Category Archives: Commentary

Support food trucks: An open letter to Birmingham's Mayor and City Councilors

Posted on December 6, 2012 by | Leave a comment

NOTE: The following is an open letter that was posted as a note to Facebook at 8:24 a.m. December 5, 2012. Shaun Chavis has given us permission to re-post it here in its entirety. Links have been added where appropriate.

Dear Mayor Bell and Councilors of Birmingham,

I am Shaun Chavis, a citizen of Birmingham. Professionally, I am a cookbook editor for Oxmoor House/Time Home Entertainment, Inc. In my spare time, I co-own and organize FoodBlogSouth, LLC, a food blogging conference held annually in Birmingham that attracts food bloggers to Birmingham from across the South and the U.S.

In 2012, our second year, FoodBlogSouth had an impact of more than $110,000 on Birmingham’s economy, as estimated by the Greater Birmingham Convention and Visitors Bureau. FoodBlogSouth also benefits the Desert Island Supply Co., a non-profit children’s writing center in Woodlawn.

FoodBlogSouth has brought new attention to Birmingham’s food scene by bringing hundreds of bloggers and food professionals here to spend money in the city’s hotels and restaurants. Those bloggers go home and write about Birmingham, some of them for professional online and print publications, including the New York Times. In addition, FoodBlogSouth has attracted national corporate sponsors such as Goo Goo Cluster, Roland Foods, Welch’s, Harvard Common Press, and Evernote, who have come to Birmingham to see what our city has to offer.

Cantina truck on Southside. acnatta/The TerminalI am writing you today because I am troubled by the proposed food truck ordinance, as presented in Bob Carlton’s article in The Birmingham News on November 13. As an owner of FoodBlogSouth, a business built in part upon the food scene and food tourism that Birmingham has to offer, I must ask that you reconsider sections of this proposed ordinance. I also write as a journalist and food advocate who wants to see our city do all it can to support small business and grow our local economy. The proposal that food trucks sell food for no more than two hours of service at a time, have service hours dictated by the city, and pay higher fees for operating in certain parts of the city are too restrictive and unrealistic. Specifically:

  • The suggested two-hour limit and suggested hours for meal times do not take into consideration special events such as FoodBlogSouth, The Sidewalk Film Festival, and others. These events benefit from having food trucks operate as part of an event and for longer than two hours, in locations near a specific event venue, and outside of the suggested meal times. This is restricting the options we have to make our events attractive.
  • The suggested breakfast, lunch, and dinner hours for food trucks disregard the fact that many food trucks do not serve meals per se; they also serve food that can be consumed at any time and foods that do not constitute part or all of a meal (such as coffee, cupcakes, doughnuts, frozen desserts, snacks, and more). In addition, the suggested hours assume that people eat meals at prescribed times. The proposed hours do not take into account that many people have different meal times due to their work schedules and other demands of daily life. I would also like to make the point that food trucks provide high-quality, low-cost meals; many of Birmingham’s food trucks, such as Shindigs, use locally produced and sometimes organic ingredients, which are healthier than standard fast-food offerings of comparable cost. They also further support the local economy by sourcing ingredients from local producers.
  • In shopping malls and airports, food businesses are often right next to each other. The language in the proposed food truck ordinance suggesting a distance between food trucks and brick-and-mortar restaurants seems unfairly targeted against food trucks.
  • I am concerned that the hours, fees, and restrictions you propose are restrictive to the point that it would not be profitable at all for anyone to run a food truck business; and in fact, several food truck owners have said the proposed ordinance would make vending unprofitable and force them out of business.

My last point, I feel, touches on a much larger issue that I ask the mayor and city councilors to take into serious consideration: The city needs to do more to encourage small business. With high nationwide unemployment rates and a lagging economy, I think it would be obvious that this should be a priority in Birmingham.

Nationwide, food trucks have been an engine of economic growth and employment, and have helped revitalize cities such as Portland (Ore.) and Austin (Texas). Both of these cities have become nationally recognized for their food truck scenes, which have been a big draw for events, corporate recruitment and broader economic and community revitalization efforts. Events have been built around food trucks themselves—Los Angeles, Boston, New York, Las Vegas, and Columbus, Ohio have food truck festivals—that again boost the economy with tourism.

I know many talented, enterprising people who want to start a food business, but the costs can be prohibitive. Organizations around Birmingham are helping to support these entrepreneurs, but the city needs to do more to help these small businesses and, in turn, our overall local economy.

The proposed food truck ordinance, with its fees and hour and distance restrictions, will do just the opposite: It will to deliver a blow to people who are trying to start an honest business on a small scale. It will send a strong and clear message that Birmingham is not a place that encourages fair competition in the marketplace. It will indirectly hurt tourism in Birmingham. And it will mark Birmingham as regressive, as a place not willing or able to stand up to pressure from brick-and-mortar restaurant owners who fear healthy, fair competition.

I hope that you, Birmingham’s leaders, will choose to protect free enterprise. I hope you will decide the appropriate response to any business owner who fears new competition is to suggest that he or she innovate to remain competitive. In fact, many brick-and-mortar restaurants in Birmingham are doing just that by opening food trucks and carts of their own.

Please reconsider the impact the proposed ordinance will have on the economic and cultural health of our city. Remove the time and distance restrictions and location-based fees. I encourage you to set aside the current propose legislation and create a food truck ordinance with language limited to matters of public safety and public health. Prohibit regulations based on competition. There are also alternative solutions used in other cities that are favorable both to brick-and-mortar restaurants, food trucks, and public health and safety, such as lot-based vending, which many food truck owners in cities like Portland (Oregon), Austin, and Miami find preferable to vending on the street. Food trucks should be allowed the same operating hours as any other food service business, and the same opportunities to grow and become part of Birmingham’s employers, tourist scene, and economic engine.

My best regards,

Shaun Chavis
Co-owner, FoodBlogSouth, LLC

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The future of journalism? It depends on the consumer.

Posted on October 3, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Editors note: I will be one of the panelists participating in WBHM’s next installment of Issues and Ales at Cantina’s* Pepper Place location on Thursday evening, October 4. We’ll be talking about the future of journalism in North Central Alabama.

I figured before I appeared before a group talking about my thoughts that I should share some of them here on the site. Please feel free to chime in here in the comments section or come on out Thursday evening.

New Birmingham News boxes downtownEveryone seems to have an opinion about it – the future of journalism. I’ve recently watched one forum take place in New Orleans (courtesy of the folks at the Oxford American) and awaiting hearing what happens at one my digital compatriot Andrew Huff will take part in later this month in Chicago. This is all while I prepare to add my voice to the cacophony of viewpoints about North Central Alabama’s journalistic future following the recent changes at the Advance Media Group titles – including the one here in Birmingham – on October 4.

I haven’t written much of anything these last three weeks because of it. I’ve been wondering if we’re asking the right questions – or rather, the right people.

The future of journalism is now. It also is much more reliant on the habits of those who seek to consume content, those funding it, and those willing to create what’s needed for it to be consumed. It’s tough to fully represent all of these interests when most of the voices included on these panels represent those producing the content. I was wondering if I was the only one thinking this way; thankfully, that’s not the case…

It’s not even news anymore, it’s content. It can be user-generated or about something that may entertain now but fades into obscurity when compared to items that can shape the future of a community. It also means it doesn’t have to come from a “trusted news source” – at least not initially.

I’ve been wondering if the question to be posed shouldn’t be, “How will the public choose to receive their news?” Most seem to acknowledge it will be a platform and layout agnostic world (as new products like Quartz appear to recognize), but we haven’t actually figured out how to customize that experience in each community. We still seem set to take an assembly-line approach – one that could be detrimental to the long-term survival of journalism as we know it.

As some of us like to point out on occasion, the sentence hanging above the entrance to Birmingham’s City Council chambers states “The People are the City.” If anything, we’ve done a great job listening to what we think advertisers want while not necessarily identifying how to marry that with how our community chooses to take in the news of the day. You may be surprised to learn about resources to help you do what you want if you do talk with them.

I’m not a fool. We can’t always wait to hear from the community. The publisher of my hometown paper took a now celebrated approach that made sure the Old Gray Lady was profitable enabling it to share “All the News That’s Fit to Print.” It is important to remember though that advertisers like to go somewhere where there’s people. It doesn’t hurt that they listen to consumers and have diversified just enough to be dangerous.

Those leading the reformation of the news process need to be willing to look at how to modify the wheel, not necessarily reinventing it. In my case, it’s even involved seeing if a local brewery would be willing to take a chance on creating a porter for our relaunch of our monthly offline gatherings (the first batch will be available at Good People Brewing Company on October 11). It also means completely revamping our online store and making a big push starting Thursday afternoon to sell some shirts (& reintroduce our voluntary subscriptions) in order to fulfill previous orders and to generate operating capital so I can let some folks join me in chasing windmills across Red Mountain.

Would having a porter release work for you? It depends on if your community loves craft beer as much as Birmingham does (by the way, we love it a lot). We’re a community that loves to voice our opinions though there are times we seem scared to stand by them. You need to ask your community what works for them.

It may work. It may not. I figure it’ll be fun regardless.

Is it a crisis in journalism? For those who have lost and will continue to lose their jobs, yes. For those the list of others I mentioned in the beginning, it’s more of a maze they’re trying to navigate through to see what works best for them. We need to be listening to them more about what they seek. Perhaps some new opportunities for niche publications exist for those who’ve recently been forced out at legacy publications.

There’s the idealistic approach that many take stating we must provide something of value to our community. Our community hasn’t necessarily voiced their opinion about how they want to receive their news. Or have they? Are they even paying attention? The reactions one person in Louisiana stumbled across may surprise you.

What does the community want? What does it need? Have we asked them?

At the end of the day, we can spend more time talking about best practices and not about silver bullets. It’s still only part of the solution – one that sometimes points to what’s useful instead of what’s new.

André Natta is the stationmaster for bhamterminal.com.

Photo: New Birmingham News boxes downtown. acnatta/Flickr.

*The “i” everyone thinks is in the front of the name Cantina as it appears in its logo is actually an upside down exclamation point.

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Will Mercy be shown to Cooper Green?

Posted on August 28, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Cooper Green Mercy HospitalI had the rare opportunity to talk to both of my parents on Monday morning. It’s the way you’d think it would happen given current events; I called my mother in Florida to see if she was feeling any effects from Isaac while my father called me from The Bronx to check on me in advance of the storm’s arrival downstate.

It was coincidental was I was starting to think about what to write about the then pending vote about the future of Cooper Green Mercy Hospital. This is because both of my parents are retired registered nurses having served at two of New York City’s busiest public hospitals. (My mother worked at historic Harlem Hospital in their NICU for nearly two decades while Dad logged 30+ years of weekday evenings in Lincoln Hospital’s triage unit.)

As a result, you grow up hearing about babies born addicted to crack and seeing them about the size of your 10-year old hand. You realize your father doesn’t talk about work that much since, when he started, it wasn’t SoBro but the South Bronx before its transformation started.

They both asked the same question – What will happen to the patients?

It’s apparently a question that former Birmingham mayor Larry Langford pondered correctly back in 2009 – and one that seems to have not been thought through just yet. It’s a question many of us here in Jefferson County are wondering right now. It’s one without an answer – at least not one publicly shared as of yet. It doesn’t look like there’s been a plan introduced to anyone to explain how discontinuing inpatient care at the county hospital will be handled. It’s something you’d think would have already been shared before such a recommendation would be made. It was back on the August 28 agenda for the Jefferson County Commission though and it passed, 3-2.

There are other questions that needed to be answered before looking at the number of beds occupied – something else both of my parents immediately asked about since they both suggested it was an unfair number to use for such decisions – and making such a rash decision.

Can the inpatient services be absorbed by other area hospitals? There seems to be an assumption this can be done, though it doesn’t seem as though the other hospitals were talked to about it. There’s no doubt that some will look at UAB, University Hospital and its various other locations and its continuing expansion and renovation as a logical replacement though it’s a lot harder than you’d think. While there is a working relationship currently between the two entities, it is one grounded in education and not necessarily in management or operations.

Does this put the inpatient beds back in play? Barely mentioned in all of this is the fact that removing inpatient care from the list of services provided by Cooper Green could technically put those beds back into play. It could turn it into a much larger battle over who gets the right to expand and provide additional services to the community. This may include a digital hospital down along Highway 280 or, thinking outside the proverbial box, a new facility that may want to locate near a completed I-22 as people start to consider moving over there to “escape the city.” Before folks start saying it’s a business community push to see this happen, the August 10 statement from the Birmingham Business Alliance (PDF),  paints a different picture and echoed requests to see a plan in place before this vote as well.

How will these patients get to and from their inpatient care? Quality transportation options, including mass transit, have been long talked about in this community without any sustained progress being made. We probably need to learn more about when or whether the long vacant executive director position at BJCTA will be filled (it still hasn’t been publicly listed) before we get a straight answer here. This type of conversation needs to be broad in reach and already happening before that person arrives. This becomes more significant since even if other facilities become options, the current hub and spoke bus system in place makes it much harder for some to access health care without a car.

We seem to have placed the cart before the horse with Tuesday morning’s vote. If there is any good news though, we now have a hard date set for these questions to be answered – December 1. If we haven’t dealt with them by then, we need to start thinking about how we truly prepare for progress to be made in metro Birmingham (maybe even in the hands of new caretakers come 2014).

André Natta is The Terminal’s stationmaster.

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How are other cities handling food trucks?

Posted on July 16, 2012 by | 3 comments

This year’s Birmingham Magazine Best of Bham readers poll allowed participants to vote for the Best Food Truck. An online petition launched last week to show support for area food trucks has continues to grow; the new target is 1,500 signatures with more than 1,160 already collected. If there’s any doubt in your mind right now, get over of it:

Food trucks are here to stay; the question is how they’ll be handled.

The recent issue of food truck regulations has found me looking around online for the past few days to see if we’re alone on this issue. The findings – not even close to being alone. Food truck regulation is apparently a big issue in several cities right now. This week for example, Portland, ME and Chicago, IL will attempt to pass new ordinances aimed at making both sides agreeable, with neither side necessarily declaring victory so far.

A couple of things took place last week providing insight into how crazy the food truck issue is in several cities right now. It should help those involved come up with a good solution for all.

The first event happened on July 9 as Chick-Fil-A rolled out their new food truck at Farragut Square in Washington, DC. According to a post on “All We Can Eat,” The Washington Post’s food blog, the truck had been planned for some time (it was supposed to debut in April and was seen in May and June around town) and underwent a design change before its apparently successful relaunch on the streets of the Nation’s Capitol. Incidentally, one of the reasons cited by Chick-Fil-A for introducing the truck in the piece is their lack of physical locations in metro DC (one actually – on a college campus). The ability to gauge interest in eventually opening brick and mortar establishments was what the head of DC’s Small Business Administration pointed out in a recent interview.

By the way, DC Mayor Vincent Gray introduced a new ordinance in January that would among other things allow food trucks to stay parked in one spot instead of needing to be “hailed” like a cab in order to conduct business. It would also dictate the hours they would be allowed to operate in the District.

Thursday, July 12, saw a the spotlight focused on food trucks… in Chicago. Our friends at Gapers Block were one of several media outlets writing about the first ever Chicago Food Truck Day. The event was organized in advance of the upcoming July 19 hearing involving that city’s new food truck ordinance that would among other things finally allow operators to cook on board. The Chicago Tribune reports they’d also have to install GPS devices to allow the city to track them, making it easier to enforce a two-hour parking limit at any one location while being able to operate 24 hours a day.

Chicago’s municipal legislation has been stalled out for at least a year according to most reports and it’s not come without its share of debate, including an interactive debate presentation over on The Huffington Post. It should calm folks looking at Birmingham’s current situation and the discussions surrounding a rewrite of local laws to accommodate the growing industry that others are tackling it as well.

Specifying distances is not necessarily new – Chicago is asking for a 200 ft. distance from the front door of brick and mortar restaurants; incidentally, Portland, Maine’s asking them to be 65 feet away after hours while actually being more restrictive during the day in their proposed ordinance (scheduled for a vote later on today – Monday, July 16).

There have also been some successes so far. Boston (as usual) has found a way to make it hip and cool, even creating a page on their website letting people know which trucks are out and where they’re located as well as a streamlined page for applying for the requisite permits. This while they’ve instituted a lottery system as part of their process. The folks in Memphis are talking about how successful their ordinance (PDF) has been – becoming a lucrative opportunity for several operators shortly after its passage last spring.

Hey, at least we’re not in Clearwater, FL, where they have no intention of adapting their ordinances to accommodate food trucks any time soon. Those willing to talk about the negative long term effects may want to look at what problems developed in Raleigh, NC some ten months after their battle over their food truck ordinance (PDF) – none.

Time will tell what happens here. There appears to be folks willing to work together and a community that’s willing to support whatever decision is reached. With several cities going through the same situation right now, hopefully it will calm folks down while also giving everyone an idea of what’s working and what’s not.

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Is Royal truly a voice of reason?

Posted on July 11, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Roderick Royal in 2007. Bob Farley/f8photoThe past 24+ hours have seen many heads shaking and hitting brick walls or palms of hands as citizens of Birmingham, AL and the surrounding community are left wondering about yesterday’s Birmingham City Council decision involving a vote on zoning for a senior housing development to be built in Pratt City.

Council President Roderick Royal implored his fellow councilors to delay a decision for three weeks as he made his case to move the project from its proposed site due to concerns about it being in “a known path” of a tornado. The nearly 1 hour portion of yesterday’s meeting and the resulting vote (8-1 to delay for three weeks) has led to some passionate commentaries in both Weld for Birmingham and the July 11 edition of The Birmingham News.

Both Mark and John made so many valid points, so all I can do is take it one step further by pointing at cities like Greensburg, KS and Joplin, MO and ask if those rebuilding efforts are foolish? Maybe we shouldn’t be pushing recovery efforts in New Orleans, or Galveston, TX, or Charleston, SC? Considering I’m a native New Yorker… no, I won’t go there.

It’s interesting when you consider just a few months ago there were some folks a few hours north might have considered Royal a voice of reason thanks to a blog post.

ChicagoNow’s White Sox Observer, Chris Lamberti, published a post in March about the Council’s decision to support construction of the soon-to-be home of the Birmingham Barons, Regions Field, across the street from Railroad Park. In it, he points to Royal questioning the vote to publicly finance the project as the voice of reason.

There are a few things that need to be cleared up based on what was mentioned in that post though. The $60 million+ price tag always mentioned always includes construction of a Negro League museum adjacent to the park. The construction of the museum never seems to be questioned, even though the existence of the National Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas, City, MO (as we mentioned back in 2008 when the idea for such a facility was first brought up on a City Council agenda) seems to make it more of an “it’d be nice to have” than a “we’d have something unique” amenity for the city. This doesn’t even take into account the fact that the facility in Kansas City was designated as the national museum by Congress back in 2006, so we’ll be competing with a facility that draws 60,000+ visitors a year located in the city that served as headquarters for the Negro Leagues…

The author also only points to one city in the state of Alabama for his argument about new ballparks failing in downtown areas. There was no discussion of Montgomery’s Riverwalk Stadium, a renovation of the city’s roundhouse or a look at the Huntsville Stars’ home, Joe W. Davis Stadium. It may have helped (or hurt) the contention about downtown development based on ballparks, but whether a project is successful or not, it takes a lot longer than people think, despite our desire to see things happen yesterday.

It may have helped if there was a closer look taken at the underlying philosophy of encouraging development that spurs retail and commercial being the unfair taxation system currently in place in Alabama (thanks in part to its state constitution – the longest in the world). The idea that more retail establishments would provide more revenue makes sense when you know that’s how the state generates its revenue – rather than a system more reliant on property taxes. It does exactly what it’s supposed to do, though it’s tough for a community suffering through The Great Recession to want to spend money on what many would conceive as a luxury item.

All of that is to suggest that while the council president might have been informed of additional information in both cases, it wasn’t quite clear to a lot of us exactly how he drew his conclusions. If there’s another factor more reasonable to consider for moving the location of a project that would be federally funded, it would help the public if it were shared instead of operating in the realm of the “we know more information that you do” approach alluded to during yesterday’s debate. The electorate votes officials into office not because they know better, but because we trust they will do the right thing and inform their constituents accordingly. Those are actually two distinct statements.

If “The People Are The City” as we suggest via the phrase hanging on the inside of the door of the council chambers, you need to trust the people – on both sides of the equation. Maybe we need to recreate that phrase on the outside of the council chambers so we’re all reminded of that fact as we enter.

André Natta is The Terminal’s stationmaster.

Photo: Roderick Royal in 2007. Bob Farley/f8photo

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Musings on a bridge to somewhere

Posted on July 9, 2012 by | 1 comment

Looking towards downtownI went for a run recently at Railroad Park – the newness of being able to say that still hasn’t quite worn off yet. I tend to stay on the cushioned portion of the trail circling the four-block urban oasis. I decided I’d stop at the stairs that take you down to the portion of the trail that leads you along the lawn before rising again. It’s approximately where Mayor Bell’s bridge would connect 16th Street North with the park and Southside.

After I stopped thinking about how crazy it would be to run through the potential foot traffic, I started wondering what other reasons there could be for constructing this bridge – provided the feasibility study recently approved by the Birmingham City Council says it makes sense and the funding sources are identified and tapped. It’d be nice for tourism, but there are some more practical reasons that can be shared with the community that speak to its long term effects.

Here are a few that came to mind:

A symbolic gesture towards the future. Yes, this is the case already being presented by its proponents. Next year the spotlight will be focused on Alabama’s Magic City as people from across the country and around the world look to see what’s changed since September 1963. There will be just as many wondering who’ve never paid attention before wondering what’s happening in this city. Even though it wouldn’t be finished in time, it would be the type of civic project that could be pointed to when asked how things are progressing (though Railroad Park and the baseball field would do a pretty good job on their own). That’s nice, but it’s probably more of a symbolic gesture for the region’s residents than it is for outsiders.

Despite the best efforts of some locals, the days of the city’s central business district alone serving as the city’s downtown is over. It is “greater downtown Birmingham” nowadays, and it includes Southside. If we’re not going to be able to get an interstate sunk, we’re still going to want to go over something to claim success of truly connecting our city – and showing what else is possible as these cracks continue to be repaired. It also gives us a way to hearken images of the Walnut Street Bridge in Chattanooga as we cross our “river” running through the center of town (I know that’s running through some minds out there, admit it).

It’s a businessperson’s special. When I lived downtown, I used to prefer running over the 22nd St. bridge to attempting to go under the railroad tracks on 20th St., despite that being where signs currently live guiding runners new to the city through it. Considering I could run a little faster when I first moved here, occasionally switching up the route didn’t phase me that much – especially on hot evenings where it did provide a cool respite. Now imagine a bunch of folks who drive into town solely to work in the city’s central business district who’d rather walk over something rather than under while in town for a game – and who’d rather park somewhere familiar to them. It suddenly opens up a lot more parking options for the ballpark too, doesn’t it? Not to mention the potential foot traffic. This leads to…

The UAB/Bridge to the future angle. The state’s largest employer occupies a significant portion of the property south of the railroad tracks and a concerted effort needs to be made to encourage those associated with UAB to travel just a little farther north. This becomes much more important as people begin to realize how much land is available for redevelopment in the area known as the Entrepreneurial District – a portion of the city center with an easternmost boundary of 16th Street North. As efforts begin to encourage additional, denser development of the area, you’d love to offer them a really cool way to get to those games in addition to giving students and employees a reason to head towards downtown on foot – and thereby providing additional numbers to consider when attracting new businesses.

Looking towards ChildrensI’m really not saying we should or we shouldn’t do this bridge; I’m asking folks to be willing to look at several reasons for the project and to start having slightly deeper conversations about it and everything else you hear about going on in town right now. We already seem to be building a bridge to somewhere for this city. It’d be nice to start taking a look at just where it can possibly go and where it can take us once we’ve built it. This study is the latest step in that movement.

It also doesn’t hurt that each of these reasons point to a group that could help the mayor win re-election next year – provided he runs…

I just offered up three of the crazy reasons I thought of just standing there. Perhaps you’ve got some others (or maybe you think mine are silly). If so, share those thoughts and ideas below.

André Natta is The Terminal’s stationmaster.

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Posted in Commentary, development

Reading into the Alabama Media Group plans (a lot)

Posted on June 6, 2012 by | 6 comments

The old and new Birmingham News headquarters. Bob Farley/f8photo.There’s been something nagging at me for a while now about the impending changes scheduled for the three Advance Publications titles based in Alabama (including Birmingham’s newspaper of record). You may have heard something about it.

It finally clicked in my head late last night, essentially changing the focus of what I thought had been a pretty solid piece about my thoughts regarding the reduction of The Birmingham News‘ print schedule. I’ll apologize if what follows seems a bit dry. I promise if you follow along, the potential outcomes (even if currently unlikely) become very interesting.

I’ve been trying to wrap my head around exactly what these changes would mean locally – and not just from the perspective of layoffs and the resulting competition. I kept trying to figure out some other potential results of the shift in focus. The News will still be the go to source for legal notices; their maintaining a print schedule allows them to meet the requirements for the state’s revised legal notices law; it passed back in March (after being introduced in February) and was explained (for the benefit of Alabama Press Association members) in a video later on during the session. The new rules took effect on June 1. By the way, the revised law does not seem to be easily interpreted for online-only publications at this time. Final passage appears to be a compromise for those organizations looking to go online only and those still wanting the notices to appear in the paper.

The new media organization will also be able to maintain its full APA active membership since it will meet their criteria:

…bona-fide newspapers of general circulation that are issued daily, weekly, semi-weekly or tri-weekly in Alabama…Bona-fide newspapers are those which have held a second-class mailing permit for one year and are published for the dissemination of news of general interest,” according to APA bylaws. Active membership is a voting membership. Dues are determined by paid circulation, as shown on the annually published postal statement of ownership.

What The News will not be is a daily newspaper. You may be laughing right now saying, “Of course not, silly André. They’ll only be printing three days a week.” Funny you should bring that up; current FCC regulations define a daily newspaper as any publication printing four or more days a week. Yeah, that was a nice tidbit of information to learn. This becomes important since it means that the new Alabama Media Group could be allowed to be bought by a local television station down the road and not be in violation of current rules prohibiting a daily newspaper and a local television station having the same owner – rules that are currently scheduled to be kept in place when they’re up for review.

It becomes even better when you think of it in another way – this new organization could buy or launch a television station of its own if it wanted to and not have to worry about FCC regulations. Those broadcast geeks reading – the exemption being considered only applies as a blanket approach to the top 20 designated market areas, or DMAs, in the country; we’re #40. Considering the possibilities that exist now thanks to the available digital television spectrum, it wouldn’t be too far-fetched of an idea. While the antennas may need to remain atop Red Mountain, the studio wouldn’t, leading to a creative spin on the efforts undertaken in Michigan earlier this year – one making the stories and information available as more than just another digital voice. It’s probably why I don’t see them using any of their existing properties if they don’t stay in the building on 22nd St. & 4th Ave. N. and probably going to Southside.

This all only makes sense to me because I’ve heard several people refer to The Birmingham News in recent months as a multimedia company – one that could turn to streaming or digital video and audio to augment its print and online written product. If it wasn’t already in their minds before –  “You’re welcome.”

It wouldn’t quite be a return to the days of the media powerhouses of more than thirty years ago and the fear of lack of diversity of voices associated with it. This is partially because of things like WordPress and Twitter making sites like this one possible. It still wouldn’t lessen the blow of print reduction though and it wouldn’t necessarily guarantee it was reaching more people – things I still believe are possible unfortunately – at least in the short term.

It is something that could potentially diversify revenue streams – since at the end of the day, journalists have to eat. Even if none of it comes to be, you’ve now been given a glimpse into the mind of one of the folks trying to figure out how this new age of journalism will work.

There’s one last side note I’d like the folks up in my hometown to consider as they prepare to have their teams in Alabama and New Orleans undertake this new approach. The Newhouse Foundation is an extremely valuable part of the journalism ecosystem – particularly in the northeastern United States. The philanthropic organization provides scholarships to those studying journalism and is a major supporter of Syracuse’s school of public communications. While it is not part of the company per se, it would be nice for it to consider stepping outside of its unwritten rules (as it has on other occasions for extremely worthwhile causes) and making contributions to efforts that ensure the passage of information from journalists to those who starve for it. It’s not like there’s currently enough adequate Internet coverage.

Perhaps a significant gift to our city’s financially strapped library system would be a great place to start. This would help provide venues for Internet access to those who don’t have it at home and space for community gatherings with all of those “one man bands” that are about to be unleashed into these communities.

I’m constantly told I’m an optimistic person when it comes to the future of Birmingham. That optimism can only be spread if it is easier to share the information needed to have critical discussions about what’s going on in the city. As much as I’m not a big fan of the changes and worry about the future employment of people who I respect dearly, I’m also watching (and hoping) to see if one of those voices responsible for shaping that conversation can survive and endure as we move forward.

André Natta is the station master for bhamterminal.com.

Photo: The old and new Birmingham News headquarters, 2009. Bob Farley/f8photo.

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