Birmingham is like a ship without a rudder. It turns here then plows through choppy waters there, but it seems headed in no particular direction. In 1992, the City Council adopted what was then called the Birmingham Comprehensive Plan. It outlined policies and strategies to guide the city’s future for at least 10 to 15 years in areas such as housing, community renewal, transportation, environmental management and the City Center.

Problem is, neither that plan, nor the one completed 30 years before it, guides the daily decisions that the mayor, the council or government officials must make to stay the city’s course. Despite the progress past political leaders have made, the Magic City has still lost much of its luster in the last 40 years. In that time, the city lost almost one-third of its population as whites fled to the suburbs in the ‘60s and ‘70s, followed by middle-income blacks in the ‘90s. With more houses available than buyers, residential property values fell. Scores of city neighborhoods gave way to crime and blight. And its public schools struggle academically to this day.

[Cue the Batman music] Is all hope gone? Does anyone know where Birmingham is headed? Will Birmingham continue its downward spiral and end up singing the Inner-City blues? Will the Magic City get out of its “Why-Can’t-We-Be-Like-Atlanta” funk?
In the past few years, a new generation of elected city, county, and federal leaders have come to power in Birmingham. They come without the political baggage of past administrations. They come promising cooperative attitudes, open-door policies and fresh ideas to political leadership. But can they save Birmingham? Stay tuned.

Next Page: Mayor Bernard Kincaid at the Helm Again