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By David Sher

I know I’m going to take some flak.

When I publish columns about how our region would prosper with local government consolidation or collaboration, I brace myself for negative comments from folks who think their suburb is superior to Birmingham and imply we’d all be better off if Birmingham didn’t exist.

I don’t know how that would work since the City of Birmingham provides most of the critical jobs and amenities for our region.

We’ll likely never have the Mountain Brook International Airport or Vestavia Hills Protective stadium.

That doesn’t stop comments, however, like these I received from this proud Homewood man:

“Homewood is a thriving community today with great schools, low crime, in demand residential real estate and prosperous commerce. I wonder where it would be today if the acquisition effort by Birmingham back in the 60′s had succeeded?”

“I think the reason Homewood is so successful is precisely because it’s not governed by Birmingham City Hall. Birmingham has made too many mistakes in its brief history for people living outside the city to want to give up their excellent schools and safe neighborhoods in order to pump up the Ham’s population numbers. Birmingham will continue losing population so long as it keeps ignoring the seriously entrenched socioeconomic problems that keep it down.”

“I doubt it. Nashville and Charlotte had powerful things going on for them that Birmingham doesn’t have. Jacksonville is part of a powerful Florida economy. None of them has Birmingham’s crime problem and history of inept leadership over the last 50 years. Louisville has its own problems.”

Here’s the response to those comments I received from a thoughtful reader…

“A question would be where would the entire county, Homewood and Birmingham and Hoover included, be if the initial efforts toward a City-County consolidated government had succeeded back in the late 60s/early 70s?

“We would all be more prosperous if you judge by the experiences of Nashville, Louisville, Charlotte, and Jacksonville, who did just this. Homewood would be even better off if it were a part of a richer, more efficient, consolidated region.”

What would happen if our bodies went rogue?

Humans have 2 arms, 2 hands, 2 legs and 2 feet; 10 fingers and 10 toes, etc.

Each works together remarkably well with one brain keeping our body parts working together.

We wouldn’t survive if each body part did its own thing.

Assume your left arm wanted to play pickleball, your hips wanted to Hula hoop, and your head wanted to bounce a basketball on it.

That describes how our Birmingham region currently operates.

Every mayor and city council in Jefferson County’s 35 municipalities wakes up each day and thinks about what’s best for its municipalities.

That’s 35 cities each going off in their own direction—not concerned about the general health of the region.

According to a report published by the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham, “the “central city of Birmingham is surrounded by more independent suburbs than any other southern city.

“This pattern of fragmentation has consequences.

“It leads to duplication, creates intra-regional competition, concentrates economic advantage and disadvantage, and diffuses resources and leadership.

“It makes it difficult to arrive at consensus, pursue priorities of regional importance, or deliver services that transcend municipal boundaries.

“Nationally, a substantial body of research indicates that metro areas with more broad-based, cooperative governmental arrangements grow faster and generate greater prosperity than metro areas that are governmentally fragmented, divided into a multitude of independent municipalities.”

We’re suing ourselves

It was was recently reported that the City of Birmingham is suing our Jefferson County Sheriff.

This could never happen between Nashville and Davidson County in Tennessee because Nashville and Davidson County are the same.

Nashville is busy building a prosperous city while we’re busy suing ourselves.

Homewood dependent on broader community

Yes, Homewood is a thriving community, but most every employed person in Homewood works for a company or entity outside of Homewood…many in the City of Birmingham.

Like it or not, we’re all in this together.

David Sher is the founder and publisher of ComebackTown. He’s past Chairman of the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce (BBA), Operation New Birmingham (REV Birmingham), and the City Action Partnership (CAP).

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Invite David to speak for free to your group about how we can have a more prosperous metro Birmingham. [email protected].