Category Archives: The City

Farewell to the Haunted House

Posted on April 29, 2010 | 3 comments

Farewell to the Haunted House acnatta/FlickrDriving through Birmingham’s Lakeview district today you may notice construction equipment demolishing what was once an annual tradition for many locals come Halloween.

The structure that used to house the Birmingham Jaycees‘ Haunted House is in the process of being leveled. The home last hosted the organization’s annual fundraiser in 2004, though attempts were made to hold one there in 2006.

The city’s oldest young professional organization, responsible for things including the design of the city’s flag,  is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year (making it the 3rd oldest chapter in the United States). It’s looking forward to marking the occasion with events this fall.

Photo: Farewell to the Haunted House. acnatta/Flickr

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Welcome aboard Witherspoon

Posted on March 30, 2010 | Leave a comment

Craig WitherspoonCall it an initiation rite. Birmingham’s new school superintendent, Craig Witherspoon, sat quietly through his first school board meeting Tuesday. Mostly, he just watched. He watched as board members Virginia Volker and Emanuel Ford grilled the child nutrition director on a $57,702 bid for sliced meat. Ford requested that the meats be housed in a variety of breads. You know, something other than the standard bun. Spencer Taylor, the child nutrition director, agreed. There would be wraps and flatbreads, he said. Volker had another concern. “Can we go easy on the salami?”

Taylor assured her that the board has historically used turkey salami. Volker’s face lit up, clearly surprised. The item passed.

Recent articles by The Birmingham News have noted that no school district in the state has shelled out as much dough as the Birmingham system–$1.5 million last year–on legal fees. The board retains two law firms, and let’s just say that at the board meetings, attorneys take up substantial real estate near the dais.

Board member April Williams said that while there may be a small army of lawyers in attendance at each meeting, the board pays for only one attorney from one firm each meeting. The board meets twice a month. Tom Stewart, of the firm Waldrep, Stewart & Kendrick, said that his firm, one of the two representing the board, doesn’t attend committee meetings unless asked by the board. Then only the firm that was invited bills the board. As for the new superintendent’s welcome reception last night, where revelers grumbled that the attorneys present were getting paid, Stewart corrected, “We did not get paid.” They attended, he said, because they wanted to.

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Birmingham-JeffCo History Museum is full-speed ahead

Posted on February 26, 2010 | Leave a comment

Photo by Bob Farley/f8PhotoThe Birmingham-Jefferson History Museum is getting close to keeping its promise of opening this spring. We first mentioned the effort’s new home last summer once we’d figured out that the murals that had been in the Lyric Theater had been moved to the museum’s soon to be temporary space.

We shared some photos that took a closer look at the unfinished work of art that will no doubt play a prominent role in the early days of the facility ion this site’ Gallery back in June. We’re using one of those images here in this piece as well.

Laura Kate at Magic City Manifesto recently stumbled across the museum’s hopefully temporary home over at the Center for Regional Planning and Architecture (a.k.a that building on 18th Street and 1st Avenue North) and found out that it is indeed planning to open in late April (the 29th to be exact).

Hopefully folks will learn more about additional plans in the coming weeks.

Photo: Bob Farley/f8Photo

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Share your snow photos with The Terminal

Posted on February 13, 2010 | Leave a comment

A snowman on the Birmingham Green acnatta/FlickrThe Magic City looks more like a winter wonderland this morning than normal after a snowstorm passed through the city yesterday afternoon and evening, leaving the city with a rare 1-2″ inches of snow depending on where you were.

Whether at the Railroad Park construction site, the Birmingham Green (shown here) or over the mountain, It looked pretty cool yesterday and it’s a safe bet that you thought so too.

A photo gallery’s been set up on the site to showcase snowfall images you may want to share from yesterday or today. A few photos have already up too and we’re hoping that you’ll feel like adding yours to the mix. There will be definitely be some additional photos posted during the day from the site’s contributors.

Hopefully you were able to stay safe last night as roads iced over and area officials made the right decision to close most state highways and access to elevated portions of metro Birmingham interstates. Continue to use caution while out there this morning.

Photo: A snowman on the Birmingham Green. acnatta/Flickr

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Posted in The City, weather

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101 Ideas for Birmingham? Maybe

Posted on February 4, 2010 | Leave a comment

101 Birmingham logoTonight will be the first meeting of 101 Birmingham (which should not be confused with the Birmingham 101 website across the pond).

They describe themselves as “an open-source collaborative developing innovative and visionary solutions to improve the urban experience in Birmingham”  that are seeking answers to one question, “Birmingham would be a better place if….”

They hope to produce a list of 101 actual suggestions for improving Birmingham with areas of focus that are similar to those of several organizations that currently exist in the city and share that list online for all to see, collaborate and offer suggestions on. The organizers hope that they can create an environment and a gathering place, virtual or otherwise, to share these ideas openly instead of  “hoarded.”

The meeting will be at Woodrow Hall in the city’s Woodlawn neighborhood starting at 7 p.m. Pavo Magazine has some additional information.

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Bell to hold open meeting for young professionals

Posted on February 2, 2010 | Comments Off on Bell to hold open meeting for young professionals

Birmingham, Alabama logoBirmingham mayor William Bell has announced – via the city’s Twitter account – that he will be holding a meeting with young professionals at Urban Standard on Thursday at 12 p.m. According to the follow-up tweet posted by the city’s public information office, the hope is that those in attendance will be willing to “share your ideas, concerns and vision for the future for Birmingham.”

We’re just happy for the folks at the popular lunchtime spot as they’ll be packed on Thursday with both young professionals interested in sharing what they want for the city showing up and the regular crowd. It will be the second public meeting held by the mayor announced via Twitter since being sworn in last Tuesday.

Logo: City of Birmingham

UPDATE: We figured we’d ask you to share what you’d suggest or talk to Mayor Bell about over on Magic City Question.

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LaMonte’s speech still talk of metro Birmingham

Posted on February 1, 2010 | 1 comment

An evening view of Birmingham's west side from VulcanOne of the highlights of this year’s MLK Unity Breakfast was the speech given by Ed LaMonte, a former Howell Heflin Professor of Political Science at Birmingham-Southern College. The former interim superintendent of schools for the City of Birmingham took the opportunity to discuss the severe divisions that still exist in Birmingham and its metropolitan area during his remarks (made one day before the special election to select the city’s new mayor).

Reaction to the speech has been mixed, with some believing that it was appropriate while others wondered if it was the right time, place or if it was even necessary.

Current interim Birmingham City Schools superintendent Barbara Allen was one of the people who felt that she had to say something about the comments made.

It only seems to make sense that both voices be looked at and for you to decide. LaMonte’s comments have been posted to our editorial section while this link to AL.com will take you to Allen’s comments published in yesterday’s (Sunday’s) paper.

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