W

hat could Birmingham do, if Birmingham could do anything it wanted?

What could it accomplish without the bickering and balkanization, without that Legislative Delegation and this Alabama Department of Transportation?

A list:

Go ahead and build that dome, but build it in the architectural style of the old terminal station. That landmark was torn down all too soon, leaving a hole in the city's soul. This, well, this would put both those old ghosts to rest.

It' really is time to move forward with the dome. Birmingham, after all, has a bigger TV market than NBA cities such as Oklahoma City, Memphis and New Orleans. With a place to play, there's no reason the city could not pull together a 10-year plan to lure an NBA team. There's no better way to think like a big league city than to become one.

Too bad Montgomery already took the name "Biscuits" for its baseball team, though. The Birmingham Biscuits has a heckuva ring. Better than Birmingham'n'eggs.

(AP Photo/The Birmingham News)

Run a train – or a trolley or a fancy modern bus line -- from the airport through the BJCC and the new entertainment district, and on up to Five Points, to start. But wait, these are pipe dreams anyway, so run it over to Homewood, into Mountain Brook, to the zoo and back.

Call it the Red Mountain Express, and let it open the city to visitors and locals alike. Let riders step off the platform under a replica of the old Magic City sign.

Speaking of trains, go ahead and do that long-debated deed of running high-speed passenger rail from Atlanta, through Birmingham, to New Orleans. Run them from Mobile to Huntsville, too.

Some planners believe you could build a high-speed train from Birmingham to Huntsville – about 100 miles – for about the same cost as the $5 billion-plus Northern Beltline. Maybe. Maybe not. But hey, if that's too much dreaming, I'd settle for a moderate speed commuter rail connecting the state's major cities.

The Shades Creek Greenway (The Birmingham News Photo Linda Stelter)

Give us happy trails. Finish that Sloss Furnace-to-CrossPlex greenway, which is already underway. But don't stop there. Go ahead and stretch it to Avondale and on to Ruffner Mountain, where there's always something in the works (They're talking about restoring the rickety old fire tower up there now, the one I used to climb as a dumb kid).

But why stop there? With a little help from our friends – including ALDOT – we could extend the Shades Creek Greenway from Irondale all the way to Hoover. Not only would this whole community be fitter and funner, it might be a little more friendly.

Teach foreign languages in the elementary schools and return art and music to all schools. Let Birmingham educate multi-lingual children, and see what corporations – national and international --think of that.

There is so much to pick from when you dream, and a lot is already in the works. Restore the Leer Tower downtown, and offer blimp rides from its blimp dock on the roof. While we're at it, please call it by its given name: the Thomas Jefferson Hotel.

But while we are dreaming, we ought to go ahead and change the city's tax structure? Our system of high sales taxes and low property taxes, combined with that hated occupational tax, is a recipe for poverty and perpetuation of the status quo. The poor hurt the most and slumlords thrive, and that's no way to go. Raise property taxes (sorry). Lower sales taxes (you're welcome). And punt the occupational tax.

Pipe dreams? Maybe. But you have to start somewhere.

John Archibald is a columnist for Alabama Media Group. Jarchibald@al.com