Root for the home team
Thursday was a hot day, but still a great one if you were interested in being outdoors. Baseball’s oldest ballpark was on display during its annual visit from its former tenants, the Birmingham Barons. This year the White Sox Double-A farm team was able to send us home happy as they beat the Smokies 3-2 (and not without some drama in the ninth) before a crowd of more than 4,700. There are some images of the game and historic Rickwood Field in the Smugmug gallery.
Movies and money take center stage in downtown
It was an interesting view last night as I sat in Linn Park. Bets and I were there to watch Big Fish as part of the Movies by Moonlight series. The screen for the series is placed in front of City Hall, providing me a glimpse of a television set in council chambers, where the Mayor and Council were meeting to finalize the fiscal year budget. A compromise was reached sometime shortly before the end of the film, allowing for concerns about a lapse in insurance coverage for city employees to not become a reality. The budget also allowed for increased funding for several initiatives throughout the city, including an increase in Ruffner Mountain’s annual funding from $70,000 to $125,000. This morning’s Birmingham News reported on the compromise. (Kincaid’s modified budget approved, The Birmingham News, 6.23.2006).
The movie also brought out another great crowd, despite the threat of rain in the city center and rain falling around the city. There are great plans for the event in July, a great reason to check back tomorrow and find out more.
What is your vision for Birmingham?
Finally, vacation time is almost upon me, and I’ve decided to approach it a little differently than normal here. Months ago I wrote a post talking about my vision for Birmingham. Click here to read the post and the comments made in response. I’d promised to contact individuals and see if they’d offer their versions of “My Birmingham” for the blog. E-mails have been sent to some of those people, in hopes that their comments will grace the pages of this site while I’m off trying to relax. I’d love to get others to offer up their thoughts on the issue. Please e-mail me your comments along with a brief bio so people know who you are. We’ll make sure that if you have a blog or a website that we’ll link to it. I look forward to hearing from some of you.
You can always answer yesterday’s question too.
Enjoy the weekend.
Cheers.
