The OLD Cramton Bowl

     There has been a lot of activity at The Cramton Bowl in Montgomery these days because a $10-Million renovation is almost complete.

     Even with those renovations only partly done, it served as the venue for the All-Star High School football game Thursday night.

    Anyway, I came across a fascinating 1920's photo of the Bowl, which I discovered was built on an old landfill as a baseball stadium, and was the first field in Alabama to host nighttime High School Baseball games.

     It's especially interesting to see all of the farmland around the stadium. All of that land is developed now, much of it with state office buildings. And the Bowl itself is named for the businessman who donated the (landfill) land for the facility, and eventually took on the project of seeing it built too.



The Reopened Greyhound Bus Terminal

     I visited the latest Civil Rights tourist location in Montgomery over the holiday weekend.

The Greyhound Bus station was the scene of a vicious mob attack on Freedom Riders in 1961, an attack that Montgomery Police and State Troopers allowed to happen.

     It almost made the "Terminal" truly the end of the line for the white and black bus riders.

     Currently a dozen works of art related to the event are on display, and there's a booth where you can view videotaped comments other people have left, or leave your own. There are categories for witnesses, participants, and strangers. I watched a few and found only remarks by those who were on the "right" side of history. I wondered if it might be a more powerful experience to hear from some of those who took part on the other side.

     The Freedom Riders are commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the rides, a story so well told in a recent PBS documentary. If you missed it, watch it online, and then visit the new museum. It's located behind the old Federal Courthouse downtown.

     Hours are very limited...Fridays and Saturdays, Noon - 4:00pm. But the windows of the old station are an exhibit in themselves, and they're open 24/7.

Leaving for Richmond

     150 years ago today, Montgomery's brief reign as Confederate Capitol ended. The Confederate Congress adjourned and headed to Richmond where they would reconvene a month later.

     Despite the briefness of the stay, both the Sons of Confederate Veterans and tourism supporters have embraced that status with varying success.

     This week I developed a story we aired on CBS-8 about the return of a sign with the controversial Confederate Battle Flag on it. It's right back where it used to be, outside the Renaissance Hotel and Spa, and they've positioned it so the flag is difficult to see.

     Some black members of The Montgomery City Council tried to have the sign removed in 2005 or so, without success, Then it did come down during construction of the new Hotel, with a city promise it would be back.

     Wednesday morning, with no advance notice, the city returned the sign after a half dozen years.

     The return comes after meetings attended by  Montgomery city officials, historians and SCV members in which they negotiated the placement.Yet they apparently didn't invite Rep. Alvin Holmes or others who had fought to have the sign taken down in the first place.

      Montgomery Mayor Todd Strange told me he wanted the sign put up at the White House of The Confederacy...but since that's not where the Confederate Officees were located, the historians agreed it should go back where it was.

     Unlike most of the historic markers in the city, this one was not paid for and designed by the Historical Commission, It was paid for and put up by the SCV with the city's approval in the 70's. 

      If you are downtown near Bibb and Commerce, look for it next to the Wintzell's restaurant. This picture is from before it was taken down....I'll get some shots of the new location this week.

125 Years Ago Today

MMMM # 138 --- The MOST, BEST, BIGGEST, HAPPIEST, DEPRESSING places

     We seem to have something of a fetish for lists that rank cities and states. That's why magazines like Men's Health run frequent articles listing the best and smallest, and most this and that places in the country. When you list lots of cities and states, you are sure to pull in readers (and maybe even subscribers!) who live there, and who will then talk about the list and promote your agazine.

   One Men's Health study I came across today ranks Birmingham as 50th most connected (FaceBook pages, twitter accounts etc) city in the U.S. Who knew? It was the only Alabama city on the list of top 100.

     Previously, Men's Health had ranked Birmingham 8th most religious city in the country (Montgomery ranked 12th), and Birmingham was also ranked 42nd for getting drunk, and 10th for obesity.

     The magazine also ranked Birmingham as 8th in making charitable contributions...Montgomery ranked 34th on that list.

     Birmingham is also the 3rd mostly commonly mentioned city on this blog, and the 5th when it comes to pictures of the city being posted. No... those last two rankings are made up. And in a sense, so are the others.

     The magazine writers depend on lists and stats from the Census Bureau and other sources and then take a leap of faith that one city is more religious than another because it has more churches and donors.



[The Monday Morning Media Memo is a regular feature of this blog.]   

MMMM # 126 -- Damned if you do....

 

     Predicting snow or ice in Dixie is a no-win business.

Predict it and there's none, and you're a loser.

Downplay the chances and you are just as much a loser if there's even a hint of ground coverage.



     Put yourself in the place of News Directors (and meteorologists)...what would YOU do?

     So I'm writing this on Sunday afternoon and the weather team at CBS 8 and The National Weather Service are predicting winter storm with ice overnight.

    The Governor has declared a state of emergency.

    Stuff is being cancelled...LOTS of stuff...including the Auburn Campus viewing events for the BCS game Monday night, and many many school systems.

    Please join me on-air or on-line with the rest of the CBS-8 team for storm information over the next 48 hours...the station is well staffed now, and I'll be joining them early early early. We look forward to serving you as a viewer during the storm.

    The photos on the right are from the last snow in Montgomery, in March of 2010.



[PLUS: Read about NPR's grievous error in the Giffords shooting story, reporting she had died when she obviously had not. No excuse, but when networks keep cutting back on staff and adding responsibilities to those left behind...]



[The Monday Morning Media Memo is a regular feature of this blog.]

Mapping the hood

     The NY Times has put together a neat interactive map using census data that allows you to see the racial, economic and educational makeup of any neighborhood in America. Just enter an address in the space on the top right and voila!

     The best educated neighborhood in Montgomery? Census Track 14...the Southern section of the Old Cloverdale neighborhood. 96% of the population there has at least a High School Diploma. 30% have a Masters Degree or higher.

     Right next door, in Census Track 15, is the second wealthiest neighborhood in Alabama's Capitol City...a track that roughly follows Woodley Road headed East. 16% of the population there earns over $200k. The population out near Taylor Road..Track # 5406...is the wealthiest...20% earn over $200k.

     

Ozone in Montgomery

    Several months ago, the EPA held a public hearing in Montgomery on the prospective reduction in the amount of ozone allowed in the air over the Capitol City. At the end of the hearing, it was indicated that a decision would come a month later...late in October. Here we are approaching the end of the year, and nothing.

     I took the photo on the top-right, by the way, above Birmingham in the late 1970's, when U.S. Steel was in full operation in Ensley.

    The EPA released a statement a couple of weeks ago reaffirming their concern about the issue, but saying they wanted to make sure they had all the information to make the correct decision. What???

    Then I read this story in today's L.A. Times and I began to see a trend. (Coal Ash is a main focus of the story...and it too is a concern in Alabama. Hundreds of tons of it has been dumped in Perry County at the for-profit Arrowhead Landfill. It was transported by train from Tennessee, where almost two years ago a huge coal ash pond dam broke, spilling it onto the land and water nearby.)

   

     When Mayor Todd Strange was a guest on CBS-8 This Morning on Tuesday, he said he had told the members of the Alabama Congressional Delegation about business concerns that if the limit on ozone was tightened, it could have a negative effect on business development in the city.

     Is that why there's been no decision by EPA?

     Will the incoming Republican controlled U.S. House be less likely to support increased EPA regulation?

New Montgomery Public Safety Dir. on OTR

     The former head of the Alabama Department of Public Safety---Colonel Chris Murphy---is the guest on today's On The Record on CBS-8.

     Murphy is now Public Safety Director for the city of  Montgomery, in charge of the police, fire, and emergency communications departments.

    We discuss the funeral procession accident that left Corporal Dave Brown critically injured, Homeland Security issues, a new office to facilitate the reporting of misdeeds by officers, and just what motorists are supposed to do and not do when they are pulled over by police.

    Tune in at 5:30, just before 60 Minutes on CBS 8 in Montgomery.

A Strange OTR this afternoon...

     ...strange as in Todd Strange, Montgomery's Mayor, that is. We discuss a variety of subjects of interest to Montgomery residents....economic development... like trying to do something with the vacant Montgomery Mall, the Federal stimulus money that's saved many a city and state, even though Alabama's entire Congressional Delegation has voted against spending the money, and the Mayor's plan to build combined police and fire stations.



     Watch On The Record this afternoon at 5:30, just before 60-Minutes, on CBS-8 in Montgomery.