Don Quixote is about a man at odds with reality as he pursues his impossible dream. Larry Langford should officially change his name. The reason being he has an impossible dream for Birmingham to host the 2020 Olympics. Let me remind you of the cities that are competing to host in 2012: Paris, Madrid, London, New York, and Moscow. I don't know about you but I don't see anything Birmingham has in common with those cities.
Here are some of the more memorable quotes from the article. "Why not Birmingham? - that's my question," Langford said Friday. "You don't know what you can do till you try it. We've got everything it takes to make it work." This quote may remind you of the windmill scene in the book. How about this one, "We are an international city," he said. "The whole world looks at Birmingham either in a positive light or a negative light." The last comment is so profound I'm at a lost to even fathom the rationale. The last time I checked Birmingham didn't have any direct flights to a city outside of the United States. The reason the airport can even call itself international is because it receives international mail.
Birmingham has problems with crime and a desolate business district. Instead of going off on some wild fantasy maybe the mayor should focus on solving the problems confronting the city today. It's unfortunate the constituents of Birmingham elected this joke of a city official. This speaks volumes to the people that voted. Please focus on the Olympics while city schools have to be shut down. Please focus on the Olympics while people are afraid to live downtown. Please focus on the Olympics while no national grocery store will locate downtown.
Maybe Langford's next tasks should be to solve world hunger and global warming. He seems like the right man for the job.
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