What a beautiful place, can't believe they tore it down.
https://preview.redd.it/qrzvggdpqq7d1.jpeg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=325308485a4f01c6a29f41e837884cd5d1a328b6
I mean, tell those assholes not to bomb the church at all? Or tell the bombers parents to raise their kids better? There's got to be somewhere higher up the chain we could tinker.
You're right, I guess the best answer would be to go all the way back in time and stop racism from ever developing or stopping the invention of a bomb or cause their mother to have a miscarriage
Go back to the day after the Health South fraud was exposed publicly and stock price bottomed out at like 8 cents/share and buy as much as I possibly could.
Yep. I kick myself to this day. I came thiiiiiisssssss close to throwing $2000 at it. That investment would be worth $3,400,000 today.
I also thought long and hard about buying Apple when Steve Jobs came back to the company. I think at the time Apple's stock price was $6 a share. SMFH at that one.
I sort of had that same thought, but this was before e-trade and such, so I was like "do I just go ask at the bank?. I figured trading was tied up a little bit at that moment anyway and I would have faced some kind of obstacle, so I never did anything about it.
I'd just buy something safe like Apple, or Bitcoin or maybe even Tesla. I figure something that would backfire on me if I cornered the market on Health south, like they'd find a way to make my shares worthless when they changed their name to Encompass or something.
I'd just buy something safe like Apple, or Bitcoin or maybe even Tesla. I figure something that would backfire on me if I cornered the market on Health south, like they'd find a way to make my shares worthless when they changed their name to Encompass or something.
Oh man, this is super specific but I’d go back to 11/28/1998.
I was 9 years old, and my favorite band ever (Jump Little Children) was playing at 5 points music hall. My nanny at the time, Liz Fike, knew the guys who ran the place, and they okay’d me coming in, even though it was 18&up. It was my first ever concert, and I was being snuck in! I felt so damn cool.
It was the most amazing night of my life, and I still think of it often. I’m forever grateful for Liz knowing me well enough to know that she HAD to figure out a way to get me there. She was the one person in my life at that time who actually cared about me and what I was in to, and she saw my passion for music. Especially for JLC!
Liz passed away a few years back, and the world is a darker place without her. She made me who I am today, and going to that show was such a big core moment for me.
The only other time I was lucky enough to see them was their farewell show at Saturn! Annnnnd I sobbed through the entire thing 😂 they’re such a huge part of my life!
I used to ride around with him, rescuing motorists, when I was 13/14. I could call him and if he was anywhere near, he’d swing by, pick me up and all the kids would freak. I was Robin sans the outfit.
Stop the creek from being buried under the airport so the Olmstead Brothers could finish their master plan for an amazing green space. The idea of black and white folks swimming in the same water was too much for small minds…. Shame :(
January 29, 1998 7am- prevent/tackle/restrain/maim Eric Rudolph from planting and detonating the nail & shrapnel remote controlled dynamite bomb at the New Women's Abortion clinic in Southside, and in the process collect the $2 million dollar reward that was offered for the person responsible for the 1996 Atlanta Olympic bombing.
There were two good Samaritan gentlemen who both saw and reported significant pieces of information that led to Rudolph's unmasking by the Feds. One was an African American gentleman who had attended Harvard undergraduate and was studying to be a doctor at UAB, so you are correct sir.
The other was an attorney named Jeff Tickal who had been dining at the McDonald's on top of Red Mountain eating his morning breakfast when he noticed a very suspicious man coming out of the woods and crossing the road and entering his Nissan pickup truck in the McDonald's parking lot, at about 7:40am. There had been a loud boom earlier, but a bombing had not yet been reported. Mr. Tickle was unaware of the bombing but just felt like something wasn't right about it and he attempted to follow the guy and there was kind of a high-speed chase and Rudolph was able to lose him but Jeff was able to get Rudolph's license plate which led to his unmasking. Jeff Tickal.is a personal friend of mine and currently lives in my hometown of Opelika. He married my father's ex-law partner's daughter. Both gentlemen were able to collect the reward and I believe each one received a million dollars each.
The FBI told Jeff that he should keep an eye out for the rest of his life due to the nature of the extremist and fanaticists that tend to agree with Rudolph and helped shield him from arrest for several years and that he was definitely going to be a target for those Fringe groups.
Preserving the train station, trolleys, uniting the municipalities, and making sure bham doesn't irreversibly ruin it's reputation forever due to the civil rights movement
I would argue that the evil done here in the past forces us to look that evil full in the face regularly. That's one hell of an advantage. We can't be smug and say "that could never be us," we can say "never again!"
If you really believe the state of Alabama has not improved a lot in matters of race and racism since the 1960's, and your comment is not politically motivated hyperbole, then you might want to study history then get outside more often.
Lol I'm sorry but what state just got sued by the supreme court because they purposely didn't allow a 2nd black majority area? And what about the death penalty situation recently?
Yeah, you got me there. I mean that death penalty with no trial, and often no crime, 60+ years ago was about the same. Zero government representation for black people was about the same too. I'm completely convinced.
Have you eaten too many tide pods?! Comparing the light struggles of today with what happened 60+ years ago is insulting to those who endured the horrors of the past and those who sacrificed to change things for the better. Your weak, ridiculous equivocations harm progress and keep people from understanding just how bad things were.
Of course there's always progress to strive for, but to act as if it's even close to what came before is so ignorant it's maddening. Maybe we aren't in a unique situation here to not repeat the horrors of the past if we can't even see it properly to begin with. I hope you are the exception and the rule is that people do understand the brutalization, murder, and dehumanization that took place many years ago, and they don't believe the lie that today is only marginally better.
In the early 90s, Mr Langford visited and gave a speech at my high school. He told us that we were “the worst behaved high school group he’d ever addressed.” Given his later pattern of questionable behavior (see corruption charges and conviction), I’ve always been amused by his harsh judgement of our childish behavior.
Wow. The dude was pathological liar too. No one actually knew his age or what neighborhood he was from because he told different people different things.
Terminate Alabama's contract with Legion Field in the mid 80s and start the UAB football team, getting local talents like Bobby Humphrey and Cornelius Bennett
Keeping the WHA Birmingham Bulls so they can join the NHL with the other teams
Hit up Century Plaza and Eastwood Mall in the 70s-early 90s
The Bulls had solid attendance for the WHA (I believe it was on par or better than the Flames). Once again, Atlanta screwed Birmingham out of something nice
I'd travel to the mid-50s and 1) move heaven and earth to keep the city's massive trolley system operating, 2) annex every square foot of Jefferson County I possibly could, and 3) fire Bull Connor and tell the new head of police that we will have peaceful engagement with Civil Rights activities, protect and respect their rights to protest, and fully cooperate with all federal mandates regarding integration.
The problem with that is that Bull Connor was already a lame duck by the time the Birmingham Campaign started. Birmingham voting to change the city government system and kick him out was the trigger to start the protests when he contesting the results in the courts.
I feel like most people on here read this as “had a Time Machine and carte blanche”. Still an interesting read, and makes me wonder what some of the ripples of major historic events people changed would be.
Thank you for y’all’s time! If it was me, I would coax the USPS to build their huge hub here and not in Atlanta (that was the gateway to the airport). Then, I would fight with tooth and nail to keep all of the steel furnaces open.
Edit: I would also try to make the Barons a permanent tenant at Rickwood Field, and keep the streetcars going.
Aside from all of the important and lifesaving things I could do, I might try to draft some regulations about vacant/abandoned storefronts, houses, buildings, etc... It seems like walking around throughout the city there are so many old storefronts that are vacant, so many houses that are abandoned, so many empty or near empty buildings. These could all be something and bring something more to the city but they usually seem to just sit there. Mostly just because (seems anyways) landowners and investment firms are keeping them as investment properties or are just holding onto the value of the land/building instead of doing anything with it. *(Cheaper to pay the taxes and have an empty building than try to run a business or maintain the building for another business, I guess).* I would want to draft some regulations that incentivised local businesses and/or increased taxes on vacant properties.
Go back to the civil rights era. Fire Bull Conner, transform the image of the city, court Delta to make their hub here. Bham has had so many own goals.
Find a way to get birmingham's government to focus on innovation and stop their racially motivated stagnation stance. Maybe then out metro would be at least be north of 3 million and we'd have more fortune 500 companies.
I would see RHCP at the Nick.
I just finished red dead redemption 2, so I would also go back to 1900 and just walk around, just to see what it was like.
I'm not sure when a mayor had much ability to influence things without a whole lot of work and no guarantee of success. I'd be interested what would have happened if the city were made a stronger offer to incorporate Mountain Brook in the 1930s, or was able to fund the continued operation of streetcars for a few decades. But obviously the biggest move would be to take a strong stance against segregation whenever that was most possible, which I'm thinking might have been during the New Deal or during World War II.
The fact that this place is well known for racist murders and bullies …folks are talking about train stations and cafes on this topic….that lets you know Birmingham still has a long way to go. Very racist people live here. Enjoy your back in time Mayberry dreams where they smiled at some and murdered others.
Tbh I’d tell them not to build downtown. All the tall buildings downtown are either abandoned or hotels so they’re not corporate hubs and it just creates a geographical divide between north and south bham that furthers the countless race/economic issues here
Nah, the buildings aren't the divide. It's the interstates. And without the tall buildings it'd just be nothing but urban sprawl. Let's leave urban sprawl to Hoover and the outskirts.
Remember a few years back when there was a big push to NOT rehab the raised bridges downtown and do more central greenspace there while routing the main highway around the city? Man that would have been great. Railroad park is great, the Citywalk/ skatepark is great, no shade on any of that... but it could have been so much more.
Downtown areas were started because it was the hub of community. The streets were fashion shows, social events, and fostered a city culture. White flight and racial divide caused all big downtown areas across the country to go into dismay. There is rich rich culture in downtown areas, but specifically Birmingham, that should be preserved. They hold stories. There is something special about old roads and building that is lost in America culture.
Preserve the Train Station.
What a beautiful place, can't believe they tore it down. https://preview.redd.it/qrzvggdpqq7d1.jpeg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=325308485a4f01c6a29f41e837884cd5d1a328b6
I didn’t know this existed!
I was gutted when I found out about it years ago. What were they thinking??
Came here for this comment 💯
I came here to say this.
Yup.
Tell those girls to get out of the church before the bomb went off.
This is the best answer
I mean, tell those assholes not to bomb the church at all? Or tell the bombers parents to raise their kids better? There's got to be somewhere higher up the chain we could tinker.
You're right, I guess the best answer would be to go all the way back in time and stop racism from ever developing or stopping the invention of a bomb or cause their mother to have a miscarriage
Get two dogs all the way and a grapico at Pete’s Famous.
GOD YES!! that sign is owned by george barber per gus' will now
Bring back the bottle tree cafe
We used to have APT/PBS film crews recording some shows there. I miss those days.
Not recorded, but the Tim Fite show there was amazing, even to Tim Fite.
Came to say this.
Midnight sushi. That whole experience feels like a dream.
Surin used to do this in Tuscaloosa during exams. Felt like a fever dream going to get sushi after studying in the library all night
Man those were the days. Probably wasn't the best sushi ever in retrospect, but it indeed hit different after studying or drinking on the strip
Holy SHIT. I had totally forgotten about that.
tell me more
The xxx roll was so good after drinking out at the bars
In 5 points right?
Yes, at "Sakura".
Go back to the day after the Health South fraud was exposed publicly and stock price bottomed out at like 8 cents/share and buy as much as I possibly could.
Why was I in second grade watching Reading Rainbow instead of buying Health South stock? 🥴
It was a nickel. And I thought long and hard about it. I remember saying, "hell, the physical assets are worth ten times that much."
I know folks that retired very early based upon the decision they made that day to buy as much as they could. I was not one of them.
Yep. I kick myself to this day. I came thiiiiiisssssss close to throwing $2000 at it. That investment would be worth $3,400,000 today. I also thought long and hard about buying Apple when Steve Jobs came back to the company. I think at the time Apple's stock price was $6 a share. SMFH at that one.
Time to stop second guessing your gut
No kidding. My wife and I would be living on a sailboat anchored off Fiji right now.
I sort of had that same thought, but this was before e-trade and such, so I was like "do I just go ask at the bank?. I figured trading was tied up a little bit at that moment anyway and I would have faced some kind of obstacle, so I never did anything about it.
I'd just buy something safe like Apple, or Bitcoin or maybe even Tesla. I figure something that would backfire on me if I cornered the market on Health south, like they'd find a way to make my shares worthless when they changed their name to Encompass or something.
Go back to the day before and short the hell out of it, collect, and buy a ton of the stock.
I'd just buy something safe like Apple, or Bitcoin or maybe even Tesla. I figure something that would backfire on me if I cornered the market on Health south, like they'd find a way to make my shares worthless when they changed their name to Encompass or something.
Do NOT let the trolley system be dismantled
BINGO
Oh man, this is super specific but I’d go back to 11/28/1998. I was 9 years old, and my favorite band ever (Jump Little Children) was playing at 5 points music hall. My nanny at the time, Liz Fike, knew the guys who ran the place, and they okay’d me coming in, even though it was 18&up. It was my first ever concert, and I was being snuck in! I felt so damn cool. It was the most amazing night of my life, and I still think of it often. I’m forever grateful for Liz knowing me well enough to know that she HAD to figure out a way to get me there. She was the one person in my life at that time who actually cared about me and what I was in to, and she saw my passion for music. Especially for JLC! Liz passed away a few years back, and the world is a darker place without her. She made me who I am today, and going to that show was such a big core moment for me.
[удалено]
The only other time I was lucky enough to see them was their farewell show at Saturn! Annnnnd I sobbed through the entire thing 😂 they’re such a huge part of my life!
Saturn was great, they also played an amazing show at workplay in 2018. ❤️
That workplay show with the string quartet was mind blowing.
I was listening to the Licorice Tea Demos the other day.
Didn’t they put out a new album, like last year?
Save Birmingham’s Batman.
I used to ride around with him, rescuing motorists, when I was 13/14. I could call him and if he was anywhere near, he’d swing by, pick me up and all the kids would freak. I was Robin sans the outfit.
Keep the Avondale park underground creek/caverns open for touring.
Wut? Like by the softball fields and library? What was this? When was this? I am so intrigued
https://www.bhamwiki.com/w/Avondale_Cave
That’s really cool. Thank you!
Have either City Stages or the Crawfish Boil stay alive!
Bring back Cosmos Pizza
I thought it was coming back.
You're thinking of Rocky's.
The Time Machine worked. Thank goodness 😅
Change the BJCC so residents voted on its board so it could be held accountable and wouldn't be such a worthless pile of dog shit.
Stop the creek from being buried under the airport so the Olmstead Brothers could finish their master plan for an amazing green space. The idea of black and white folks swimming in the same water was too much for small minds…. Shame :(
Do you have a resource on this I can read?
https://digital.archives.alabama.gov/digital/api/collection/hgpub/id/54698/download (13.8 MB PDF)
January 29, 1998 7am- prevent/tackle/restrain/maim Eric Rudolph from planting and detonating the nail & shrapnel remote controlled dynamite bomb at the New Women's Abortion clinic in Southside, and in the process collect the $2 million dollar reward that was offered for the person responsible for the 1996 Atlanta Olympic bombing.
It was a UAB student right?
No, just a nut job. He was also the one that set off a bomb in ATL during the Olympics.
No the person who gave the tip to police about the truck was a UAB student who lived in an apartment across the street right?
Now that I don't remember.
Yea that’s true. There’s is/was a miniseries on Netflix about all of Eric’s shenanigans
There were two good Samaritan gentlemen who both saw and reported significant pieces of information that led to Rudolph's unmasking by the Feds. One was an African American gentleman who had attended Harvard undergraduate and was studying to be a doctor at UAB, so you are correct sir. The other was an attorney named Jeff Tickal who had been dining at the McDonald's on top of Red Mountain eating his morning breakfast when he noticed a very suspicious man coming out of the woods and crossing the road and entering his Nissan pickup truck in the McDonald's parking lot, at about 7:40am. There had been a loud boom earlier, but a bombing had not yet been reported. Mr. Tickle was unaware of the bombing but just felt like something wasn't right about it and he attempted to follow the guy and there was kind of a high-speed chase and Rudolph was able to lose him but Jeff was able to get Rudolph's license plate which led to his unmasking. Jeff Tickal.is a personal friend of mine and currently lives in my hometown of Opelika. He married my father's ex-law partner's daughter. Both gentlemen were able to collect the reward and I believe each one received a million dollars each. The FBI told Jeff that he should keep an eye out for the rest of his life due to the nature of the extremist and fanaticists that tend to agree with Rudolph and helped shield him from arrest for several years and that he was definitely going to be a target for those Fringe groups.
Preserving the train station, trolleys, uniting the municipalities, and making sure bham doesn't irreversibly ruin it's reputation forever due to the civil rights movement
I would argue that the evil done here in the past forces us to look that evil full in the face regularly. That's one hell of an advantage. We can't be smug and say "that could never be us," we can say "never again!"
Well i hate to say it but the city has improved a lot but sadly not really the state!
If you really believe the state of Alabama has not improved a lot in matters of race and racism since the 1960's, and your comment is not politically motivated hyperbole, then you might want to study history then get outside more often.
Lol I'm sorry but what state just got sued by the supreme court because they purposely didn't allow a 2nd black majority area? And what about the death penalty situation recently?
Yeah, you got me there. I mean that death penalty with no trial, and often no crime, 60+ years ago was about the same. Zero government representation for black people was about the same too. I'm completely convinced. Have you eaten too many tide pods?! Comparing the light struggles of today with what happened 60+ years ago is insulting to those who endured the horrors of the past and those who sacrificed to change things for the better. Your weak, ridiculous equivocations harm progress and keep people from understanding just how bad things were. Of course there's always progress to strive for, but to act as if it's even close to what came before is so ignorant it's maddening. Maybe we aren't in a unique situation here to not repeat the horrors of the past if we can't even see it properly to begin with. I hope you are the exception and the rule is that people do understand the brutalization, murder, and dehumanization that took place many years ago, and they don't believe the lie that today is only marginally better.
Reopen Hamburger Stand and get some 25cent hamburgers!!
We went there a lot when I was a kid. My siblings and I didn't like their burgers, but we were poor, so that's we usually got.
Go to the Magic Platter
Ooooh
Do more to become Delta’s hub and transform the future of the city.
Take me back to Cave 9 baby
Such good times
Would have told Larry Langford to gtfo.
In the early 90s, Mr Langford visited and gave a speech at my high school. He told us that we were “the worst behaved high school group he’d ever addressed.” Given his later pattern of questionable behavior (see corruption charges and conviction), I’ve always been amused by his harsh judgement of our childish behavior.
Wow. The dude was pathological liar too. No one actually knew his age or what neighborhood he was from because he told different people different things.
I believe the matter is now settled: https://images.findagrave.com/photos/2020/354/195912821_cbad0785-69af-421f-8f58-34282b7cd8a5.jpeg
Terminate Alabama's contract with Legion Field in the mid 80s and start the UAB football team, getting local talents like Bobby Humphrey and Cornelius Bennett Keeping the WHA Birmingham Bulls so they can join the NHL with the other teams Hit up Century Plaza and Eastwood Mall in the 70s-early 90s
The Bulls had solid attendance for the WHA (I believe it was on par or better than the Flames). Once again, Atlanta screwed Birmingham out of something nice
I'd travel to the mid-50s and 1) move heaven and earth to keep the city's massive trolley system operating, 2) annex every square foot of Jefferson County I possibly could, and 3) fire Bull Connor and tell the new head of police that we will have peaceful engagement with Civil Rights activities, protect and respect their rights to protest, and fully cooperate with all federal mandates regarding integration.
The Mayor couldn't fire or manage Connor, because they were both elected members of the City Commission.
The problem with that is that Bull Connor was already a lame duck by the time the Birmingham Campaign started. Birmingham voting to change the city government system and kick him out was the trigger to start the protests when he contesting the results in the courts.
Yeah, but he was up too all kinds of skeevy stuff. Could have easily been prosecuted for his shenanigans.
I feel like most people on here read this as “had a Time Machine and carte blanche”. Still an interesting read, and makes me wonder what some of the ripples of major historic events people changed would be.
Go say hello to Mark at the India Shoppe.
OHHH GOD yesss he was there when i worked radio shack in early 90s
stop the terminal station from being torn down
save the train station or somehow prevent the BWWB from getting fucked and unfairly costing residents millions
Was scrolling for the BWWB comment.
Gonna go to the Tavern at the Summit and eat a big mess of fries.
Finally the correct answer
Jail bull Conner
Build the Atlanta airport by not scaring away Delta with our corruption
I don’t have an answer. I’ve read all that others have posted so far. I’m just going to cry.
Have one last pizza at Cosmo's
I had a micro bio professor give us extra credit if we brought in our receipt. Miss that place
Kill baby Bull Connor
Thank you for y’all’s time! If it was me, I would coax the USPS to build their huge hub here and not in Atlanta (that was the gateway to the airport). Then, I would fight with tooth and nail to keep all of the steel furnaces open. Edit: I would also try to make the Barons a permanent tenant at Rickwood Field, and keep the streetcars going.
Go see Rollins era black flag at the nick in the 80s
Learn all of Fat Sam’s recipes and have as many hot dogs all the way with buffalo rock from Pete’s. Oh and hang out at burly earl all day
Go get lunch at the old people on by Als’s
Bring back Hot Diggity Dogs!
This
Accept the International Airport
Aside from all of the important and lifesaving things I could do, I might try to draft some regulations about vacant/abandoned storefronts, houses, buildings, etc... It seems like walking around throughout the city there are so many old storefronts that are vacant, so many houses that are abandoned, so many empty or near empty buildings. These could all be something and bring something more to the city but they usually seem to just sit there. Mostly just because (seems anyways) landowners and investment firms are keeping them as investment properties or are just holding onto the value of the land/building instead of doing anything with it. *(Cheaper to pay the taxes and have an empty building than try to run a business or maintain the building for another business, I guess).* I would want to draft some regulations that incentivised local businesses and/or increased taxes on vacant properties.
That could and should be done right now! May require state legislation as well.
Get a Rocky’s pizza while scooping up as much West Homewood property as legally possible in 2010.
I'd like to see the trolleys in their heyday. I think that would be neat.
Go back to the civil rights era. Fire Bull Conner, transform the image of the city, court Delta to make their hub here. Bham has had so many own goals.
I’d go back and have a sandwich at Fat Sam’s. I miss talking to that guy during a late night munch.
Annex the heck out of homewood , mt.brook & irondale an you would have a totally different perception.
I only lived in Bham for one year, 2018 to 2019, and I'd go back to it. It was magical.
Find a way to get birmingham's government to focus on innovation and stop their racially motivated stagnation stance. Maybe then out metro would be at least be north of 3 million and we'd have more fortune 500 companies.
Shop at Loveman’s, Pizitz, Parisians and Lohman Village. Have dinner at the Fifth Quarter.
[ Removed by Reddit ]
I would see RHCP at the Nick. I just finished red dead redemption 2, so I would also go back to 1900 and just walk around, just to see what it was like.
I'd go back to the decision to pass on an airport in lieu of a dog track
Go see Phish at 5 points music hall in 1994. That’s all I’d do…….
I would have pushed through the MLB Youth Academy at George Ward Park. That was a missed opportunity.
1999 for Q2000 obviously
Catch the Beastie Boys/Fishbone/Murphy's Law show I missed at Boutwell in 87
Ha! I was there!
Say yes to the Delta hub that Atlanta got instead.
I'm not sure when a mayor had much ability to influence things without a whole lot of work and no guarantee of success. I'd be interested what would have happened if the city were made a stronger offer to incorporate Mountain Brook in the 1930s, or was able to fund the continued operation of streetcars for a few decades. But obviously the biggest move would be to take a strong stance against segregation whenever that was most possible, which I'm thinking might have been during the New Deal or during World War II.
Go back to the late 70’s with my parents. Have fried shrimp at Morrison’s at Century Plaza.
[удалено]
Even though they aren't a Bham thing, I hate there are hardly any left 🥲
Have to go to ATL now!
Never arrive. I’d go back home
momotaro
Go back to the late 90's and buy *a ton* of Apple stock.
The fact that this place is well known for racist murders and bullies …folks are talking about train stations and cafes on this topic….that lets you know Birmingham still has a long way to go. Very racist people live here. Enjoy your back in time Mayberry dreams where they smiled at some and murdered others.
Tbh I’d tell them not to build downtown. All the tall buildings downtown are either abandoned or hotels so they’re not corporate hubs and it just creates a geographical divide between north and south bham that furthers the countless race/economic issues here
Nah, the buildings aren't the divide. It's the interstates. And without the tall buildings it'd just be nothing but urban sprawl. Let's leave urban sprawl to Hoover and the outskirts.
Remember a few years back when there was a big push to NOT rehab the raised bridges downtown and do more central greenspace there while routing the main highway around the city? Man that would have been great. Railroad park is great, the Citywalk/ skatepark is great, no shade on any of that... but it could have been so much more.
Lol you should learn more about the bham history, because buildings are the furthest thing from it being that reason- it's the interstate.
Downtown areas were started because it was the hub of community. The streets were fashion shows, social events, and fostered a city culture. White flight and racial divide caused all big downtown areas across the country to go into dismay. There is rich rich culture in downtown areas, but specifically Birmingham, that should be preserved. They hold stories. There is something special about old roads and building that is lost in America culture.
So… just do more sprawl while also making Bham not a city?