As never before for this small, struggling city on the Alabama border and the edge of its future, the dominoes stand in alignment, something like an earthbound arrangement of stars and planets.

Everything happens because of leadership.

A private group lays down its money, conjures up a vision and presents it to the public. Boom! The first domino falls. The city embraces it, appoints an authority, pledges its money, lots of it. Boom! The next piece gets nudged forward, topples. Two years’ hard work and waiting for a blessing from Birmingham, a nod from Chicago. Boom! College campuses rise on the riverfront and the pieces start moving faster now. Boom! Out of the blue, a country music-urban developers’ consortium announces it will raise a lofty $25 million condo and retail complex on the bank; it says Phenix City is an attractive retirement destination. Boom! Boom! Broad Street transforms itself into a lovely and lively downtown. Next piece – boom! A hotel and conference center goes up at Dillingham Bridge, Phenix Plaza is remodeled and renewed, condos and apartments and shops and offices appear on the riverbank a little farther north, kayaks rush by on the unleashed whitewater below them. Commerce and disposable cash finally crosses both ways on the bridges.

And before you know it, all the stories say, See? It was meant to happen.

Columbus and the Valley Magazine

This story was submitted by Columbus and the Valley Magazine on August 23, 2007 - 12:16pm.

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