Discussion: Should Birmingham try to mirror itself after Pittsburgh?

[SweetHomeColorado]

I hate to say it, but I don't think many people will ever choose Birmingham as a vacation destination. At least no one beyond the neighboring states for a weekend trip. There simply is not a unique identity that would put it on people's radar as a place to plan a vacation around. (Pittsburgh is in the same boat - hard to attract anything more than regional visitors and people for sporting events) The Vulcan just doesn't cut it. It has to be something that you would want to experience for 2 days, not 2 hours, at best.

The music scene has potential, but Nashville, Memphis, and New Orleans have pretty strong holds on that.

The two things that I miss most and think are the city's best assets are the food and the geography - and of course that good Southern hospitality. Everyone that I know that has visited Birmingham commented that the city was much prettier than they expected. The rolling mountains covered in green really stand out as a unique feature and leave a very postitive impression. They also of course love the barbeque, good Southern cooking, and sweet tea. I think these are the two things that should be promoted and accentuated for the city.

[DruidCity]

At least no one beyond the neighboring states for a weekend trip.

Even that can be a very lucrative market.

Chattanooga is very much in that "weekend trip" category, as it is very successful in

drawing visitors from Atlanta and other regional cities.

Birmingham has some nice "secondary" attractions, but lacks the one or two bigger attractions

that would give someone from Atlanta or Nashville a reason to visit in the first place.

[davidzLA]

I hate to say it, but I don't think many people will ever choose Birmingham as a vacation destination.

There's nice places to visit and there's nice places to live, and a lucky few locations get to be both. For the foreseeable future, Birmingham will primarily be a nice place to live. The good news is that means it's a pretty good place to relocate or expand your business, too. I recall a story while I was in Houston about a giveway by the Chamber of Commerce, and the grand prize was a trip to Houston. The winner didn't even bother to claim it. If Houston with NASA, major metro sports & shopping, and nearby beaches doesn't ring true as a tourism destination, Birmingham is choosing a hard fight.

Marketing what Birmingham has NOW will not get people into town. Most visitors anywhere are coming with a specific goal, i.e. shop at this mall, go see this sports event, visit these people and so on - so trying to convince them to stay overnight to go do something they can do closer to home won't work.

So I recommend that Alabama legalize marijuana use and/or prostitution, perhaps limited to the City of Birmingham or specific neighborhoods within. Both are widespread "sins of the flesh", as it were, that are not available in Atlanta or Nashville or Charlotte. Nor are they legally available in New York, Los Angeles or Chicago.

It may sound crazy, but I see no point in Alabama trying to pull off a cheap imitation of what's available elsewhere to attract tourism. Atlanta will always be there with a bigger aquarium, mall or team so choose a different battleground, find a niche and dominate it. Nevada did so with casinos and faced no real competition until the 70s, with unending crowds coming to pay the "state tax" even today. So pick the battle with the feds and fight it, it will put the state in a bellweather league like California in people's minds in a way it never has before. The press coverage alone would be priceless in terms of the number of impressions. And of course, Alabama knows a thing or two about defying the federal government. :-)

If the states are going to run and regulate liquor and gambling interests, I see no reason not to benefit off drug tourists swarming over Southside coffeehouses and the frustrated swarming over 4th Ave South.

[davidzLA]

Chattanooga is very much in that "weekend trip" category, as it is very successful in drawing visitors from Atlanta and other regional cities.

Because it has some longstanding tourism attractions not available nearby - Ruby Falls, Rock City, the Incline, river recreation, etc. Hamilton Springs Mall is attractive for regional shoppers but no one is driving from Atlanta to go to that mall. The closest example Chattanooga can provide to Birmingham would be the Tennessee Aquarium - a project that could be located (almost) anywhere that is ultimately surpassed by a superior (or more popular) Atlanta attraction. I'm curious how it's doing and how the Georgia Aquarium has impacted business.

[convulso]

Concur but with different rationale. Man-made landmarks can and do add value to a city, well executed of course. Would Dallas or Houston have their remarkable architecture if they sat in hilly, varied topography? That's debatable. Bridges can either be utilitarian or make a visual statement. I'd argue that Vulcan adds rather than diminishes Red Mountain.

No, the worst thing about going overboard with welcome signs, freeway-spanning arches, massive gates of gold and whatnot is that they scream DESPERATION. And is desperation ever attractive? Only to those eager to take advantage, but industrial incentives are another topic.

we're saying exactly the same thing; you elaborated a lot more than i did. but all you said i also agree with.

an example of desperation: drive the interstate (it's been I-40 for me, but it may also be true of the few others there) through oklahoma - every town, no matter how small, has dedicated state highway signs directed at tourists that say things like 'See Sallisaw!" or "See Henrietta!" or "See Yukon!" - with an accompanying bullet list of things like 'friendly merchants' or ' historic shops' or 'birthplace of troy aikman' or 'home of garth brooks'....and they always have struck me as very desperate.

i definitely do not think that attempts at creating appropriate landmarks are futile by nature, nor do i think that signage that indicates the real, deep offerings that people likely are already seeking are worthless. that's a whole 'nother bucket of puke than making city limit signs that give a flaccid sort of anti-hype to the places they mark. places need landmarks (at least good ones), and i mostly favor those that already exist in bham (i always got angry when some national tv network would do an invesitgative report about the profligacy of spending tax dollars for vulcan's renovation, etc. similar projects are funded elsewhere, so why not here?)

there goes my desire not to get into the back-and-forth, huh?

i think the I-65 approach you mention is somewehere around finley boulevard (that was the way i always came into bham as well, before i lived there.) i'm in tucson now, so i'm kinda guessing at the location the bham skyline comes into view.

the approach from I-20, coming from the east, is very cool, too - at least once you get up close to town. there's one building that really needs to collapse in order for that view to be truly great...i think it's the '2121' building. the same view is also really nice as you merge onto I-20 from the curved red mountain expressway on-ramp.

although i disagree with the opinion, props to alguy for exploring a line of thought that piqued a lot of others' interest.

[convulso]

So I recommend that Alabama legalize marijuana use and/or prostitution, perhaps limited to the City of Birmingham or specific neighborhoods within. Both are widespread "sins of the flesh", as it were, that are not available in Atlanta or Nashville or Charlotte. Nor are they legally available in New York, Los Angeles or Chicago.

lol - at least you have the courage of your convictions. there's no better place to suggest something radical than a place where its acceptance would strike the whole world as surreal. and i like the boldness of challenging the hypocrisy of all the inevitable opposition it would generate amongst the power players.

It may sound crazy, but I see no point in Alabama trying to pull off a cheap imitation of what's available elsewhere to attract tourism.

i say some version of this (to myself, anyway) so often it's like a personal mantra. bham can go far by nurturing amenities that appeal 365 days out of the year to residents first and outsiders second. after that reaches a critical mass, outsiders will want to see why people love to live there. a lot of what attracts a certain demographic of tourist (not necessarily all tourists) to some well-loved towns such as boston, new orleans, and savannah is not altogether that those places offer some attraction that cannot be had in other cities - it's that the collection of bars, venues, restaurants and stores that every sizeable city ought to have somehow seems more appealing in those places. i never really do anything in new orleans that, on paper, i could not do some version of in bham or atlanta. i don't go to the games, i don't (god forbid) visit harrah's, and when i go to places in the quarter or on magazine i'm really just indulging in a rarified version of offerings that can be found in other towns. bham can do this, even if it can't (and shouldn't) go for grand gestures - themed venues, domes, landmarks, etc.

places that make bham 'feel' like bham - whether it's southside, morris ave., the theater district, highland - and all the specific venues and places they contain (marty's, 22nd street jazz cafe, garage, ona's, mcwane, the bazillion other places i could name) are where it's at in terms of keeping the amenities fresh to locals. i want to see more of this before i see grand attempts at manufacturing some attraction with arbitrary appeal to outsiders.

having said that, the barber park is pretty cool, and does draw in a specific and unique group of tourists who are likely to repeat their visits....

[kayman]

All I have to say at this point is I hope that there is some redevelopment of all these former mill sites around the area. Especially the former Ensley Mill site.