Tag: CityWalk

Residents Weigh in on 10-Block Downtown Attraction Ideas

Sherrel Wheeler Stewart, WBHM 90.3 FM,

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.

  Education

  About News

  • Did a reporter really ask that question?

    It’s about five hours after a cargo ship hit the Key Bridge in Baltimore, collapsing it and sending six construction workers on the bridge into the water. The city’s mayor is holding a press conference when a reporter asks him: “How long is it going to take to rebuild the bridge?”

    Calmly and immediately, the mayor responds: “We shouldn’t even be having that discussion right now. The discussion right now should be about the people, the souls, the lives that we’re trying to save. There will be a time to discuss about a bridge and how we get our bridge back up but right now there are people in the water that we have to get out.”

    On social media, the mayor got mostly applause. The reporter got mostly ripped apart. One X poster wrote: “Shoutout to our mayor Brandon Scott for focusing on the people and showcasing empathy, because the nerve of that reporter to ask about the bridge repair. Like, sir read the (expletive) room.”

    I understand why many people saw the reporter’s question as disrespectful to the victims. But I don’t have a problem with it. How about you? Read more.

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  Birmingham Southern College

  • Neighbors Worry About Future of BSC Land as Officials Discuss Redevelopment Options

    The mood was somber in the auditorium at A.H. Parker High School Monday night as neighbors of Birmingham-Southern College expressed their concern about the announced closing of the liberal arts college as of May 21.

    State Rep. Juandalynn Givan, D-Birmingham, hosted a town hall to field questions about the school. Of particular concern was what will happen to the 192-acre campus. More than one compared BSC to the old Carraway Hospital property, which deteriorated for years north of downtown. Read more.