David Sher’s ComebackTown

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I’m sometimes criticized for comparing Birmingham to Nashville.

But in the ‘50′s and ‘60′s, when I was growing up, Nashville was a smaller city than Birmingham.

My dad used to take me to Rickwood Field to watch the Birmingham Barons play baseball with the Nashville Vols.

So my friends and I considered Nashville the competition.

But in 1962 the voters in Nashville and Davidson County voted to create a metropolitan government. Nashville flourished while Jefferson County splintered into 35 municipalities and languished.

Nashville also caught a break by being located in Tennessee.

Tennessee has no state income tax and high school graduates are afforded the opportunity to attend community or technical college free of tuition.

But Nashville’s luck may be running out.

The City of Birmingham has certainly had some issues with the Alabama Legislature, but nothing like what seems to be happening to Nashville and Tennessee.

Tennessee is hell-bent on punishing Nashville

Barry Copeland, a retired Birmingham community leader, recently wrote a column for ComebackTown that referenced a 2005 trip by corporate and business leaders sponsored by the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce to Nashville. In the early 2000′s the Chamber organized annual BIG trips to prospering cites to learn best practices.

A friend and regular ComebackTown commenter who used to live in Birmingham and moved to Nashville immediately responded.

“It’s been almost 20 years since the BIG group visited Nashville, it might be time to return.

“The changes you’ll see are considerable, even if you limit your tour only to downtown: numerous new high rise residential, hotel, and office buildings; major investments and jobs due to new regional corporate hubs for Amazon and Oracle; plans for a domed stadium and complete reinvention of the East Bank of the Cumberland; new museums, restaurants, and entertainment venues; teeming throngs of tourists.

“But with 7 years now under my belt in Nashville—after 27 in Birmingham—I think a visit from a Birmingham delegation should include not only the city’s physical and economic growth. It should also include a look at an important similarity between the Magic City and Music City. It addresses the idea of intergovernmental cooperation, and it’s a cautionary tale for Birmingham’s leaders and readers of ComebackTown.

“Like Alabama, Tennessee has weak home rule, and the state legislature has been quick to attack Nashville when the city has fallen out of line.

“Last year the Tennessee legislature gerrymandered the longstanding 5th Congressional district essentially out of existence, splitting what was a unified Nashville district into three districts. Each is now represented by a rural Congressman.

“This year the legislature has taken measures to punish Nashville for refusing to host the Republican national convention. It slashed the Metro Council from 40 members to 20 (although a court reversed that decision), asserted control over the international airport, and attempted to wrest control of the highly successful Music City Convention Center.

“The lesson that Birmingham should learn from Nashville’s experience is that cooperation among the area’s municipalities is essential, but not sufficient. Even a countywide Metro form of government and status as the state capital has not been enough to protect Nashville.

“Keep your eyes on the Alabama legislature—not only the local delegation but also on every member who lives outside the metro area. As in Tennessee rural and small town members of the Alabama legislature often call the shots, and the more successful metro Birmingham becomes, the more jealous and vengeful they may become.

“So while the Birmingham area strengthens cooperation among its cities, it should make sure its partnerships and lines of communication include Goat Hill, too.

“Nashville will have a new mayor next fall, as John Cooper decided not to seek reelection. That may not bridge the divide that’s opened between the city and the Legislature, however. Nashville will remain Democratic no matter who is elected, while the Legislature will remain overwhelmingly Republican.

“Successful cities in the South such as Nashville—and increasingly Birmingham too—should never take their eyes off what’s happening in their state legislatures.”

He then wrote me a follow up note, “The Supreme Court just gave you guys a new angle. I’m referring to the 5-4 ruling on Alabama’s gerrymandered electoral map. Should the state’s map now be redrawn so that the Birmingham metro area would have only a single Congressional district with significant minority representation, rather than being divided between several urban-suburban-rural districts? Compare that with what happened to Tennessee-5th District.”

The gross domestic product of Metropolitan Birmingham is greater than the gross national product of Metropolitan Huntsville, Montgomery, and Mobile combined.

This is a plea to the Alabama legislature to treat Birmingham fairly–so goes Birmingham, so goes Alabama.

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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