Economy

Connecting With Seniors One Phone Call at a Time

Birmingham has a service for seniors that’s like few others in the country. It started in 2002 when the Crisis Center noticed older residents would call its emergency hotline because they were lonely. The organization developed the Senior Talk Line. Through the service, volunteers connect with people one phone call at a time. Read more. Read earlier stories in the series: Birmingham’s Senior Population Rises While Affordable Housing Remains Limited Seniors Find Opportunities and Challenges Trying to Return to Work Uncovering Elder Financial Abuse? It’s Tricky.

by Andrew Yeager, WBHM 90.3

Birmingham’s Senior Population Rises While Affordable Housing Remains Limited

Greater Birmingham’s senior population is rising faster than all other age groups and is expected to double by 2025. But federal money for senior housing has been cut in half during the past decade. Read more. Read the first two stories in the series: Seniors Find Opportunities and Challenges Trying to Return to Work Uncovering Elder Financial Abuse? It’s Tricky.

by Michelle Little, WBHM 90.3

Uncovering Elder Financial Abuse? It’s Tricky.

Timothy Townsend offers loans for a living in north Alabama. It’s kind of like a middle ground between a payday lender and a bank. He remembers one time when a 19-year-old applied for a truck loan. The young man didn’t have any credit and had only been working a few weeks. So he got his grandfather to co-sign the loan application. “When I talked to the older gentlemen he was like ‘Well, I guess. I really don’t want to, but they’re saying it’s the only way he can get it,’” Townsend says. That hesitation was a red flag for Townsend, but it’s awkward because, as much as he wanted to do right by the young man and his grandfather — and follow the law — he’s in business. Read more. Read the first in the series: Seniors Find Opportunities and Challenges Trying to Return to Work

by Andrew Yeager, WBHM 90.3

Seniors Find Opportunities and Challenges Trying to Return to Work

It’s a good time to be in the market for a job in this state. That goes for older adults, too. Alabama’s overall unemployment rate is low – just 4 percent. It’s even lower among seniors. But the older adults who are most likely to be hired are those who are willing to adapt and learn new skills or try on a whole new career. “I’m a 25-year-old. I’m just trapped in an 81-year-old body,” said Johnny Ward. “I’ve got a lot of energy, and I’m saying, why waste this knowledge and experience I have. Why not use it?” Here in Alabama and across the U.S., there are many like Ward. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, senior citizens represent a growing demographic in America’s work force. Many still need jobs. It can be difficult to make ends meet with a Social Security check or disability payment. And some want to work because they enjoy it. Read more.

by Sherrel Stewart, WBHM 90.3 FM

Jones Visits Mercedes-Benz, Deflects Comment on Possible Shift of Production to Asia

VANCE — Sen. Doug Jones, D-Alabama, has co-sponsored a bill along with a Republican colleague from Tennessee that would delay President Donald Trump’s proposed imposition of tariffs on vehicles and parts imported into the United States. But in a press conference held Friday morning at Mercedes-Benz’s factory complex near Tuscaloosa, Jones deflected comment on a report that the company may move some production from the Alabama plants to Asia because of tariffs already levied by China. The report by Reuters quoted the head of Daimler, Mercedes-Benz’s parent company in Germany, saying the tariffs have forced the company to consider a shift overseas. Read more.

by Robert Carter

Amazon’s a Big Deal, but West Jefferson’s Economic Rebirth is Bigger and Broader

The television cameras were in action and the local politicians were all smiling at the recent announcement of a huge new distribution center in Bessemer for Amazon, the online retail behemoth. It’s a project that will bring an estimated 1,500 jobs, and it makes for a great picture of a down-on-its-heels part of Alabama that is remaking itself for the digital age. But in fact, the Bessemer Cut-Off area — the traditional name for the separate division of Jefferson County that has its own courthouse and other separate government functions — has been in transformation from steelmaking, mining and heavy manufacturing for the past decade or so. Unless you’re involved in recruiting businesses to locate in an area – or you glimpse a part of Bessemer when you travel to the legendary Bright Star Restaurant – that transformation may have slipped under your radar. Jimmie Stephens has seen the area’s heyday, the downturns and its recent rebirth. The president of the Jefferson County Commission, as a lifelong Bessemer resident, remembers when the nickname “Marvel City” came to be, because of explosive growth in the first half of the 20th Century, when the economy rivaled that of Birmingham itself. In his current position, he’s trying to restore the Cut-Off to better days. “As a youngster growing up here in Bessemer, it was a vibrant mining and steel town,” Stephens said. “Bessemer was a hub of commerce and employment. But the mines shut down in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, and the Pullman Standard (rail car manufacturing) plant closed in the ‘80s. Things just dried up, with 30 percent unemployment. But during that time, the economy began to diversify.” Read more. Read more about economic development in the western area: Touchdown! Bessemer Celebrates Scoring Deal to Secure Amazon Center After Years of Tumult, Alabama Splash Adventure Is on the Rebound Bessemer OKs Tax Rebate, Fee Reductions and Transit Services to Bring in Amazon Center The Way Things Used to Be: Officials Recall Bessemer’s Heyday While Approving Incentives to Lure in Amazon Shhh! Amazon ‘Consolation Prize’ Appears Headed to Bessemer

by Robert Carter

Residents Weigh in on 10-Block Downtown Attraction Ideas

The open space under I-20/59 in downtown Birmingham will cover 10 blocks once the massive bridge replacement project is completed. Designers and Alabama Department of Transportation officials were getting the public’s thoughts today at the Boutwell Auditorium. Other sessions are set for July 24. Ben Donsky, who works with the New York-based design group for CityWalk Birmingham, said there’s an opportunity to do things not tried elsewhere. “We’re open to all types of innovative ideas. I was just discussing with a gentleman new technology that would even allow us to grow plants underneath the highway.” The project is to be completed by spring 2021, before the start of the World Games in Birmingham. Read more.

by Sherrel Wheeler Stewart, WBHM 90.3 FM

Shipt Commits to Birmingham Expansion

Shipt made its plans to expand in Birmingham and create up to 881 new jobs official Thursday after the Jefferson County Commission agreed to chip in up to $720,000 over three years in incentives. “Birmingham has rolled out the red carpet,” Shipt founder Bill Smith said following a press conference in the company’s headquarters in the John Hand Building downtown. “The city and the county have said, ‘We want to partner with you to grow here.’ They’re working closely with us, and to get that kind of support is very attractive.” The commission approved its incentives to encourage the company to create professional positions in Birmingham. Read more.

by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.

Birmingham Council OKs up to $1.762M for Shipt Expansion

A proposed incentives package for grocery delivery company Shipt nearly stalled over procedural questions at Tuesday’s Birmingham City Council meeting. But after an impromptu presentation by Mayor Randall Woodfin’s office, the council voted unanimously to approve the measure. The incentives package gives Shipt up to $1.762 million from the city to “expand and grow” its Birmingham headquarters, according to the resolution. This will come in the form of reimbursing the costs the company incurs in finding and developing new hires . The city will pay Shipt $2,000 for each new employee, for an expected total of 881 employees. The average salary of these new jobs would be $50,000 per year, Shipt representatives told the council. Read more.

by Sam Prickett

Data Center Announced for North Titusville Land

Calling Birmingham a “hidden jewel in the South,” DC BLOX announced today that it will build its flagship data center on the former Trinity Steel property in Birmingham’s North Titusville Neighborhood. Officials of the Atlanta-based provider of data center, network and cloud services said it will use 27 acres to develop 200,000 square feet of secure government-grade data center space. The project will be up to a $785 million investment spanning the next 10 years. Read more.

by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.