Birmingham in Rear View Mirror

After 7 long years of fighting a losing battle, I have conceded and moved to Calera. As much as I love certain attractions in Birmingham, I can not get past the corrupt government, the downward spiral of the neighborhoods and the attitude that if you are not black you have no place in this city. Heck, some of the African Americans in this city are not black enough for many. I've never seen a city or area so stuck in the past and refusing to let go of past hurts and move on to a brighter day. It just makes you tired.
Anyway, after doing my best to get my God forsaken house into some kind of shape for sell, we have the economic blunders of our government, wall street and for all practical purposes, a bunch of rich crooks who played us all for fools, leaving me with a crappy house in a crappy neighborhood with the inability to keep up the payments because my job has taken a hit.
I now live in Calera. The police circle our neighborhood...weird. It is quiet and the neighbors are respectful. Novel idea, Birmingham take notice...please. There isn't much crime in Calera and from where I sit, that makes losing everything I tried to create in Birmingham, worth letting go. In Birmingham, where on a daily basis I saw prostitution, street fights, theft, property destruction etc. Each day brought on a new crime and an evermore assurance that I had to get the hell out of Dodge.