Preserving Birmingham's Past While Building Its Future | David Fleming of REV Birmingham
About this episode
Carrie Rollwagen interviews David Fleming about the history and revitalization of Birmingham and the support for small businesses in the area.
In this episode of The Localist, Carrie Rollwagen sits down with David Fleming, president and CEO of REV Birmingham. REV is the nonprofit that works to grow downtown Birmingham and the Woodlawn neighborhood, and David has been doing this work for 30 years. He is a self-described building hugger, a Bessemer native, and a walking encyclopedia of Birmingham history. Carrie and David open with a Birmingham history lesson. Why the city was founded as an entrepreneurial response to the collapse of the Southern slave economy, why the immigrants who came here to open dry goods stores and furniture shops mattered as much as the industrialists, and why understanding that DNA is critical for anyone leading the city into the future. Then they get into the last 30 years of downtown revitalization. Why 2010 was the pivotal year. How Railroad Park and Regions Field changed people's belief in what downtown could be. Why Second Avenue North became a corridor and how Urban Standard lit the fuse. The second half is a practical guide for small business owners. What REV actually does (place management, economic development, marketing and storytelling, advocacy and policy), the CAP program you see…
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