Hoover, Alabama

Infobox Settlement
official_name = Hoover, Alabama
settlement_type = City


imagesize = 200px
image_caption = Riverchase Galleria Center Court


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Hoover is a city in Jefferson and Shelby Counties in north central Alabama, in the United States. The largest suburb of Birmingham, the population of the city was 62,742 as of the 2000 census and was estimated to be 68,707 in 2006. Hoover is part of the Birmingham-Hoover, AL MSA (metropolitan statistical area) and is also included in the Birmingham-Hoover-Cullman, AL CSA. Hoover’s neighborhoods and planned communities are located along the rolling foothills of the Appalachian Mountains.

Hoover is home to the Riverchase Galleria, one of the largest shopping centers in the Southeast and one of the largest mixed-use centers in the U.S. with 2.4 million square feet (222,967 m²) of total retail floor area. The Riverchase Galleria complex includes shopping, hotel, and office space. The shopping complex major anchor stores are JCPenney, Belk, Macy's, and Sears. A Nordstrom store will be added by 2012. [ [http://www.riverchasegalleria.com Riverchase Galleria website] ]

The Birmingham Barons minor league baseball team, which traces its history to 1885, plays its home games at the 10,800 seat Regions Park.

History

The City of Hoover was incorporated in 1967. It was named after William H. Hoover (a local insurance company owner). The area had been known as the Hoover community since the 1930s and was mostly a residential community. In the late 1970s and early 1980s the city was still mostly residential with a small City Hall that included space for the police department. The annexation of the Riverchase business community provided a base of large office buildings and employers to the city. A significant change to the city occurred when Interstate I-459 was created with a major interchange with Interstate I-65 within the city. The most dramatic change occurred in 1986 when the Riverchase Galleria shopping-hotel-office complex opened. This significantly increased the tax revenue for the city. It was the catalyst to bring new residents and businesses to the city. The city has grown extremely fast with annexations and new developments. The city now provides services from many large city facilities including a Municipal Center, a Library, and a Public Safety Center. Residents and businesses are drawn to the city because of the rolling hills and nice residential areas, schools, city services, shopping, and business communities.

Geography

Hoover is located at coor dms|33|23|11|N|86|48|18|W|city (33.386435, -86.804938).GR|1

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 43.65 square miles (113.1 km²), of which, 43.13 square miles (111.7 km²) of it is land and 0.51 square miles (1.3 km²) of it (1.17%) is water.

Government

The municipal government has operated under the Mayor-Council form of government since incorporation. The Mayor and City Council are elected on a non-partisan basis to concurrent four-year terms of office which begin on October 1 of election year. Policy-making and legislative authority is vested in the City Council, which consists of seven "at-large" elected members (prior to 2004, the council consisted of five at-large members.) The city council is responsible for, among other things, considering local resolutions and ordinances, adopting an annual budget, and appointing members to local boards and committees. The Mayor is responsible for carrying out and enforcing the city's policies and ordinances.

Communities

* Bluff Park
* Caldwell Mill
* Deer Valley
* Green Valley
* Greystone
* Inverness
* Lake Crest
* Lake Cyrus
* Patton Chapel
* Riverchase
* Rocky Ridge
* Ross Bridge
* Russell Springs
* Russet Woods
* Shades Mountain
* Trace Crossings
* The Preserve

Education

Hoover has ten elementary schools, three middle schools, and two high schools, Spain Park High School and Hoover High School. Spain Park High School has always ranked high in the country for excellent schools and it has been rated close to the top of the top five-hundred schools in the country. The 2005-2006 school year saw 2,451 students enrolled in Hoover High School, [cite web|url = http://www.schooldigger.com/go/AL/schools/0000700251/school.aspx|title = Hoover High School|accessdate = 2007-07-24|year = 2007|publisher = schooldigger.com] 1,400 in Spain Park High School, [cite web|url = http://www.schooldigger.com/go/AL/schools/0000701456/school.aspx|title = Spain Park High School|accessdate = 2007-07-24|year = 2007|publisher = schooldigger.com] with a total of 11,433 students in the Hoover City School system. [ [http://www.hoover.k12.al.us/demographics.html Hoover City Schools website] ] Spain Park received the National Blue Ribbon Award in September of 2008.

Berry Middle School, which served as the city's first high school before the present Hoover High was constructed, was closed after the 2005-2006 academic year, with students moved to a new Berry Middle School constructed near the site of Spain Park High School. A poll of residents recently favored selling the school, possibly to the independent Shades Mountain Christian School.Fact|date=July 2007 Simmons Middle School and [http://www2.hoover.k12.al.us/schools/rfbms/Pages/default.aspx/ Bumpus Middle School ] are the city's other middle schools, whose students move on to Hoover High.

Before the 2004-2005 academic year, a few schools, most notably Trace Crossings Elementary, had almost, if not more than, 1,000 students, resulting in the building of Riverchase Elementary. After that, the case of overcrowding was resolved, with many students moving to the new school. However, a similar case has started happening with Bumpus Middle School, resulting in meetings at a handful of schools to discuss what to do about the case.

Media

Hoover has one television station ABC 33/40 with main studios within its city limits. The metro area has TV broadcasting stations that serve the (DMA) as defined by Nielsen Media Research and provide broadcasting for ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, PBS, The CW, MyNetworkTV, and ION TV networks. Charter Communications and Bright House Networks provide cable television service to specific communities in Hoover. DirecTV and Dish Network provide direct broadcast satellite television including both local and national channels to Hoover residents. AT&T has a contract to provide U-verse service to the city.

No radio stations operate from Hoover though numerous stations from the Birmingham market serve the city. (WVVB-FM is licensed to Hoover but its studio is located in Birmingham.)

Three newspapers serve Hoover: "The Birmingham News," the state's primary daily newspaper, "The Hoover Gazette," a weekly newspaper which began publishing in June 2006 but ceased publication in October 2007, and the "Over the Mountain Journal," a weekly newspaper that began publishing in 1991. The portion of Hoover which lies in Shelby County is also served by the "Shelby County Reporter," a weekly newspaper based in Columbiana, the county seat. During the 1990s, the "Hoover Outlook" served the city but is no longer in publication.

:"See also List of television stations in Alabama":"See also List of radio stations in Alabama"

Points of interest

* Aldridge Gardens
* Moss Rock Preserve
* Patton Creek Shopping Center
* Regions Park "(formerly Hoover Metropolitan Stadium)"
* Riverchase Galleria
* Ross Bridge Golf Resort and Spa

References

External links

* [http://www.hooveral.org City of Hoover]
* [http://www.hooverchamber.org/ Hoover Alabama Chamber of Commerce]
* [http://www.hooverpd.com Hoover Police Department]
* [http://www.hoover.k12.al.us Hoover City Schools]
* [http://www.hooverlibrary.org Hoover Library]
* [http://www.barons.com/ Birmingham Barons]
*Geolinks-US-cityscale|33.386435|-86.804938