growth is stagnant. If you're talking about the past 100 years, then yes. That built their history, but it's not why people went there.

Look at the growth cities of the past 10 years, they've not grown because of their historical charm, rather, career opportunities and 21st century way of life.

Chicagoland, New York, NOLA? No...they're growing.

New York MSA - +2.11%, pop 19.9M
Chicago MSA - +.4%, pop 9.4M
NOLA MSA - +6.7% pop 1.27M

Source - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...tistical_areas

[bfmx1]

Originally Posted by JesseRohr

Chicagoland, New York, NOLA? No...they're growing.

New York MSA - +2.11%, pop 19.9M
Chicago MSA - +.4%, pop 9.4M
NOLA MSA - +6.7% pop 1.27M

Source - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...tistical_areas

Not really.

1. You have to compare it to other metros that are growing MUCH faster. The ones that are growing much faster are generally very "non-historic" landmark kinda places.

2. The US grew by about 6.7% from 2010 - 2019. If your growth is LESS than the national average, then you're essentially not growing. Technically, yes it's growth, but practically it is not since everyone else is growing faster.

I admit I was wrong to say "no growth" but my point is this.... "that ain't really growth" and certainly doesn't prove that people move to cities with the most historical context or structures.

[mcalumni01]

Originally Posted by JesseRohr

Chicagoland, New York, NOLA? No...they're growing.

New York MSA - +2.11%, pop 19.9M
Chicago MSA - +.4%, pop 9.4M
NOLA MSA - +6.7% pop 1.27M

Source - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...tistical_areas

Some advice....


Just let it go. Move on.

[JesseRohr]

Originally Posted by mcalumni01

Some advice....


Just let it go. Move on.

Point taken.

[bfmx1]

Just saying, those are dismal growth figures to try to make an argument that those places are seeing growth when they're growing FAR slower than so many other places that should be considered.

When you're growing at less than average, you're constantly getting farther and farther behind, hence not effectively growing.

Not sure why someone would take such offence to this quick lesson in analytics.

The truth is from the original post I quoted is that people are NOT moving to cities because of historical places or context. They're just not.

Anyone disagree with this?

[mcalumni01]

Originally Posted by JesseRohr

Point taken.

No problem...I never understood individuals who go out their way to make things deeper than what is it. Just remember the name and you will be better off the next time. There are two more of the same variety on this sub. I have been on this sub for some years now. It never fails to have those come thru every year and do what they do. Most leave for good when the attention is ignored.

[GotLuv4Bham]

When I said "flock to", I honestly didn't mean it as in growth, or population. I was actually referring to the amount of visitors those cities attract. People flock to cities that have historic character and charm.

[investorscooter]

I guess my point got lost in the weeds...

Fast growth is not necessarily good growth. I use my city, Miami, as an example. Our development at most times was too fast for its own good. Poorly designed and sometimes poorly built buildings, exposed by natural disasters. Infrastructure which wasn't designed and built before the people showed up. Money which chased any incremental opportunity, not good ideas which attracted money.

I remember visiting Charleston back in the early 80s and thinking "what a great little city", it's going to become a better version of itself and gain that lost glory. I got the same feeling when I saw BHam for the first time in 2018.

Just saying, please be mindful of your charms and your locals when you reach for your shared destiny.

[JesseRohr]

Originally Posted by investorscooter

I guess my point got lost in the weeds...

Fast growth is not necessarily good growth. I use my city, Miami, as an example. Our development at most times was too fast for its own good. Poorly designed and sometimes poorly built buildings, exposed by natural disasters. Infrastructure which wasn't designed and built before the people showed up. Money which chased any incremental opportunity, not good ideas which attracted money.

I remember visiting Charleston back in the early 80s and thinking "what a great little city", it's going to become a better version of itself and gain that lost glory. I got the same feeling when I saw BHam for the first time in 2018.

Just saying, please be mindful of your charms and your locals when you reach for your shared destiny.

Good point. I grew up on the West Coast of FL and saw the same rapid growth and terrible planning that has made visiting home quite burdensome. I went on to college in Lexington, KY and watched that metro nearly double in size while there with even more congestion and infrastructure problems plaguing the traffic situation there.

Birmingham has great bones in its core with plenty of infill opportunity for it to create a truly awesome city that is walkable/ridable. The need for urban sprawl is virtually zero if they can get a solid plan together to utilize the underused spaces.

My biggest gripe about the development here has always been that it's too spread out with too many focus points to really make it feel like anything was happening. It's only been recently that a large effort is truly put into once part of town (Parkside). When we arrived in 2016 there was a sprinkling of development in Avondale, three great restaurants in 5pts South, and Collins Bar/Bamboo/El Barrio on 2nd North. That was pretty much it. You couldn't Uber to a part of town and entertain yourself for hours without having to drive to another part of town.

[bfmx1]

Originally Posted by GotLuv4Bham

When I said "flock to", I honestly didn't mean it as in growth, or population. I was actually referring to the amount of visitors those cities attract. People flock to cities that have historic character and charm.

Gotcha.. makes sense and I totally agree that Birmingham should never let go of its historical charm. It means alot to its residents. But, I don't think you explicitly said this, but its often implied - I also don't think that Birmingham's historicity has or will cause people to flock to the city. It's not the same tourism attracting kinda history that places like New Orleans, Charleston, Savannah, St. Pete, Paris, DC metro, Paris, etc. have.