Design Review Committee disapproves replacement "Sign"
Preserve Jazz Festival announces sabbatical for 2015
Today’s Birmingham News sings the praises of the Railroad Reservation Park’s pending construction (interesting how the name keeps getting shorter depending on where you look). I would go one step further than they did in their description. It is in fact an example not just of what the city center can and will become, but what can happen throughout the city and the region if people show faith in the potential success in a project. Three parks, one currently operating and two beginning to see the light of day, benefited in part thanks to the efforts of the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham and their belief that projects like these needed to be done and supported.
The organization announced a new initiative during its annual meeting on Thursday evening that would enable more projects like “Birmingham’s Central Park”, Ruffner Mountain Nature Center‘s expansion and Red Mountain Park‘s creation to become reality. The Community Catalyst Fund serves as an opportunity for Birmingham to dream bigger than it ever has before and achieve those dreams for ourselves and future generations.
The possibilities for these unrestricted funds are only as limited as your mind allows it to be. Many projects seem to die a slow death here only because you cannot see past the naysayers. What if we had the ability to seed an arts funding source that could encourage murals, ecoscapes and galleries throughout the region?
What if the money existed to help jump start a facade improvement program that could augment existing dollars for building rehabilitation, enabling a community to put its best face forward to those that did not believe the rumors of its pending rebirth?
What if the money were used to encourage alternative transportation methods in the region, while allowing Birmingham to become more viable for the large manufacturing plants that many seem to think is needed?
What if the money were available to bring even bigger exhibits to an expanded Museum of Art, encouraging a truer sense of collaboration among our existing cultural facilities? Or if resources were made available for more of the metropolitan area’s growing arts community to create and display their work, no matter what it is?
Is it not time to stop pointing the finger at what is wrong and instead roll up our sleeves and ask what needs to be done to make it better?
The News said that much more fund raising lies ahead for the Railroad Reservation Park. A city that once mined for ore should also be mining for ideas as it reaches forward into the 21st century and carves a space out as a leader – one that it has always had among some, but now also in the hearts of those that call it home. City, county, state and federal officials should (and have) been willing to support projects with their access to general funds, but we cannot ask them to lead the way by themselves anymore.
Hopefully when we’re asked to answer the bell, we are ready to provide the energy and the monies necessary to power the engine for the future of The Magic City. The new Community Catalyst Fund is one way to do just that. Check it out and see what you can do to help some more of that magic make some dreams come true.
NOTE: Let us know what your big dream for Birmingham is over on Magic City Question…
André Natta is the publisher and managing editor of The Terminal.
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