Birmingham
Birmingham Facts & Superlatives
*Birmingham’s UAB drives the metro economy:
a. It is the world’s top kidney transplant center (Birmingham
News, September 14, 2002)
b. boasts the only Comprehensive Cancer Center in the
Southeast
c. with the September, 2002 announcement of a $13 million
grant from National Cancer Institute, UAB becomes “one
of the nation’s top two or three brain cancer research
centers,” Dr. Stephen Rosenfeld, UAB professor of neurology.
d. Is one of 11 sites nationally to receive significant
federal funding to build high security labs for research
on the world’s most deadly microbes. UAB received $15.9
million for a three story Regional Biocontainment Laboratory
which will be used to develop vaccines, drugs and tests
for emerging infections such as SARS and West Nile and
for defense against deadly viruses that could be used
in bioterrorist attacks. The Birmingham News, September
30, 2003.
e. In 2003 its overall economic impact was nearly $2.5
billion and it generated the equivalent of 53,018 full
time jobs. The Birmingham News, December 14, 2003
f. It ranks 16th nationally in NIH funding for research,
trailing only Duke and UNC-Chapel Hill in the Southeast,
and is aiming to crack the Top Ten by 2010 (The Birmingham
News, May 1, 2002 & October 3, 2003 & Jan 15,
2004.)
g. In 2004, U. S. News & World Report placed a record
14 of University Hospital’s programs in their annual “America’s
Best Hospitals” issue. Rheumatology was ranked #6 in the
nation. Among the other programs ranked were cardiology
and cardiac surgery (13th), kidney disease (13th), cancer
(19th), rehabilitation (23rd), respiratory disorders (28th),
geriatrics (29th), orthopedics (34th) and hormonal disorders
(41st) in the nation. New UAB programs ranked for the
first time this year were urology, neurology and neurosurgery
and digestive disorders. “This is a landmark year for
the hospital and we are so proud. UAB is consistently
included in this defining list of the nation’s top hospitals”
said Mary Nash, executive director of UAB Hospital. The
Birmingham News, July 3, 2004.
h. Payroll for its 16,000 employees is more than $600
million.
i. In April, 2002, it broke ground for a $90 million,
340,000 square foot Shelby Interdisciplinary Biomedical
Research Building that will create 1,400 high paying jobs
and $100 million in additional research funding each year
when it opens in 2005. It increases research space at
UAB by 25%. This is part of UAB’s plan to move into the
Top 10 of research institutions in the nation by 2010.
j. UAB’s medical center is ranked #3 in the nation (behind
only Mayo Clinic and Mass. General) in overall quality
of health care (Source: The Best in Medicine).
*In a ranking of the top 1,000 high schools nationwide,
Jefferson County International Baccalaureate School (with
325 students) was named the top public high school in
the nation. The ranking was based on the number of students
who took Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate
tests in 2004, divided by the number of seniors. Additionally,
Alabama School of the Fine Arts ranked 61 (down from 4th
in the nation a year ago) and Mountain Brook High School
ranked 248. Newsweek Magazine, May 7, 2005
*A 32 page section on the Magic City was run in Traditional
Home, the nation’s best selling upscale design publication
with a monthly circulation of 950,000, marking only the
second time in its history that they’ve done a feature
on a city (Seattle was the other). “Birmingham is a design
jewel and an anomaly, the most unexpected and amazing
Southern city this magazine has ever visited. The surprises
just didn’t stop.” Traditional Home, March, 2005
*We’re #1! Following U. S. Steel’s donation of $1 million
plus a commitment to sell land at a $9.5 million discount,
a 1,108 acre tract has been put together by the Black
Warrior-Cahaba Rivers Land Trust that will result in the
establishment of Red Mountain Park. This large park will
extend for 4.5 miles along ridgetop and adjacent lands
in southwestern Birmingham. With the creation of this
park, according to the Trust for Public Land, Birmingham
will have 17.9 acres of public green space per 1,000 residents,
ahead of top ranked Minneapolis with 14.3 acres per 1,000
residents. The Birmingham News, January 28, 2005.
*Despite the Wachovia buyout of SouthTrust, Birmingham
remains a major banking center. It is home to 3 of the
Top 50 banks in America with a total of 22 banks employing
over 14,000 (even after the Wachovia job eliminations)
and combined total assets of $187 billion. Randy Haines,
Compass Bank president, at the Business Outlook Conference,
January 12, 2005
*A monthly business magazine for executives of companies
actively looking for a place to expand or relocate their
facilities within the next one to three years, has released
its 7th annual "America's 50 Hottest Cities"
ranking. Metropolitan Birmingham ranks #15 for 2005, ahead
of Salt Lake City, Chicago, Miami, Memphis and Raleigh-Durham,
among others. "Some cities are well-prepared to attract
and retain businesses," said Ken Krizner, managing
editor of Expansion Management. "They have logistical
advantages, a high quality of life, available work force,
and a favorable tax and political climate. These 50 Hottest
Cities have a built-in advantage when companies look to
site a new manufacturing or distribution facility, or
headquarters operation." Expansion Management, January,
2005
*Apple’s i-Pod has captured the minds and hearts of music
consumers world-wide. Birmingham’s Push Design (Lloyd
Cooper) developed the iTalk for Apple, which turns iPods
into digital voice recorders. MacWorld, November, 2004
*During the past decade, the top three most significant
business investments in a 17-state region from Virginia
to Texas were Mercedes-Benz, Honda and Hyundai, all located
in Alabama and all favorably impacting the Birmingham
region’s economy. Southern Business and Development, October,
2002.
* Birmingham’s “Southern Research Institute is the leading
private research institute in the country--probably in
the world--in the field of drug discovery and development,”
Arthur D. Broom, professor of medicinal chemistry at the
University of Utah, Chemical & Engineering News, October
18, 2004
*Birmingham’s Regions Financial Corporation merged with
Memphis-based Union Planters Corporation in a $6 billion
deal, vaulting Regions to 12th in the nation in deposits
($55.9 billion) and #1 in the South in deposits, ahead
of Bank of America and Sun Trust. Regions now has 5.1
million customers in 1,400 branches across a 15 state
territory. The Birmingham News, January 24, 2004.
*According to Partners for Livable Communities, a Washington,
DC based organization founded in 1977, Birmingham ranked
as one of the best places to live in America in 2004.
Birmingham ranked in the Top 11 best mid sized cities
in which to live. “Partners bestows a ‘seal of approval’
on cities that “have set a shining example of what cities
should strive for, throughout the United States and the
world.” The Birmingham News, April 13, 2004.
*Birmingham is the 7th best U. S. city for blacks to
live, work and play. “Birmingham boasts the highest percentage
of African American homeowners, 58%, of any of the top
ten cities in America for blacks.” Black Enterprise magazine,
June 29, 2004.
* Birmingham’s Bayer Advanced has entered Pasadena’s
Tournament of Roses Parade for the past 5 years; spent
$170,000 on their 2002 entry. Previously they have won
the coveted Fantasy Trophy (twice), the Queen's Trophy
and the Animation Trophy over the past four years. The
Birmingham News, December 30, 2004
*Birmingham ranked 18th in the nation in the 2004 “Most
Literate Cities” study, ahead of such cities as New York,
Chicago and Los Angeles. The criteria were: education
level of residents, number of magazines and journals published,
newspaper circulation and number of booksellers. University
of Wisconsin-Whitewater, 2004 (as reported in The Birmingham
News, December 28, 2004.)
* A national study conducted using the latest Bureau
of Economic Analysis income figures ranked the Birmingham
– Hoover Metropolitan Area’s income growth rate the fastest
in the entire South and seventh in the United States over
a 20 year period. The study analyzed per capita personal
income growth between 1982 and 2002 and ranked the U.S.
metropolitan areas income growth over a 20, 15, 10 and
5 year period. American City Business Journals (ACBJ),
July 8, 2004
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