Downtown Birmingham's population growing rapidly! (Homewood, Mountain Brook: condos, townhouses, buyers)

[tacosman]

Originally Posted by steveklein

lmao. you are so delusional.

"look! the census undercounted mississippi by 4% so i'm just going to assume birmingham was also undercounted by that much!"

the funniest part is if we just add 4% to birmingham's numbers despite little evidence to indicate we should, then birmingham *still* lost people between 2010 and today... just not as many as they were losing in the decades prior.

maybe you thought birmingham was growing all along, but plenty of people knew that while a handful of near-downtown neighborhoods were being revitalized... dozens of neighborhoods, particularly on the north and west side of town, continued to erode.

i look forward to excuses from GotLuv4Bham (Tourian) as to why birmingham got undercounted in 2030, just as the excuses flew after the 2010 and 2020 censuses.

Lol....good point.

Look, we all know and accept what birmingham is. It's a former industrial city with a decaying core(ie the downtown and those north and west sections you alluded to which are becoming more dilipidated and vacant and is one giant food desert) mixed in with a couple really nice smaller towns just outside the decaying core that are safe and good places to live, if a bit boring(Mountain brook and homewood and vestavia depending on how you feel about that)

I mean that's what it is. And that's absolutely fine.

Because if you take Mountain Brook and Homewood and the better half of vestavia, and consider them one entity......you have an area of about 60k that is fairly well educated, where poverty is low, pretty safe, and pretty attractive place visually. A good place to live in other words. And the fact that Alabama has a 60k or so chunk of people where the standard of living is pretty high and life is this good would be quite surprising to many outside Alabama I think......

[TimCity2000]

Originally Posted by tacosman

Look, we all know and accept what birmingham is. It's a former industrial city with a decaying core(ie the downtown and those north and west sections you alluded to which are becoming more dilipidated and vacant and is one giant food desert) mixed in with a couple really nice smaller towns just outside the decaying core that are safe and good places to live, if a bit boring(Mountain brook and homewood and vestavia depending on how you feel about that)

Maybe you really haven't been downtown. I don't think you can seriously say Birmingham has a "decaying core" in 2024. In the last decade, nearly all of the previously abandoned / decaying buildings have been snapped up and developed. In fact, downtown is one of the few places in the city that is growing population-wise. I'm not saying it's a tourist destination, but to call it a decaying core (especially compared to 15-20 years ago) just isn't accurate.

[GotLuv4Bham]

New condo development to break ground in the city center this year! Views of downtown will be awesome!


https://bhamnow.com/2024/01/09/new-c...highland-park/

[GotLuv4Bham]

Could Birmingham be about to flip the switch and finally take its rightful place as a leader in the Southeast? Looks like attitudes are changing for the better among leaders throughout the metro area! It's time Bham!


https://comebacktown.com/2024/01/09/...-leaders-flip/

[tacosman]

Originally Posted by GotLuv4Bham

Could Birmingham be about to flip the switch and finally take its rightful place as a leader in the Southeast? Looks like attitudes are changing for the better among leaders throughout the metro area! It's time Bham!


https://comebacktown.com/2024/01/09/...-leaders-flip/

lmao I actually enjoy at some level reading GotLuv4Bham's relentless cheerleading of.....a city(is that a thing where people cheer on actual cities?), but to balance things out we probably need someone taking the opposite role as well. Meaning that they post a link to every negative thing in the area lol.....

this could consists of pictures of run down and abandoned buildings/houses in north and northwest bham(well really just all of those areas), every news article that posts bham/alabama in a negative light on some data(violent crime, teen pregnancy, poverty, education, etc), articles about the joke that is the birmingham school system and the endless parade of administrators there(thats a feature story unto itself) and on and on and on.

I would do it(just for balance of course) but as others have pointed out I don't know the city itself well enough.

Also keep in mind that some would say the birmingham area only has a couple good areas to live in(especially if you want to raise a family) in Homewood and Mtn Brook, and unfortunately homes in certain areas there have become too expensive for blue collar/working class workers in most cases.

I really like the birmingham area though, and will always be a defender. So that role is not for me. I believe a city that Birmingham is often compared to is Jackson,Ms. And having been to that area and read about it as well, I can say that I would *much rather* live in the birmingham area than the jackson area. Not even close imo, but i'm bias

On the surface though Jackson and Birmingham have many things in common. Both are deep south cities which used to have much larger populations relative to other now larger/more prominent cities. Both have a large african american population. Both played pivotal roles in the civil rights movement. Both have even had issues with their water/sewer systems and the financials behind it ha. Both suffered from white flight in very similar ways a long time ago. And the similarities go on and on.......but as I said, I much prefer living in this area than over there.

[bfmx1]

Originally Posted by tacosman

lmao I actually enjoy at some level reading GotLuv4Bham's relentless cheerleading of.....a city(is that a thing where people cheer on actual cities?), but to balance things out we probably need someone taking the opposite role as well. Meaning that they post a link to every negative thing in the area lol.....

this could consists of pictures of run down and abandoned buildings/houses in north and northwest bham(well really just all of those areas), every news article that posts bham/alabama in a negative light on some data(violent crime, teen pregnancy, poverty, education, etc), articles about the joke that is the birmingham school system and the endless parade of administrators there(thats a feature story unto itself) and on and on and on.

I would do it(just for balance of course) but as others have pointed out I don't know the city itself well enough.

Also keep in mind that some would say the birmingham area only has a couple good areas to live in(especially if you want to raise a family) in Homewood and Mtn Brook, and unfortunately homes in certain areas there have become too expensive for blue collar/working class workers in most cases.

I really like the birmingham area though, and will always be a defender. So that role is not for me. I believe a city that Birmingham is often compared to is Jackson,Ms. And having been to that area and read about it as well, I can say that I would *much rather* live in the birmingham area than the jackson area. Not even close imo, but i'm bias

On the surface though Jackson and Birmingham have many things in common. Both are deep south cities which used to have much larger populations relative to other now larger/more prominent cities. Both have a large african american population. Both played pivotal roles in the civil rights movement. Both have even had issues with their water/sewer systems and the financials behind it ha. Both suffered from white flight in very similar ways a long time ago. And the similarities go on and on.......but as I said, I much prefer living in this area than over there.

Yes there are cheerleaders for the city, often called homers. If you dissent, you'll be called out as a hater. I try to play a balance but I'm not going to put lipstick on a pig either. I have had the benefit of living in different places so my perspective is different. When you've only lived in Birmingham it's easy to think it's on the up and up, until you've lived in (NOT just visited) a city that's actually growing. I too defend Birmingham for certain things but I also call out the BS and cheerleading. I'm pretty sure the city pays certain people to post on here. You'll find out who they are.

Just the title of this thread should tell you something. Birmingham (I normally refer to the metro Bham) has slid backwards in national prominence and size, but we still have BhamNow putting out articles like this hoping residents don't actually research or ever travel outside of Bham, which a lot don't. And that is perfectly fine to be proud of your city and wish it the best.

[OldBankhead]

Originally Posted by tacosman

Also keep in mind that some would say the birmingham area only has a couple good areas to live in(especially if you want to raise a family) in Homewood and Mtn Brook, and unfortunately homes in certain areas there have become too expensive for blue collar/working class workers in most cases.

These are weasel words. No, you would say that, own it. Don't try to pass it off as some sort of common opinion around here that's worth paying any attention to or "keep in mind." There are plenty of good places in this area to live and/or raise a family outside of MB and HW.

[OldBankhead]

Originally Posted by GotLuv4Bham

Could Birmingham be about to flip the switch and finally take its rightful place as a leader in the Southeast? Looks like attitudes are changing for the better among leaders throughout the metro area! It's time Bham!


https://comebacktown.com/2024/01/09/...-leaders-flip/

I think the state finally getting on board helps too. For so long it seemed like a new stadium downtown was going nowhere, but then a plan was made, a proposal and backers from the city, county and state pitched in and it was underway. Seems like the time between big projects has gotten shorter and shorter as they all prove ln to be logical, profitable decisions that no one should be against... even politicians out side of Birmingham, green is the only color that matters.

So here are now on the brink of the amphitheater being built and it seems like it was a smooth easy process with none of hand wringing like we heard for so long back during the "dome stadium?" days.

[GotLuv4Bham]

Exciting times for sure! It's always cool to drive through the city and see all that has changed over the past 15 years! Haters stay tuned!

[bfmx1]

Originally Posted by GotLuv4Bham

Exciting times for sure! It's always cool to drive through the city and see all that has changed over the past 15 years! Haters stay tuned!

Stay tuned to what and for how many decades? My gah. That Comebacktown article says nothing! 55% are in agreement cooperation has gotten better? What does that mean on the ground? I guess it's good but 55% is a pretty low number to judge if cooperation has gotten better in the past 7 years. So that will change what? Will we be getting an Ikea? Will whole foods not close locations? Will Brookwood mall finally be reviatalized bringing us only back to par 20 years ago?

Nothing in that article tells anyone to stop looking to move away.

This kinda crap is what makes people roll their eyes.