Tuscaloosa Discussion Thread
 

I haven't seen a Tuscaloosa discussion thread, so I thought it would be good to start one.


--------------------------------------------------------


Tuscaloosa won the bid along with Auburn to host the high school football championship games for all 6 divisions. Tuscaloosa will host the Super 6 finals at Bryant-Denny Stadium in 2009, 2011, and 2013.

http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/articl...o-Bryant-Denny

The bid costs $175,000 per year (I'm guessing only every other year).

http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/articl...to-win-Super-6

The city seems to be doing pretty well attracting events recently (Blue Angels air show, triathlon, etc).

One sector that's still surprisingly lacking is retail. I keep expecting something to happen with McFarland Mall, and for Midtown to fill in (Best Buy should've gone in the Circuit City spot to begin with, and still should).

We had one of these a while back.....

http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/articl...-billion-to-UA

Shelby has already steered $500m of pork/local projects money to UA alone! His plan is to have steered $1b to UA when it's all said and done. That's not taking into account money to other universities in the money, not to mention cities and the state itself.

So, that article confirms that a building will be torn down soon across Shelby Lane from Shelby Hall. Nice to finally know what's actually gonna happen.

The sad thing is, these earmarks are actually necessary, because Alabama did not get its fair share of "stimulus money"

Should we try to merge this thread with that one ?

Yes, that sounds like MIB (HM Comer Hall).

Although I have to think it's an extreme long shot, Bryant-Denny is on a huge list of possibilities for World Cup Soccer in 2018 or 2022:
http://blog.al.com/bamabeat/2009/04/...nd_jordan.html

Though far-fetched, I do wonder what Tuscaloosa and the stadium will be like by then ? Perhaps Tuscaloosa will have regular air service by then ?
The stadium is expanding to over 100,000 seats next year, but will there be yet another expansion by the time the soccer event happens ?
By 2018 or 2022, can we imagine a 115,000-seat Bryant Denny on a 40,000-student UA campus in a Tuscaloosa with a healthy, revitalized downtown, a completed Riverwalk, and regular flights to Atlanta ?

I think the airport, riverwalk, downtown, student population, and stadium details are all going to happen. Though, the stadium part, not so likely.

The airport is eventually going to get flights again, it's inevitable. With the growth that Tuscaloosa has been experiencing (city population wise, it has been outpacing most Alabama cities in the past few years), it's going to happen. Downtown is already being fixed, and eventually Bryant-Drive, I imagine, will probably be another district similar to The Strip. The riverwalk is well on its way to being completed. The student population is ever growing, and the stadium continues to fill up.

We just gotta keep the momentum going. Fortunately, we have officials in the city and university that work together to make all of that happen.

Praise for our city leaders from the Birmingham News.

http://blog.al.com/kevin-scarbinsky/...osa_aubur.html

A very good article. Decatur is a good city to look at when you want to see the effects of bringing sports events to the city. Millions upon millions of dollars have been brought to the city since they started building new facilities and renovating old ones.

Birmingham, really needs to learn a lesson from this.

Seems unlikely since they are still doing renovations in there for the Civil engineering department's expansion.

I think it's far more likely to be East Engineering since I believe electrical engineering is moving into Bevill once chemical engineering moves into Shelby II.

I would really love to see air service return to Tuscaloosa, but I doubt any increase in demand for Tuscaloosa as a destination would do anything but increase traffic at BHM. It just seems that the airline industry is in a perpetual state of belt-tightening and wouldn't be looking to start service to a whole new city with an already serviced airport one hour away.

Looks like the state is pushing hard for the Department of Mental Health to sell the Bryce property and build a new mental health facility in Tuscaloosa County.

http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/articl...ce-replacement

DMHMR apparently has a lot of land in Tuscaloosa County.

I think the state mental health department owns several thousand acres in Tuscaloosa County (mostly undeveloped rural land in assorted chunks).
Much of the current UA campus east of Hackberry Lane (and I think maybe even where Wings and Hampton Inn is) was originally Bryce property,
as well as the city's public golf course north of the river (Ol' Colony), plus there's that "haunted" building in Northport near the airport.

I echo this guy :
There are some mentally ill people who need state help. They can't support themselves and in some cases present danger to themselves and others.
Some bureaucrats in other parts of the state want to "save state money" by simply dumping these poor folks on the street, at Tuscaloosa's expense .
By all means, any resolution to the Bryce situation should include a proper
facility for those who need it.

Although the $85 million price tag seems too steep in the current economic climate, I expect the university will find a way to purchase that land.
Rehabbing the "big building" is quite a challenge, but it and the state capitol in Montgomery were arguably the state's two largest buildings for many years, and with proper investment, could become a real showpiece.

An interesting follow-up to the Bryce situation is the future of Partlow Developmental Center, which itself is sitting on a 250-acre campus, with some state pressure to downsize.

Any idea EXACTLY what's goin on at Bryce right now? From my dorm I can see that they're definitely renovating the dome on top of the main building. But, the sign front of the campus makes it seem like much more is going on.

I'm wondering the same. It beats me.

What does everyone think should be done with the main Bryce building ?
Should it be preserved as some sort of museum, and if so, should it be the state's responsibility rather than the university's ?

I think, given the size of the main building, it would be well-suited to house a central university museum, combining all the different cultural, historical and scientific artifacts in UA's possession, instead of the various scattered museums that nobody goes to because they so inaccessible.

Apparently, it's a municipal election year. Walt Maddox already has his re-election website up.

http://www.waltmaddox.com/

So far, nobody else has announced they are running for mayor to my best recollection.

Bryce property sale discussions ongoing

http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/articl...roposal-sought

It would be amazing if they would sell the property to the university. The State doesn't seem to want to take the initiative to fix the place up. The school needs more classroom/office space. The school has the resources and interest in maintaining the facility.

Even if it would cost a lot of money to fix the structure up, I'm sure they university, recognizing the historical significance of the place and would invest in it. Much like the are in Foster Auditorium.

It sure sounds like Riley's crew is trying to screw our community (Tuscaloosa as a whole, the university, and the patients) in this deal. It sounds like the state is proposing shifting some key jobs to Birmingham (which shafts Tuscaloosa, which has carried the heavy burden of practically the whole state's mental health responsibilities for most of the state's history),
asking the university to pay double the amount the Bryce property was appraised for, and would turn some of the patients loose (which poses potential risks to themselves and others).

All that said, the upshot is that if those problems can be worked out, the university's expansion onto this choice property has all sorts of potential.