Author Archives: André Natta

City Stages is here… well?

Posted on June 13, 2007 | 1 comment

City Stages rolls around and I remember the first time I ever visited Birmingham in 1998. That year is known among those that have attended the festival for some time as the year that Phil Collins didn’t sing (among other things).

He headlined the Coca Cola Classic stage that year, back when it still sat in that weird position next to City Hall so that you were looking at the signage of Boutwell Auditorium while you were trying to figure out who was playing next. I remember how Collins was almost booed off-stage since he didn’t sing any of his hit songs with his orchestra, much less perform one until late in the set.

It’s become more about being sentimental and contemplative than anything else. When reminiscing, I must also remember one of my more nervous moments in 2000 just because I wanted to see James Brown. I remember using CS to sell my girlfriend on letting us move here in 2004, even though we had no idea what we were going to be doing or where we’d live once we got here.

I’ve had the opportunity to have conversations with off-duty county sheriffs, construction workers, bankers, college students and lawyers. All of them were downtown safely enjoying the sounds of one of the few remaining large scale music festivals in the Southeast. Some of the other ones are no longer with us.

Music Midtown met its fate in 2006 and there are those that would like to predict a similar fate for this festival.

The better question to ask may be "what kind of festival does Birmingham, Alabama want, if we really want it to continue?" Continue reading →

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So, why does The Terminal exist?

Posted on June 8, 2007 | 3 comments

“Why did you start this thing?” “Why didn’t you stay with your old job while you got The Terminal started?” “Betsy thinks you’re crazy, doesn’t she?”

Those are just some of the questions that I’ve been asked on a daily basis since I decided to take a step back and take a leap of faith. The leap of faith is one that tells me that there are things that can be done with the Internet that were barely imaginable only a couple of years ago, including encouraging a city to dream just a little more than it does now.

BTW – the answers: because it just felt right; it would have never become what I wanted to start out to be without leaving to focus on it; and yes, but not any more than she thought before (and she is supportive).

People have been running community newspapers for years and many of them are doing quite well by focusing on what makes their communities unique. There are a lot of people that do not think of Birmingham as unique and may just want to see things stay the same.

What is new with this form of information, whether you call it a blog, a website, or a hub, is the notion of the “instant letter to the editor” – comments – that allow people to share what’s on their mind and know that it will be seen by those that may or may not agree with you. It also helps that you never have to worry about the top story; different things are important to different sets of people.

It allows people to see some of the things that currently take place in the region, making us unique.

I had a conversation with someone last night that put my whole theory in perspective. I believe that this is a City of Ideas. I believe that everybody in this city has a voice. Very few people actually choose to make their voice heard.

I’m one of those crazy New Yorkers that thinks that even if you agree completely with someone, you need to see what makes that opinion tick. It’s something that I’m sure has driven many of my former bosses crazy. But I think that if you don’t understand where someone is coming from, how can you truly say that you know or understand something. You can’t understand what their voice is trying to say.

The main reason for the creation of The Terminal was to begin to push the envelope of communication and conversation in The Magic City to a new level. I wanted to provide a place where those opinions could be questioned and conversation was encouraged. I hope that this site encourages that City of Ideas to flourish. I want to make sure that people are given a chance to be aware of everything going on before making blanket statements that are not necessarily true of their city, whether they’re from here or if they’ve adopted it as their home.

I freely admit that it’s a limited dialogue (for now) as this publication will stay relegated to the screens of laptops and PDAs. However, it would be great to see that online conversation lead to face to face conversations all over the city. I’ve heard many people say that we want to be world class. I’d love to argue that we already are pretty close to world-class, we just need to make the rest of the world aware of it. We also need to embrace those differences that seem to have divided us for some time now and use them to truly live the dream.

There are a few people I need to thank before we go much farther in this process, Charles Buchanan, Brook Hagler, Bob Farley, Curtis Palmer, John Morse, Chris “Mojo” Denbow, Wade Kwon.

Hopefully starting next week we’ll start demonstrating just how powerful this medium can be in terms of pushing the conversation forward. I hope you’re enjoying the ride so far.

André Natta is the publisher and managing editor of The Terminal. He may be reached either via e-mail at andre@bhamterminal.com or 205.276.6585.

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Good News, Alabama

Posted on June 5, 2007 | Leave a comment

NOTE: This commentary was originally submitted by Jay Taylor on May 11 and posted in the main section of The Terminal that afternoon. Please visit the original post to view comments already made.

Good news everybody. ThyssenKrupp chose Alabama. Of course, you don’t need me to tell you that, there’s a [post] about it prominently displayed on al.com today (May 11).

But, there’s another interesting angle to this story: Louisiana’s reaction to being runner-up.

Check out nola.com. (The template for this site will look awfully familiar. Everything Alabama and Everything New Orleans are two of 10 sites across the country affiliated with a company called Advance Internet).

Anyway, at nola.com you’ll find the blog post about the Thyssenkrupp decision is getting the same billing on their home page as ours. The difference is the mood over there is somber. The interesting angle to this story is the low self-esteem expressed in all the user comments.

Around these parts, you don’t have to look hard to find accusations of political corruption, bickering, ineptness, incompetence, crime, poor education, untrained workforce, pollution, racism, unfair taxes, lack of vision… need I continue? Some of these are true and some are perceived. But, while these are serious issues that must be addressed, they are not exclusive to our city and state. At nola.com you’ll read about how residents there cite these same problems as reasons why Baton Rouge lost out. In other words, Louisiana would like to be more like Alabama so they can be more attractive to businesses.

Interestingly enough, out of 67 potential sites in 20 states, Louisiana was second – so they were attractive to business, just not the right fit for Thyssenkrupp. However instead of focusing on the positive effort that put them ahead of 18 other states, they’re focusing on the negative.

And Louisiana isn’t the only state that suffers from some of the same self-doubt and inability to get things done that we sometimes feel. Compare Birmingham to Memphis, Tennessee, for example. In Birmingham, most people are on the same page about the Railroad Reservation Park. We don’t have water – which a lot of cities take advantage of to enhance their downtown revitalization – but we’re planning to use the area around the railroad tracks as a substitution. Smart thinking.

In Memphis, they have water. Putting some businesses and residences on the Mississippi River seems like a no-brainer, doesn’t it? That’d be a great place for the ole "Live, Work, Play" formula that cities across American are trying to create.

But in Memphis, they can’t get it done. There’s a movement afoot to develop that area.

But there’s also a movement to stop it.

Anyway, my point is that we have a lot of problems in our city and state, and we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us. But, maybe the first thing we should do is hold our collective head up high. It’s Friday, our state economy just got a huge shot in the arm, and another state is bemoaning the fact that they aren’t more like Alabama.

It’s going to be a good weekend.

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Posted in development

Tomorrow we vote, but for what?

Posted on June 4, 2007 | Leave a comment

Tomorrow is a special election here in Alabama, one of those constitutional amendment elections called for by our current governing document.

Though many things were not resolved in the most recent legislative session, they were able to set up this election to deal with two (2) amendments that could be viewed from the outside as having a major impact on the state’s long term direction.

The most important thing that can be done is to familarize yourself with the amendments. They’re available to view online as they will appear tomorrow morning at the state’s official site for the Secretary of State.

http://www.sos.state.al.us/election/2007

Now, let’s actually explain what the amendments are really doing: Continue reading →

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Posted in politics