User:Dystopos/Downtown revitalization

Downtown revitalization is an ongoing series of large-scale efforts aimed at increasing active use of Birmingham's downtown area, especially following the effects of suburbanization and white flight in the post-World War II era.

Early efforts for revitalization were coordinated through the Downtown Improvement Association, formed in 1957. That group proposed a beautification program for 20th Street North, and also sought to relieve traffic congestion, parking shortages and other impediments to navigating downtown by automobile. In 1959 they lobbied the Birmingham City Commission to fund studies for new routes "Over the Mountain", resulting in the Red Mountain Expressway and the massive Red Mountain cut.

Meanwhile another group, the Downtown Action Committee, was launched by Ferd Weil and Birmingham News vice-president Vincent Townsend. The committee sponsored numerous promotional campaigns to entice shoppers to the downtown area, including Christmas decorations, a Birmingham Christmas parade and the marketing slogan "It's Nice to Have You in Birmingham".

In 1962 the Downtown Improvement Association created Operation New Birmingham as a subsidiary committee charged with preparing and implementing a master plan for structural and economic redevelopment of downtown, dubbed the "Design for Progress"