Tag Archives: Alabama

Understanding the brain drain in Birmingham

NOTE: Don’t forget to share your thoughts on whether or not we have a brain drain in Birmingham over on MCQ.

So apparently when The J. Clyde owner Jerry Hartley and Birmingham mayor Larry Langford had their disagreement yesterday tat the end of the Five Points South Merchants Association meeting, they weren’t arguing about that album by The Ramones. They also weren’t approaching the comments from the same perspective based on the varying accounts of the story. Though based on what’s been going on around the region for the past few years, they should have been.

Perhaps if Hartley had used the term human capital flight instead of brain drain Mayor Langford would have understood his point more clearly. Funny thing is I’ve sat in several meetings both here in Birmingham and elsewhere where the term brain drain has been used with most people agreeing that it is the case. It’s not necessarily a knock on the city’s residents, but the causes for the drain are something to consider when you look at the tools needed to showcase the magic that Mayor Langford says is happening right now in town and needs to continue to happen.

This would be why organizations like the local chapter of the Harvard Club created a program called “Stop the Brain Drain” and several organizations, including  our Regional Chamber of Commerce (it’s on page 2) and Empower Alabama (under education) use the term to describe our community’s perception that we cannot retain our college-educated individuals.

People have been working for years to combat the issue; in 2002, then CEO of CTS Steve Atkins told the Birmingham Business Journal that “we strive to keep these kids here by getting them involved in challenging and interesting projects and actually help with the brain-drain problem.”

When revealing their Top 40 under 40 in 2008, the BBJ reported that according to available data, Birmingham was the only city in Alabama that didn’t show a brain drain.

Even with those efforts and results, we should not be content with just getting by on our efforts to make the region more welcoming and inviting for those young professionals looking for somewhere to call home at the beginning (and hopefully throughout) their careers or to those that want to advance in their career considering metro Birmingham as an option. I’ll aim my comments towards the young professional angle.

There are a lot of active young people in Birmingham, AL nowadays. They are finding a way to have their voices heard, however we are still hearing them say that they need to go somewhere else to advance their careers. They want to make an impact now and have their voices heard; they’re willing to sit on a junior board and wait their turn, though they hope that they are being used as effectively as possible. If they find that they aren’t, they are more willing to disconnect from the rest of the community, depriving us of that one person that could take us to the next level. Sometimes that disconnection doesn’t necessarily mean leaving town but just leaving the high society life that many feel is the only way to become a leader.

We should not just look to young people as prospective members of a junior board or as people who can offer opinions on suggestions but not the reccommendations themselves. There is still a level of disconnection among young professional organizations, despite significant efforts for that not to be the case. There are also young people that don’t necessarily know how they can contribute nor do they feel as though they are going to be allowed to. Communication should be strengthened – which means more than just sharing what’s going on but figuring out how folks can work together to effective move Birmingham forward faster than it’s currently happening and that we’re actually working together and not functioning on two different planets of reality.

Our region’s future is dependent upon everyone being on the same page about the issues. Let’s hope that the buzz surrounding this exchange that exists online already ensures we’ve gotten to that point and that we can move forward to effectively deal with the problem, instead of spending more time hoping that the overlap that needs to be happening for meaningful progress to be made does.

André Natta is the stationmaster of bhamterminal.com.

Tea Party a hit in Hoover?

 

Alabama Conservative Tea Party in Hoover

Hot barbecue sandwiches, potato chips, Southern sweet tea, vintage American Flags, lawn chairs, kids playing with their dogs in the open field, music, and green grass. Sounds like just another picnic day in Alabama. Add some clever protest signs and some great radio personalities speaking and you’ve got the start of a revolution!

Last week I attended Birmingham’s conservative Tea Party protest. It took place at Veterans Park next door to Spain Park High School in Hoover. Being a Libertarian leaning Conservative myself, I had been looking forward to this for a few weeks ever since I found out about the Tax Day tea parties on a few conservative web sites like TCOT (Top Conservatives on Twitter) and some of the radio talk shows like Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity.

Satillite Uplink truck for Fox NewsI got there right as the sun was starting to set over the rolling hills of the Spain Park area and already there were at least 300 people chilling out, setting out blankets on the lawn, and setting up booths with food, patriotic t-shirts, literature and information about the Fair Tax, the Constitution, and fact sheets about the current administration’s backward policies.

Up-link vans from ABC 33/40, WZZK, and WAPI were set up and a satellite up-link truck for Fox News had set up, ready to simulcast on the Sean Hannity show on Fox News later on that night. Dogs were chasing Frisbees and people were crowding in to get a front row spot.

The action started about 30 minutes later with Matt Murphy of 101.1 FM The Source and a few other local personalities. They spoke their minds about some of the hot topics like the government bailout and taxation. There was some great music in between and we saw a lot of creative signs.

At about 7:30 p.m., nationally syndicated talk show personalities Rick and Bubba arrived on stage and entertained and informed for a few minutes while we were waiting for the Sean Hannity show to do the simulcast. During this time more and m0re people had continued arriving. According to law enforcement reports, Hwy 119 was backed up all the way to Hwy 280 with people trying to get in and park and it didn’t stop until about 8 p.m. When the big on-air moment came, everyone “went nuts” as Rick and Bubba would say, flags waving and people chanting “USA, USA!”. Overall the unofficial headcount from the event coordinators was somewhere in the 3,000 range with more than 4,000 coming and going making our tea party one of the largest out of the over 800 parties held in the nation last night.

What I came away with from that night was, that THIS was the first step that a citizen can take to let yourSigns at the tea party voice be heard. The tea parties are a completely non-partisan rally. It wasn’t about Obama hatred (although I’m sure the sentiment was there), it was about the common man having a voice and letting Washington hear that voice. I was also impressed that the conservatives were finally embracing social media using platforms like Twitter and Facebook to organize the event. The Birmingham party was almost completely organized grass roots with a Facebook page and word of mouth and throughout the country real time details were posted on Twitter.

The common person these days has no idea what they can do, if anything. I think that the tea parties has shown people that they CAN make a difference. Start little, do something big! Let’s keep our government accountable for their actions.

Photos: Josh Self/Flickr 

Josh Self is a contributor to The Terminal. He also maintains two blogs – a personal one, The Horse, and The Wedding Photogblog.

Why pay the occupational tax? Maybe to support the arts…

I blame those years attending the Savannah College of Art and Design. Others may consider the years I spent growing up in The Bronx and being a short bus ride away from the zoo and our botanical gardens. No matter what the real reason is, I know that even when I’m struggling to make ends meet, I see access to the arts as an important piece of the puzzle.

The cultural opportunities that exist in metro Birmingham are numerous and sometimes we take them for granted. This is despite being one of the most generous cities in the country when it comes to supporting non profits. The case for support for many may be one that becomes harder this year as the people deal with the effects of the economic crisis. Enter the current situation involving the occupational tax in Jefferson County.

Many people who don’t live in the county see the tax as something that is not necessarily fair to them. They want to see tangible results of paying the extra money. Something I’ve realized in the years I’ve lived here is that no one does a really good job of explaining how monies are used (including us). A current grassroots campaign may provide some transparency and accountability for at least a portion of the funds as well as a warm and fuzzy feeling for those that pay the tax who live outside of the county.

The Cultural Alliance of Greater Birmingham is suggesting that a rewritten occupational tax that could stand up to legal challenges should have a portion of it set aside for allocation to culural organizations throughout Jefferson County. I think it becomes a lot harder for those not currently paying the tax to say that there is no value to doing so if the Alliance is successful in their efforts.

The money collected would have the potential to improve the quality of life for everyone in the region, providing institutions like the McWane Science Center and the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute the chance to do more for those that live nearby and those that are visiting our city. Increased funding for these institutions have the potential to have a greater economic impact long term than the monies that we’re about to lose as a result of the Super 6 relocating to the new football capitols of the South.

That last sentence may be one that riles more than a few feathers here in Birmingham, maybe because we don’t necessarily pay attention to these other jewels in the region. As a baseball fan, I can think of a lot of people that will be venturing into The Magic City next year to catch a glimpse of America’s oldest ballpark as it turns 100. Hearing the Symphony perform Rhapsody in Blue doesn’t hurt either. Then there are those children benefitting from programs like Scrollworks… Maybe times have finally changed, and we need to be ready to embrace them.

Currently, it looks like this proposal is facing an uphill battle. State Representative Linda Coleman has introduced legislation that would re-instate the tax as is. I’m not really sure if that’s the best case scenario considering that the current tax has been under some legal scrutiny recently. This new version provides some transparency to a funding source that appears to be greatly needed, especially as our county contemplates bankruptcy as an option to deal with our sewer crisis.

As Birmingham prepares to potentially take its place in the New South, this proposal would provide a tool that enables it to reach its goal sooner rather than later.

A place to go offline: about our new space

We’ve been doing this online hub thing for Birmingham for more than two years now, hoping that we’ve done right by her in our attempt to shine a light all that it has to offer. We’ve hoped that it’s been good enough and from the words of encouragement that we often here, it has been. Many of us think that the best is still yet to come.

We did realize however that we needed to do a couple of things to move to the next level. The top priority (after making it easier to actually read the site, something that we’re still working on) was the need to have a physical home.

shift101_0611Despite the fact that we currently exist solely online as a resource for people in Birmingham, AL (and its many expatriates), I was becoming increasingly aware that a publication of any type in Birmingham must have a physical space in order to ease the fears of readers, contributors and (to survive for the long term) potential advertisers. There would always be a fear of us being here today and gone tomorrow unless we showed that we were here to stay.

We cannot make the guarantee that with this announcement those threats and fears will go away, but establishing an office in the heart of The Magic City and Jones Valley can only help our case. It doesn’t hurt that we get to help make Alabama’s first coworking space a reality either.

Using this space helps get at one of the best things about social media; the idea that it brings people together. To build a real community in Birmingham online also means figuring out how to bring them together face-to-face and offline.

Whether it’s setting up a last minute question and answer session about an issue affecting the region or inviting one of Birmingham’s 400+ bands to come on in for a Sessions on West 54th-style performance, the fact that we can organize and then share these opportunities with you both in person and virtually is very important to me. This space helps us do that.

It also helps us establish ourselves as more than just a roaming nomad of an entity. We’ll still venture outside of the walls of the Shift workspace, but it will allow us to do and support things that we feel extremely important.

We hope that you take a chance to come on downtown and visit with us when the doors open later this Spring. I also hope that you’ll take the chance to help us determine some of our programming by answering yesterday’s Magic City Question.

As always, Enjoy the ride!

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André Natta, CMSM, is The Terminal’s stationmaster. If you want to contact him, catch him on Twitter – @acnatta – or shoot him an email at andre@bhamterminal.com.

Photo: Bob Farley/f8Photo

The case for a statewide look at transit

With much attention focused on issues that mean nothing in this upcoming, lengthy campaign to select our state’s next Governor, luckily one issue that should be front and center in the coming weeks will receive some attention today because of presumptive Democratic candidate Artur Davis‘ appearance at a summit in downtown Birmingham as its keynote speaker.

The issue is transit.

As the State Legislature begins its new session on Tuesday with a potential first step plainly in front of them, the question is whether or not transit can become the issue that symbolically and physically begins to unite this state and take it into the 21st century. 

One point that has been raised again and again about the Inauguration was the ability for Washington’s Metro system to move more people than normal (4 ½ times more to be exact) and to demonstrate just what it would be like with limited access for cars. It’s also definitely been a question on some minds as my last post didn’t get any feedback except for one person wanting the discussion to look to transit.

A proposal being presented by Alabama State Representative Rod Scott (D) allows the state’s numerous transit systems (and there are several) to work together to collect funds to move all of them, large and small, forward. A task force would study whether or not a fully functioning commission would be necessary and identify how this commission would be able to work in the best interest of the entire state to include transit solutions in discussions about transportation in the years and decades ahead. For those wondering if even some of these transit providers could get along, I recently attended one of their first meetings and while there may still be a couple of questions, all agree that the issue of transit and securing adequate funding to provide the service that the people of Alabama need is a top priority.

There are monies that may be available if the President’s economic stimulus plan is passed that would provide a way for the state to take a good, hard look at transit and how it could also become a major tool in economic development, allowing not just those living in rural communities or our state’s inner cities but those living in our wealthiest neighborhoods to be able to have a relatively inexpensive, reliable and efficient method of travel to and from work. Even if those monies end up not being available, the collective bargaining power of this alliance among transit providers should allow for other funding sources to be identified.

The benefits in Birmingham are ones worth pointing out. A light rail system similar to our long departed streetcar system would provide an easy way for folks to get around town, perhaps going to work, a concert in Railroad Reservation Park, or maybe even give folks a much cheaper way to get to Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport. Of course, being able to fully fund our bus system and seeing folks use it consistently will determine that future than anything else, particularly in light of Birmingham’s street paving project effectively halting any plans for it (unless the Regional Planning Commission has finally worn the mayor down on the concept of bus rapid transit, which could do many of the things a light rail system could do), though the paving needed to be done.

We could even get to the point where those in our tech community could enjoy WiFi during their commute, a service that the Bay Area’s BART system recently announced would be expanded to be systemwide within the next two years.

After speaking with some of the principals and attending the first meeting of the group supporting Scott’s measure in Montgomery (comprised in part of some of Alabama’s larger transit authorities) I believe that it’s something whose time has come. It is not a question of turning our backs on our cars as much as it is an chance to help jumpstart the future of the state and of gaining true support for it.

André Natta is the managing editor of The Terminal.

Birmingham's internal battle has got to stop

Yesterday’s debacle at the BJCC board meeting shines a bright light on some of the issues still facing our region despite having attempted to put on a face to the outside world that we’ve overcome.

Even more disturbing were the comments that have been appearing after hearing about the exchange between Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford and State Representative Mary Moore. The underlying tone of the discussion seems to insinuate that all African-American contractors do bad work (not to mention the fact that other minority contractors don’t seem to exist) and that the facility shouldn’t even be built because we can’t support a professional sports team.

I’d ask those throwing that second stone all the time to take note that in most cases, the problem has not been lack of community support for the team but the lack of success of the league. In many cases, the city led league attendance figures. Plus, if we do so poorly supporting sports teams, why do we even get considered for things like U.S. Soccer and the upcoming Davis Cup matches. More importantly, the facility should not be seen as only being used for those 8-10 sporting events a year.

Our convention center needs the space, period. Whether we want to admit that or not, it’s true. Despite the fact that the new facility will never fully recoup its construction or operating costs for itself, it is something that can provide long term jobs and revenue for this region. We spend so much time in this city taking pot shots at each other and not realizing that the true change is going on despite what loud mouths with bully pulpits say (and I’m not talking about Larry). As we continue to grow and change regionally, we must start to act our age and put the petty bickering behind us.

The fact that a state constitutional amendment can be introduced at the whim of someone feeling that there is not enough being done is absurd and speaks to the issue of self-rule and why the 1901 Constitution should be replaced as soon as possible. This is an example of wasting taxpayer dollars on an issue that should be settled locally without having to run to Montgomery to have Daddy or Mommy fix it for us. The mayor is correct – he represents the city on the board. Having council members appointed may take us down a very slippery slope, especially considering some of the positioning that people are starting to do now for 2011. It should not be political and should serve the best interests of Birmingham and the community.

While in Washington for the Inauguration, I was surrounded by people of all races and creeds. I was part of a mass of humanity that did not have one incident or arrest (save for that one person falling from a tree trying to see The Mall). The issue of race, at least in that corner of the world, was there but ceded to the idea that we had to work together to solve problems without finger pointing and the We do need to do something that will allow for more minority contractors and minority businesses in general getting that foot in the door so that they can achieve the American Dream. It is our duty to help change things to make them better. However to ignore those groups that are truly minorities when looking at the numbers in Birmingham and the surrounding area while doing it makes it shallow and pointless.

But maybe that means that I’m not Black enough…

André Natta is the managing editor of The Terminal.

Be you, Birmingham

As you read this, I’ll be in downtown Philadelphia (arriving yesterday via a really cool bus service), beginning the final chapter of what was supposed to be a four-day trip out of town on business. It started out as a trip out to Colorado and became an unplanned visit home to New York because of my mother’s unexpected triple bypass surgery. For those interested, she’s doing better now and her first follow up is scheduled for early next week. A quick thank you to the folks at New York Presbyterian – you have no idea how much my brother and I appreciate you right now.

This was the second time in the last 11 months that I’ve had to make a detour up to the Big Apple. In January, my father luckily survived a bout with kidney failure. I’ve learned some valuable lessons as a result of these trips. First and foremost is that it’s true about folks in the medical profession being among the most stubborn of patients.

I’ve learned that there are a few folks out there that still may not get why this website exists but will volunteer to let folks know that it’s alive and kicking. I was told earlier this year by a former contributor that I didn’t show enough appreciation; I only hope that the ones that stepped up while I’ve been out of town to help us show signs of life know how I truly feel.

There may be some that may be expecting me to say something about learning to shut it all down and walk away. The weird thing is I’ve known that the entire time the site’s been up. I would say that I would build on that lesson and offer this bit of advice as you enter the New Year – BE YOU. 

That message can be applied to individuals as well as to this great city, once the largest in the Southeast. To paraphrase a phrase I’ve seen floating about town, WE are Birmingham.

Despite the egos, the attitudes, the negativity and the economic downturn, we are a community that can be empowered to do great things. Every once in a while, someone shows their ass for their face and makes me realize just why those local attitudes are what they are – because of outsiders who take pot shots just because they can and they have the platform to do so. BTW – I know that I will always been viewed as an outsider as well, no matter how long I decide to call Birmingham home.

For those waiting for me to take a greater dig at Dashiell‘s “retaliation post” on Deadspin, all I will say is his ignorance is bliss. We are not a perfect city, but I’m from what’s known as the Greatest City in the World and you should hear what we say about it. (we’re pretty hard on ourselves too).

Well maybe one more thing – if people continue to take stances like his without some commentary from those who truly love the city, warts and all, – hint, hint – then it is much easier for many to continue to discredit the importance of blogs to continuing conversations.

I can say that The Terminal is definitely going to be what we need to be in 2009 and not worry about criticism… yet.

So it’s a quiet week here at Birmingham’s hub and for those expecting more, you may be waiting for a while. I hope you will help us ring in the New Year in belated fashion on January 8 as we host a Terminally Happy Hour at The Bottletree (and hope that you hang out for the show afterwards).

If you want to talk to me before then, I’ll be back in town on Friday afternoon – meaning that Saturday morning I’ll be in the corner at okafes! by about 9:30 a.m., catching up on the world that’s always passing us by, so long as my mind remembers that I’m back in Central after spending some time in Eastern and Mountain.

If 2009’s going to be a revolution, this site’s ready to take the lead… are you ready to step up too?

André Natta is the managing editor of The Terminal.