Both sides of Birmingham could support the NBA!!!

Jon Solomon of the Birmingham News wrote a very interesting article --> How Does Mayor William Bell Think Birmingham can support NBA? Based off of an interview done on 97.3 The Zone morning show Smashmounth Radio Network where Bell talked about trying to bring the New Orleans Hornets to Birmingham and went into detail about letting the NBA know if they was to expand Birmingham has a group in place that would look to bring a team to the city. Yes that's right a NBA team in the city of Birmingham. This discussion sadly has brought out Birmingham ugly side, the side that keeps us from ever winning a beauty contest.

Part of the city's skyline is Red Mountain with Vulcan standing tall over the city. On one side of Vulcan's overlook you can see the skyscrapers of a city who has seen good and bad days, turning to the east signs of steel industry that used to be the heart beat of the city, looking to the south "over the mountain" you can see the rich suburbia, and more commercialize areas of the metro. What an out of towners wouldn't know is that Red Mt is much more than a mountain it's a WALL that divides the city. People who live "over the mountain" think downtown Birmingham is to dangerous, to much crime and hobos. They like to say they wouldn't take their kids down there at night. I'm not going to say crime doesn't happen in downtown, but what I will say is that I've walked downtown day and night with zero problems. I went to UAB which takes up most of the south side of the city, and not once have I even heard a gun shot. This stereotype that downtown B'ham is nothing more than a dumpy ghetto is sad, un-true, but worse it's what keeps this city down.

What people fail to see is if Birmingham goes down so does Hoover, Vestavia, Homewood, Mountain Brook. If Birmingham goes up so does Hoover, Vestavia, Homewood, Mountain Brook! Birmingham is the center of the wheel, Hoover, Irondale, Gardendale, Bessemer etc... are only the spokes. WE ARE THE SAME METRO!

Okay back to my original point Birmingham can support a NBA team! Sure there will be haters saying its a wast of tax payers dollars to build a nice arena is the "downtown ghetto", but they can stay at home in their shell. Now go back up on Vulcan and just look down at the city and only the city, look close.... what do you see? Crime? Hobos? Bullets shooting in the air? or do you see lots of development???? Loft apartments have popped up over the last ten years by the hundreds! Old building have been ripped down and replaced by a green space and water AKA railroad park. A shiny new state of the art Childerns Hosptial treats some of the sickest kids in the world. Construction workers look like ants as the new downtown baseball stadium raises up from the ground. One of the largest parks in the country is opening phase one of Red Mt Park. Lastly over by where a new NBA Arena would be located a new luxury hotel and Marketplace entertainment district is almost ready to open its doors.

Maybe it's just me, but I've never seen a ghetto with luxury hotels. Like it or not Downtown Birmingham is growing, and it's finally making ground on it's rival city's, and one day your going to look down from Vulcan and see a proud city. So yes Jon Solomon, and everyone else who said Birmingham is dreaming if they think we could support an NBA team... Your Wrong, Birmingham Can!   

-Patrick Pierce

Follow me on Twitter @PatrickAla13