Design Review Committee disapproves replacement "Sign"
Preserve Jazz Festival announces sabbatical for 2015
Today’s Birmingham News sings the praises of the Railroad Reservation Park’s pending construction (interesting how the name keeps getting shorter depending on where you look). I would go one step further than they did in their description. It is in fact an example not just of what the city center can and will become, but what can happen throughout the city and the region if people show faith in the potential success in a project. Three parks, one currently operating and two beginning to see the light of day, benefited in part thanks to the efforts of the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham and their belief that projects like these needed to be done and supported.
The organization announced a new initiative during its annual meeting on Thursday evening that would enable more projects like “Birmingham’s Central Park”, Ruffner Mountain Nature Center‘s expansion and Red Mountain Park‘s creation to become reality. The Community Catalyst Fund serves as an opportunity for Birmingham to dream bigger than it ever has before and achieve those dreams for ourselves and future generations.
The possibilities for these unrestricted funds are only as limited as your mind allows it to be. Many projects seem to die a slow death here only because you cannot see past the naysayers. What if we had the ability to seed an arts funding source that could encourage murals, ecoscapes and galleries throughout the region?
What if the money existed to help jump start a facade improvement program that could augment existing dollars for building rehabilitation, enabling a community to put its best face forward to those that did not believe the rumors of its pending rebirth?
What if the money were used to encourage alternative transportation methods in the region, while allowing Birmingham to become more viable for the large manufacturing plants that many seem to think is needed?
What if the money were available to bring even bigger exhibits to an expanded Museum of Art, encouraging a truer sense of collaboration among our existing cultural facilities? Or if resources were made available for more of the metropolitan area’s growing arts community to create and display their work, no matter what it is?
Is it not time to stop pointing the finger at what is wrong and instead roll up our sleeves and ask what needs to be done to make it better?
The News said that much more fund raising lies ahead for the Railroad Reservation Park. A city that once mined for ore should also be mining for ideas as it reaches forward into the 21st century and carves a space out as a leader – one that it has always had among some, but now also in the hearts of those that call it home. City, county, state and federal officials should (and have) been willing to support projects with their access to general funds, but we cannot ask them to lead the way by themselves anymore.
Hopefully when we’re asked to answer the bell, we are ready to provide the energy and the monies necessary to power the engine for the future of The Magic City. The new Community Catalyst Fund is one way to do just that. Check it out and see what you can do to help some more of that magic make some dreams come true.
NOTE: Let us know what your big dream for Birmingham is over on Magic City Question…
André Natta is the publisher and managing editor of The Terminal.
So we’re going to look to an old slogan for the city for some inspiration for a new series of submissions about The Magic City. The 1961 “It’s Nice to Have You in Birmingham” campaign is one that still rings in the ears of residents in the region both young and old. We’d like for you to take a new look at that statement – to really think about who you like to see every day in Birmingham and why. We’re hoping that it will help us develop a mosaic of careers, backgrounds, personalities and missions that best exemplify the best thing about Birmingham – its people.
Why the rush?
It does feel a little rushed when you take a look at just how quickly the majority of the Birmingham City Council moved to authorize Mayor Langford to use $48 million originally earmarked for construction of a domed stadium for improvements to the Fair Park Arena property. The problem is not the proposal itself (they are welcome news to residents and existing merchants – for now) not the fact that the business community that Langford turned to for an independent analysis of locations for that facility is due back with a report soon (that may not provide the support for his preferred location). It’s the long term implications of shifting focus.
Most of the 2+ years I spent working in Birmingham’s nonprofit realm was spent making sure that people didn’t sell the city’s west side short. The term City of Perpetual Promise seemed to be created for the side of town that boasts some of its most beautiful gems of architecture and its most realistic chance of truly realizing a civic renaissance. It is the sleeping giant waiting to be awakened from its slumber.
While most people would drive down I-20 to get across town, I’d get on 8th Avenue North and just keep on driving west; getting a chance to paint pictures in my head of what a reenergized Western commercial corridor would look like as cars drove through Smithfield and by a renovated Legion Field and thinking of what it would look like with renovated buildings along Tuscaloosa and Lomb Avenues (if you made that left turn on Arkadelphia) and throughout Ensley’s historic downtown area. Along the way, I met and worked with merchants and residents who saw and believed in that same vision.
Whether we always agree with our elected officials or not, when they take office, there is normally some level of genuine interest in doing right by their city and their constituents. Many of these same constituents are probably tired of waiting for their moment to come where someone will come in and save their community. Despite believing that it can happen, they will look at an investment that is city-led as another example of why no one wants to help.
There are currently several organizations throughout the city that have been working on improving the quality of life for its residents for many years. Many of these organizations are operating with far less financial support than necessary. While it is great that the mayor has taken the initiative to push for projects to be completed that would inject new life into portions of the city, perhaps spreading the wealth through organizations like Urban Impact, Operation New Birmingham and Main Street Birmingham would bring about a balanced approach throughout The Magic City. There are many who believe these organizations have taken too long and that a quick fix would solve the problem of urban decay quickly. But it will be that, a quick fix and (unless the public is engaged) one that will lead to other issues that we may not be ready to deal with yet.
Revitalization of Fair Park is not insane at all. New businesses have recently invested in the area, including Serra Honda, an expanded Schaeffer Eye Center and the newest Applebee’s restaurant in the area. There is also movement beginning on the site of the HOPE VI development near downtown Ensley. There is a captive audience that would benefit from this renewed effort to energize the community. The question is how will it benefit those long-time businesses and individuals that have invested in the future of their neighborhoods, for the long term?
André Natta is the publisher and managing editor of The Terminal.
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