The Terminal at its core is still about having a conversation about Birmingham, AL and its metropolitan area with the hope that it would help change the way things are done in Alabama\u2019s Magic City as well as the amount of people that are engaged in that conversation for change.<\/p>\n
To stay true to my self-imposed deadline of having this up no later than 7:45 a.m. this morning, I can\u2019t go into too many details except to say that the best way to achieve this goal of truly engaging Birmingham in a meaningful conversation is by being as transparent as possible about the process. So on Monday morning expect to have access to The Terminal\u2019s business plan for the next 12 months. I hesitate to call it a business plan instead of a work plan \u2013 something that implies that progress must be made and tasks completed.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s a simplified version of that vision:<\/p>\n
- \n
- One where a true staff is developed \u2013 one that has both people who have a moment or two to share how they see Birmingham as well as those who are able to dig a little deeper into the issues and the fun that we\u2019re interested in learning more about that makes Birmingham unique. A staff of five or six would be ideal.<\/li>\n
- One where we can serve as a testing ground for journalism using all of these new media tools, allowing college students from area universities to have a chance to have some extended real world experience thinking of interesting ways to use whatever else comes down the pipeline.<\/li>\n
- One where The Terminal occupies a physical space that expands on what we\u2019d hoped to accomplish during our stay at Shift Workspace. My hope would be to one day have a facility facing or around the corner from Railroad Park giving folks using our city\u2019s proposed \u201cliving room\u201d a chance to engage for fun and for serious discussion. The staff mentioned previously would be able to use a portion of the space not just to prepare stories for the website but to work on outside projects as well.<\/li>\n
- A website that becomes one of the first\u00a0L3C corporations<\/a> in the state of Alabama, enabling us to truly serve the city as our primary mission.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
I’ll need the help of everyone that is able in order to move this vision for the future of The Terminal forward in the next 11 months. It may be a lot to ask, but all I\u2019ll say is I want this to be much more than my site since that was my hope for it when it started.<\/p>\n
A special section will appear on Monday morning that provides much more detail about how I hope this will be accomplished. I\u2019ll hope that you stop on over when it does launch and add your thoughts.<\/p>\n
Right now I\u2019d ask for you to think about how you want this site to serve you as a reader. Then I\u2019d ask for you to add your thoughts to the comments section below. I won\u2019t be able to see them until after I figure out where I\u2019m staying in Chicago anyway\u2026<\/p>\n
Thanks in advance for your comments and for the time that you take to check out this site from time to time. I sincerely appreciate it.<\/p>\n
Andr\u00e9\u00a0Natta is the stationmaster<\/em> of bhamterminal.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
<\/a>
No, Birmingham’s hub is not going away (at least we hope not). But it will be changing and evolving – and it will need your help to do it. Find out how you can help… Continue reading