I mean I’ve been to B’ham before. By “there”, I meant the SECT. And I think you’re being too hard on them. In fact, I’d say they’re the nicest large city in all of Alabama. Which admittedly is a VERY low bar. But it beats the hell out of Mobile and Montgomery. Maybe Huntsville is nicer- I haven’t been there in years, but I remember it being decent.
At any rate, I’m not going. Couldn’t make arrangements for anyone to watch the dog.
Huntsville is nicer, trust me. I've never actually been to Mobile, only passed through, but yeah, Montgomery is a cess pool. Many years ago my Accura Integra clutch went bad about 5 miles from the Honda dealer in Mongtobmery, which is on the south bypass. Fortunate timing for me, as I was about to venture down 231 to Dothan, which is pretty much a wasteland! I managed to get the car to the dealer (thank God for smart phone map apps) and had to stay overnight while they replaced the clutch. The staff at Honda told me not to venture out of my hotel a couple miles down the road for anything, stay inside with the door locked. Which I did (managed to eat near the dealer before they gave me a shuttle to the hotel). I have heard stories from people from that area also. Birminginham has a few nice areas, but you have to look for them. Crime-wise it competes with New Orleans for highest murder rate, so it has that going for it.
Huntsville by comparison is very nice. There are a few bad areas of course, but where in my neighborhood in south Huntsville I once left my garage door up for 3 days while I was on a trip to JPL. No worries!
(that was when I first moved in and my neighbor didn't know me very well yet. It happened again years later and he closed the door for me).
Huntsville is actually booming. The FBI is moving all their investigative diagnostics (mostly pyro and explosives) here including a substantial amount of training, about 5000 people. Downtown has been revitalized. During a recent illness a retired buddy gave me a ride to the hospital which is in downtown Huntsville, he had worked there 30 years and said it only changed a bit, but in the last year or so it changed so much that he barely recognized it. We have had three major road projects in areas that needed it in the last 2-3 years, the main north-south route (called the Parkway but actually a controlled access US 431) is being renovated all up and down it's length (getting rid of a lot of the 40s and 50s era tin roof warehouse type buildings). And not to forget, the Space Force HQ is on it's way (but probably won't fully relocate here till 2026).
I've always been somewhat ambivalent about Huntsville, and have always said it's "not bad, you could do worse but you could do better". Honestly if not for the fact that my folks are in Knoxville and that I have a brother in Memphis and a sister in Atlanta, I would have long ago left for Pasadena , Houston, Cape Canaveral or maybe even DC. But at this point in time Huntsville appears to have a bright future. I tell the younger guys on my team that all the time (younger employees from outside bammer, which is most of them, often talk about leaving after a few years. IMO they would do well to stay).
I don't know that Huntsville will ever approach the type of growth Charlotte and Nashville have seen, but it may do a decent approximation.
