Talk:Mobile, Alabama/Archive 1

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Archive 1

Archive 2

Notable List getting long

Maybe its time to cull the 'Notable Mobilians' list. While many are quite notable, some are strictly of local interest. Donovan Ravenhull 22:03, 17 December 2005 (UTC)

Yes, it is rather long; it should just list the names of those known nationally, such as Alexis Herman. Lesanichelle 22:02, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

I agree. Baseball players, for example. Mobile certainly has a strong baseball history, but let's stick with our rather large list of Hall of Fame players. By mentioning ALL of them, we lose sight of the fact that the city has produced more players in baseball's Hall of Fame than any city but a couple very large cities. I love 3 Doors Down, but if they're from Mississippi, why list them here? There are more we could list, like Kyra Phillips of CNN (Davidson High School), but I'm hesitant to add even more names at this point, even if deserving. Let's cull. Any other suggestions? 02:24, 9 September 2006 (UTC)

I saw that Birmingham had a specific page for them all. So, I took the liberty of creating one for Mobile. AlaGuy 23:09, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

Ok, but where is it? Goeverywhere 00:57, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

Toyota Plant?

"Large commercial ventures are in the works for the metropolitan area as the northern suburb of Creola, Alabama is the expected site of a new $2.5 Billion Toyota auto manufacturing plant." That is certainly news to most Mobilians. This should be removed as it isn't true. Rlm0710 20:12, 13 January 2006 (UTC)

Sports

This section seems to be a bit long/overly detailed. In addition, it seems to have some borderline POV issues. It would be good if an experienced Wikipedian got in and maybe gave it a touchup. Donovan Ravenhull 20:24, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

Map

This map is an inaccurate depiction of Mobile's city limits and should be revised. I would personally like to see a map of Mobile and Baldwin Counties with city limits noted and Mobile hilighted in red. Tfelts 04/28/06 1502 CDT

songs mentioning Mobile

We're also mentioned in that great jazz standard "Blues in the Night." "From Natchez to Mobile, from Memphis to St. Joe/ Wherever the four winds blow..."

Lede

04-October-2006: The lede (or "lead") section could have a few important sentences added, since the myriad details of the standard population areas have been moved into "Demographics" to clear space for general overview sentences in the lede. The most significant aspects to the outside world should be summarized in the lede. -Wikid77 08:27, 4 October 2006 (UTC)

Population

Since when has Mobile had a population of 203,000?! I don't recall seeing that number on the sensus bureau's page during the year they used the 2004 estimation. AlaGuy 04:05, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

Mobile, Alabama's 2003 population from the U.S. Census Bureau actually shows it at a current standpoint of 193,464. In 2000 Mobile, Alabama was at 198,915(-2.9%). Mobile Alabama's 2000 Metro Census also shows it at a standpoint of 540,248 not 401,427! (www.demographia.com) —Preceding unsigned comment added by B170AD43 (talk • contribs) 16:09, 1 April 2007

I have completely updated the Demographics section with the official 2006 estimates directly from the U.S. Census Bureau's website and have provided references for all data now contained there.Altairisfar 18:54, 14 October 2007 (UTC)

Suburbs Section

I removed the section called "West End, a growing midtown neighborhood" because this is an area of Mobile, and not a suburb.

History Section is too long

Someone should consider moving the history section to 'History of Mobile, Alabama' and summerising the current section to 2 paragraphs. Rimmeraj 02:04, 22 December 2006 (UTC)

Added 4 photos from the Historical American Building Survey to the history section.Altairisfar 01:53, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

I believe that the present History section is now close to the correct size considering that Mobile's history covers three centuries. I don't think that two paragraphs would do it justice as Mobile's very character is so closely tied to its history. Hopefully now it only hits the high and low points and leaves the rest for History of Mobile, Alabama to expand upon.Altairisfar 18:58, 14 October 2007 (UTC)

Mobile, Alabama assessment

I originally graded it as start class. My intent was to make it a "B" class. In fact, I thought I did. Of course, it cannot be GA because it hasn't, I don't think, passed through the GA process before.

There are one or two typo's which need to be fixed (I will get them soon) and there are a couple of areas that need some expansion.
The transportation section should include the cruise line which is in place and will likely expand this summer. I would like to see something about the two tunnels and perhaps the Africatown bridge which are all three critical arteries.
Under Education we probably should add Faulkner University which operates in Mobile too. I'm personally conflicted about how much detail we should include about education. The public school system is struggling as are many metropolitan systems.
Economy could be expanded too and needs attribution.
What I do not see are violations of WP:NPOV, WP:NOR or WP:COPY. The material is well written, diverse and balanced.

I think with the above things in mind the article would be ready for GA review and then FA soon afterwards. As for the rating, I will change it right away. That was an error. JBEvans 01:14, 14 April 2007 (UTC) (crossposted from USER TALK:Blaxthos)

I agree with the revised assessment, including your comments regarding deficiencies. Thanks for taking the time to explain. :-) /Blaxthos 02:51, 14 April 2007 (UTC)

Overall this is a decent article with good citations however (some mentioned above):

The history section is much too long and should be condensed with a seperate article
Ditto for the cultural influence section
The Sports section is much too detailed - needs seperate article
The 'Historic District' section is basically empty and the 'historical gallery' contains 1 photo of a recreation of historic architecture.
The 'law & govt' section needs more information about the govt. and less about the councilmen/women. They're too topical, this should be an overview.

My intent is not to criticize - a lot of excellent effort has gone into this article, but if we're looking at GA or FA status, these issues need to be addressed. Вasil | talk 04:17, 18 April 2007 (UTC)

Good job on creating the sports page. I will try to get over to Mobile this weekend and get some images for the historic section. I think I can add to the government part too. JodyB 15:24, 25 April 2007 (UTC)

I have removed the cultural influences stuff into a new article: Mobile, Alabama in popular culture. The new article needs work but I think it's better than having all that clutter on the main page. Вasil | talk 16:29, 9 May 2007 (UTC)

I have listed the historic districts in the Historic Districts section and included a link to the Mobile Historic Development Commission. Also added 6 new photographs to the gallery, replaced the Admiral Semmes close-up shot with one that I uploaded to show the entire monument.Altairisfar 00:00, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

Can someone tell me why the URL is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile%2C_Alabama instead of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_Alabama ? Altairisfar 05:10, 18 September 2007 (UTC)

I believe the %2C is the encoding for the comma. --JodyB_{yak, yak, yak} 15:02, 18 September 2007 (UTC)

Ah Ha! That makes a lot of sense. I had noticed that some cities had it and others didn't. Thanks.Altairisfar 16:21, 18 September 2007 (UTC)

Race Codes

"The immediate British enforcement of race codes threw the denizens of the French-derived culture into chaos. The French Creole world was noted for its laissez-faire attitude to racial matters and the stringent English codes chased some of Mobile's Creole residents westward into Louisiana."

I wonder about this statement. If true it needs a citation and probably a bit more expansion, even just an internal link would help but I'm not sure where to find it. I did not remove it from the article, just thought someone might have an idea. JodyB 16:07, 16 April 2007 (UTC)

This sounds like something you would hear during a historic house museum tour, not sure about its validity. I'll check my books on Mobile to see if I can find a reference to it.Altairisfar 16:27, 18 September 2007 (UTC)

I've checked all of my Mobile history books and cannot find this anywhere. I did find this reference to the British takeover: "At the time of transfer Mobile had some 350 townspeople, with some 90 French families in the surrounding countryside." Richmond Brown,et al., Mobile: the new history of Alabama's first city. (Tuscaloosa, Alabama: The University of Alabama Press, 2001.) 42. The only thing similar to this that I have ever read is about the American takeover of New Orleans and the subsequent enforcement of race codes there.Altairisfar 21:48, 18 September 2007 (UTC)

Culture

I've begun expanding the culture section. There is much more needed but I'm headed there. We need more photo's and probably need to include something about city stages and the beautiful antebellum homes in the downtown area. JodyB_talk 02:04, 6 May 2007 (UTC)

Added photo of the Bragg-Mitchell Mansion.Altairisfar 17:48, 18 September 2007 (UTC)

RSA Building

There was an uncited statement only 16 cities had buildings taller than Mobile's RSA tower. I hunted for some reference and could find none so I deleted that statement. I also dropped the one that the RSA tower is one of the tallest on the Gulf Coast. Seemed a little arbitrary to me and also would be difficult to source. I've no objection to inclusion if we can cite it. JodyB_talk 16:13, 9 May 2007 (UTC)

Photographs

Since I figure editors are likely to live in Mobile, this is a good place to ask. I'm hoping to get a Public Domain/GFDL photograph of the Michael Donald Avenue to use in the Michael Donald article. Any help would be much appreciated. It's the former Herndon Avenue. Sherurcij ^{(Speaker for the Dead)} 15:41, 5 June 2007 (UTC)

I'm planning on making a trek to Mobile in the next week or two, and I can take my digicam and try to snap a pic. If it's only a block long and connects Old Shell & Spring Hill I'm pretty sure I can find it. Give me two weeks or so. /Blaxthos 18:41, 5 June 2007 (UTC)

That'd be great, thanks! Sherurcij ^{(Speaker for the Dead)} 19:01, 5 June 2007 (UTC)

I will be in the general area on Thursday - I think. If I get the shot I'll upload it and let you know here. If not, Blaxthos will cover it. BTW Blaxthos, let me know when you're here and I'll buy you a cup of coffee. JodyB_talk 20:02, 5 June 2007 (UTC)

I got the pics yesterday. I will upload them to Commons later today. There's not much there but it shows the sign and the street and surroundings. JodyB_talk 11:08, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

Photo's are up at commons. There are four so you can choose the one you like.image:MichaelDonald1.jpg, image:MichaelDonald2.jpg, image:MichaelDonald3.jpg and image:MichaelDonald4.jpg.Hope this helps! JodyB_talk 15:44, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

Those are great, I think Image:MichaelDonald2.jpg is the best of the lot for illustrating the article - though I like the "quiet" feel of #4 as well (but not showing the sign, it might not illustrate the point quite as well) - much thanks for this! Sherurcij ^{(Speaker for the Dead)} 19:39, 9 June 2007 (UTC)

Assessment comment

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== Mobile, Alabama assessment ==