Editorial: “Birmingham Heads in the Sand”
It seems that Birmingham is constantly in an identity crisis. Either that, or the citizens are so divided on the direction that the city should take that it feels like we are in another civil war. Last month, Birmingham had the honor of hosting the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. That meant millions of dollars of tourist revenue and the opportunity to see Birmingham on virtually every sports channel. However, it also meant another chance for our city to fall short of all expectations and come off, once again, as a not-ready-for-prime-time town.As I have been trying to listen to the voice of the city on radio shows, local newscasts and various blogs and forums, it seems that the majority of people here genuinely do NOT want Birmingham to grow or even survive. Each time the city is given an opportunity to raise our status in the nation’s eyes it seems that we fall over our own feet in an attempt to make a magically mediocre experience for all those involved.
For the NCAA tournament, Birmingham was only one of two cities that didn’t sell out their tickets. Why? Perhaps it is because we had insufficient lodgings around the BJCC, insufficient restaurants and attractions around the BJCC, and insufficient publicity for the entire event. I feel like I’m a reasonably plugged in guy as far as Birmingham media goes and do you know the number of commercials I saw/heard advertising the tournament in our town? Zero. In the weeks after the tournament it has been rumored that this was our last shot at hosting the tournament. According to the radio stories I heard, the NCAA “appreciates the work the city has done but feel that it’s time to give other cities a chance to host”. That means “Bye bye NCAA tournament.” It’s kind of like “Bye bye SEC championship”, “Bye bye XFL, USFL, and SteelDogs”.
If we are offered a chance to host an event or institution (SixFlags, International Airport, etc) we need to take advantage of the situation and not foul it up. The powers-that-be who want to keep Birmingham a small town and let all the money and jobs and sporting events move to Atlanta or Nashville need to wake up. We can’t keep Birmingham “the way it was” by burying our heads in the sand. If we do, then even what we have will be gone before long.
-Johnny Birmingham
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[…] unknown wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptLast month, Birmingham had the honor of hosting the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. That meant millions of dollars of tourist revenue and the opportunity to see Birmingham on virtually every sports channel. … […]
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Johnny Birmingham, you are so right, there are several places in this city that could put Birmingham over the top,UAB Athletics, The Forge (if it gets built), Our Airport whenever they quit dragging their feet on the planned expansion of the terminal that I’ve been reading about for at least 10years, Alabama Adventure, Fair Park renovations and on and on. But their are people in and out of the City that just bash all these places and ideas as not good for Birmingham and Alabama, they are afraid that if too much support is given to them, Birmingham will become just like Atlanta; big and overcrowded and perhaps overran by Foreigners. But we cannot just sit here and do absolutely nothing. We need to do these things to keep our smart kids and adults from leaving and Birmingham drying up and blowing away. Come on people support one if not all of these great and wonderful things.
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