Edwin Marty took some time to talk with us last month about starting Jones Valley Urban Farm, what it’s meant to the greater metro Birmingham area and what’s next for him as he steps down this month.
One thing has changed since this video was originally shot; it was announced on May 5 that Marty will become the executive director of the Hampstead Institute in Montgomery, AL this summer.
Congratulations Edwin and good luck; Birmingham will miss you!
Posted in #inthyib
Tagged Birmingham, Edwin Marty, farm, future, Jones Valley Urban Farm, JVUF, past, profile, video
Every year I hope to attend SXSW Interactive. Among other things, it’s the largest gathering of community news site publishers in the country. I never do, though my reason is a lot more understandable than most – especially this year. The Terminal’s anniversary date normally falls during the Austin event, on Pi Day no less.
Last night, a simple public conversation on Twitter about celebrating The Terminal’s fourth anniversary with pie became something with the potential to get larger.
It’s becoming the first ever PieCamp Birmingham.
Ted’s Restaurant on Southside has agreed to open their doors to us on Monday evening (3.14) and give us a chance to share our favorite pies with each other. We’re asking that you bring a pie if you can (or maybe even some milk).
Registration for Monday’s event is now open. It’s free and, of course, space is limited.
I’m grateful for the interest in pulling off an event like this at the last minute. I’m also grateful for Daniel Walters for his wanting to take the ball and run with it.
I do need to explain a few things though before this gets too crazy.
It isn’t the first time I’ve ever thought that pulling something off like this was possible. Whether it’s CupcakeCamp in San Francisco, PieLab in Greensboro, AL or Birmingham’s own Kitchen Table, the idea of gathering to share food and conversation seems to be a good idea. Our own Terminally Happy Hours – returning in April BTW – also hoped to just bring folks together.
It’s a chance to meet folks, catch up with others and maybe share some new ideas (that seems to be extremely popular in Birmingham right now too).
I’d also like to make sure that people can give a piece of the pie to a worthy cause.
It’d be nice to ask for financial support for the website, but there’s a time and place for that; I don’t think this is that kind of situation. Instead, if you can’t bring a pie with you on Monday evening (though I’d love for you to), I’d ask that you consider making a donation to the Birmingham Education Foundation (BEF). BEF grew out of Yes We Can, Birmingham is taking on what I believe to the major issue facing our metro area at this time – education. If you can’t give, I’d at least like to make sure that folks are aware of its existence and efforts.
I do hope that you’ll consider joining us on Monday evening.
Photo: Pi Pie. pauladamsmith/Flickr.
Posted in The Terminal
Tagged #piecampbhm, celebration, event, information, pi day, Ted's Restaurant
Have you ever noticed that no one ever talks about how Birmingham, AL looks from the north?
I went looking for photos online showing what the view would be like and I couldn’t find anything.
A few specific images seem etched in my mind from drives coming back into the city from trips north. I wasn’t sure if I was just imagining things or not, so I went for a drive on Thursday morning.
I took I-65 north to the Walkers Chapel Road exit, bought some gas and then got back on the interstate to see if my suspicion was correct.
It was. It was also an interesting reminder of how many should be looking at the city’s north side as development shifts to this side of Red Mountain in the relatively near future.
The first building you’ll see after getting off a completed Interstate 22 from Memphis and seeing the “Birmingham City Limits” sign will be Carver High School.
The first time you see the city’s skyline as it appears to rise from the treetops over Druid Hills to your left, you’ll also notice a blue star, not shining as brightly as it once did, sitting atop a complex of buildings.
It’s the former Carraway Hospital.
It’s also the first impression that we’ll get to make on folks driving in from Huntsville and Memphis and a complex at the middle of a heated debate that has the potential to impact how we view the heart of Jones Valley for some time to come.
This is something that should be considered as discussions about what to do with the former hospital complex continue to take place. There is currently one proposal to convert the property into the home for a re-entry program and other nonprofit organizations.
I’m thinking that very few people (if any) are thinking about the property’s location and significance as a visual landmark when crafting their arguments for or against the proposal.
There is a significantly large group of homeowners (and renters) living in Druid Hills, Fountain Heights and Norwood hoping that the site will be used for a purpose that brings significant additional reinvestment into the surrounding community who understandibly do not see a project like The Village fulfilling that role.
The thing is there aren’t that many other proposals out there, despite the site’s location.
There have been rumblings suggesting that perhaps our local VA hospital could benefit a move from a landlocked property surrounded by UAB to a place that provides a chance to grow and serve more people. It also wouldn’t hurt from better overall interstate access. There’s no doubt that there would be continued interest in providing new restaurants and retail to serve those working at and using such a facility.
That same highway access and proximity to new construction adjacent to the BJCC suggests that a mixed-use development with shops and condos would give residents one more area to explore and support without needing to drive south. It would also provide another form of revenue for the city as it would give folks a reason to shop within the city limits.
Why should it matter? Why should it not just be about the jobs but about the overall impact to the city and the surrounding community? Think about that first impression. When someone asks you what’s that blue star all about, think about what you want to tell someone is going on there. Think of the story that can be told and why something is located along a road that is bound to see increased traffic in the next few years.
It’s also where we’ll be going to do more shopping and living in metro Birmingham if we continue to ignore or put off the issues affecting traffic conditions along Highway 280 and I-65 southbound.
It suddenly makes you at least start to think about why what ends up there matters, doesn’t it?
André Natta is the stationmaster for bhamterminal.com. He is also lives in Birmingham’s Norwood neighborhood.
Photos: Birmingham’s skyline from it’s highest point. acnatta/Flickr; Physicians Medical Center Carraway. Dystopos/Flickr
Posted in development
Tagged Carraway Hospital, development, north, The Village, UAB, VA Hospital, views
Birmingham has been bombarded with positive messaging about itself in recent months. The Birmingham Business Alliance tells us that we’re open for business while Mayor Bell promotes a message of a united city. For years we’ve even said how nice it is to have you in Birmingham and look forward to restarting that campaign again on Monday.
I for one am quite excited as it gets old just hearing about the problems facing the region without offering solutions or shining a light on the good things going on. It was the original founding principal of this site and one that will continue to be as we move forward.
The latest additions to this push for an attitude adjustment have been the two “You Are Beautiful” signs that have been painted in prominent locations in greater downtown – and they are prominent locations. There is no questioning the impact that the original statement painted onto the Highland Avenue Bridge has on the thousands of cars that enter the heart of Jones Valley via the cut through Red Mountain every day. The same can be said of the subtler results that the one located along First Avenue South near Railroad Park’s 14th and 15th Street entrances has on those visiting the city’s newest green space.
A quick perusal of you-are-beautiful.com, the site that provides the most likely back story for these signs, lets you know that the interpretation of the signage is up to you.
The part I love about what should really be called a manifesto is the idea of creating activism instead of consumerism. This sentence captures it beautifully:
These signs can be read in hundreds if not thousands of ways, hopefully leading to thousand of ways to help make those other messages mean more to Birmingham first and foremost than the others have so far…
Folks driving in from over the mountain may now be driven to look up information about Sloss Furnaces and the beautiful artwork that is created there nowadays. Visitors to Railroad Park have an opportunity to enjoy a gorgeous view of the city that they probably wouldn’t have stopped for just a year ago while imagining just what else is possible.
The idea is for the individual to determine just what they’ll do to reach out to the community and get them to dream – and then take action.
That’s just my opinion though.
Yesterday I spoke of this site’s effort to secure a Knight News Challenge grant and said it was the first step in changing the approach that The Terminal takes in serving as a source of information for the city of Birmingham. Now it’s time to draw your attention to changes that will hopefully be implemented on this section of the site in the next few weeks.
When this site launched in 2007, this section was called My Birmingham – playing off the excitement of MySpace (yes, I know…). The idea was if folks saw it as writing about the city as their own, it would elicit a great deal of opinions that would lead to interesting conversations. Well, you may have noticed that the header for this section has read Dear Birmingham for two months now.
Nobody’s really noticed, though there hasn’t been much reason to visit either. Hopefully they will have a reason to notice soon.
I’m a little behind on contacting the folks I wanted to via email yesterday, but a few of them will see something land in their inbox late this afternoon and early tomorrow morning.
It will still serve as a “letters to the editor” section. The hope though will be to focus on folks offering solutions to issues and inviting people to use whatever medium they feel appropriate to share their story about or message to Birmingham.
It’s my hope that people will agree to help us create additional content about the story behind the words they’ve chosen (perhaps receiving a copy of those thoughts as a benefit of supporting the site).
As the tagline says up above, we hope to serve as a hub for the voices of the Magic City – in their own words. It’s also our intent to make it a little easier for people to see those words even when they’re not sitting in front of their computers. That initiative will hopefully be unveiled in early 2011.
Right now, all I can ask is for you to check back on the site Monday morning to see how to take part in sharing your voice with your city – and to think about just how you’d do it and what you’d say.
Cheers.
André Natta is the stationmaster of bhamterminal.com.
Posted in The Terminal
Tagged #dearbham, #youarebeautiful, AL, attitude, Birmingham, self-esteem, You Are Beautiful
I’d intended to write an editorial yesterday about the You Are Beautiful markings currently appearing around downtown. I still intend to share those thoughts tomorrow.
That post was to serve as a lead in to this one – the first of a few that will start to spell out the direction this site will be taking over the next few months.
The Terminal has just submitted its second ever Knight News Challenge grant proposal just after 12:20 p.m. this afternoon.
Here’s a link to the proposal.
It’s one that would allow us to acquire and maintain two buses that would be used for both physical crowdsourcing during major news events and as a mobile classroom from which we could help more people learn about online tools for communications and news gathering. It could also serve as a method to share news stories with the public in a new way – can we say digital display boards…
The way I see it, the only way that you can truly ask people to engage fully is to provide them the tools and information necessary to do so. This proposal is one step in doing just that as we work to raise the voices of the city that we serve digitally (and in other ways) in the coming months.
It’s one that still needs some fine tuning in the coming days and weeks ahead. We’d invite folks to add their comments and suggestions here (or on the News Challenge site if you’re one of my fellow online publishers). I have until December 1 to make changes to it and welcome any assistance on that front.
The proposal submitted today to the Knight Foundation is the first of several approaches that we’ll be taking to attempt to launch the effort in the next six months. It also speaks to a shift towards being more deliberate about covering primarily the city of Birmingham and providing a digital voice to its citizens.
There are a couple of other initiatives that I’m hoping to be able to share with you in the coming days (including one tomorrow), especially since the holiday season provides a great chance to look back while looking forward. The best way that this site can look forward is by identifying ways that we can expand the conversations that are and should be happening in our city and move people towards action and tangible results.
Tomorrow’s announcement should coincide with several people in Birmingham receiving an email from me between now and then. I do hope you’ll consider the message it contains and what’s being asked of you tomorrow during the Thanksgiving holiday.
Cheers.
André Natta has served as The Terminal’s stationmaster since its launch in 2007.
Posted in The Terminal
Tagged #newschallenge, AL, Birmingham, connection, journalism, mobile, news, newsstand, proposal, The Terminal, training
We begin our new series of videos giving Terminal visitors a closer look at the individuals that are working to make Alabama’s Magic City a better place with a sit down with Sharrif Simmons. The co-founder of the Birmingham Art And Music (BAAM) Festival takes a few minutes to talk about the festival, including his hope for its future and its potential influence on his adopted home.
We’ll have more information up about the series this weekend!
Posted in #inthyib
Tagged #inthyib, BAAM, background, festival, It's Nice to Have You in Birmingham, music, Sharrif Simmons, video
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Still dreaming Birmingham? Time to do.
“It’s time to stop just thinking and do.”
The simple sentence echoes around in my head – a space that has felt quite cavernous until recently due to setting goals for the future.
This evening I’ll join more than 500 people over at Old Car Heaven starting at 4:30 p.m. as The Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham announces the NEXT BIG THING for The Magic City (by the way, you’re invited so come out if you can).
There have been great things going on throughout the region in the months since Rebecca Ryan delivered a memorable keynote at the Community Foundation’s annual meeting. I shared this post on the organization’s Imagine blog the day of the speech.
A lot has happened. True, there’s been the success of Railroad Park and the Birmingham Business Alliance‘s unveiling of their Blueprint Birmingham strategic plan has led to many important conversations to be restarted.
It’s important to remind folks of some others things happening that may be just under the radar screen so to speak…
There are mounds of dirt moving on the city’s west side as work continues on a revamped centerpiece of the city’s Five Points West community, one that has felt long neglected despite being one of the city’s most populous regions.
There are families benefiting from the development of residential options in Woodlawn and buzz for a new downtown field of dreams to house our beloved Barons.
There are residents in communities like Norwood who are willing to lift their voices so that people know what they want and have no reason to assume while looking forward to the ability of having an entertainment district within walking distance in the next two years.
There’s a connection to a road that brings Birmingham ever closer to Memphis (and the western edge of Jefferson County) that teases those driving along I-65 every day watching its progress.
Tonight we gather to see if what the Community Foundation will announce as their next great project. If nothing else, attending this evening’s event will be an opportunity to celebrate all that has been accomplished, both big and small, and to answer the call represented by former UAB president Volker’s quote,
Whatever it is, it will be part of a larger dialogue that needs to take place in Birmingham about where we’re going. The big difference is that instead of dwelling on what isn’t happening, we’ll be wondering what else should be happening.
There are several projects I think are worthy of being undertaken – whether it’s making sure that the Powell School building is preserved and maintained for a civic purpose or figuring out a way to expand and ensure the continued presence of the Birmingham Public Library. While I doubt that these are among the ones considered for today’s announcement, perhaps after the dust settles, people will see that much more is possible than they’ve ever imagined. They may just step up and get it done.
I know that as the incoming president of the Birmingham Jaycees, that organization will be doing their part to take on part of the challenge of doing.
How about you Birmingham?
It’s more than a year later – how big are the dreams you’re dreaming for Birmingham (and what are you willing to do to make them a reality)? What are you willing to do to help shape the city’s story.
André Natta is the stationmaster for bhamterminal.com.
Photo: Birmingham 360 degrees. E. Bruchac/Flickr
2 Comments
Posted in Commentary
Tagged announcement, Birmingham, citywide, Commentary, Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham, do, Old Car Heaven, The Big Thing, Volker